QuakeDisruption

End of week report, week 14 2007

2007-03-30T13:21:00.000Z

Sorry for the official sounding title, I just couldn't think of anything to put for the title.

So what's been going on?

The house we saw was nice, if a little cramped. We've put in an application for it costing a total of £75, and I was advised that because I'm contracting (and not a permanent worker) I'd need a guarantor. Great. Thankfully, Jen's Dad obliged.

Meanwhile, I've informed our landlord of our intentions and he's been round with a valuer to see how much he could get at auction. His visit was, as always, well timed to coincide with just about everything else important you can imagine. And it turned into a 1½ hour babysitting session as he'd brought his foster daughter with him. Gah.

At work, I've been told that although the future is still uncertain, I am moving to the Business Support Group island as my work now is more in line with systems development than pure accounting. Some interesting projects on the horizon, it would seem.

Learned a bit of VisualBasic too.

Oh, and played lots more StarQuest and Second Life, too. Fun times.

It's finally happened...

2007-03-21T11:13:00.000Z

Ok, I guess it was inevitable.

I've finally signed up for second life. Had a little play last night but have yet to start moving on it properly. If you play, I'll have to catch up with you some time. Maybe you can buy my stuff, lol.

Anyway, a little nervous about tonight's house viewing. Hoping things go ok.

Fingers crossed!

2007-03-20T11:52:00.000Z

Nothing much to report, but I thought I'd post anyway to maintain regularity (prunes help a lot, too).

Going to view a house tomorrow. A little place in Codnor. Fingers crossed - we'll leave a deposit if we like it =)

Meanwhile, check out http://ficlets.com if creative writing is your thing. It's good.

Some form of return...

2007-03-15T10:45:00.000Z

It's been some time, hasn't it?

I guess my thinking was that even though I'll not become king of the internets, I do still want to use this blog to keep my own record of events in my life, even if nobody else reads them.

Nothing emo, just somewhere for me to excercise my wordsmithery.

*

So, what's happened between then and now?

Well, we're still in the same place, but planning on not being for much longer. Belper is a lovely place, but we're doing a lot of driving and it's becoming a drag. Plus, we could do with reducing our expeditures as I don't know how much longer my contract will last at work.

So, we're targeting Ripley. Not much closer to work, in fact possibly slightly further, but the journey will be around the same in terms of time taken. However, we'll be a lot closer to both families, and it'll be a lot easier for them to come to us more often.

Meanwhile, I'm mostly working and doing other, non-fun stuff. I'm having bass lessons now, though. Starting to learn how to read music, which will help.

Oh and I'm wasting a lot of time on Starquest: http://www.castlethornsoftware.com/sq.

QD

Road Rage

2006-05-08T09:59:00.000Z

I'm not sure exactly what gives me this idea, but I'm rapidly coming round to thinking that the vast majority of people in this country have a complete lack of driving skills.

The other day I was sitting in the passenger seat of Jen's car heading for Heanor (a town approximately 7 miles from where I live) to pick up Jen's brother Ralph. He had been stranded in this particular hell-hole waiting for a bus so that he could come and spend the evening with us. We arranged to pick him up from the local Tesco supermarket (incedentally, have you noticed how Tesco is now 'The Place To Be^tm' for your local swarm of Chavs?) and headed straight from work, already mildly stressed.

The traffic was bad going down the A38. Backing up as it generally tends to around the three roundabouts we have to circumnavigate along the way. I'm not sure whether it was the sun or the relatively warm temperature, but everyone seemed exponentially more impatient than normal, and the regular troop of drivers pushing their way from one lane to another to try to reduce their waiting time were in unusually high volume. Several times we had to brake as someone forced their way between us and the vehicle in front, often without warning.

We made it as far as the Little Eaton island without any significant harm. At this point i the journey, you can either continue straight on along the A38 (a dual carriageway) or turn left towards Little Eaton itself and then head through Kilburn, Horsley Woodhouse and Smalley before reaching Heanor. Anticipating that the latter would be the nicer, quieter, less risky route, we turned left.

So far so good. The traffic had thinned, and the constant change between 50mph and 30mph meant that drivers had no choice but to keep their speed in check. However, things were about to take a turn for the insanely annoying.

Trundling along at a merry 50mph along one of the quicker stretches of road just outside Kilburn we noticed a car, a silver estate, pull to the end of a junction on the left about 300m further on. I expected him to just pull right out, ignoring the fact that we were tanking along. But he didn't. At least not at first. 200m in front - he's still waiting. 150m in front - pulling out now would be a really dumb idea. Still no sign though. No. Then, with 100m (or about 2 or 3 seconds) to go until we're level with him, he starts to move.

Brake pedal goes down, horn is sounded. Lots. Kudos to Jen for her reactions and her willingness to make this fool completely aware that he is feet away from death. The driver, a fat 50-something man, then becomes aware of us and accelerates rapidly. With our horn still sounding, we pretty much come to a dead stop. This dude then responds to our outburst by (get this) taking both hands away from the wheel and waving in a highly jovial manner. Very funny < /sarcasm >. Needless to say, he got the triple deuce.

Like an omen, there then followed a whole series of suicidal drivers, cyclists and pedestrians, all hellbent on having there blood spilled onto the bonnet of Jen's little Renault 5. Argh.

Anyway, after calming lots, and with the added hilarity Ralph always brings with him, we finished up having a nice relaxing evening. We ate Cheps and watched Family Guy and Green Wing, then settled down for a good night's sleep.

But why? Why are there so many idiots around? I know how frustrating it can be to come across someone travelling painfully slow when you're late for work, but what's with the car owners who seem intent on driving over your car from behind just because they want to go faster?

I heard a while ago about a proposal the government had to begin retesting drivers every 10 years and quite frankly I welcome the idea. Take away the licenses of all the morAns out there who don't know the meaning of the word consideration. It would certainly cut down the number of cars smogging the world up, anyway. Shame nobody seems to have done anything with the notion.

Anyway, rant over. I've made a mental note to be more tolerant of these motorists who have evidently generously donated a significant part of their brain to some research organization or other.

*

On an unrelated point, we took my Mum (Julie) and my sister (Rach) for a meal last night to say thank you for helping us with some work that needed doing, and had a really, really nice time. I think sometimes I forget how enjoyable it is to just spend some quality conversation time with friends and loved ones. The combination of good food and good company was just what I needed.

Yiamas!

In the Beginning...

2006-04-25T13:43:00.000Z

...there was a blog. Not a very good blog, mind. But that was probably because there was only one post.

Anyway, allow me to introduce myself. My name's Ryan. I live in Derbyshire in the heart of England. Like most places in the UK we're not particularly renowned for good weather, but as I'm only ten minutes away from the Peak District National Park the local scenery can be breathtaking. The house I live in stands on a hill overlooking a historic mill town built around a river. I share my life with a wonderful young woman called Jen. We've been together for a year and two months, and we've been living together now since November. We both work in the offices of the nearby Toyota production plant. I work in accounts and Jenny works in Corporate Services.

So there you have it. That's me and my life in brief. Let's see how long I can keep this up =D