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The final countdown

October 22nd, 2010 · Posted by Skuds in Life

Not long before we move out now.  All the paperwork was signed this afternoon and I’m hoping we can get through a day without any crises or sudden spanners in the works.   Still not all packed, but I am off work tomorrow and should get everything done in time.  The broadband and TV goes off tomorrow and with any luck it will all be connected in the new place on Saturday afternoon. We are keeping our fingers crossed on that.

Normally I would worry about getting everything else in order before worrying about getting a PC or television set up, but it looks like we will have to get something in place so the engineer can test everything is working OK.

Very excited about it all really because this is the first place Jayne and I will move into together.  She was already living here when I met her and I moved in so this is like a new start for us.  It will be just like being newly-weds – right down to having bugger all furniture: as it stands our bedroom will contain only a bed for at least a couple of weeks.

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What will tomorrow bring

October 20th, 2010 · Posted by Skuds in Life

For the time being my personal anthem will be Femi Kuti’s masterpiece What Will tomorrow Bring – the remixed version naturally.

On Sunday night I wrote about how we were only six days from moving house.  On Monday got a text from Jayne saying there was a hitch do do with the electrics at the new house.  Nothing to stop us moving, but it would delay it for a while.  Having already booked the lorry for Saturday, arranged for a new cooker and bed to be delivered to the new address, and with a Virgin engineer scheduled to turn up on moving day this was a bit of a disaster.

After work I went round to the new place so we could all discuss it and try to work out what to do.  It literally took me five minutes to walk there from work, reminding me of one reason I want to move there.  We had a plan, but not a great deal of confidence it would work.  I was so distracted that I went into work and forgot my security pass!

It sounds like a trivial thing, but I was very proud of getting close to four years working on the site without forgetting my pass once and having to go to security for an idiot’s pass.  It was especially annoying because our passes are used to buy things in the canteen and vending machines.

All day I was waiting for news of what outcomes our swappees had with the housing association, ombudsman, and all the other people they were talking to.   Not that I would get news anyway since I don’t get a mobile signal at work.   When I left for the day I called Jayne and she told me that everything was sorted and we were all set for moving on Saturday after all.

I’m not sure I dare believe it, and will not be totally comfortable until I am in there and busy erecting shelves, but for now it all looks good.

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Preoccupation

October 18th, 2010 · Posted by Skuds in Life

If I have been quiet here, and let’s face it I have, there are several good reasons.  Mostly they are do do with an impending house move and several aborted house moves. [Read more →]

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False alarm

October 17th, 2010 · Posted by Skuds in Life

I thought for a brief moment that I had made it.  Got a tweet from somebody whose name I didn’t recognise, looked at their profile and saw they they follow 7 people:

  • Stephen Fry
  • Dave Gorman
  • Sarah Millican
  • Chris Addison
  • Doug Naylor
  • Bill Bailey
  • Me

Then realised that their real name, as opposed to Twitter username, was the same as my brother-in-law and that it all made sense and I had not become unexpectedly famous after all.  Still… good to see another family member getting all Twittified.

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Some forthcoming attractions

October 15th, 2010 · Posted by Skuds in Life, Music

Always lots to do and see in the last few months of the year.  This is a very selective sample (i.e. the ones I intend to go to).  If anybody else is going to any of these I’ll see them there.

October 22nd – Covered at the Queen’s Head, Horsham

Covered are a seven-piece covers band doing all sorts of stuff.  A lot of Motown/Stax stuff but also some more recent songs.  I’ve seen them a couple of times before, both times in this pub.

October 31st – Comedy night at the Lyric, Hammersmith

Regular monthly comedy night.  Richard Herring comperes.  Guests are David Schneider, Tony Law, Zoe Lyons and mystery guest.  I’ve seen Herring a few times in London and Brighton and seen Zoe Laws at Komedia in Brighton.  The hints are that this is a musical comedian which probably narrows it down to Bill Bailey or Tim Minchin.  I’m going to guess at Minchin.

December 2nd – Spizzenergi at the Dublin Castle, Camden

Spizzenergi Xmas party, with the full band.  A genuine punk survivor, with a very, very tight band behind him.  First saw in 1979 but lost count of how many times I have seen the band since then.

December 19th – The Glitterband at Dingwalls, Camden

With support from Captain Sensible and Spizzoil.  Very rare Spizzoil reunion because Pete Petrol now lives in NZ.

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I’ve seen all good people

October 13th, 2010 · Posted by Skuds in Life, Music

Rick Wakeman signing stuff for the faithful after the show

Last night I went out to see Rick Wakeman and Jon Anderson playing at the Hawth theatre in Crawley.   Rick Wakeman. Jon Anderson.  In Crawley!

This was the second date on their 20-date ‘Anderson-Wakeman Project 360′ tour, coming to a provincial town near you soon, and the ticket was a birthday present from Chrystal which makes her position as favourite daughter pretty nigh unassailable. [Read more →]

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A cheeky little vintage crime

September 30th, 2010 · Posted by Skuds in Life

According to the Guardian, thieves stole a French winegrower’s entire harvest – 30 tonnes of grapes over 2 hectares.   A few thoughts:

  • How do winegrowers survive if their entire harvest, a whole year’s work, is only worth £13,000?
  • How much do grape-harvesting machines cost?  Presumably this bloke has one for his own harvest and it sits in a barn for 364 days a year, if his entire crop can be picked in just a few hours.
  • “The harvest was not insured against theft.”  Can you insure a whole 2 hectares of crops against theft?  (I bet you can now anyway)
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Confusing headline

September 29th, 2010 · Posted by Skuds in Life

The BBC News website had a link to a story with the headline Research widens height gene hunt.  It took a while for my poor old brain to drag any sense out of it.  Subconsciously I was isolating ‘gene hunt’ as the character from Life on Mars and being left with something widening height.  The whole thing was like a cryptic crossword clue and I had to give it a few tries with different emphasis before I hit on the meaning.

Maybe I am just missing the Times crossword.  After managing to finish it two days on the trot I didn’t see it at all today.

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Manu Chao in London

September 29th, 2010 · Posted by Skuds in Music

The mighty Manu Chao is coming to london next month to play at the Coronet on October 23rd – tickets went on sale today.  Only £15 a ticket and its all for charity (Colombiage and some local Brixton organisations)

Very frustrating.  I would love to go up and see him again, but there is a small chance we will be moving that day so it may not be practical.  Never mind.  I have seen him a few times before – three times solo and once with Mano Negra – so its not the end of the world.

I can thoroughly recommend it.  I don’t think anybody else on the scene at the moment provides so much energy or attracts a crowd with such an atmosphere.  With any luck his current tour will bring him back to London again, preferably the Brixton Academy.

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Number-crunching the leadership ballot

September 29th, 2010 · Posted by Skuds in Politics

I was pleased to see the data behind the leadership ballot released, and also a little surprised. But mostly pleased.

The data is available as a Google Doc here and you can download it all to your own computer to pull it about in Excel.1 [Read more →]

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  1. or Open Office of course []

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