test please delete

[NickFitz]

Call from the agency - renewal will be heading my way next week. Seven months plus the £20 p/d the agent knocked off when he did the usual "the client won't pay that" routine.

Now just to decide if I want to continue this or look for something else. I've told them I'd need to increase the amount of WFH too so that I'm only on site if I actually need to be here. Given that we're hotdesking away from the client teams we need to communicate with, and that most of my work is combing through configs and asset data I don't think that's completely unreasonable.

Good stuff!

[WTFH]

Links are up

Phew, that was close, I almost did some work there!

[DoctorStrangelove]

And we have one of those endlessly irritating pushed updates.

How they manage to make it slower than windoze update is quite beyond me.

[NickFitz]

For today's big adventure, I walked into the city centre, where I bought a couple of new pairs of shoes

And then I visited the new Food Hall at the market. Well, newish; it must be a couple of years since they demolished the grotty 1970s indoor market building. But it's new to me.

This is the lair of several Real Butchers. So I am now in possession of a whole, unboned breast of lamb, and a couple of pork spare-rib chops

I need to get in the habit of going there. The meat's probably better than supermarket stuff, and it's just as cheap if not cheaper. Several of them sell bacon and sausages that look much better than anything from the big shops. And I could do with the exercise: there and back is about three miles

[NickFitz]

Oh, and there was a weird little episode this morning when I was getting ready to go to the dentist. I'd just slipped my shoes on when the doorbell went. I assumed it must be the post and went down to answer it. But the post had already arrived and, when I opened the door, there was a young student-looking couple there.

They said hi, and I responded in kind. I assumed they must be for one of the other flats, so I let them in, but they just stopped in the hall. I grabbed the one letter for me, and headed back upstairs, and they followed me

I stopped at the door of my flat and asked if they wanted something, whereupon they also looked confused and said they were here for a viewing… of my flat!

I assured them they weren't, and asked them which house they wanted. Sure enough: next door but one

I wish schools would din it into young people's heads that street numbers increase away from the point nearest the town hall or similar administrative centre of the late 19th century, so they can work out which side of the house next door to go to

[DoctorStrangelove]

Oh, and there was a weird little episode this morning when I was getting ready to go to the dentist. I'd just slipped my shoes on when the doorbell went. I assumed it must be the post and went down to answer it. But the post had already arrived and, when I opened the door, there was a young student-looking couple there.

They said hi, and I responded in kind. I assumed they must be for one of the other flats, so I let them in, but they just stopped in the hall. I grabbed the one letter for me, and headed back upstairs, and they followed me

I stopped at the door of my flat and asked if they wanted something, whereupon they also looked confused and said they were here for a viewing… of my flat!

I assured them they weren't, and asked them which house they wanted. Sure enough: next door but one

I wish schools would din it into young people's heads that street numbers increase away from the point nearest the town hall or similar administrative centre of the late 19th century, so they can work out which side of the house next door to go to

^^^^Stalker Stalked Alert!!!!


During my prolonged investigations of Neath and District using the old maps, I noted that several streets had been blessed with several different names over the centuries.

So much so that it gets quite confusing, for instance bits of Penydre were called Union Street**, other bits were Llantwit Road, James Street was Gold Street and similar craziness.

Then again Coronation Road became Dalton* Road which confuses people interested in Ray Milland.


*After Hugh Dalton, one time post war Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, at a guess.

** Not because of any association with workers' representation, but because that's where the workhouse was.

[NickFitz]

^^^^Stalker Stalked Alert!!!!


During my prolonged investigations of Neath and District using the old maps, I noted that several streets had been blessed with several different names over the centuries.

So much so that it gets quite confusing, for instance bits of Penydre were called Union Street**, other bits were Llantwit Road, James Street was Gold Street and similar craziness.

Then again Coronation Road became Dalton* Road which confuses people interested in Ray Milland.


*After Hugh Dalton, one time post war Labour Chancellor of the Exchequer, at a guess.

** Not because of any association with workers' representation, but because that's where the workhouse was.

I found from the old census data that the terrace of large villas in which I live didn't have numbers at all when first built, at which time they were virtually at the edge of the city. They just had the names which appear on their stone gateposts. Ten years later, as the area citywards became fully built-up and development started moving further out, the numbers they still have today had been assigned

I know a few of the roads in the city have had name changes over the years. In particular, a number up in Highfields were changed during the Great War due to their association with Germany and the Prussian Royal House: Saxe Coburg Street became Saxby Street, Gotha Street is now Gotham Street, and Mecklenburg Street is Severn Street.

Oh, and Highcross Street, where Richard III stayed at the Blue Boar Inn the night before the Battle of Bosworth, used to be High Street, whereas High Street was called Swinesmarket. But they'd changed by the early 1500s, not long after Richard's brief sojourn.

[DoctorStrangelove]

Tea, aka dinner, was some more of yesterday's turkey leg with gravy.

It was followed by stewed prunes and custard.

It was all Very Nice.

Shortly I shall decide what to entertain myself with from the stocks of dvds piled up around the place.

And there's a thing on BBC4 at 20:00 all about "Hidden Wales" which may or may not be interesting, depending how parochial it is, , and who is presenting it.

Which turned out to be "Thunder Run(1985)" with Forrest Tucker, back when terrorists weren't all middle Eastern.

Thunder Run (1986) - IMDb

Though one of them is called "Carlos".

Bit slow.

The Hidden Wales thing was inneresting though.

[WTFH]

The wife has gone up north for work tomorrow, so just me and The Dog (tw). Sausages for dinner. Both of us happy with Gloucester Old Spot.


Sent from my iPad using Contractor UK Forum

[NickFitz]

Finally remembered to put the Polish café's name into Google Translate. It means something along the lines of Flavours of the Pantry.

Also, its online reviews are excellent, so if I ever want to explore the world of Polish cuisine I know where to go