Ovi Suite for Nokia 5800 'phone

I have had major grief today with the new version of Nokia's PC suite for their mobile phones. It is now called the Ovi Suite 2.0 but the name change is nothing compared to the software itself.

I installed it okay but then it wouldn't actually sync anything much - eventually it managed to do my calendar from Outlook but that was it. This required me to keep unplugging the USB lead over and over again.

I did some online research which suggested uninstalling the Ovi Suite, and the old PC Suite, then running the PC Suite cleaner utility, then running ccleaner, then rebooting, then re-installing the software. That didn't help.

I then tried running the software "As Administrator" - that didn't help either.

Further research suggested that you needed to have the latest software in your phone. My phone was on version 21.0.025 but the Nokia web site said the latest for my phone was 31.0.101. Online reviews said the version 31 was much better and less "buggy".

Now my Nokia Software Update Utility stopped working recently as there had been an update to it. Whenever I tried to run the Utility it tried to update to the latest version of the Software Update Utility. Then it would give me an error as I was using Windows 7. It helpfully did not allow me to download the software to run it. I tried doing the update check over the air but of course T-mobile do not support that.

Eventually I found the Nokia Software Update Utility latest version on their web site and downloaded it. I was now able to "tell" it to run in compatibility mode for Vista (SP2) and got it installed. It was then able to run and told me that I was on the latest version of software for my phone.

More research told me that version 31 had been released in Europe - but not in the UK.

I then uninstalled the Ovi suite again, ran Ccleaner to remove any stray junk and then reinstalled the "old" PC Suite. This is now running just fine.

So several hours pratting around and all I achieved was getting the Nokia Software Update Utility to work on Windows 7.

My view of Nokia has gone down several pegs too. Fine, they can not test every combination of software and phone model in every language but their web site should know not to tell me about a software release that is not valid for my jurisdiction yet. Ideally it should tell me WHEN it will be available though. They do offer a facility to register to receive emails or SMS messages when updates are available - that takes you round and round in circles too.

Equally, they should not prevent software from installing on more current operating systems - or they should be much quicker at testing for issues with new versions of Windows. Windows 7 Beta has been available for months - the final release was issued weeks ago. There is no excuse for this failure.

Their new Ovi Suite version 2.0 is also badly executed. If it requires a software update on the phone then it should bundle that as part of the upgrade or tell you before doing the install.

El Gato Negro :Tapas Bar

.: El Gato Negro :. Tapas Bar

I was stunned over the weekend - we watched a recording of Gordon Ramsey's "The F Word" from earlier in the week. Who should be on it but Simon and Chris. Former colleagues of mine at Harvey Nichols. Pleased to be able to report that they won their round for best Spanish restaurant in the country. It remains to be seen whether they get through to the next round.

Click on the link to see the tapas bar in Ripponden, West Yorkshire. That's a long way to go even for one of Simon's meals so I probably won't be able to visit any time soon...which is a shame.

Forbidden Planet

 

I was shopping in Forbidden Planet, Southampton today. I walked round a corner in the basement and nearly had heart failure. There was a Dalek in the lift!

Lucky for me it was an old model, not one of the new “hovering” ones you get these days, so I assume it couldn’t get up the stairs to the exit and couldn’t press the lift buttons as it has a sucker rather than fingers.

Libraries

This BBC article reflects exactly some of the ideas that I wrote to my local library about earlier this year. I said they needed to use IT systems like Amazon to suggest books to people that they might like based on other people's borrowing.
The already allow you to order online - if you know the book you want. But they send you a postcard to tell you when your book is in stock!
They don't monitor the blogs, magazines and TV stations to make sure they have books in stock BEFORE they become popular, so they are always reactive and fail to be relevant.
The books are not selected for young adults. Most of them seem to be chosen for women too.
Maybe they should look into providing audio books on hire for a period of time using current formats like ebook readers and iPod/MP3 players rather than CD and cassette.
The reply from the head librarian that I received was dismissive, saying that my library received a regular update of new stock. Basically, too challenging for them to think about.

in reference to: BBC News - Libraries 'must modernise' to secure future (view on Google Sidewiki)

Windows 7

I installed Windows 7 last week. All seems to have gone smoothly (so far). I was advised by the Upgrade Advisor software to uninstall iTunes first, so I did that. After the upgrade completed I reinstalled iTunes. This failed a couple of times until I ran the install executable “as Administrator”.

My graphics card driver needed an upgrade – also identified by the the Upgrade Advisor – so I downloaded and installed the latest one. This said that it was not certified for Windows 7 but it seems to work fine.

My Printer (Lexmark 4650) stopped working too. I downloaded the new drivers but these made no difference. So I uninstalled it, and the full Lexmark suite, rebooted and then re-installed. After I had put in the wireless network key it was running just fine again. I had to connect it via USB as when doing the first install for the software.

Everything else seems to run fine. Sleep mode is quicker both to sleep and to wake again. The wife likes the “themes” used for screen wall paper. We are using the Great Britain set at the moment. It cycles between Tower Bridge, Stonehenge, The cliffs of Dover, Tintagel castle, etc.

Southampton Walk

 

I was in Southampton last week. I had some time to spare and it was a nice bright day so I decided to walk around the medieval city walls.

I started at the Bargate (above) which is next to the main shopping centre. The old city of Hampton lies behind this gate. I walked over the Portland Terrace bridge to the tower below and then on round the wall and past the ruined castle.

 

On the way I passed “King John’s House” (closed), the Archaeology Museum (closed) and “The Tudor Merchant’s House” (closed for major reconstruction – reopens 2011).

I ended up back inside the city walls at the Holy Rood Church.

This was built in 1320 and was bombed during the second world war on 30th Nov 1940 and is now used as a memorial for sailors. See the dedication behind the anchor in the picture below.

There is a fountain dedicated to the loss of R.M.S Titanic there as well.

 

The city has provided information boards on the route that point out items of interest.

The castle itself has been built over but you can still see part of the bailey.

Southampton, showing bridge over Portland Terrace and the city walls

Cinema

I had an afternoon to spare today, so I went to see "The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus" starring Heath Ledger, Jude Law, Johnny Depp et al. Rather weird and quirky but enjoyable. Worth going to see as I guess it will be a classic. I found it to be more accessible than some of Gilliam's other work - like "Brazil" for instance.

The Mill Tea and Dining Room, Lyme Regis

Yesterday evening we were taken out by my mother to The Mill Tea and Dining Room in Lyme Regis. See www.teaanddiningroom.co.uk
The place is very small - maybe 6 tables. The food was excellent English fare. My only criticism being that some products were used a lot. Many things on the menu used leeks for example. On the plus side, this showed imaginative use of seasonal, local produce.
I had a leek and caper starter, my mother and wife had the carbeens - rissoles made from pig trotters and pork. For the main I had stuffed chicken leg - stuffed with leeks! The others had skate with caper sauce and rolled pork belly. For the desert the ladies had lemon curd blancmange and I had warm stewed quince with vanilla ice cream. I had never had quince before - it was lovely.
Well worth visiting again I think.

Bordon to Liphook Rail Link Bus

Yesterday I was planning a trip to Southampton from Whitehill by public transport, so I thought I would investigate using the new Rail Link bus service provided by East Hampshire District Council. I remembered that it had been reported in the “Bordon Herald” that the timetable could be found on East Hampshire Council’s website at www.easthants.gov.uk. I went to the website and could find nothing from their “home page”. I tried using the “search this site” links from the home page. These search links had technical problems. I tried an alphabetical browse through council services… there was nothing about the bus listed under Whitehill, Bordon, Liphook, “rail link” or bus. After about 20 minutes of searching I found a community news feed. The last item on this feed was about the new bus service. This eventually led me to a hyperlink to the timetable.

So, in a spirit of cooperation: the news feed led to this page http://www.easthants.gov.uk/ehdc/community.nsf/webpages/8.93+Rail+Link+Service. The timetable itself is at http://www.easthants.gov.uk/ehdc/community.nsf/0/538C7BA936AD54918025762C0048DC9E/$File/Timetable.pdf. So that’s nice and easy to find now.

I have taken the liberty of using an online service to shorten the first of these hyperlinks for ease of use. You may prefer to type http://tinyurl.com/ykncg5r into your preferred web browser in order to visit the description of the service and link to the timetable.

I have reported the failed website search to the East Hampshire “Contact Us” service. So it may – in due course – get fixed. The bus service itself may well be failing to attract customers if it is not easy to find out where and when it runs.

 

Heron

We were out for a walk last week when we heard an almighty racket coming from a garden ahead of us. On looking through the hedge I could see a heron standing in a garden pond.

There was a cat watching it. The heron was yelling at the cat!

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I went into the garden and shooed away the cat. The heron did not move. I went closer. It then tried to take off, but failed. It had a plastic net wrapped round a foot. The net was stuck down to the pond. So the heron crash landed again.

The cat started to sneak back.

I knocked on the door of the house. No reply, so I rang the police and asked if they could contact the RSPB. In the meantime my wife went next door and roused the neighbours.

Soon there were six of us standing around watching the heron when the house owner emerged and asked what was going on. She did say it explained why the cat hadn’t come in for its tea.

At this point the neighbour’s wife turned up with a tea towel, suggesting she could throw it over the bird’s head while one of us took the netting off its foot. I took a look at the beak on the thing and suggested we should just wait for the RSPB. The owner said that if it was still stuck when it got dark she would ask her husband to cut it free so foxes didn’t attack it in the night.

We continued our walk. On the way back the heron was standing in the pond again.

We got home much later than planned and were just about to eat our evening meal when my phone went. It was a wildlife protection officer from the RSPCA – the RSPB had passed the call on! She was over an hour away and wanted to know what was going on. So I drove round to the cottage where the heron had been and found that they had cut the plastic so it could fly away.

However, it still had the netting stuck to its foot. But now at least it could peck it free without being bothered by cats or foxes. So I called the RSPCA officer back told her not to bother coming out.

Caterpillar damage

Effects of the cabbage white caterpillars on our cabbages.

Caterpillar

The results of our gardening efforts can be seen below. We have been growing cabbages. This was fine until the “cabbage white butterflies” took an interest in them. Despite picking off the eggs and removing the growing caterpillars when we saw them we now have skeletal cabbage plants and HUGE great caterpillars. Like this one…

 

We won’t bother with cabbages again next year.

Cats

Two of the cats have hypothyroidism, so we have regular weigh ins at the vet now. They went today. One has gone up slightly, the other has stayed the same as last month. So we go back again next month for another weigh in and another £60 on 30 tablets each this month!

In June they were both 4.1 kg. In July one was 3.9 kg, the other was 3.55. In August one was still 3.9 kg and the other was now 3.6 kg.

time off

Sorry to my readers: I have had some time out with the family recently.

2 kids have been with me, which has been fun. They went back to Florida on Tuesday.

My wife has been operated on - finally. A cyst about 10 cm in diameter was removed. She now has an impressive scar and is on strict "no lifting or bending" for six weeks!

More posts maybe later on!

Daughter’s Dell Inspiron 1525 Laptop

My daughter’s laptop kept on shutting down for no obvious reason. I checked the event logs after it did it last night and could not find any issue. It was very hot, so I suspected over-heating.

Today I removed the base plate by undoing 8 little screws, then under that there is a heat exchanger that is held in place by 5 more screws. I undid them and lifted it off. In the gap between the fan and the vent was the huge plug of dust you can see in the pictures below.

See Dell’s website here for more details on how to remove the “Processor Thermal-Cooling Assembly” as Dell call it.

 

I also ran ccleaner across the registry and deleted a load of junk. The computer is running much faster now.

Greatham walk

 

We went for a walk around Greatham, Hampshire yesterday.

There is a footpath from the main road up to the top of the hill. It was nearly blocked with brambles and nettles but I forced a path through. This is the view from the top of the hill. A field of rape and views all around. Shame it was raining!

We then took a bridleway down to the road towards Selborne. This is the bridleway. This looks like an old “drove road” as it is quite wide. There are banks either side too.

We then walked down the Selborne road, which was quite busy with cars and only had a footpath for the last half. We turned back into the village and past the Manor House. This looks really impressive with its high chimneys, but is hidden from the road. It is used by a Christian fellowship called L’Abri. There are pictures of it on their website here: http://www.labri.org/england/images/photos/property/index.html

Next door to the Manor House are the ruins of St John’s Church.

We then went down the lane by the church ruin and across a set of fields planted with turf. There were big signs warning of prosecution for trespass if we strayed off the path here, but the footpath was marked with direction signs, even if it was a bit difficult in places with nettles and ploughed soil to cross.

At the end of the route I spotted these toadstools.

The whole walk took about 2 hours, but was only about 3 – 4 miles.

Hole

A scene reminiscent of the Somme or from the movie "Holes" greeted us yesterday.

Over by the back fence was a pile of dirt, the base of the fence had been torn away and there was a tunnel under the fence. Perhaps the closest movie should be "The Great Escape" rather than "Holes".

We thought at first that it may be the cats, but it seems too small for them. Finally we concluded that it may be a rabbit hole! We asked around, but no one nearby has lost a rabbit.

See flickr pics

Geek Dads

I can’t say I can do ALL of these 100 skills for geek dads; just MOST of them. http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/07/100-basic-geek-skills-for-geeks/ That’s kind of sad. But I am not alone: see this page too  http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/07/10-reasons-michael-jackson-was-a-geek/.

 

Unfortunately for Maria this one also applies to me… http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2009/03/10-annoying-hab/

The website is also available as an RSS feed… a podcast… J

 

Walk on the Roman Road

Yesterday evening we went on a different walking route for our exercise regime. We followed the map to the supposed route of the Roman Road at Blackmoor.

This photo shows the road alongside a field of sweet corn (maize). The grass is parched over the route.

This is the route towards the church from the road.

The Kitten with No Name

Today I went and picked up the kitten that we are giving to Maria’s niece and sister for her niece’s 19th birthday.

She comes from a local farm in Oakhanger and at the time of the photo she is 9 and a bit weeks old.

We brought her home for a few hours first, she seemed okay walking round and hiding behind furniture. Then she met the resident cats!

Tosca had a hissy fit, first at the kitten and then at me. Shelley seemed okay with the kitten, but the kitten hissed at her! Nala wouldn’t come into the house, but when we went out she was rolling around by our feet trying to be super-cute.

The kitten then went down to Maria’s sister’s and met both her new "owner” and Maria’s other sister and nephew. Maria’s niece is supposed to be back from Spain today, but she managed to miss her flight and is not hurrying to get home – she doesn’t know about the new arrival. Her mum told her to get herself home today though as she was ruining her birthday surprise.

We got home in the evening and all three of our cats seemed quite pleased to see us – without the little intruder.

Vet

Yesterday we took the cats to the vet...all three at once.

Mayhem ensued when it came time to catch them, put them in the baskets and then the car.

Oddly they got quieter when we got there, by the time we got the first one out of her cage for her check up and booster she was purring like a kitten.

She had a bad chunk of plaque on her teeth, which the vet pulled off with a pair of pliers. That spoiled her mood a bit!

Shelley

MP Expenses - James Arbuthnot

I have been looking at the records on the BBC website about MP expense claims.

As an IT professional I was interested to see that my MP, James Arbuthnot has been buying computing equipment and software on his expenses. He bought an IBM Thinkpad laptop for £2001.18, he then added a DVD drive and a spare battery for £350.22. This was in Feb 05. In May 04 he bought a memory stick for a whopping £322.26. In Dec 04 he bought wireless PC kit for £184.96 and in Jan 05 a service pack from IBM for £158.63 - this was before he bought the laptop though. In Jan 05 he also bought a scanner, wireless cards and a copy of Adobe Acrobat software. In Feb 05 he added a firewall and a router for £129.99 and £119.91. He seems to have trouble using this kit though as he has twice paid for out of hours IT support at his home to connect his wireless network.
In April 06 he bought another scanner for £559.30 to go with the one he bought in Feb 06 for £75.98 I assume.
He bought several USB memory sticks in 2005/06 - Feb 06 he bought 3 for just under £90, Sep 05 he bought another for £149.99 and Dec 05 he bought another for £59.99. In Sept 05 he bought a couple of external hard drives for over £300. It is a good job he is also claiming for his subscriptions to the Information Commissioner as a registered data user under the Data Protection Act as he seems to get through a load of USB Memory - maybe he leaves them in all the taxis he takes.
On the telecoms side he claims between £60 and £120 per month for his broadband (on a few occasions he pays for his calls - or half of them - but usually he doesn't split this out and claims for all the charges). He also claims for a separate fax line but this also appears to be included in his broadband bills too. I pay about £60 per quarter for my broadband, I share my fax line with the same line and I have a broadband phone service thrown in for free. So he seems to be being seriously ripped off.
He is also running BOTH a Blackberry Mobile Phone (which has Internet access built in) and paying for a Vodafone mobile with GPRS Internet on top. So he pays for using the Internet on his Vodafone mobile. I say "he pays" but of course he has re-charged both of them. Does he always carry both of them?
It occurs to me that the country could save a fortune if someone at the House of Commons arranged for MPs stationery, computer purchases and so on. How can the country provide security for PCs and networks used by MPs at home if they seem to be able to buy their own equipment out of the public purse?

Brigadoon

We arrived in Lyme Regis yesterday. The fog started between Dorchester and Bridport so the house came out of the mist like a scene from Brigadoon.
After a cup of tea and a chat the first job was setting up the tv to the new digital signal. That took 5 minutes. The next job is explaining to Mum how to use the on-screen tv guide and extra channels! That is on-going.

Pictures of the water gate after “repair”

Below are some images of the pond gate after I put the wood back in the slots.

Water starting to build up… but still leaking through.

Note the rocks where the vandals broke down the sides of the channel.

Mindless Vandalism

We went for an afternoon stroll yesterday evening, taking our usual route over the golf course to where the Roman Road supposedly runs (see my post of 4th May). Just as we started to cross the golf course we encountered a group of teenage boys - 5 of them. They stopped to drink from a water fountain provided for the golfers. Suddenly a man on a bicycle came speeding down the path. He was yelling and cursing. "I'm gonna get you...you little...&^%$£$%!" The boys scattered in all directions but the man chased after one in particular over the brow of a low hill in the direction of the club house.

We waited for a minute or so, but there were no screams of pain or anything and the surrounding golfers went back to their game.

A few minutes later the man cycled back up the path - a bit slower now. We asked if everything was okay and he replied "yes, I got them" and rode on.

A short while later we came to where the path goes by the "monastery fish ponds". There is a sluice gate here: a concrete channel leading under the path, where two pipes take the overflow water down to the stream nearby. The channel is blocked by a wooden barrier. So to drain the ponds you just remove the barrier.

Yesterday we found that the wooden barrier had been pulled out and broken up into separate planks. The ponds were draining fast.

I climbed down into the channel and retrieved the slimy planks. I then managed to lift them into the groove in the channel where they were supposed to sit. It wasn't water tight, but it was a lot better than it had been. Water started to build up again behind it.

There was the blade of a garden trowel wedged into the wood. I seemed to have been used to lever the planks apart and to lift them out of the groove.

Hopefully not too many fish had died.

We assume the teenage boys had something to do with it. Had the man on the bike seen them or had they done something else to him?

The day before (Wednesday) when we did the same walk there were 4 teenage boys hanging around the same place at about the same time. They were very interested in the sluice gate channel. I wondered at the time if they were going to fall in to the pond and get into trouble with their parents. I didn't think anyone would be so stupid as to break up the barrier and drain the pond.

The man on the bike was not around. Had the boys drained the ponds and then gone on to do some other mischief that upset him? What did he do to them over the hills of the golf course? Will my repair to the sluice gate hold? Are the boys innocent?

More information and maybe a photo later on!

Hare Krishna in Guildford

Hare Krishna marchers walking up the hill, singing, while we were in Guildford today.

Chinook over Blackmoor

There was a Chinook helicopter flying low over Blackmoor yesterday. The cloud cover was low too. It circled over the village a couple of times before heading towards RAF Odiham where they are based. Kinda noisy!

Fishbourne Roman Palace

Today we went to Fishbourne Roman Palace, this is in West Sussex near to Chichester (Noviomagus Reginorum - “the new market place of the proud people”) and was apparently the palace of the local king Tiberius Claudius Cogidubnus. It is an impressive place and a similar size to the imperial palaces in or near Rome. It is the largest Roman building North West of the Alps.

The archaeologists have exposed only one wing of the huge building and have reconstructed half of the garden. The South and East Wings are mostly under more recent buildings.

The view below shows the gardens looking towards the main receiving hall in the West wing. The flight of steps in the left distance being where the steps up to the receiving hall were. The rest of the hall being under the mound in the distance in front of the modern houses.

The rest of the palace is under the modern and Georgian houses surrounding the site or under the main road to Portsmouth that runs to the South.

The views above and below are of the modern building covering the North wing. The garden has been planted following the original planting lines left in the soil and following guidelines from Roman authors.

This is a view of the outside dining area. They would lie on the raised benches to eat and drink. It is very uncomfortable: I tried it!

Above is the famous “dolphin mosaic”. It has subsided a bit in places. 

The view below is the internal view of the North wing building. Some of the mosaics have subsided where they were laid on soft ground or post holes from former wooden buildings.

These black and white mosaics were laid about A.D. 70 – A.D. 100. The coloured mosaics like the dolphin one were second century. There was a fire about A.D. 270 – 280 after which the palace seems to have been abandoned.

It was built on an area with a high water table, so parts of it go underwater even now. There are spots of lichen growing on the excavation where it is damp. So the Romano-British occupants probably decided not to stay there as it was too wet. We listened to a talk by one of the archaeologists who said that the East wing had been demolished before the fire – probably to re-use the stone repairing the main building.

One room was in the process of having a new floor fitted – but was left with work in progress. Piles of mortar on the floor of the room next door, and the central heating hypocaust built but not covered with a floor yet.

In the gardens we visited the Roman herb garden, which was full of butterflies and bees.

On the way home we got caught in a traffic queue. A caravan had overturned, along with the car that had been towing it. It took us half an hour to get by, two recovery trucks and 3 police cars having gone by. All the occupants were standing by the car, so it looks like they were all safe. It was right by a junction so I assume a car pulled out of the slip road in front of it, the car towing the caravan braked hard so then the caravan “jack-knifed” and then rolled over taking the car with it. That suggests the car was going too fast.

Petersfield

Today I went to Petersfield to see the bank. It was a lovely sunny day when I arrived, which is when I took this picture using my phone. It shows the statue of William III in the town square.

When I came out of the bank it was starting to rain.

I spent a few minutes walking round the car park in the rain looking for the parking space Maria had used on Saturday. She had been ticketed for using a motorcycle bay. I found the space she had used and it was signed, but I can see why she missed the notice. Today there was a motorcycle parked in it too. It looks like we'll have to pay the fine and then campaign to get better signing for the future.

I realised today that my posts for the past week or so were still in draft, so I've published en masse today.

Rayleigh, London Metropolitan Archives

Yesterday I went to Rayleigh in Essex for a business meeting. It is a lovely little town.

I was thinking of popping in to see people from DCK on the way home, but they didn't return my calls, so I went to the London Metropolitan Archives on my way back across London. I was looking for baptism and similar records for my ancestor Richard who was born in 1835 or the workhouse records for his father James - who died in the workhouse in 1849. It appears the workhouse records I need are not in the archives - there is a gap from 1845 to 1851. With Richard I do not know which parish he was baptised in. His sisters were baptised in a new church built in 1837, so I need to trace where the family were living before then.

I also looked for Maria's side in Woolwich - no joy there either

Car Service

Had the car service done today. Despite the dire predictions of MOT test failure by the dealership a few months ago there was nothing serious wrong with it. We need a couple of tyres soon though which we can get done at our leisure. I think we'll avoid the main dealer now: they were trying to get us to replace the car to avoid paying for major work - or maybe hoping we'd ask them to do the work even though it wasn't needed.

I walked to the garage from the town - which was about 2 miles. It was a lovely sunny day so I was a bit warm when I got there!

Hospital

We went to see the doctor today, at his clinic in Alton. He is now going to schedule surgery as he has an opinion from all of his colleagues: but we have to wait to get an appointment from the hospital. He can't book us in himself.

Woolmer Forest Historical Society

Yesterday I went to the May meeting of the Woolmer Forest Historical Society. On the way in I met my ex-father in law. It turned out he had come along to present a file to the WFHS. The file contained the details of the war memorial in the town; the fund raising and construction of it.

We then had a lecture on "Jane Austen's Chawton" which was an interesting over-view of Chawton and Alton around 1809-1817 when Jane Austen lived in Chawton. 

Hounslow

Went for a pleasant business meeting in Hounslow today. It would have been a pleasant drive too, were it not for the 10 mile queue to join the M25 from the M3. There had been an accident - three HGVs decided to drive into each other just before the exit. It took me over an hour to do this section of the journey. As usual the traffic bulletin on the radio was wrong - they said the accident had been cleared, so I contined on my way. If they had said the accident had been cleared but there was 10 miles of standing traffic waiting to go by it then I could have taken another route and missed it.

Roaming after the Romans and Little Birdies

We went out for our usual walk on Sunday afternoon. We had a mission this time though. There is a Roman Road that runs from Neatham (near Holybourne, outside Alton) to Chichester (or vice versa) via Iping. It crosses over the Blackmoor Golf Course near us and joins the lane near Oakhanger by the Satellite Ground Station. Before we set out we researched the route, looking at the County Archaeological Records to find out what they knew and comparing that to the Ordnance Survey map.
The road starts at Iping, which is near Midhurst and then exists as the main road in the Longmoor Army Camp and then was visible many years ago south of Woolmer Pond. It then crosses the main road (A325) and bends slightly, passing Blackmoor and Oakhanger as it heads North. Longmoor Army Camp is MoD property and apparently the Woolmer Pond section is no longer visible. Most of the rest is on private land except for where it emerges from the golf course. It crosses near Blackmoor House which is where the Selborne Cup was found.

Map

Location Data

OS X (Eastings) 477180
OS Y (Northings) 134680
Nearest Post Code GU35 9JD
Lat (WGS84) N51:06:22 (51.106233)
Long (WGS84) W0:53:56 (-0.898970)
LR SU771346
mX -100072
mY 6606829

We walked over the course (on the byway/footpath) until we reached the junction with the Oakhanger Road. There are some ponds here. During our research we had found that they were Medieval fish ponds associated with Oakhanger Monastery. This was odd as we could find no other references to a Monastery in the area. There is a Priory at Selborne, so maybe this is what was meant. The houses here are in a circular enclosure with a bank and ditch round it, so maybe the Monastery was actually inside this bank and ditch.
There was no sign of the Roman Road, just the straight path in alignment with the Oakhanger Road which runs across the front of the houses alongside the fish ponds.
We walked back over the golf course. The line of the road is visible from the public footpath in the distance as a line of trees and bushes crossing the course.
We will have to look into some of the other public locations.
As we came back I saw some odd birds on the course. I only had my phone with me, not a decent camera, so the pictures are a bit grainy. I haven't identified the birds yet.

Andover, Company set up

Yesterday (Friday) I went to Andover for my second interview. It seemed okay at the time and they ended the meeting by giving me a box of sample products to take away. Attached to the box was the postcard above. Inside were samples of teabags, infusions and instant chocolate drink. On the back of the card was a note.

I met the HR woman who had seen the feedback from the on-line testing. She thanked me for giving the feedback that I did.

After the interview I went to see Tim who lives nearby. His parents were there too, so we chatted together for an hour or so until they left, then Tim and I had lunch and chatted more until I came home. While I was driving back the recruitment agent called me and told me that I had not got the job, but neither had the other candidate.

Once at home I arranged the meetings for next week on the contract and set about setting up a limited company to control tax, banking and so on.

Chessington

On Thursday I went to Chessington for a meeting about a possible short contract. They liked the proposal and asked me to go ahead. I have a second interview for a full time post tomorrow though, so although I'm starting work I'm also preparing for that! It looks like the short contract may take an elapsed 3 months or so which may not be good if I'm supposed to be starting work somewhere else.

It rained all afternoon, but we got out for a walk late evening. Maria is trying to "push" herself to see if she can get back to work. 

I got some feedback from the company who run the on-line tests I was doing yesterday. They said that they were about to start testing Internet Explorer 8 but their software would work with IE 7 and Flash 10. I had pointed out that IE 8 was on general release now in my e-mail, something they ignored. Why on earth did Microsoft bother with the beta test program if there are arrogant companies like this out there!

On-Line Tests

Today I went to do the on-line psychometric and other tests for the job I am applying for.

The personality profile test went okay, I rattled through the questions without too much bother.

The mathematical and verbal reasoning tests were a pain: the web site being used insisted that I could not use Internet Explorer 8, which is annoying to start with. Then it said that I must use the latest version of "Flash" and gave a link to down-load it. The latest version of Flash is version 10. It then said that this was the wrong version.

After much messing around and trying different browsers I managed to locate (on the web) an old version of Flash for an old version of FireFox and was able to use that. While I was doing the first test a guy came to the door asking if we needed any trees pruned which kind of distracted me even though I didn't answer the door and Maria sent him away. That meant I ran out of time on the last question or two.

After I had completed the tests I sent an email describing the issues to the feedback link and cc'd it to the recruitment agency.

After I did the tests we went into Farnham to get some tile grout. Maria drove for the first time in weeks and had some pain afterwards but no where near as bad as it has been at times over the past weeks.

Save Our Rail Link Demo

County Councillor Adam Carew addresses the demo crowd outside Liphook Station. The Rail-Link bus can be seen behind him outside the "Railway Hotel". South West Trains plan to stop running the Rail-Link bus on 17th May. We had 50 people at the demo this evening at 6:30 pm - plus two policemen watching us.

Apple Cake

This is a picture of the Apple Cake that I made for tea today (Saturday). I got the recipe from the May 2009 “Sainsbury’s Magazine” but I added extra ingredients as my cake tin was larger than the 20 cm one they suggested (mine is 24 cm). We had a slice each for tea, which used about 1/4 of it. It would go well as a dessert too with cream or custard.

Recipe

• 125 g soft butter (I used 150 g)
• 125 g caster sugar (I used 150 g)
• 3 large eggs separated (I used 4)
• grated zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
• 125 g of plain flour (I used 150 g)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 3 small, good flavoured, firm dessert apples
• 2 tablespoons of flaked almonds

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C (fan 160 degrees, gas 4). Grease the tin and line it with baking parchment.

Beat the butter and sugar until creamy and light in colour then add the egg yolks one by one beating as you go, then the lemon zest and juice. Sieve in the flour and baking powder and a pinch of salt and mix.

Whisk the egg whites until they are stiff, then add a small amount to the egg / flour mixture and stir it in. Then gently fold in the rest of the egg whites a spoon at a time, trying to keep the air in the mixture as you go.

Peel core and halve the apples. With the curved side uppermost, without cutting all the way through make as many fine slices as you can lengthways in each half.

Spoon the mixture into the greased, lined tin,then push the apples into the mixture, curved size upwards, evenly spaced. Sprinkle with the almonds and bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes (mine took 50 minutes) or until golden and firm. A thin skewer will come our clean.

Allow it to stand for a few minutes in the tin and then take it out to cool on a wire rack. We ate it slightly warm. It tastes lemony, and the apples are still slightly firm, not mushy.