Sleepypete's Pillow

I used 4 (got it wrong on FB earlier) different bits of transport today …

Had a day off work to get the car in to the garage to get its wonky engine fixed. It’s been making a whizzy-slap/bang noise since last Tuesday, stuff like that needs checking out before you try moving the car again. First chance was today :

10am – Transport type 1 : start the car up again. It’s been a bit reluctant to start since the problem started but I “persuaded” it quickly. Then there’s a nervy trip across to Newport, trying hard to keep the discipline for a 50mph limit. Car drove fine 🙂 Brakes were ok and steering was unaffected. Just a loud bangy noise coming from under the hood.

The verdict on the car (so far!) is a faulty inlet manifold, which makes a lot of sense. It accounts for the bad starting, which was looking like a fuel/air mix that was badly off what it should be. It’s not the kind of thing that gets fixed immediately, unless the parts happen to be on hand.

What I thought would happen next is that I’d borrow a courtesy car for a few days … Oh well ! Best laid plans never survive contact with the enemy 🙂

Next step – Transport type 2 : I walk from the garage to the train station. Only 2 and a bit miles. I’m badly out of shape fitness wise but everything still seems to work. Left calf was screaming at me within a few hundred yards but I applied “Ignore it and it’ll give up complaining” theory 🙂

This gets me to Newport centre (not really sure if Newport is city or town). And a trap …

“Books for £1” says the sign in the window.

Doh ! I only bought one, Polar City Nightmare by Katherine Kerr. I enjoyed reading Polar City Blues quite a few years ago, so reading this pair should be good.

From Newport centre it’s the train back to Bristol, making transport type 3. It’s only a 20 minute trip but I still get a Jobsworth Fat Controller saying I needed to move out of the first class section and into the second class. Bit silly really, in another 10 minutes I’d have been off the train anyway. Sure, I was in the wrong part of the train but sometimes a little common sense is called for. Especially when first class is packed … with empty seats.

Irritating. Customer service is king, going the Jobsworth line tends to push people towards other forms of transport. So while I’ve been looking into bus as a valid alternate transport to work, I’ll be continuing to ignore the train option. Even though it’s convenient for getting to a couple of places I go to with work. So be it.

Transport type 4 is the bus again. I’d have walked home (couple of miles again) but I thought it was a shame to waste the coincidence of the right bus turning up just as I left the station :-).

I’m back home again now, a late lunch is all done and it’s now time to counteract the effect of calories burned by the walking. Yep – first Easter Egg of the year is about to get eaten 🙂

Addendum – just had the call to find out what the damage will be … £330 not covered by the paid for warranty. Grr. That’ll be the last paid warranty I buy !

Faint heart never won fair lady right? Try the e-Harmony route. Nothing ventured, nothing gained 🙂

Hope the car is all better soon!

Most people will have one or two days of the year that are kinda like set aside as “Bad Days”. 14th Feb is one of mine, it’s a more jabbing reminder of missing having the excuse to pamper a special someone.

While I’m not the kind of person who will go out every night and I definitely avoid night clubs like the plague, I do enjoy heading out for a meal or a movie. Could be part of cabin fever, there will also be a hefty bit of wanting a better meal than I typically provide myself :-). I could cook much better if I put my mind to it but I’d rather be watching something or doing something while my meal is quietly cooking (burning?) away in the kitchen.

I’m kinda addicted to Input, I don’t do well when nothing’s happening, I’ll get bored and look for something to perk up my interest. Like at the moment, I’m listening to iTunes while tapping this entry and I’ve just attempted to lip-read the lovely Isobel Lang doing the weather on Sky News. Or at work where I’m always very curious as to what the BM girls are getting up to. (There’s less of them now because 2 have moved on)

I think that’s why I miss being in a partnership. Whereas the outside world and PC games can be very predictable, ladies are definitely not. They keep you guessing as to how they’ll react to what you do and keep you on your toes for not forgetting the important things. I also get a huge kick out of subterfuge, the art of surprising people. I’m pretty good at that too, I can usually hide the setups for surprises that I pull on people like the leaving certificates tailored to people who leave our part of the team at work.

But I do miss being able to chat for ages to someone special, to help them out or be helped back in return. Someone to steal the popcorn before I get my mitts on it. A person who’ll be able to keep up when my Geek Sense takes over what I’m talking about. (This was the biggest problem with Evil Ex, I hadn’t realised how much I was holding myself back). It’d help if she was a cricket nut too 🙂

So that’s why today’s not one I tend to look forward to – I’d like to treat someone to a meal+movie, there’s just not the opportunity presenting itself. Thought I was on to something with the Little Canteen Girl, she’s a very likeable pintsized package of fun and attitude. I bet she definitely makes life interesting for the lad who comes into our canteen with a Huge Wide Smile when he arrives to take her home.

To take the edge off the loneliness a bit I’ll be heading back into Eve online later. The Wordless Wednesday post had the “Surrender The Booty” t-shirt, especially for a little fleet we had on Wednesday evening running around our local space. It was fun, I learned a bit more about handling a little ship in the Player v Player stuff. I’ve been around Eve for years and have read around the theory a huge amount but I’ve got little or no experience in fleet situations. The Eve people are a good mob but maybe a little quiet, it can take a couple of noisy people like me and Luth to get them going.

Yep – fun but we ended up getting our collective butts kicked by a much superior fleet at the end of the night. I’ll be naming one of my future ships “Brave Sir Robin”, after my contribution seemed to add up to RUN AWAY :-). I got shot at three times and bravely legged it each time 🙂

I’ve also been distracted away by the Mass Effect 2 game that just came out, which is an absolute cracker. I like the way they’ve tied in what happened in the first game as well as the contents of the two Mass Effect books published so far. It’s a different game to the first in a number of ways but what’s come out this time is some truly demonic humour. They’ve handled “passage of time” extremely well too, by showing that the universe it’s set in has moved on.

So, been keeping myself distracted but it would have been better if I’d have had someone shouting along with me today while watching England make hard work of Italy in the rugby. Or even someone giving me a strange “Don’t be silly” look.

Got a bit more stress at the moment too – on Tuesday night the car started making Whizz-whizzy-SLAP noises from inside the engine bay, as if a motor or belt is trying to spin up before getting unexpectedly stopped. It kicked off as I was pulling up to a roundabout and kept on going as I made my way to Tescos. It got me home and it’s going in for warranty stuff on Tuesday. Hopefully it’ll get there ok, although I’ll be nervously taking it very slow.

Been on the bus all week, which has got me thinking a bit as to “do I really need to take the car in?” For bus – more walking = more exercise = hopefully reduction in girth. Against bus – dependent on bus times, less flexibility in taking that after work trip to window shop the Mall. I’d also need a bag so I could take work stuff to and from work (not something I need to do much). Cost isn’t really an issue, my car is greedy and petrol has come up so much that £14/week for an all week bus ticket is actually closer to petrol cost than you might think.

Arrrg – I’ve rabbited on again and it’s getting dark enough that I’m having to retype stuff due to not seeing which key is which.

Time to close again and think of another year going by without having the excuse to make 14th Feb special for someone. E-Harmony ads are looking more tempting ! Although I do wonder if there’s a Princess waiting for me from a bit closer …

I think the interview went ok, although I think the bloke interviewing me didn't do so well on his side.

Hmm – a little while until the Baseball starts up too. ESPN over here are currently showing NBA instead of NHL, never been that impressed by NBA but NHL is usually highly entertaining 🙂

priceless!!

hope your interview went well

you did miss a good Super Bowl but hey, football (our kind) is only 7 months away – a whole new season!! 😉

YARR ! One for the Eve guys 🙂

PS Creases. Meh.

One thing about better kit at home, it does tend to detract from the cinema experience.

The screens at Vue seem a bit clapped out, especially comparing to what you see from LCD tv and a newer dvd/blu-ray player. The player makes a big difference, it improves dvds to nearly blu-ray quality …

I won't be replacing many of my dvd's with blu-ray though, it improves dvd enough that it's not really worth it. Think it'll make my movie buying a bit cheaper though 🙂 Only buying blurays now so I'm getting fewer than I used to cos they cost more …

Blu-ray quality – I was wrong with one thought, they play back at 24fps instead of putting in extra frames. Difference is probably that it has the time to show every bit of those 24fps instead of blurring between them …

Wouldn't bother with older films in blu-ray though. If it's too old to have been shot in hi-def, why spend the extra to get detail that isn't going to be there.

Hype aside (and I never listen to hype but don't let myself be put off by it either), it does make a helluva difference. I would say for once, the hype is earned (though be careful which discs you buy if you do ever go Blu-ray as some of the prints just aren't up to it).

Yeah – HD genuinely looks better but I've always wondered if it's worth it enough to give in to all the hype about it …

Fallen in on a bit of a "if not broke, don't fix". That said, my dvd's look great on the new kit 🙂 The LCD telly makes them a lot sharper in a way CRTs can't manage. Had the new stuff for just over a month, wouldn't want to go back 🙂

Looks great, I just put off by all the hype …

LoL! Only being there is actually like being there! 😉

I am a total HD convert I'm afraid. I'v had a PS3 and HD TV for awhile now and I notice the difference very much when things aren't in HD. It looks a bit fuzzy and less well defined all round. Some films I have watched in HD are like watching them again for the first time but as with all things, it's only worth it if it's something that matters to you 🙂