Sensible in principle.

I love to give positive feedback. All too often we are miserably and predictably disappointed by customer service experiences. For that reason, I am always happy to write about the better experiences and to promote the businesses that offer them.

I bought a crappy multi-card memory reader for my laptop. Increasingly these days, I find myself dealing with a mindboggling array of memory cards for an even more mindbogglingly array of devices around the house. It seemed sensible therefore that I might have a device that I could just plug them into without having to have a host of adapters and cables and software in order to read the information contained amongst them.

I've been using the reader for a while and now I find that it has caused physical damage to a memory card for my camera.... first it buckled the little plastic teeth that separate the gold contacts..... next the teeth fell out..... next the whole card kind of split in two.

It's a Staples branded card... I don't have a receipt and I don't know when I bought it.... How sensible then that they should choose to replace the memory card for me free of charge under the warranty, simply because it's a Staples branded item!!

It's far too sensible and simple.



I won't pretend to be any good at that exposure, aperture, and any of that other photographing jazz-a-ma-tazz, so most of these sort of things are experiments that go right or wrong.... this one's almost there. Bonfire night at the Jack o' Mitre, Scammonden 2008. They tell me the three days of fog that we've endured may end tomorrow in sunshine!!

Well I never....

I never thought I would see the day when I saw the literal translation of fireworks being a case of money going up in smoke.

Tonight was bonfire night, and we generally send a lot of money into the sky amid oohs and aahs and smoke and fire. Today was so foggy that anything that flew more than a few feet above the ground was lost in the grime. Anything that stayed less than a few feet above the ground was generally lost in a cloud of fog and choking smoke.

Rockets? A total waste of time tonight.

We went to the Jack O' Mitre's annual bonfire and firework display. It's a well attended event and usually it's accompanied by horizontal rain and force nine gales. It was just foggy tonight and a bit cold.



What IS predictable about this photo is a long exposure with kids playing with sparklers. What may not be so obvious about this photo is the instruction.... Me to kids: "right make some big shapes" - taking photo - looking at photo - laughing at photo - One of them makes big circles..... and bloody loads of them..... the other?? Random!! Two opposites. One structured and active.... the other random and wild. Two very different interpretations of the same instruction.

I h8 them!

As part of my seven deadly sins, I bring to you "envy".

Those smartarses at Kew Gardens not only upstage my "bowling cam" bu they do it with so much style and pizzazz, that I veritably covet their webcam!!

You can look at it here if you MUST!!

As for everything else, well.....

Done a bit of walking (seven or eight miles on Sunday, and to the pub last night!!)

Went to a bonfire and fireworks display (Despite being neither catholic nor protestant, I still feel aggrieved that one of Yorkshire's crazy folk should be repeatedly burned atop a fire each year with such revelry.... Especially in Yorkshire!!)

Lost another chicken (Current total is now 17)

Been out for lunch.

Watched a bit of TV

Finished a book (Ben Elton - Stark - An excellent read.)

Cleaned up "baked on" cat puke from the Rayburn in the kitchen!!

Usual stuff then.....

(Note: This is a first draft of the blog entry for today. The finished article never made it to press. We all know that blogger has a lovely "autosave" feature, and the ability to save a document at any time you wish as you type it, but nobody has contended with this paranoid android of a computer that I am writing it with..... "SecurityToken: Your request could not be processed. Please try again." is all it tells me, and the final edit falls out of the printer port onto the floor, to be swept up with all the cat hairs.

Seven deadly sins.

Sloth.......

End of message!!

Smoke and sparks....

Well, the weekend, like so many cheap fireworks, has long since been, and is now almost forgotten. Just like the foreworks, the thrill of setting up, and lighting a weekend, is often much more interesting than the ensuing face full of smoke and inevitable empty pocket.

I sound bitter and twisted... and it's true... I am!!

Didn't get much time to update the old blog (as predicted) so I will try to give you a 5 minute round-up on the events.

Friday... Work.... Went out for a couple of beers, and stumbled into a (usually quiet) bar which featured karaoke, and some sort of private party. It was overfilled, and difficult to get served. I had a bad back for some reason.

Saturday... Played a little Pogo. Went to a garden centre for a giant scone and a coffee. Bought fireworks. Met up with an old pal for some food and a beer. God bless Mr. Clegg. Played some Perudo. Played some Pogo.

Sunday... Got up. Bought a newspaper. Had some breakfast. Went for a walk in the woods. Made some bonfire toffee. Cooked some tea. Went to a bonfire (which was massive and the pub where it was happening had cars parked for about half a mile in every direction). Went to my mum's house and set all the fireworks off. Had a bath. Watched half of Pulp Fiction (AGAIN) and went to bed.

Makes for boring blogging, I know. Perhaps when I get a little more time to actually think, then I might get back to some more creative blogging?