about being an ex-smoker for ever and for ever and for ever
Wednesday, July 25, 2007
In the olden days when you moved to a new area you perhaps got hold of a local map and plan yourself a little walkabout to familiarise yourself with your new surroundings.
Now thanks to Google (Windows Live does something similar) you can peruse the rooftops of your neighbours often with quite a bit of detail.
It is a great bit of software and hardly a new one. I was moved to throw up this quick post because it seems to be performing much better nowadays in Ubuntu than my first experiences of it which were painfully slow despite working fine with XP. So hooray to someone - Google or Canonical I don't know which.
PS - Does it look familiar to anyone?
Tuesday, July 24, 2007
From the East to the West
It was time for the M and R's annual barby last Saturday so I prepared for a longer than usual journey. I was also up for a comparison of train services which is exciting isn't it? I had been discussing it with my friends on the Common (upstairs) and though they acknowledged SET had improved it was as nothing compared to services out of Waterloo proper. My outbound journey seemed to confirm that the pootling along in the old jallopy to London Bridge then a change then to Waterloo East then to Waterloo and then- bang!- I am on the Bullet train to Surbiton catching my breath in a top notch carriage with not a scratched window in sight. (getting a ticket at Waterloo was a bit of a mare though - almost as bad as Victoria). I get off the train and jump aboard, after a short wait, a reasonably unvandalised 281 which took me straight to the burning, if slightly damp, flesh.
(Argh ...Opera in Ubuntu didn't like this webpage (or vice versa) for some reason...rudely interrupted again. Switched to Firefox)
So South West wins round one. The next day with a bad head, probably induced by all that burger fat, I start the return leg. Again a 281 appears quickly and gives me an attractive ride up and down Surbiton Hill, parking straight outside the white facade of the station. Then it looked like the problems were about to start. Surbiton on a Sunday has always had millions of passengers and never enough staff. Add to that complicated enquiries by people whose first language is not English and other complicated season ticket procedures and you are going to die before you get to the end of that queue. There used to be two rubbish automated machines that also had long queues and the paper money slot would stop working just as it was your turn and you would find the fare was ten pence more than you had in change. Dreadful. However when I went there this Sunday though the endless queue was there were also a bank of intelligent machines that take plastic. So South West gets out of jail on this point - a marked improvement (though still a bit inadequate I would think for the commuter station par excellence).
But... I get to the platform and a not so handsome train is sitting there as dead as a doornail and the platform is packed with passengers. The train arrives and it is a struggle to grab a rather hard seat. Again there are more people than services out here. I get to Waterloo and walk straight through to catch a train to Plumstead. It pootles along as usual but it is not at all crowded - the opposite in fact, almost deserted.
Now of course millions of bored and cash rich Surrey-ites heading for a stroll down the South Bank is never going to matched by some mad Sunday exodus to SE18 but the point of all this is that a train service is more than the rolling stock, even the punctuality. The body/seat ratio is pretty important too. Since moving here I have never had to stand on either end of the journey and this is without me adjusting my normal hours. A train journey of fifteen minutes is a nice thing but 25 minutes when you can sit down and enjoy the views isn't too bad either. I doubt it will last sadly...all those new homes further east and all these disappearing transport schemes mean we might all feel a little more Surrey-like.
Monday, July 16, 2007
A friend has snapped this. I think some of this anti-smoking ban might just be a bit excessive - not only can you not smoke within the confines of a bus shelter you must be assisted in understanding that you cannot smoke with a Gigantic Banner. Dark references must be made to the law and oh yes there is the striking symbol in the colours black, white and red. And what are you supposed to do with that phone number? Is it a denunciation line or an information line? What kind of information? - "Hello I am phoning up to establish if I can in fact smoke in your bus shelter despite a sign of noticeable proportions suggesting otherwise?" "Please hold sir - I will just need to check that with my supervisor."
Some dreadful Finance Director mistook me for a "helpline" today. I sort of am one but he thought I was a vulnerable contact centre employee stuck in a warehouse in Gateshead pummeled into a near automaton. He was obviously in bullying mood. He started screaming at me when I told him his tone was aggressive "I AM NOT BEING AGGRESSIVE!!!!" If you put it in a comedy sketch it would be considered a lame cliché. I stepped out of the call and he apparently calmed down later (having got nowhere) but he has sent me into a black depressed rage all day. These people who are primed to say "put me through to someone who can help" before they have even started their inquiry are so patronising and disgusting it's not true. I have tried to buoy myself up with memories of the Month of Sundays event for Resonance FM that I went to last night. Pharaoh Overlord are a hoot - if you like your hoots on the weird side that is.
I can no longer get a clear signal for Resonance radio itself but the webcast sees me through.
Speaking of depressed, I am not sure if this lady and this one are overly excited by the smoke free joy of their bus shelter.
Thanks to AB for the photo
Avez-vous broadband? Avez-vous something to do?
Well that's my meagre effort - I would turn the sound down. I feel embarrassed by the "faster faster" exclamations I made.
It was curiously exciting walking up my road to the High Street to see it all closed off and policed-up in a relaxed way. There were sufficient vehicles making their way down the course (or whatever you call it) to hold my attention whilst I waited there in limbo with only the vaguest sense of when they would arrive. It was busier than these two photos make out - the Volunteer had even made an attempt to acknowledge what was taking place - it was festooned with red and white balloons. This was the only theming I saw down most of the length of the High Street.
R appeared at my shoulder unexpectedly and told me that Mr and Mrs R and the kids had decided against Greenwich and were in the High Street where they had bagged a good spot. The final moments before they arrrive are really stirring with a load of cars and bikes roaring ahead of the cyclists and finally a sudden splash of colour appeared at the bridge crossing the railway and they were here. And then they were gone. And we went home and started waiting for the next great event to come to Plum....whenever that might be.
The great day has come and gone - July the First. I have been mildly amused by the various sights offered up by the implementation of the ban.
This evening it was a guy standing outside a bookies having a fag and craning his neck so much to view a race that he was to all intents and purposes inside the place.
R thought it was only a ban in pubs and even I was a bit surprised by the sight.
I have been in a couple of pubs this week - my old grotty favorite the Hole in the Wall and the lovely Royal Oak in Tabard Street.
The former has miraculously developed a yard with three tables in it - the pub was the deadest I have ever seen it but it was an unusual time of day for me to be in it.
The Royal Oak is a gorgeous Harveys pub down a back street near Borough Tube which does great food. I met a friend for a meal there just before quitting and he found its smokey atmoshere a bit too much despite being an ex-smoker himself.
No smoke now in either of these two boozers. The smoke has been fully replaced with the smell of chip fat. The new excuse of those who can't admit to getting old is quickly being formed. "I don't go to pubs much myself -I can't stand the smell of old fat on my clothes the next morning."
It looks like there is finally a tenant in sight for R's flat after a brief spell of nervousness.
To celebrate the world bicycling community are gathering at the end of our road to do the old Tour de France.
Can Plumstead cope with the strain of something actually happening? We will find out on Sunday.
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
Plumstead links
I am going to stick a few on the sidebar thingy when I get time. Don't know why really...apart from the obvious. Now this one I think I may have referred to before its a kind of residents association/activist one with some wistful vision stuff thrown in. The vision usually takes the form of a jazz cafe which doesn't quite work for me - like I haven't the foggiest what one is. A kind of Milk Bar but replacing the Skiffle band with an ipod-type set-up oozing Charlie Parker or something. I have enjoyed visiting sibonetics site...it made me feel welcome in a funny kind of way. He has had a bit of a dispute with another blogger recently which reminds me of what our neighbour said when we moved in "you can hear a pin drop most of the time round here but it can suddenly get very noisy".
Then there's arthurpewty and his amazing maggot sandwich. He's not exactly Plumstead but near enough and is forthright about some of the local ethnic groups - one in fact- the baseball hat wearing youth . He likes Linux too so might be interested to hear I am writing this using a Live CD because I can't boot Ubuntu yet again. Like sibonetic he likes Doctor Who too.
There's a forumthing going on that I've only just noticed - it styles itself as Plumstead Common for some reason. There's a bit of an upstairs downstairs thing going on in Plumstead.
And finally another photographer though I'm not sure how active he is at the moment. I think he's the only one of the blogs representing the Asian community here.
All worth a visit if you want to smell out the area. So to speak.
At various points in this blog I have pasted up some stats from the Quit-o-meter that ticks away (whenever I am in XP) adding up all the minutes of life and pennies of pounds saved as a result of My Big Give Up. Perhaps we need one that operates on a national scale that we could start running from 01 July - the Nation's Big Quit. It should have things like Lives Saved of course and number of pence not spent on fags but should also include perhaps Amount of Tax Increased in Other Areas to Cover Shortfall, Amount of Additional Health Expenditure as people's decripitude is extended further and Number of Humorless Morons Stomping Around in an Oppression Frenzy.
What the country needs is a ban on Revolting Sniffers of the Train. (Is it something to do with South East London or have I forgotten my commutes from the South and West?) I have been lumbered with 3 in the last two weeks. Yuk.
The big move has taken place. R is still a bit of a stranger to these parts spending more time back at the flat preparing to get a tenant in.
I am listening to a nature prog on Radio 4 in the new "Media Centre" room (the old pc and a portable radio). As I do our family of blackbirds chirp merrily outside.
I think there is a bit of wild life inside the house as well but that's another matter.
Tomorrow I will give this commuting thing a crack after a break of more than a year.
Smoking will be banned inside all stations on July One. Not that there is much 'inside' to your average overground station. It will apply throughout which I think is a bit unfair.
One of the great things about smoking was as an occupational therapy when the rubbish railway companies were proving they were rubbish. Now the smokers must move themselves beyond the boundary of the station. Stand on one side of the line and blow in towards the station and you're fine. Stand on the other and blow out away from the station and you risk being bundled into a van and gang-raped by the fag police.
These risks are no longer mine I am glad to say - but they are entirely man-made risks.
Why add to the stresses of life with all these petty laws?
(Thanks to Boxley at Flickr for the pic- very lovely it is too)
Crossing Hungerford Bridge today a guy wanly repeating "B'shoo 'elp de 'omeless B'shoo 'elp de 'omeless". And me "sorry old bean must dash got to zip off a CHAPS payment for the new mansion".
I have spent more money in a single day than I have before or will ever do again.
So I think it will be a medium sized cappo from the Caffee Nero on my way in to work this afternoon.
Oh yes. Home ownership. Now this isn't it exactly but given its location in the so-called Thames Gateway it could look a bit like it at short notice.
As I said there is a lot to worry about when you first become a property owner.
Now that I am about to become a home owner there are just so many things to worry about.
Wednesday, May 16, 2007
Now here is a pub that isn't going to be too worried by the forthcoming smoking ban. It is the Pembury Tavern in Hackney.
I had vaguely heard of it through the SPBW (Rose signed up and gets the Pint in Hand) and had confused it with a boozer I used to frequent when I lived nearby in Rowhill Road. I was wrong it turned out. Despite being located on a major junction that I walked passed several times a week I had no recollection of the building. It was quite possible it was in its burnt out stage then but I doubt it. there were loads of vast boozers around Hackney at that time, and probably still are, and I am sure I would have noticed it in a disapproving kind of way. My dole office was located not very far away but I can't remember heading for a post sign-on beer up there. I was too near the flat I guess.
To cut a long blog short - it has undergone a bit of a transformation. To be honest I am surprised to find such a pub in Hackney despite the passage of the years.
What made me drag myself across London to get there? In the end it was an accidental purchase of a Linux magazine, "Linux User and Developer", one that I don't really like because it's a bit waffly and short on practicalities. It was accidental because its colour scheme put me in mind of Linux Format a magazine that I do like. There was one good article in it however about this man, Steve Early, who had developed his own opensource EPOS system . His thinking was pragmatic about the issue - he didn't want to be beholden to EPOS companies who deliberately lock in their customers data to their systems and who are at the same time often small outfits vulnerable to going bust. Not only has the combination of Steve's programming talents and existing opensource software protected his data he can flex it around in various creative ways. He also has the potential of putting his ideas out to other businesses with similar needs and possible making some money from offering system support.
The article also listed some classic pieces of OSS that I feel suffer because of their familiarity. Open Office is certainly one of them. Just because its commonly bundled with distros doesn't mean we should take its capabilities for granted. Less well known outside of the Gnu/Linux world is Gnucash. I have started to look at it on my Ubuntu install. The article was reminder of what a powerful set of tools are available to people without the stranglehold of closed formats and code or , less importantly, licence fees.
Steve's other interest is beer and he is a founding director of Individual Pubs a mini-chain of pubs who's main speciality is real ale. The Milton Brewery plays a leading role in the beers usually available but guest ales aren't in short supply either. (like Samuel Smiths they also avoid your bog standard products like Fosters Guiness or Coca Cola). There was a nice looking cider on when I visited but at 7% it was beyond my reach.
The Pembury has been a non-smoking pub since its re-opening under the Individual Pubs banner and this can only be to its advantage. Not one of their devoted band of customers is going to be changing their drinking habits one bit. And others attracted by the beers and light spacious atmosphere but put off by the smoking restriction will suddenly be without an excuse to avoid the place. (Perhaps a pub garden or nice area to smoke outside is missing-the junction they are located on isn't the noisiest but neither is it the nicest).
They do a great menu. The bar staff are lovely and the management think out of the box. I hope they go on to bigger things. (I also hope they spare a thought for the neglected world of SE18 - me and R might soon be in need of an individual pub ourselves.)
I haven't got a clue what the Fist Project is...but I think they'll be none too happy on July The First.
More blogging weirdness.
All of a sudden I have to moderate comments. Google must have changed my settings.
Help - where's the off switch?
Monday, May 07, 2007
July the First
Not long to go before the UK ban.
Apparently the punishment side of things is aimed at two groups - the individual smokers themselves who can face £50 fines "if caught in banned areas" (presumably for smoking - not just being smokers).
Secondly it is the managers of the premises who get a larger set of fines. They can be fined £1000 for not displaying no-smoking signs irrespective of whether anyone has ever smoked on their premises.
A friend of mine has received his guidance pack from the Government. He employs himself as a computer contractor so therefore he gets a pack - a bit daft and a bit expensive. I suppose some of the money from all those lovely fines will contribute to to cost of this waste.
Apparently he can still smoke in his own house where his "office" is. But if someone was visiting on official business, a Smoking Ban Enforcement Officer for example, he would have to protect that workers entitlement to a smoke free environment. He would also have to get that 'no smoking' sign up pronto to remind the Officer of his legal duty to protect that smoke free environment.
At least this friend smokes - I guess the same would apply to non-smokers in the same situation. They would have to stick up signs to remind themselves not to do something they wouldn't dream of doing.
But I don't have enough time to investigate it...I am wasting all my time on twitter.
That's a lie. Had the last big away trip of the season yesterday down in Folkestone yesterday.
I guess the point of Twitter and other "personal presence" websites is that those who cared to find out that fact could have done it more easily than accessing a full-blown blog.
I maintain that one of the main roles of blogs is a simple public notice saying "I am alive."
The problem is just about everyone either loses your address or thinks you've stopped or moved your blog. What they mean is they can't be bothered to visit your webpage. They'd rather do something more interesting or useful.
I also maintain RSS is an essential component of blog checking half bearable. However for some reason people can't face up sorting out an RSS solution. Even they way I have just described it would put people off. It sounds simply too technical.
Much easier to sign up for a twitter account or myspace where the same concepts used without any jargon and with only a moderate expenditure of effort.
Why navigate to Verbal Diary to establish I'm alive via a long-winded post like this when my name flashing up announcing "Just had a lovely biscuit" can do the same trick?
