Remember me ?

It's been HOW long since I last made a post on my blog ? 

You'd be forgiven for thinking that I'd forgotten it existed. I hadn't so much forgotten it, just completely gotten out of the habit of using it. At all.

I guess I could say that the only thing consistent about my blogging, is that I'm inconsistent about it. My approach does not follow any set structure or schedule. I've not made (or if I've made, I've never been able to keep) a promise to make an entry every day, or week etc.

This hasn't happened. I never even managed to do this back in my teenage years when I wrote seemingly without restraint into my diary.

There was cake. Thank the universe for cake. 

This is not to say that this is not a habit that I should foster. Perhaps it would be a good idea to do so.

In the (considerable) time that has passed since I last made an entry many, many things have happened.

I guess I could try to list them. I'm going to fail, because there's bound to be a ton of things that I've left out. Any omission is not an indication of irrelevance, merely a demonstration of my failing memory and the amount of time that has passed since the last post.

SOME things that have happened (in no particular order) .....

I bought a new Chromebook.

My daughter came out to me that she has been going out with her friend for several months. I am very proud that she had been able to tell me this. It did not come as a surprise, which I think she was surprised about. Although my daughter's Mother and I had been concerned for some time about her sneaking out at unreasonable times of the night, we had realised that she was spending an ever increasing amount of time with a particular friend, and that they probably were more than just friends. We'd had  a really lovely conversation about how her friends and been very supportive, how there are still some reactions from some people that aren't positive (despite the massive changes in our society since I came out in the late 1980s). A side effect of this joyous occasion was that it reopened wound in my relationship with my parents about their reaction to my coming out, and how I felt they did not support me at all when I really needed them. Like I said to my mother, I am very pleased for and proud of my daughter, and it's about her. It's her day.

I've battled on with some frustrations with work. I'm constantly going on about how much it's not like it used to be, and that I don't like it anymore. Well that journey has continued. It's carried on getting worse, and I've stayed there to witness and partake of it. I have to learn to either shut up, or remove myself from the constant misery. As they say... If every day it's getting worse.. then each day you see me having the worst day of my life. I should be (and am) grateful however, I have a reasonably well paid, secure job. Much more than lots of others have. I may well be in wage jail, but in reality, I do have the keys to the cell. The power to escape. Keeps me off the streets I guess.

There's other things that have happened, but these are the main things that stick in my mind. I have plenty to say about the general election last week. Sorry to tease you, but I'm going to leave that for another entry. I bet you can't wait.

Along with the stresses of work, I've found myself in a rut over the last few months. I have noticed however some things that help me feel better.

Getting off my arse and actually doing some writing - even if it is the blog. I've tried and tried and tried to create places or times at which I am more likely to write. The truth is, that I have learnt that although there are some things that I can do that will increase the chance of me being creative.. there's no substitute for actually sitting down, opening the computer, or pad and ... er.... just typing (or writing) one word after the other into sentences.

I've taken to going for walks. Not really with any regularity, but with some moderate length. Not sure how you would categorise the length of a walk. I'd think that's purely subjective really. One man's long walk is another's gentle stroll. I've walked either from or to work several times now. It's getting much easier as the weather improves.

On Sunday, I walked into Cosham to put some bottles into the bottle bank. They were cluttering up the worktop in the kitchen. After doing my bit to recycle some glass, I figured that I fancied a bit more fresh air so walked further.. and further and further. Ended up in Gunwharf. I think I ended up walking about six miles in the end. Felt good for it.

There was cake. Thank the universe for cake.

I'm liking the walking. Gets me out of the flat, where I'm too tempted to do one or either both of two things.. sit in front of the computer or TV or eat when I don't need to. Obviously they're not that good for my health. I like the fresh air, the contemplation time.

Today (well, actually yestarday now) is my day off. I arranged to meet up with Helen for lunch. Despite a slight overlseep I managed to meet her for lunch. We went to the Trafalgar in Portsmouth and had some nice lunch and a drink. Only the one alocholic drink mind. There was also cake.

After this, I went for another walk, diverting through Fox's Forrest. Did a little circuit. Lovely sunny day, birds singing. People out walking their dogs.

Fox's Forrest. Birdsong, dog walkers. Quiet contemplation. Fresh air. What more can a guy ask for ? 

Nice spot near Whale Island on my Cosham - Gunwharf stroll

Sunday's walk from Cosham to Gunwharf nearing the impromptu destination.

I can fix... my Chromebook

Wednesday 28th May 2014. 23:49

Today, I received delivery of the replacement screen for my chromebook that I ordered of ebay. That's rather swift delivery, bearing in mind I only ordered it Monday (I think).

So, £29.03, free postage and a 'how to' film on youtube and I now have a fully functional Chromebook again.

I did try installing Ubuntu onto it, so that I could get Celtx to work with it, and be able to use it when I don't have an internet connection (Celtx provide an in browser service call Celtx Edge, but of course this doesn't work when you don't have an internet connection).

I managed to install Ubuntu fine enough, it was just that I couldn't seem to get Celtx to install and load. I gave up in the end.

It may be that the Celtx isn't compatible with the version of Celtx I downloaded and installed (after following another 'how to' video on youtube), or it may be that there's something else I was doing wrong. Either way, I abandoned that idea. It's not like I'm away from an internet connection that often.

Celtx, the awesome script and novel writing tool.

I'm just creating other procrastinations, reasons to not write.

During my messing around, I did discover that the Novel writing part of Celtx now works on Celtx Edge. I don't think it did before.

Anyway. Helen came up last night. She was originally due to come up during the day, and we were going to meet in Cosham and have some food at a pub. Helen works from home as a travel agent, and this means that sometimes she can get delayed dealing with a client's booking.

Not like I'm in a position to criticise anyone else for working odd hours, or staying later than they have to.
UKIP at the local council and European elections, and how the other parties are fairing. What we both like, dislike and are frightened by in the recent turn of events.

When we weren't saying how worried we are by the fact that a lot of people seem to have voted for a party that they know nothing about, or have any understanding of their policies, and how this has historical links that do not bode well for society.

This got us making a jokey comparison about the whole in Europe / out of Europe debate, and how there is a stark irony about the Scottish Independence vote (due September this year), - wanting to leave one union in order to agree to rejoin another. In our normal way, we couldn't stay too serious too long.

We started to explore the idea of what would happen if Portsmouth decided to have a referendum on independence, on leaving the United Kingdom.

We ended up thrashing out some plot points, and a whole manifesto of policies of the party that would supposedly push for this.

The scarily funny thing seemed to be how plausible despite being completely ridiculous the whole concept and the policies were. Perhaps there'll be more on that later.

I'm sure I'll also want to put my two pence worth in about the rise of UKIP. Suffice to say so far, that I decided that I would do something about representing the kind of Britain I believe in by joining a political party. This is the first time I've ever done this, but do feel that I am naturally drawn to the common sense sort of policies of the Liberal Democrats. As is typical of me, I want the best of both worlds, left and right, because I do feel that we can't have a fair society if we do not have a strong economy, but that there is no point having a strong economy if our society isn't fair.

I do believe in people's strong responsibilities for the wider community and themselves, and society as a whole, and how they are the best at deciding and designing their life and their destiny. Personal freedom, and responsibility, duty go hand in hand. I also feel that unless we design our society to include and engage people, they won't be involved in politics.

Help those that need help, make decisions based on fact rather than with idealogical motivation. A society of tolerance, and freedoms - where there are more roads to travel than walls to keep people in - that's what I want.

Don't know what you've got till it's gone (or at least you can't have it).

Sunday April 13th 12:35.

It's a glorious sunny day. Despite other glorious sunny days already visiting upon us so far this year, this one leave me more inclined to go out and do something purely because I can't.

I can't because I'm on standby, so that means I need to be thirty minutes travelling time away from being able to get to the emergency call centre.

Luckily, this is only a fifteen minute walk away from where I live, however it does still limit my choices of activities today.

Having my daughter stay with me all week, despite being at work, and on standby has been another thing that has made this week different to the others. Now that she is staying untill next Tuesday, (and I come off standby 8am Monday morning) it will be a period where I have had to change my normal routines.

There's nothing exciting about it. But it is more.. well, normal than normal. Usually I either have her to stay with me when I'm on holiday, if for a few days, or if it's an overnight stay at a weekend, I'm not working.

This is the first time she's had to deal with me being out at work, and coming home tired etc, and vice versa. Her being a teenager means this isn't so much a problem. She probably relishes the fact that there's no one here to boss her about all day, or to nag her because she's spent the entire day watching some crazy download series on my Macbook.

I
t does mean that I've pretty much not seen my Macbook for a week. I am missing it, I get to see it, but getting to actually spend any time on it. No. I am relegated to the Chromebook. When Chloe's friend came up to stay over Friday night, I didn't even get that.

Not that I mind the Chromebook. But again, I'm yearning the things that I can't suddenly do, or use. Is that just rather childish ?

But I can't go on Second Life. . 

So, while my daughter is out with my parents for a bit, and grabbing some more things from home, I'm sitting here in the sunshine, soaking up the ultraviolet radiation. I've been up since about 8:30am. But now that Chloe's out, I don't feel the burning need to race upstairs and grab my Macbook back and cram in some Second Life time or some film editing before she returns.

Hmmm.

Don't know what you've got till it's gone eh ?

I also am certain that when I return home on Tuesday, I shall notice how quiet the flat is, how clean it will stay, how things will be where I put them. How much more like a house, and less like a home it will be.

Some people are just never happy are they ?

Hot Hot Hot

It's been super hot lately, and this has coincided with the week that I am on standby for the emergency call centre. I have been in rather a lot, and tonight (Thursday night) is the last night of my stint, but also the only day so far this week that I haven't been called in.

I had thought, or hoped that it not being the middle of winter that I wouldn't see much 'action'. I couldn't have been more wrong. I don't know how the guys out in the field were keeping up with all the problems that were going on. Trees causing problems, fires, lines coming down, over zealous gardeners digging through cables. All sorts of things. You could tell how tough it was getting in the delays that were creeping in for first response to faults - because the engineers were already out on another job.

The most stupid thing has to be someone deciding to prove that the power's out by using a ladder to climb up the power pole and test the supply themselves. Lucky the supply was dead, because otherwise they would have been. Important bit of advice people, don't climb up power supply poles, don't go near the cables if they happen to come down. Don't touch them. They have a really bad habit of killing people.

Having not spoken too much to my daughter this week, I text her tonight for a cursory chat about things. I couldn't call her from my mobile because I have to leave the line open in case I'm called in. The chat moved from sms texting to facebook chat, where I then sent her a picture of my new Chromebook. She then proceeded to lecture me about how I didn't need another device and that I 'just keep buying things'.

The problem is, she may be right. Okay, I have brought another device. But I did buy it ridiculously cheaply, and can always sell it on if I don't want it any more. Having identified a need, that I thought could be filled with my iPad and a portable keyboard, I went for the absolutely cheapest way of filling that need. Not the most complicated or expensive. But she is right, that I have an iPad, and iMac, why, oh why, oh why do I need a laptop. Well I do. I need to be able to type easily. On Wednesday, when I sat in the 'garden' working on a 'Doorstops' script for Beacon, it was on the Chromebook that I did it. I couldn't have really managed to sit out there on my camping chair with my iPad and a bluetooth keyboard. I have done in the past, and it's a thing of managing to balance everything right, setting them at the right angle on my lap so that I've got room to move or sit comfortably and type. Also the heat doesn't really do nice things to my iPad. Last time it actually shut itself down and refused to work until it had cooled down somewhat. The device itself, being made of metal was white hot. Picking it up in my hand, I was genuinely concerned I was going to get branded by the Apple Logo, burning into my palm.

I know that I can come up with loads of different reasons to justify my expenditure. To justify it to myself maybe.

It is finally dawning on me that our holiday is not too far away, and I should really get my arse moving and actually book one. There are emails I get frequently from some of the holiday places, offering me short notice deals, but those are still too close - and not yet for the week that we want.

I am confident that we will be able to get something. Part of me would like to have been able to go to Jersey, but it turned out to be so fucking expensive that I would have nearly had to sell the flat in order for us to go.
I may have just exaggerated slightly. Slightly. There's something special about Devon. Heading westwards has a spiritual draw to it. Heading Eastwards, like we did a few years ago when we went to Hastings doesn't have the same charm. I don't know how to put that into words, or explain it, but that's how I feel.

I would also like to go to Scotland, or Ireland, but there's also the part of me that thinks we should not be heading further North. Further South = warmer. Further North = colder, in my mind. Would I feel cheated spending my summer holiday deliberately going somewhere colder ? So that when I come home, it's warmer ? Now that doesn't make sense.

If it was somewhere more special, maybe Iceland, or Canada, or cruise up the Norwegian fjords, then maybe, just maybe. But to damp Edinburgh ? Nah. Does not compute.

I'm probably talking a load of shite and am about to get lots of comments from very angry people in the Scottish Tourist Board.

Chromebook.

Google Chromebook.

Working straight out of the box. Check

Stupidly easy to use and set up. Check

Happy with the fact that it only cost me £120 in ebay. Check (no, I paid by card).

It seems odd to 'get used' to the idea of typing on something that rests on your lap again. After a couple of different keyboards used to work in conjunction with the iPad, it does rather take some getting used to, navigating without being able to touch the screen. How used to doing that on something so small and portable I have become. It's weird, because I never find myself trying to touch the screen of my desktop computer. I've never expected to.

The keyboard is taking a bit of getting used to, if anything, it actually feels roomier than the wireless keyboard I have on my iMac. (when placed over this keyboard, the iMac's keyboard area is pretty much the same size). The keys feel more spaced out, and at the moment, I'm feeling like I have to work harder to type, but the more I type the easier it gets.

The unit itself is lightweight. Having a laptop resting heavily on your lap being something that would annoy me in years gone by. I think how heavy laptops have been, how distinctly unportable they were. This is VERY portable.

It's a nice little device for knocking out some pages, and with very few distractions, sure I can load up facebook, sure I can check my emails.. but it does instantly feel easier to just connect with the writing.

'connect with the writing'. Would you like that statement with some sprinkles of added pretension. Haven't quite worked out how to right click or whatever I need to do to select alternative spellings yet. This does mean that currently, it's easier for me to just try different spellings myself than it is to select what may be the right one from a handy list. I'm not too bothered about that, I always considered it lazy that the computer does the spell checking thing for you.

You would have expected that Facebook, be in the dictionary though, (well it is, but it's a noun, so caps initial only please, if you want to avoid the red squiggly line of shame).

As it happens, the 'right click' functionality is served by a two fingered click of the touch-pad area. Fascinating.

So far, I really like it. The whole idea was that I wouldn't be lumbered (if it really can be considered lumbering) with ipad and separate keyboard. When I purchased the iPad I had considered buying an Asus Transformer instead, purely because of the detachable keyboard and the fantastic battery life that gave. I had decided against that for two reasons, the first being, that would require up front cost, money, which at the time I did not have. Two, I anticipated wanting to write scripts certainly with the screen in portrait mode, something I couldn't do with the Asus, but the ipad with a wirelessly connected keyboard could do.

love my Chromebook..

As luck would have it, I'm on standby this week, which means at a moments notice I am called in to the emergency call centre. I think they may be watching me, for just as I was about to settle down to an evening of 'getting know' my Chromebook, put the kettle on, and started making a sandwhich (Ham Salad and Brie), then the phone rings, calling me in.

Tired in body, but not so much in mind, some six hours later I come home, to find two rather bemused cats. Treating them to some midnight (okay, 1am) snacks, and grabbing my Chromebook it's a really easy thing to just pic it up and carry on from where I left off. Everything's saved exactly where it was.

If the machine reckons that at 58% battery left, it has four hours and twenty-nine minutes left - then I think either there's something wrong with their calculation there or Samsung have seriously undersold the batteries on this little beauty.