Reply to: test please delete

[NickFitz]

There were a couple of slices of gravy-coated beef and a solitary roast spud left over from dinner last night. So that was lunch

[NickFitz]

Meanwhile on the 6th of March 2020 Brillo popped in, LM & NF shared concerns with him, NF took the car for its MOT, and I was doing the washing.

That was the MOT which mentioned a nail in a rear tyre in an advisory that I didn’t notice at the time, resulting in a flat tyre a few weeks later, and a load of hassle to get it sorted out while the country was in lockdown

[NickFitz]

That sounds far too complicated

It is complicated! Each day worked accrues 0.965 hours (approximately, it turns out) of leave. Then when leave is taken, the accumulated total to that point is reduced, but those days also don’t accrue any additional leave. So it gets very confusing when you’re trying to work out how much there’ll be at some given time, several months in advance. I ended up creating the spreadsheet the other year because I was trying to work out in February how taking a week off for my birthday in April and another for my niece’s wedding in September would affect the time I planned to take off for Christmas

[ladymuck]

I realised the other day when “booking leave” that the agency’s “holiday year” ends on the last Friday of the month, so my carefully-calculated plan to include 29 to 31 December was foiled. They’ll just pay what’s outstanding anyway so it’s not like I lose anything by it, but it means I made a mistake setting up my leave-accumulation-and-consumption spreadsheet back in January

Mind you, I haven’t got the calculations absolutely correct anyway, as there’s an additional two hundredths of an hour (1.2 seconds) in the official figure that isn’t showing up in the spreadsheet. This demonstrates why it’s a good thing I’m not an accountant

That sounds far too complicated

[ladymuck]

Afternoon all

Dull. Damp, Drizzly. Overcast. Currently 13 degrees and that's the high for the day. Barometer down to 1016 mBar.

Sunrise 07:58; Sunset 15:53 GMT

Long meeting this morning and now I'm in the hairdresser's getting the greys painted over. ConsultancyCo have their Christmas party today, which I never intended to attend and so booked this "personal appointment" into my calendar instead.

[NickFitz]

I realised the other day when “booking leave” that the agency’s “holiday year” ends on the last Friday of the month, so my carefully-calculated plan to include 29 to 31 December was foiled. They’ll just pay what’s outstanding anyway so it’s not like I lose anything by it, but it means I made a mistake setting up my leave-accumulation-and-consumption spreadsheet back in January

Mind you, I haven’t got the calculations absolutely correct anyway, as there’s an additional two hundredths of an hour (1.2 seconds) in the official figure that isn’t showing up in the spreadsheet. This demonstrates why it’s a good thing I’m not an accountant

[NickFitz]

as for shopping, it gets delivered every Sunday, no crowds, no hassle, no stress.

I could do that but it’s literally the only time I get out of the flat, other than waiting outside for takeaway deliveries, or going round the corner to the shops

[NickFitz]

Shopping done!

NaB was busier than normal for this time on a Friday, but still manageable. I managed to get all the heavily-discounted-with-Nectar-Price boxes of chocolates I wanted for Christmas presents, so that’s one less thing to worry about

It was rather drizzly on the way there, but that had just about stopped for the return journey. It’s still a very gloomy and damp-looking day though

Now to think about lunch

[sadkingbilly]

morning all
CBS and King Billy by the seaside this morning.
clouding over now.
just been asked to assist in yet more software migration projects.
i could go back to work full time at this rate
but i won't, honest.
as for shopping, it gets delivered every Sunday, no crowds, no hassle, no stress.

[NickFitz]

Morning denizens

I was woken at 7am by an alarm on my phone that I’d forgotten to disable, and immediately went back to sleep, waking again at the much more pleasant 9am

It’s a grey day today, and rather damp after some rain overnight. More rain due any time now, too. It’s mild enough at 10°C (”feels like” 5°) but only getting to 11°, and that only briefly around lunchtime. The barometers are down a touch at 1002/1010mB

Having considered the shopping situation, I’ve decided to just pop along to Not-as-Big Sainsbury’s this morning for a few bits to tide me over, then do a proper shop at Big Sainsbury’s early next week. There are some bits intended for Christmas presents that I can get at NaB, while there’s other such stuff that’s only available at B, so it makes sense to get the former out of the way now. And although the shops are always going to get unpleasantly busy most of the time at this stage of December, I have a suspicion that things won’t be quite as bad on a Monday or Tuesday morning as they inevitably seem to be on a Friday

[Pondlife]

Morning all,

TFIF etc One more to go.

Wind 12 kt from the West/Northwest
Temperature 8°C
Humidity 93%
Pressure 1013 hPa
Visibility 10 km or more
Scattered clouds at a height of 500 ft

[WTFH]

Morning all
TFIF, etc.
Was raining hard when I got up, so put on full wet weather gear for the walk. By the time I got to the end of our lane the rain had stopped.
Tomorrow I get to take the old car for one last drive - up the M5 to meet its new owners. (I hope no one thinks that is just an excuse for me not having to go Christmas shopping)

[DoctorStrangelove]

Morning.

Friday apparently.

Damply dry.

Dark.

Grey.

Sunless.

Dreary.

NotSoChilly in here at 14.7 deg, 13 in the kitchen, 11.5 in the leanto.

1009 mBar, 29.796 in Hg, 756.8 Torr, 14.63 psi, (up from 1006 last night), 67% RH (Lidl electric).

Meanwhile on the 6th of March 2020 Brillo popped in, LM & NF shared concerns with him, NF took the car for its MOT, and I was doing the washing.

Walk (towpath, unabbreviated) walked in the sunshine.

Lunch: brunch. Entertainment: whatever the thing is at 11:45: The Sycamore Gap, currently The Food Programme which just informed me that Xmas Day became a bank holiday in Scotland in 1958. Well there's a thing. Banned for 400 years.

Shopping trip to Aldi to get what they didn't have last Monday done dusted washed dried sanitised & put away.

Now the Pile o'tulipe that is FB wants a PIN to access my messages. I've never set up a PIN in the first place.

[NickFitz]

Tonight’s viewing was the start of The Black Swan on iPlayer, a Danish documentary about a lawyer who worked for organised criminal organisations but wanted out

And I finished the GPG 9 book. After Mogadishu, they’ve not had to do anything as big again, at least in part because of that success. But they’re still there, and carrying out around fifty missions a year in support of police operations in Germany. There’s also an interesting appendix about the East German equivalent, formed in secrecy at the same time as the official organs of the DDR were decrying them as agents of imperialist oppression

First Friday of my time off tomorrow!

Goodnight all

[ladymuck]

Is the local authority work interesting?

Remember the real rule is how does this contract help me get the next one...

Potentially, yes. I like my current client, they are a long standing repeat customer too, but the programme is just dull as dish water.