The Hodge Blog

Bit of a strange start to a ‘Holiday’, knowing that next week I am working some of it, but we are packed and ready to go with 1 hour to spare before the taxi comes.

It appears the US airlines have clamped down on size and weight with Delta saying the bag can be no bigger than 63” when the dimensions are added together and no bag can be more than 50lb (22kg). We would say we are fairly light travellers but we are having to take two larger bags instead of one large and one small as the large one can go overweight with the small one ridiculously light. Seems a little counter-productive, but there it is. I reckon they should charge based on the total weight of bag and passenger, but then I suppose that would be weightist?

Managed to get the last minute stuff done outside. It only consisted of moving the last of the walled gardens brambles to the bonfire which i do with a sort of pitchfork carry over my head. When I get to the bonfire it is like wearing a crown of thorns but it at least gets them moved in one lift! Also watered and fed the plants and dug up the remainder of the new potatoes. Now I just need to train the girls as to what to do while we’re away. i suspect that won’t happen but we’ll see.

Anyhow, must get on…. see you in two weeks

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = It’s another lovely day here, but it can rain from today until 14th August if it likes!

Mood meter = Finally got here, do I need the break

Things went horribly wrong last night as the burglar alarm at work fired. As usual it was the dutiful trek out to check, only to find it was the warehouse door! Still at least I did manage to get the holiday clothes out ready for packing this evening, but that was about it.

I will have internet connection for some of the trip, but as we are travelling to the cabin on the lake with Linda for Fri-Sun this week, that maybe a stretch as it is very rural. Should be fine after that although the condo for the second week does not (or at least didn’t) have internet, I can normally pick up a neighbours, providing in the intervening few years, they haven’t locked it down with a key. The upshot of this is, I will be posting when I can but don’t expect it every day!

Home county, Hampshire won through to the semi-final of the T20 cricket trophy. That will make the national finals very interesting as they are being held at the Rose Bowl up the road and I have a ticket for it on August 14th. That is actually the day after I return home. Actually, not only do i have a ticket, I have a spare if anyone is interested as Stuart is now going on Holiday and will be leaving on that day.

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = It’s very nice this morning, but how come does the BBC web site say light rain and the BBC breakfast show saying it will be beautiful and the chance of a shower almost non-existent?

Mood meter = Guess it feels like the end of the week?

Two really surprising aspects to the news today (Not!)

1. BP will announce a huge loss today – huge surprise!
2. Broadband speeds in the UK are not as advertised

On the BP front, they need to take a provision for around £20bn to cover the oil spill in the Gulf, to even believe they are still in business is a wonder to only make a single loss would make me wonder just how much we should be paying at the pump.

On the broadband speeds, it is strange that whilst technology moves on, no houses are being moved closer to exchanges and few exchanges are being built that makes it even more surprising that speeds in the last few years have moved from 512k to a now staggering up to 50Mbps! It is the ‘up to’ that should be carefully noted as few people it seems are actually getting that speed or anywhere near it. Here on the hill I struggle to get much over 1Mbps, sad!

It is precisely 2 years today until the London 2012 Olympics. They are announcing the volunteering programme which I hope to participate in. It seems a long way off but it’s something that I’m sure will be pretty exciting once it’s here.

Did very little last night. There are a few things to do before we leave on Thursday and last night was an effort to pick some of the vegetables and get them blanched and into the freezer. It was Broad and French Beans last night and I need to lift a few potatoes later this evening. I think everything else may be OK while we’re away but I will need to train one or both the girls before I leave.

Unbelievably tired this week. It has been building over the last couple of weeks and I am hoping that the upcoming break may refill the tanks. If it doesn’t then I may need to look at just what I am doing on a daily basis and back off a little. That will be tough as there is still a bit to do here, but work needs to take priority as it pays for everything else!

On This day in history and last year… It’s Sister Alison’s wedding anniversary today, as she told me last year! – Congratulations you two!

Weather = That’s pretty accurate

Mood meter = Tired and busy

Well, the weekend took for ever to get here and then it was over. oh why can’t it be Friday again!

Have a ton of stuff to cram into the next three days before we disappear for a mixture of work and holiday for two weeks.

Managed to get a fair amount of ivy and brambles off the wall between the walled garden and the tennis court and that wall is now almost done. It seemed to take for ever on Saturday and Sunday and although it was definitely ‘sunny intervals’ it was still pretty hot and draining. I certainly was dead when it got to sitting down last night. That may have been added to by tennis exertions with Sean and Stuart which was a welcome diversion and the first time I have been on the court in earnest this year.

Got the sight test done on Saturday morning, although as I had the wrong contact lenses with me, that part had to be scrapped and has been re-booked for 21st august. Strangely the prescription for short-sightedness has come back dramatically. My left eye used to be –1.5 but is now –.75. If it carries on like this I will not need glasses for distance work but will probably need them for reading. It was really strange when the optician suggested as I was struggling to wear contact lenses as it just meant I had to wear reading glasses for close up work with them in, that I wear just one and use that eye for distance and the other for close up… I’ve been doing that for months! Apparently it’s called ‘mono-vision’?

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = It’s warm, but not that sunny

Mood meter = This is going to be a tough, short week.

Thank someone it has got to the end of the week, it seems to have taken for ever. I do however think it should be pretty hectic with it being the last one before we go off on our working holiday.

First off will be the usual Friday night out. I am returning umpteen lifts home from Steve by picking him up and taking him in to Chandlers Ford. Not yet totally sure how it will shape up for me but I am feeling it could be a late one as murmurs of town are uttered

Saturday will be some errands including a sight and contact lens test on Saturday morning, so it will likely be Saturday afternoon before I can get anything done here. Fortunately I cut the grass with the ‘big’ mower last night for an hour or so. Truly as the corners were done last weekend it should be fine for the time we are away so i was glad to get that done. Certainly I need to burn the ivy and stuff collected from the walls and maybe do a bit of strimming.

Saturday night I have offered to take Jo and her friend to a party so may just sit out down the pub awaiting a call to go and fetch them. Not sure what time that will be but I suppose it really doesn’t matter. It is pretty rare for her to be out and even rarer for her to be drinking. Hope it doesn’t get too messy

Sunday morning will be another slot to get something done, but we are also having Sean and Stuart and wives over on Sunday afternoon for a game of tennis, yes, we’re finally using it for the first time this year. That will likely mean we will be getting ready for that for most of the time. That should be fun though and we may even get a game of snooker. If it’s nice, I may even get the BBQ out.

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = It’s ok today but the weekend is likely to be good?

Mood meter = It’s here….

It went from hectic family stuff to hectic work stuff yesterday and at the minute, I can’t see my head above the parapet for a few days yet and I am off to the US in just one week.

Not sure how yesterday’s meetings all crept up on me, but there were 4 rather long ones giving no time to catch up with prior stuff after the day out or the meetings that day All I know was that I was out of here at 6:45am and not back until after 6pm, so it made for a long and tiring day. Of course, what that led to was very little getting done here. In fact, the only thing I did do was sort out Emma and my old computers, which seem to be surplus to requirements and have been sat under a sleeping bag in the garage since we moved from Chandlers Ford, so about 18 months. To get them going was not quite as simple as plug and play as the leads, mice, keyboards, etc were up in the loft and of course, with three lofts, they were in the one least accessible above Jo’s wardrobe, so, after struggling with that, twice! I managed to locate everything and as Emma’s old machine is promised I deleted everything off that and updated the operating system, etc. In the end I was actually surprised how good a machine that is, flat screen and all!

Hopefully I will get a bit more done this evening than just that as we head toward what is likely to be a pretty slack weekend as I take time out for eye and contact lens checks on Saturday and a few friends come over on Sunday. Needing to squeeze a Friday night in there too!

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = Seem to have got that working again

Mood meter = Is it not the weekend yet?

Seems every morning starts early this week. After work disruptions this week I am in extra early to get a few things done before a colleague flies back to the US later today. Yesterday’s disruption was of course worth it as, according to Lindsay’s Facebook page, she became a LL.B (Hons) from King’s College, London. I posted a quick picture from my phone, but below are a couple I took on the proper camera during the day. (click to enlarge)

It was a complete family day with Lindsay, Jo, Emma, Josh and I travelling and I was fortunate to be tasked with driving both ways! We set of at around 6:30am as there was a ton of stuff to do before the ceremony and we had decided to park in Richmond and get the tube to the event in the Barbican on the South Bank. The event itself didn’t start until 11am, but we had to get pictures, gowns and just relax and take in the atmosphere. By the time it turned 10:30am, the whole scene on the terrace resembled a scene from Harry Potter and Hogwarts! It is really funny how there are different gowns and trim depending who you are or what you have achieved. Red for PhD, Blue trim for masters, and a buff trim for under-graduates. The ceremony kicked off spot on time and was extremely well marshalled with rows of students being directed out from there seats, out of the auditorium, and back in a side entrance, over the stage, two hand shakes, after being announced by some head wizard, collect a scroll and disappear of the other side of the stage and back to you seat. In all they processed all 200 or so students, got the speeches over and we were drinking Pimms in just over one and three-quarter hours! that was good as the next ceremony seemed to be kicking off at around 2pm. My only disappointment was that being a decent university it has a large intake of foreign students which, when the wizards went to leave and the national anthem was played, meant the atmosphere was very subdued as it was not the national anthem of perhaps the majority in the room. Dad of course made up for that by singing it at the top of his voice. Made a few people look around and Emma to shrink inside her clothes with embarrassment! It was, despite my joviality a proud day for me too with, as the chancellor kept reminding us, the student graduating from an ancient college, dating back to before Oxford and the 1100’s that consistently performed as one of the top twenty-five in the World! That is one daughter through and one more going there in September for three years…not bad! Of course the real congratulations are not mine, but Lindsay’s. She had to actually do the work, so well done kid! Anyhow, great family day done and it’s back to the grind… On this day in history and last year… Weather = Mood meter = The week seems like it should be far more ‘in’

Told you I may not have time today… up since 5:30am and 3 minutes to take off, hope it’s a good day…catch up later…

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = This definitely is jammed! it’s sunny and warm currently

Mood meter = It’s one of those milestone days I guess

As expected Apple have announced they will issue free bumpers to all iPhone users in an effort to stop calls dropping from their phones. Pretty they may be, phones, it appears, they are not.

The weekend passed fairly routinely with several jobs getting done here. It was a pretty tame Friday night as I managed to get the train back and forth from the pub and Lindsay arrived from work to collect me from the station at the absolute correct second…sweet. It was certainly quieter than the same weekend last year

Saturday brought the grass cutting to the front of the list. I was hoping to get the lot done before a wedding next door at midday, but fell short of getting the big mower out only managing to get the drive cut and all the inaccessible bits with the small mower in time. I did however get the mat well done and door threshold, not only that, the last bit of oak trim around the fireplace is also in place.

Murray and Sally were over on Sunday with the kids which was really nice and stopped me doing too much around here. I was up early and managed to get the wood that had been cut own over the last week or so burned on the bonfire. Again, I had hoped to get the big mower out, but I’m not too disappointed I didn’t and it was nice to have part of the day off.

It seems to be a busy time on the BBA front. Last week it was Margaret’s and today it is eldest son James ‘Jock’s’ Birthday. He is a Newcastle fan, but we’ll not hold that against him!

Tomorrow, I still hope to post but it is Lindsay’s graduation in London and we will likely need to leave early. I thought we were on the train but it appears that is not the case and Dad is driving! Good ol’ Dad. It is the whole family and it appears we have to dress up. That could be a challenge for Emma as I think she doesn’t have any skirts or dresses that are much wider than a decent belt…we’ll see but it appears I have to dig out a suit to wear too

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = Not sure what’s going on here. It seems to be stuck with Friday’s weather? It is beautiful this morning, sunny and likely to be 23 degrees.

Mood meter = It’s Monday but I feel up for it

Inevitably HMRC have taken until the 11th hour to appeal against the CVA at Poorsmouth. They have contested it on two counts. The first that the amount they were owed was doctored to make them irrelevant in the voting (less than 25%) and the other is that they would be unfairly prejudiced if the \XCVA was accepted. I have to say that while I am now a little fed up of this saga and just want us all to get on with football, I do have a problem with their supporters venting their anger at HMRC. It’s our money as a nation, we have been cheated out of it. They have used it to win trophies, buy expensive players, stay in the premier league, etc. That’s just not fair and they should be brought to book. Not only that, it’s a substantial sum of money not just a few pennies. They can make the argument that HMRC will be worse off through not accepting 20p in the pound, but there is no guarantee with there ‘true’ debt that they would get it anyhow and where do you draw the line? This will stop them adding players to their squad until the appeal is heard, probably around October.

After the ‘fudge’ from Apple last week saying that the iPhone 4 dropped call issue was caused by an incorrectly calculated signal algorithm, they are now going to have a press conference this evening (UK) to announce more about the issue. It appears that the way the phone is held, (e.g to the ear!) that interferes with the aerial and drops the call. They are expected to maybe provide rubber bumpers to all to try and get some insulation around the phone to cure it. Estimates say that if they had to do a recall it would cost over £1bn as they would have to recall all phones as they have always had this aerial design. Ah well, it Apple, it’s pretty, I suppose it doesn’t really matter if an iPhone can actually be used as a phone, does it?

Managed to get a few jobs done last night, although I was frustrated in my attempt to get the mat in it’s well. I need a piece of wood 1170mm x 865mm x 25mm and couldn’t find anything that would suit. That was frustrating as it took about an hour to get nowhere. Did manage to get the rest of the brambles from around the tree in the walled garden done and that should help to get the area cleared and mowed as I am hoping to get that done over the weekend.

Bumpy night last night with wind and rain which was more reminiscent of Autumn than mid summer. It has left the plot strewn with leaves, twigs and even a couple of pretty large branches. Need to get a ton of that burned at the weekend if we can find a gap in the weather.

Looking forward to the weekend although work will be a bit curtailed as Murray and Sally (and kids) are down for a visit.

As the BBA, it is my duty to announce the head of the family, Margaret’s Birthday today. Happy Birthday Mrs Blakeley.

On this day in history and last year…

Weather = It’s really not nice!

Mood meter = It’s the weekend…well almost!