Christmas

A very nice time was had over Christmas. Spent Christmas day at my parents and had a great time with ny little niece Leah. It was the first,I hope of 'family' Christmas. Boxing day we had our two Godsons and Fiona's cousin for lunch. Again very nice to spend some time with family. Had some nice presents, the best one being a weather station (WH-1081PC). All ways wanted one of these and you can see the result on this page. It still in 'play mode' and will take some time to get it all set up and positioned correctly. I will post some photo's when it is all fully installed.

Merry Christmas

That time of year again, I hope you have enjoyed reading my mutterings. I hope you have a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year and remember don't drink and drive, take the coach!!

Don't mess with me

Very quiet few days, traffic so light been arriving in Victoria up to 30 minutes early. Passenger numbers not that high either so people seem to be saving their money. Yesterday was last day before Christmas and a little strange. As the traffic was so light I went to Victoria via Knightsbridge. For those that know the natural History museum will know that there are speed cameras outside. Any way a gent in a very nice BMW thought he would overtake me (the 'must get in front of the bus' type) I checked I was doing 30mph, he obviously wasn't as the camera gave a very nice two flash salute to him!! Joining the M4 at j16 on the way back I made sure as normal that I was in the correct lane, you do have to on the ball here as the road is very clearly marked but people seem unable to read!! A young lad came up on my nearside, as the lights changed I moved off he then got very upset to find I was in the correct lane and he was not!! There was lots of horn blowing and then he turned up on my offside wound his window down and wished me a Happy Christmas, well it sounded like that!! I wished him like wise as he continued on in what he assumed was the correct lane.

A Bit chilly

Not much to report. last few days have been VERY cold especially on the bike but also we have some fantastic 'bike riding' days, so it is the 'rough with the smooth'. Very quiet both traffic and passengers. You can really see the recession biting. I saw in the press today that National Express is getting rid of 750 people seem to be the result of the merging early in the year, still not a very pleasant Christmas for those affected. I think I am Ok at least until march when the new timetable is announced. Hopefully then we can sort the silly situation of the 222 and 403 running at the same times from Swindon to Heathrow.

New map

I have added a map at the bottom of the site which SHOULD show my last reported position.

Blow in the Bag

Well blow into the machine to be correct. Just sorting my tacho etc out yesterday when one on the VCS staff appear. 'You have been selected'. For a prize? 'no, breath test' Fine no problem there hadn't had a drink since Sunday. This is one of those policies that I have no problems with. Each day they select at random a service and that driver has to take a breath test. They ask if you want a witness, have you had a drink, mouthwash tea etc and then you get to choose the tube (that must have been the prize) then you blow in the tube until the beep and they show you the result. In my case a big fat 0. You get the paperwork, one for them, one for your boss, and one for you.

Mouse in the house 2

Overnight last two days. Not too bad apart from the traffic out of Bath yesterday and the accidents today
very sad for all involved but I think the time has come for some of the old public information films to be rolled out, the green cross code man may get laughed out now but even now I still hear his voice every time I cross a road!! Problem seems to be the 'PC' brigade and civil liberties who seem to forget that everything you know has been told to you at some time, we humans do not have inbuilt instincts so we have to learn how to protect ourselves.
Mr mouse/rat seems to have moved in to the space above the lounge. It is driving Harvey mad. I have put some bait down but hate to use it because of Felix and Harvey. However today I have seen some plug in devices which emit high frequencies which is supposed to upset them and make them pack their bags. Any way will have a look in the local hardware shop tomorrow and at least give them a go.

Accidents

Bit fed up the last few days. Seems every day there has been an accident that has caused me to divert/be seriously delayed. It seems that as soon as there is any kind of accident the Motorway is shut without any thought to the chaos it causes. I know there has to be investigations but given the sheer volume of traffic perhaps it would be better to have some kind of fund that would pay the victims of such accidents, such as what happens with uninsured drivers.