Thursday, September 28, 2006

An Act of Kindness

As I sit here at my compyuter keyboard I should be about 100 miles north at my uncles funeral. I turned up at Kings Cross this morning to discover there were no trains due to power cable problems.

My main concern was that my mum was meant to be meeting the train I was catching so we could travel up together. I spoke to information and they told me the trains were fine at Hatfield.

They weren't. My mum turned up to discover there were no trains and she was going to miss her only brothers funerals. She went back to the flats she lives in and the warden, Peter, saw her. Knew where she had meant to be going and asked why she was back. She told him and he said to give him 10 minutes to make some arrangements and he would drive her there himself because there was no way she was going to miss out on being there.

I don't mind missing out, funerals are not my cup of tea at the best of times, but I am eternally grateful to him for making sure my mum gets to see her brother off.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

Bus(t)

So there I was sat on my local bus at the traffic lights when a lorry came round the corner and swung rather too wide.

My bus no longer has the rear offside quarter to it.

Tools of the trade

I have been looking for a tool to cut into brickwork in a very specific way. I didn't know if such a tool existed, but recently was sent a brochure for one that might do the trick. I expected I might have to pay up to £200 or maybe even £250 for it even though it. I wasn't expecting THIS!

Saturday, September 02, 2006

THere was a German, A Mallorcan and an Englishman

Following my holiday in Mallorca I can share these observations with you for the German, Spanish and UK parts of the journey.


GERMANY


  • If you ever have a few hours stopover in Dusseldorf make sure you go out to the main part of the airport as there is bugger all near the gates.

  • SHould you wish to overthrow the German people this can be achieved by the elimination of all cheese from the country. They appear to eat nothing but cheese.

  • Lufthansa are a good airline and I'm particularly impressed with the automatic check-in machines.


MALLORCA

  • Even half way up a mountain in the middle of the island you can get a mobile signal if you need one.

  • Don't think about retiring to Mallorca. House prices are exceptionally high.

  • Diesel is 0.99 euros per litre, rather than 0.99p!

  • The streets, even away from the tourist areas, are noticeably cleaner then the UK

  • Ladies: Leather boots are an absolute bargain.


UK

  • The only delay we had in travelling was coming back in to Heathrow which took quite some time queuing to prove I was entitled to enter.