August 2002 Archives

BMCCC is going into overdrive with everyone realising it's less than a week to go....

As a first timer, I do feel a bit of a spare part, which isn't my usualy style, but i'm sticking to my approach of taking it all in and responding where necessary. I still feel frustrated about not being able to contribute more.

Found a couple of sites on Lake Tahoe:
-Vacation Guide, with its "points of interest" - including Fanny Bridge (I'm sure Stef would appreciate that one); and
- "All About Reno"

but nothing on hot springs :(

So I've emailed them:

"Hi there

A friend mentioned that Lake Taho would be a good place to spend a couple of days cooling off during my fly-drive fortnight in California/Nevada in September. They also mentioned hot springs - but I can't find any information on hot springs in/near Lake Tahoe anywhere! Can you help? I've been looking online and in guidebooks, but local knowledge is always so much better!!

Kind regards

Mary"

I did find the extended weather forecast for Reno though - I nearly had heat-induced heart failure until I realised the temperatures are in farenheit rather than celcius (sp?)!

Joined Hazel, IWW and Monique in celebrating IWW's birthday with a visit to the Anselm Adams Centenary exhibition at the Hayward Gallery, followed by (reduced size) pizza at the Gourmet Pizza Place in Gabriel's Wharf - co-inciding with the South African Tourist Authority sponsored Braii (sp), with crowds of SAffies and other ex-Pats from Southern Africa. Or are they emigres?

The CD labelling software I got with the CD Stomper kit from PC World doesn't work on Windows Me (home) or Windows 2000 (work), so I decided to do a quick google for software today, and found Dataland Software's CD Label Designer. Looking pretty good so far!

Update - 11 September

Well, it was all looking good until I tried to print out my design, when I discovered their clever trick of overprinting the insert etc with "Unregistered" or the like. Hey ho, back to getting my PC up and running at home so that I can use the M$ CD insert template.

I must remember that the reason I don't wear strappy sandals very often is that a) they give me blisters, and b) I can't walk in them, I can only totter (and that isn't really me).

Finally made it into work just before 9, and that was having taken not only the W&C line, but the Travellator at Bank too. Discovered that there is a London Underground job invovling collecting commuters copies of Metro when they reach the top of the ride.

Tom had taken upon himself to rejig the Sparkly structure for me last night, based on the flimiest repetitititious instructions from me, as I discovered when I checked me mail this morning.... 2 from him, the first titled "oops" , the second, more worryingly "BOLLOCKS", which contained the simple comment

"i've broken it badly

shit

-t"

oh.

Heart in mouth, with visions of all my lovely prose set adrift on the seas of the superhighway (i *know* that doesn't work but I'm at work and I've got meeting notes to write up - yawn), I checked www.sparklytrainers.com..... to discover my lovely new home page, complete with links to blog and burning man as requested!!! plus a few tomski extras like links to B&R's sites. Yaaay! Am not really exicted and longing to have a play with the black and purple (which I fear may not last bro....) Must.....Resist......

Fun, wine fuelled evening with les filles des mois Verts, aka Ann and Emma, in Richmond. Two nights of pizza on the trot wouldn't be my idea of dream cuisine, but given the quality of Strada last night and La Trattoria this evening, things could be worse.

Highlight was Ann's pledge to give John his marching orders if they weren't engaged-to-be-married by the time she turns 30 - photographic proof of that pledge was obtained. You probably won't be able to read it though - we were all a tad tipsy.

Drunkenly called H on the way home to suggest we might need some cooling containers for our Calais run on Saturday, particularly if our purchases include cheese and butter and yoghurt staples. That proved to be a temptation too far for fate (and H's MGBGT)

I did another search on our quest for personnel's international characters, and found a site dedicated to International Accents and Diacriticals, featuring:

"Theory, Charts, & Tips for the QWERTY keyboard (mostly Windows) - Platforms, software applications, operating systems, versions, and user preferences influence how one works with accents and international characters"

The MS Word functionality was news to me, but makes perfect sense! Not quite as simple as having a keyboard with "letter+accent" keys, but more logical than alt codes, and faster than resorting to the character map.

Xara3D support have a useful crib sheet for typing accented and international characters.

Torrential rain all afternoon. Left Liverpool Street station in chaos. Infuriating absence of public announcements resulted in hapless would-be tube travellers being directed from entrance to entrance, concourse shortcuts blocked by lakes of rainwater and cash machine queues. Took me 10 mins to elicit that tube was inaccessible. My irate departure took me straight into the lake outside McDs' where upon annoyance really set in. Stomped to Bank muttering under my breath about city wankers with golf umbrellas restricting walking flows to one person per pavement width. Phoned Phil to alert him to my inevitable delay - the reason for my brisk pace and ire being that I was due to met him outside the Prince Charles at 6.15, and that was looking wholly unlikely. And I'd tried to make sure I'd not be late. Foiled again

Arrived sodden at Bank and opted for the Waterloo and City line to waterloo thence Northern line to Leicester Square, figuring that the Central was more at risk of flooding, and heavy demand from fleeing commuters.

Got to Prince Charles just ahead of Phil even so (just) and we munched pop corn and revels through "No Man's Land".

who have to fill in a UK tax return/do self assessment this year.

I've just filled out mine using the IR's online tax return.

Provided you've kept and collected together all your:
- P45s & P60s / Payslips
- bank etc account Certificates of Deduction of Tax
- Dividend tax vouchers
- details of pensions contributions (could be a deduction on your payslip if it is paid out of salary)
- and anything else you need for e.g. income from property, self employment etc

then it's amazingly straightforward. no hairpulling, no calculating, and telephone and email hotlines if you get stuck. Plus you get a PDF of your return which matches the Form to keep!!

Honestly, compared to completing the form by hand it's a million times easier. I've just spent 30 mins doing mine, and it's done and dusted. Finito. Compare that to evenings and weekends of agony in previous years trying to understand what went where and what page to turn to next.

DO IT NOW - you will have received all the tax paperwork you need, and if you've lost it you've time to ask for copies before the 30 Sept deadline.

No excuse for whinging come 05 April 2003

This has been a public service announcement.

Went up to see TJBR on Saturday afternoon, and they were all, bar Jo, awful! B&R hyper and overtired after a birthday party featuring a ball-pond and too much sugar & fizzy drinks, bro because he'd got the beginning of a nasty cold. which i think I've now got too....

My trainers arrived!! Yaaaay! Not au fait with the cause of my excitement? I'm planning to put picture here.

Main find of the day was the new transport for london site.

When did it change? At last, an integrated journey planner!

I just did a search for getting from Finsbury Park (train etc interchange closest to bro) to Peckham Rye station tomorrow, and it's come back with a great route in a really clear display (which doesn't cut +paste) and description:

18:30 Finsbury Park
Take Bus W5 towards Macdonald Road to Archway
Station Stop: C
Buses every: 12 min.
Max journey time: 29 min.

Archway Station
Walk to Archway.
Transfer time: 6 min.

19:05 Archway
Take towards Morden to London Bridge
Transfer on foot.
Av journey time: 21 min.
Transfer time: 7 min.

19:29 London Bridge
Take South Central Trains towards Beckenham Junction
to Peckham Rye
Av journey time: 8 min.

19:37 Peckham Rye

you can enter from/to details as a station/stop, an address, a postcode, a place of interest.

I'm sold!

After amazing sheet lightening and rain storms, complete with thunder during the night and early morning, we emerged to breakfast al fresco outside on the deckchairs - just like the blue ones we used to have at the cottage - it must have been the standard Argos offering c 1980! The sun got stronger and the ground dryer as the day progressed, so we took sandwich materials, teabags and dry matches to the beach hut feeling very Famous Five, and spent the afternoon sitting on the beach, looking out to sea, at bronzing families and beach boulers, yachts and speedboats, reading Shogun (quelle surprise) and Cities of Civilization (Phil). Hot enough for lashings of sun tan lotion and bottles of water. Late lunch, no icecreams, even with a shop within 40 paces!

Almost the weekend. *Almost* time to head out to Walton on the Naze for a weekend with Phil. Can't wait.

but in the meantime.....

Pinch! Punch! First o' the month!

(that always pisses Hazel off. Or at the very least elicits a heavy sigh)