Proper pub signage

I've thought this ever since the ban,glad to see I'm not alone :-)

what o'clock was it?

Salthouse Marshes, before beer :-)

A wonderfully bracing walk along the beach, leading back over the Marshes to the Dun Cow for a marsh beer burger. and a pint of Adnams.

Perfect counterpoint to a lazy day yesterday!

Candlelit snowmen, not what you'd think!

Cat, mat, fire

Tine for a snooze...

Christmas fire and wine :-)

When beancounters run companies

Nothing gets done unless it is cost justified.

If it's cost justifiable, everyone will be doing it.

So companies discriminate by the things they do differently.

Therefore companies discriminate by the risks they take.

Here endeth the lesson.

• a generalisation I grant you, but a truth too.

The 100 club

Since I was a lad I've been aware of the club on Oxford Street but never been.

In the 50's my mother used to come here in the era of Humphrey Lyttleton.

Finally a gig I want to attend, and a ticket I could get. Steve Hogarth, better known to Marillion fans as H, his 2011 Christmas Party.

Doesn't look to me as if it's been decorated since Ma was here!

James May would certainly approve!

Husbands Bosworth (n.)

Following a discussion on twitter I thought I should stake my claim here to the definition of this as per Liff.

It's not in either editions of Liff, so:

Husbands Bosworth (n.) a chair or other seating apparatus provided in a boutique, for the use of men to read their Telegraph (or other lesser newspapers); thus permitting the woman to take the necessary amount of time to choose her new apparel.
NB also used to describe the tech basement in Selfridges and pubs who incorrectly call it a man crèche.

The two beginnings of a good night

Beer
Bar Billiards

Did anyone confirm this picture was Banksy?

Or was that just wishful thinking?

No #Symantec, I don't want to find the original ISO file right now #fail

After a somewhat traumatic 24 hours recovering from an unexpected 15 hours power outage at the office (when of course, I wasn’t there). Stuff™ needed to be done.

 

One of these was catching up with why the Backup Exec 2010 R3 installation wasn’t patching on my last physical server (the one with the tape drive attached).

 

So I ran LiveUpdate and it just failed.  No meaningful reasons, just failed.

 

So I ran the update again, but this time checked out the Patch ID’s that were needed.  Then, headed over to Symantec’s site to download them.  Both were there, and took only a short time to download. 

 

So first the latest Hotfix. About halfway through up popped a dialog box requesting the location of a file to copy.  The bad news is that it didn’t state either the file name or the location.  It was just the usual location dropdown and a browse button (apologies for no screen shot – forgot to do it).  So I browsed around and nowt worked.  So eventually I left the dropdown blank, and then hit OK.

Off it went to try to do some work, and then – hallelujah – came back with an error message that “Symantec Backup Exec for Servers.msi” was not available.

 

This MSI is, of course, on the original DVD or ISO.  So off I went and grabbed that, and got the fix to work.  Then the service pack rolled just right in.

 

I understand that at times the some files might be missing or wanted, but, why Symantec – why the hell can you not tell me the file name or the fact that it’s on the original DVD?

 

And secondly, and much more importantly – what is the use of LiveUpdate if it cannot inform the user of files/DVD/ISO that is required so that this “Automatic Patching” can actually patch, automatically.

 

Waiting for the... Not worms but SAS band

To kick off the Freddie Mercury 20th Anniversary memorial gig

Clapham Grand.
Very Grand!

A walk through London... from 1 James to another

Recently I was to attend an event at the Royal Institution, a lecture by James Burke on Connections (see his former work - James Burke Connections) and was heading down to London on the train when I spotted a tweet from James May announcing a book signing that day.  Being almost the same age as him, I have found his TV programmes over the last few years really chiming with me.  So, knowing that my friend I was seeing that evening was a fan, I though a book as a present would be a smart move.

So I headed off to Leadenhall Market, bought the books, and joined the queue.  To be honest, this isn't the sort of thing I really do, but it fitted the mood.  But I decided that a sycophantic "I really like your work" conversatino was definitely not me, at the same time as realising that he would probably want to see and hear James Burke that evening.  So I asked James if, like me, he liked James Burke, an emphatic yes was the reply - so I told him about the lecture.  Much to James' annoyance he couldn't go that evening as there were book signing committments that evening, so I offered to take a signed book there instead for him.  Getting an extra copy, he made out a dedication and passed it to me - I then observed that this was a smart way to blag a free copy!  Grins, and then moved on.

Leaving the market I headed round the corner and found this example of old hidden amongst the new, something I like finding in London

Further on, have wondered back past Bank and the city, I entered Fleet Street, and stopped to admire (as always) the buildings that stood proud in the last century - proclaiming their owners and allegiances.  Never imagining that only a few decades later all that would gone and Fleet Street (named after a now lost underground river) would itself become just a shorthand term for the press, rather than its location

Another photographic thing I like is new reflecting old.  More clearly here: 

Further down Fleet Street, the Telegraph building - Peterborough Court 

As is often in old towns and cities, the ground floor fronts are all modern, horrible, glass "buy buy buy" places.  As Bill Bryson recommeds, look up 1 floor and admire the architecture.  Case in point below.

And yet another building prodly declaiming its publishing home. 

Towards the end of the street - the Royal Courts of Justice, reminiscent of Prague, and I'm sure somewhere there's a sign saying "Here be dragons"!

Diving south off Fleet Street into the Temple area (past Dan Brown fans photographing the Templar Church - damn) a wonderfully quiet and peaceful square can be found.

Just around the corner, just off the Embankment another quiet location, you can enter the gardens in the summer months.

Then, leaving the Temple area a building that, here in London, is just one of many, but would probably get a bit of a mention elsewhere, surmounted by a rather impressive wind vane 

Now entering Savoy Gardens, a memorial to Lady Henry Somerset to commemorate her work for the Temperance cause, with an interesting quote "I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink" non-alcoholic I guess.

Passing under a bridge, these silhouette of both the buildings, London Eye, and the photographers caught my eye

And then, round hte corner, the place I first heard proper surround sound in the 70's.  The IEEE building where a school trip permitted us to hear Atom Heart Mother in Quadrophonic sound.

What I hadn't know then - this was the location of the BBC from 1923 to 1932 as commemorated by this plaque


Further on, a tablet marking the location of the North Bank of the River Thames, before the Victoria Embankment was built in 1862.

Then, as night closed in, I passed Liberty's with it's Christmas decorations on show, but more interesting to me was the ship wind vane on top.  Second one of the day!

And then finally, after a great meal with my old school friend Ed, we made our way to the Royal Institution, and James Burke's incredible throught provoking lecture 1+1=3, curated by Aleks Krotoski

And, of course, to hand over the book!

ISIHAC - perfect radio fun.

A spiffing advert (well the iPlayer screen) for a brilliant radio show. The look on Graeme's face says it all

Compulsory listening here, I shall have to work out which series was my first.

Fao @vexentrix, cute cat's sister!

This one can be more stern, but is far more intelligent

Peekaboo! Cat in furry igloo

Cat: no. I really don't want to talk about it!

Matt nails it this morning in the Sunday Telegraph

Another in a series of confident builders

Royal National Hospital for Rheumatic Diseases, Bath, on a recent trip.

Anyone know what this is? Charlotte Street, Bristol

It was throwing out a little heat, but I'm intrigued!

Not sure I'd want a Gaudi style haircut

But this is what this appears to be offering!

Spotted recently in Bristol.

We are not men.

We are not men, who have not been soldiers
We are not men, who have not faced men
We are not men, who have not been to war.
We are not men, who have not put on uniform
We are not men, who have not drilled.

We are not men, who have not been on stag
We are not men, who have not dug trenches
We are not men, who have not been there

We are not men, who have not blancoed belts
We are not men, who have not deployed
We are not men, who have not fought
We are not men, who have not volunteered

We are lucky.
We are free.
We are just boys.

Thanks to the men.
We can only wear poppies.
With pride.

*Thanks to Fish, for the inspiration tonight.

And finally, 5 random heroes; remembered.

And at the going down of the sun,

we will remember them.

Memorial to the sons and daughters of this city.

A tangle of Otters!

North American Otters (3 of), a slight bending of the Wildfowl And Wetlands Trust objectives I think, but a good addition.

I wonder if we could have some at Welney?

Please?!

Bristol ships lost during the wars

With what optimism must Bristol Queen II and Bristol City II have been commissioned, built, launched and sailed? A World War over, a new world begun.

Then, within a short quarter of a century (or less, I don't know when they first sailed), they too were lost in the Second World War.

Today's the second day in November for remembering. The crew and families of these ships deserve remembrance.

Someone appears to have stolen Shrek's ears...

Anyone for croquet?

Flamingo going in for a respray

There are some more colourful ones around the corner!

Good instruction #ducks

Another confident builder

Now Jamie's Kitchen and Hobbs

:-(

Cpl A G Bryant

L/Cpl D A Bryant