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It seems I've been using Twitter in place of writing here in recent times. Here's a selection of what I've been up to.

Last weekend I went to Manchester for a birthday party and to see msbhayvn. Though driving up gives flexibility in when to leave (and return), I find motorway travelling quite tiring, even as a passenger. Well, that, and it takes an age.

Self-directed maths learning is going well. I've mentioned on occasion the puzzle site (projecteuler.net) that I saw a year or so ago which caused me to be motivated enough to start learning a bit more. Anyway, the Saturnday night of last weekend I solved my 99th and 100th puzzles. Current areas of research are Ramsey Theory, combinatorials, and Diophantine equations.

On Wednesday I went to the dentist. I've had an occasional toothache for a while now and so decided it was time I sought help. Turns out that some treatment I had when living in Manchester wasn't done well and it's failing and become infected. I've got some strong antibiotics and some work scheduled in a couple of weeks. 200 quid :-(

Thursday evening I went out for drinks with saucy_goth who I met at Reptile a couple of months ago. As much as I like owning a place, it is a bit far out from town making it hard to socialise at short notice, so it's great to have someone relatively local with whom I get on well.

Friday night I was going to give some private Linux tuition but the guy cancelled. I was pondering going bellringing but dropped plans at the last minute to help a friend in distress, and we ended up going for sushi and cabaret. The cabaret was really quite awesome. One of the acts in particular
( cut for the sqeamish ) I think the audience were unprepared, judging by reactions. (Other acts did not have the kink aspect, so I think they were lulled into a false sense of security). By a weird coincidence the place we went to took us past where I would have been ringing.

Yesterday I went to Borough Market for the first time ever. It's hard to believe that I've been living in London for something like 4 years and never managed to make it. I'm glad I did. I acquired some lovely chilli hot chocolate and some chilli chutney. Thanks to _onlysmarties__ for the suggestion.

last night I went out to a charity quiz which was raising money for the Cats Protection League. It raised in excess of 650 pounds. Plus I enquired about housing one. I keep mentioning it but have decided that I'm ready for it. Hopefully by writing I'm committing myself!

Today was bellringing in Hampstead, and I was in charge, covering for the regular person who was away. It was a good session; I do so much enjoy being able to

Tonight I am off out to the Pembury Tavern, having not been there since Jan 1st. I shall be leaving once laundry is done. Who else is going to be there this evening?

Last I meant to write about this at the time but have been doing so much that I've barely had time to read, let alone write.

Tuesday 20th October was 5040 days since I first caught hold of a rope for bellringing. The mathematicians (and/or ringers) amongst you will notice that this is 7!. For the rest of you, this value is the number of different arrangements of 7 bells, and a noteworthy target in bellringing to to ring each of them without repeating any, and to do so in one stretch without breaks. From start to finish, this feat takes about 3 hours.

So why did I mention that date in particular? I had never attempted a peal before, and thought this would be a fitting date on which to attempt it. I also invited the guy who taught me all those years ago.

We started off fine, but unfortunately the conductor noticed that a mistake had been made, about 2 hours in, and it was called to a halt. I was a bit upset at the time, although we did have some lovely ringing up to that point.

I would like to have another go at some point, although the significance of the date has now passed.

On Saturday I did some ringing at Church which was arranged as a surprise demonstration for a birthday present for one of the people on a London Walk which was passing through the area. Whilst I was out a flyer got put through my door. We seem to get a lot of junkmail in this area but I do like to keep an idea of the sort of things that come through. The flyer that came through was offering gardening/paving/etc services. I called them up and they were working in the area.

They came round within half an hour and were available to start work on Monday! Impressively fast - too fast, in fact, as I'd need to book the time off work.

This means that yesterday I've had landscape gardners in sorting out the rear garden. They've finished the paving started by the previous owner (which I always intended to do but realistically knew I'd never make the time) and laid decking to raise the level of the lower patio.

It's not quite finished, but it's already looking awesome. Will be done tomorrow, as best I can tell. I'm already giving thought to summer parties, so watch this space.

* * *

Today's nice surprise was being given 25 quid for Saturday's "performance". I didn't even know we'd be getting money for it - I do it for the love of it. This just made it all the more awesome though.

Speaking of ringing, I've had a couple of really good weeks at the advanced practice I go to.
( technical ringing stuff that will be of interest to maybe 2 or 3 people, written here mainly for my own reference )
* * *
Had curry this evening in an attempt to fight off what seems like an incoming infection. My brain still works, but I've got the symptoms I often have prior to being knocked out by an infection, namely aching arms/back/shoulder muscles, accompanyied by a cough.

It's a different kind of ache than is characteristic of overexertion - not that I've done much labouring in recent days. Hopefully the curry will have the desired effect.

Ugh. So this going-to-bed-earlier lark didn't work out well. Not that I haven't enjoyed myself - far from it - just that I'm struggling with the lack of sleep. It doesn't seem all that long ago when I use to regularly get by on 4-5 hours a night with the occasional 6-7 catchup. Now it seems to be a 7-8 with a slightly less common 9-10 catchup.
Anyway, so what've I been up to this week? (I've been asked about my mini hiatus from writing in my journal by more than one person. It's hugely flattering to know you're that interested in my blatherings. I've made notes of what i've been up to but am waiting for when I have time compose a worthwhile entry.)

Tuesday night I went to
Marine Ices
And then to a bar with
Bluehelen.
Was great to catch up without having to fight the bustle that is typical of our usual mutual haunts such as
Bmovie.

Wednesday wasn't awful, it just didn't turn out the way I had intended. By way of preamble, a friend has done a load of resoration work on a church in the city of london. It's not as well known as one might thought, considering how well-known is a song in which it appears. These bells haven't been in a functional condititon for over 100 years. They now are, and I've rung at a couple of services there during the week when I worked next to
The gherkin
This friday is a fundraising launch party and publicity event, and I was going to help set up equipment there. The spanner in the works (pun not intended, but left in for good measure) was that the trailer which was going to be used to transport things over was blocked in by an unknown vehicle. I had reached the church and was waiting for a while so again it was very late when I got home.

Last night I went out with colleagues from work. There were 2 departments (loosely speakingcustomer servies and tech), and it was good to finally meet some of the people I'd seen on the internal ticketing system. (the two depts are at different offices)
Ended up staying out very late, but still managed to get the last tube home. Once again it was a noisy bar and I was struggling to hear at times, particularly toward the end of the night when I was tiring so coping even less well.

Given loud enough background noise am sure even fully hearing people would struggle to hear, but though my hearing (as far as I know) is normal, based upon the facility with which most of my peers conduct conversation in noisy atmospheres I seem to struggle more than most. Having spoken to deaf people about it, I've heard occasional mention of cognitive deafness.

I don't know if any such tests exist, but that's pretty much what it feels like. I find it so tiring as I concentrate so hard and people sometimes mistake the resulting facial expression for aggression.

Towards the end of the night I spent it talking to one person who pointed out that I was "on edge". His english was easily converasational, but I think I would have struggled to explain the above. There's a story i've started using because it's easier to explain in noisy circumstances, that I fell asleep next to a bass canon in a club a few years ago. After that he took much more care to speak clearly. I know it's perhaps missing the hugedifferences between the two types (well, ok there are many more) of deafness, but in loud situations I rarely have the ability to explain.

I was intending this post to be a short one. Oops.

Back to the grindstone for today, carter usm gig this evening (and having heard through the grapevine, I know loads of the people going), then to katie and Zeke's housewarming.

bmovie last night was great fun. Was good to meet flannelcat and practice some BSL. I keep meaning to find a night class and brush up on my skills, but the way work is going at the moment I just don't have the energy to take on much more :-/

Today I'm off to Edgware, Stanmore and Elstree on a ringing outing. Looking forward to this as it's the first big association event I'll be attending since starting to teach the new folk from the start of the year. It's doubly exciting as until I came along, the bells hadn't been rung regularly for about 30 years. It'll be a good opportunity to forge links with other people in the district. Hmm. I should eat and head out - I need to be at Edgware at 3pm.

Housey stuff: Had a wasp person in on Thursday. I think that bees/wasps are one of my only phobias. I used to be sligtly uneasy around dogs, but that seems to have subsided in recent years. Chimney repair guy isn't coming today, and will come on Monday instead.

Heading to Wales for Bicon on Thursday! Rar. I so need this break. Plus it'll be a great opportunity to catch up with people that I've not seen for far too long.

A work machine has died, and annoyingly it can't be fixed remotely. Thankfully it can wait until I get back this evening, though it'll mean heading all the way into town, a few minutes work there (I hope) and then trek all the way back.

I've received a few emails about my lack of updates, so I guess I ought to let people know what's been going on with my life.

Thursday: woke up feeling a bit rough, but made it into work. Around midday I was sent home, and went straight to bed. I woke up around 10am on Friday morning.

Friday: got the train up to Leicester for the bi activists weekend. Was met at the station and had a lovely dinner at G. and E's place.


On Saturday evening I went to a Ceillidh, which was fabulous fun. It was a very unusual group of people - most events I go to either have a skewed age distribution centered on 20-30 or are faily normal. This seemed to be an inverted normal distribution - there seemed to be very few of my own age. I enjoyed it a lot, but it was a little shaming to see 15 year olds who were so very much more skilled than me.

On Sunday morning I went along to the cathedral to join in with the service ringing. A lovely light 12, and I'll probably go back at some point.


Was hoping to meet up with dagonet over the weekend, but he was unfortunately working when I was available. All in all it was a good weekend, productive without being exhausting, and I even came away with a couple of projects to work on.

Mainly for G, but useful for other people who might choose to stay in Leicester: The hotel I stayed in (The Mitchell Hotel) was adequate and quiet, but seemed slightly understaffed because I occasionally found myself waiting for someone to appear (e.g. when checking out and ordering breakfast). Bus routes into town are good though.

Friday:
Went out drinking in Printworks with some non-LJers Russ and Matt (who stayed in the same halls as me at uni) and other fellow Linux geeks. It started off quiet, but by 8 or 9 it was actually had music bleating out at a stupid volume. Depsite this place being chosen because it was a Wetherspoons, we since discovered that it is part of the Lloyd's chain. I'm wondering how long after the smoking ban comes into effect that bar workers will start asking for music to be lowered, lest their hearing be damaged. It's not the fact that it was music I didn't like (I'd object if it was music that I did at such a volume, because it makes group conversation impossible, and one-on-one conversation almost impossible), but also that it was needlessly loud, and too loud for the equipment - I could hear the sound distorting.

We sought refuge down the road to the nearby Sir John Oldcastle and had a fab night. I might even have found a place to live as one of the people present is selling their place in Burnt Oak in order to move to Japan. It's a little further out than I'd like, but not a complete deal breaker.

Saturday:
Went ringing for a wedding at St. Bartholemew the Great in Smithfields. I since learned that this is the oldest Anglican church in the country not to have had strucural work done on it. The bells are also the oldest peal in the country, offically dating from 1510. On top of that, it is the fourth church to appear in the film Four Weddings and A Funeral :-)

Evening was a fabulous meal in Mildred's in Soho. FOr such an avid carnivore, I really enjoyed the meals put on by a vegetarian restaurant. We were in the function room upstairs as there were a large number of us. Best thing was the "interesting" artwork on the walls. I wonder if anyone got any photos. I forgot, annoyingly. Pondered going to a house party afterwards, but decided against it due to having a headache.

I got home and worked out the probable cause - I'd not had any caffeine that day. Oops. Maybe I should take this as a hint to cut down.

Sunday:
No morning ringing, so I had a well needed lie-in. Instead we rang a quarter peal for evensong, thus completing 79. Ring a quarter peal on my 101 in 1001 list. 3 parts of Parker's 12-part Grandsire Triples, for those who care, of which I suspect there'll be 3.

Today:
Stupidly busy at work - it's not suprising I feel I'm nearing burnout at times. This evening I'm viewing the house in Burnt Oak. *fingers crossed* Well, later, otherwise I won't be able to type very well:-)

Friday: I never made it home on Friday night - I went out for drinks with the people from work. They're a really fun bunch of people and I think I'm going to very much enjoy working with them. It was a fab night out and hopefully I'll remember the few names that I learned for when I start for real tomorrow morning.

I was getting tired so decided to get a train home with a colleague because he'd be taking a route similar to my own. This was around 2330 ish, and we were told at the station that the last train had already gone. Luckily there was a tram waiting so we got that. I would've been going to Wibledon (I think - I forget now) and hten a train into town to catch the night bus home. (There's a direct route from Trafalgar Sq). This would have been fine, had the tram not terminated mid-route. This was at the Depot, in the arse-end of nowhere. Tried calling TfL but there were no routes so we tried about 5 cab companies and eventually found one who'd take us home. I couldn't face the journey home so ended up kipping at his place.

Small world sydnrom: his flatmate was the guy who recruited me for the job.


Saturday: Also a fab day. I headed out to Surrey to see kelemvor, as a mutual friend (one who I'd not seen in about 5 or 6 years) would be there. I entered the living room, said hello and quickly sat down as though it was the most normal thing in the world. The look on Paul's face was priceless! We took a walk along the river and fed the ducks. We had walked quite a bit so stopped off at a cafe.

We were standing outside the garden reading the menu and noticed punctuation errors on it. We speak of this and I say something quite loudly and sarcastic along the lines of "Fucking illiterate retards". Then we enter the garden and go to the bar. Someone walks from behind us and lets herself into the bar area we realise it's the proprietor. She looks at us and asks "Is someone questioning my spelling?" :-) She took it well though - I don't think she read malice into the comments. Still, I was quite embarrassed, though it was rather amusing in retrospect.

Then we headed back and played a few games of Flux (Hmm. I must get myself a deck as it's good fun) and watched Doctor Who.

I got a lift to the station and got the train to Waterloo at around midnight. I pondered walking home (to complete number 98 from my 101 in 1001 list and got as far as Leicester Sq. but as I didn't have my map I didn't know the rest of the route - that and I would be up early in the morning, so I got a bus.

A choice phrase from Paul which the rest of us are determined to incorporate into the vernacular was "Feed the toilet", meaning "make use of", in case it's not evident.


Sunday: Sunday service bellringing as usual in the morning and then went back to mrk for lunch. Ate a huge mountain of a lovely roast. His mum certainly can cook well. In the afternoon we returned to church for a quarter peal - that's 40 minutes of continuous ringing. (1260 of Grandsire Triples, using 3 parts of the 12-part Parson's 5040 for those who care - this probably only mean something to one of you, though others might surprise me).
This was quite an achievement for me because I've not really done a lot of advanced ringing for a year or so, and not for a sustained period.

Today: Spent much of it napping and fighting off a headache, mainly due to overdoing it over the weekend.
Might bake some brownies in a mo for me to take into work and keep people sweet - pun not intended, but left in for good measure.

I'm feeling quite tired; I only had 3 hours sleep last night. Maybe it was because I had almost a whole bottle of blue charge to myself *g*

I spoke to Helen today. I've not spent much time with her recently, which saddens me. It's alright though; I've arranged to meet her Thursday night at Slems bar. Loads of people are leaving easySpod so my shifts are being shuffled around; I'm working tomorrow, friday and sunday.

My mum also phoned and we spoke for a while. I told her about getting the job at DSVR and she's thinking of coming up to Manchester some time.
Since we'd eaten early, Martin and I went to easySpod for a while before bellringing at Fallowfield. Once again, they managed to piss me off: At the door, one of the managers mentions casually that my shifts have changed. They moved Friday's to Thursday and cancelled Sunday's. Bah - I'll have arrange to meet Helen some other time. I'll be rid of them in a few days, so it's highly annoying, but I'll put up with it.

Woke at 8am, and got a lift down to Church for sunday service bellringing. Good thing I turned up, since they'd only have had 3 otherwise.

Played lots of pool with Lucy - she really loves that games room.

I ate a shitload at lunch - smoke salmon, loads of cold meats etc.

The others have just gone swimming, so I wastched some TV.