Monthly archives: December 2001

This entry was posted in Croydon Edinburgh Leicester List london on by

It’s nearly New Year. I’m going to be so glad to see the back of 2001. It had such promise early in the year, but that all gave way to disappointments, frustration and bad management.

I’m into the final straight of my 3 1/2 + years employment with The Gas, my absolute final day has been set as 15th February. Tthough the way things tend to work out, that’ll probably become some time in March. There are a few people I’ll miss, and one ex-manager who I’ll be glad to never see again (though someone with a mysterious resemblance to her will be popping up in The Eliza Effect- why make up idiot managers when you have such a rich source making your life hell.) It feels wierd, and a little scary, but it’s past time to move on.

List time (it is the end of the year, after all)-

Places I’ll gladly never visit again-

Southampton

Barnet

Solihull

Staines

Leicester

Places I’d happily return to under other circumstances-

Cardiff

Edinburgh

London

Undecided-

Croydon

Richmond

Kingston

Observations-

If someone wants you sacked for another person’s mistakes, you’re probably in the wrong company.

Never promise more than you can deliver, and bitch slap anyone who does it for you.

In this networked world, why did I have to drive over 10,000 miles in the last six months?

Resolution-

Happier, healthier, wiser.

This entry was posted in Uncategorized on by

And there it goes, barring the epilogue. The final chapter may get reworked, I had problems on the first draft capturing the sheer enormity of it. I may yet fill in the gaps to show how everything got to that point, as I have said, I didn’t get enough time to flesh out the story as much as I would have liked.
I’ve received the Ink Link award from Planet Cartoonist. And with the bare minimum of cartoon content on the site compared to what I have planned for next year.

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Another Sunday night special. Two short chapters as I begin two wrap everything up.

Tuesday’s update will close out the stories in time for Christmas, leaving just the epilogue, which will be published on New Year’s Day (barring monstrous hangovers).

I’d planned to have more chapters to this tale, more snapshots of the character’s lives outside the two main narratives, but work commitments saw me spending more time in cars and hotels than my own home. Ah well, that’s over now, and it all provides material for The Eliza Effect- which will be coming your way from late January.

Stay tuned.

This entry was posted in racism Tom Clancy on by

I’ve started reading the last Tom Clancy, The Bear and The Dragon, to satisfy my guilty techno-thriller craving. I’m only a fraction of the way in (it’s bloody huge), but first impressions-
You can’t stop reading it, you need to know how it’s all going to pan out. The good news is it looks likely to be another large-ish conflict at the end, just based upon the characters being set up, rather than the nasty anti climax of Rainbow Six. The bad news is you get more than the usual Clancy editorialising through characters- a depiction of the Chinese which isn’t quite racist but is certainly xenophobic, some unnecessary homophobia, dismissals of ecological concerns in ways which would sound stupid to anyone but an oil baron and regular slagging of Clinton (despite the fact that in Clancy’s universe, ol’ Bill never even made it into the White House.)
I’m still going to read all the way to the end though.

This entry was posted in internet Manchester on by

Gah!

I was supposed to have a snowboarding lesson tonight in Sheffield. I got to the city with a half hour to find the ski centre and promptly got lost. Then I drove round for an hour trying to make sense of a piss poor map I’d downloaded from the internet.

I guess I could have found my way easily if I’d known that Sheffield Wednesday played at Hilsborough. But I didn’t, and all the other stadia were in the other direction. Finally, I gave up and started following signs for Manchester, which was when- you guessed it- I found the bloody ski village!

No snow board lessons for me, but I should be able to find it next time.

This entry was posted in Croydon Manchester on by

Back in Manchester again after the jaunt down to Croydon. I’m still sleeping on the bedroom floor because there wasn’t enough time to get fully unpacked. By Wednesday I should have everything, including myself, into the right rooms.
Based upon the rucksacks I used to carry them, I’ve brought about 80 litres of CDs and over 90 litres of books up with me. How many CDs in 80 litres? I’ll tell you when I’ve racked them all.
Time for bed.

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Ah, minimalism. I’m in a two bedroomed house with a large living room and my furniture consists of- some shelves.

I don’t plan to get much furniture either- a bed, a futon, I’m inheriting a computer desk and a chest of drawers and maybe a few throw cushions (how camp is that?)- because maybe then I’ll be able to overcome my natural untidiness.

Maybe.