work

i had meetings in london all yesterday so i went on my ‘old’ train route. unfortunately someone threw themselves under a train resulting in cancellations and delays, and a 4 hour miserable commute home.
it almost made my new car journey seem like a good idea … well nearly.

so, after weeks of dorset, a week of athens and a weekend of vienna, i finally started my new job proper (and my new car arrived yesterday)
so far commuting by car means i walked 2km rather than my usual 12km/day. And i took rather no photos rather than the usual 10-20 photos a day.

still, i’ve got plenty of photos from the last few months adventures stored up and i’ll take plenty more at weekends and my less occasional trips to london, so no need to worry ! And the job itself is fantastic, so all is good.

i was expecting about £800 back from my season ticket. Instead i’ve been offered £10.30 which put me in a very bad mood.
Yesterday morning i had to buy a weekly train ticket for this week as i haven’t bought my car yet (due to all the jet setting). i was greeted by this lovely sign this morning saying how regular customer deserve exclusive treatment.

ho hum. i’m not going to give up on them yet …

i’m changing my job (sort of) and with it my work location. as a result i (have attempted) to cash in my season ticket.
i’ve been travelling the same route for over 9 years i think and must have spent over £20,000 with the train company which is a nice way to pay for delays and crushes and misery. cheap at half the price.

anyway, i went to my local station and they said i needed to take my ticket back to Paddington. So i did and they took my ticket away and i said, “thanks, can i have the cash back (i’m expecting £594)”
and he said “nope, we have to send it off, goodbye” and i said “oh, when can i expect the money”
and he said “up to 20 working days” and i said “oh, cuz the money would be good as i want to buy a car for my commute”
and he said “we have to send it off, goodbye” and i said “well, can you tell me how much it will be when it comes through” and he said “nope, sorry, that’s their job” and that was the end of that.
so i walked away and then thought “oh no” and ran back to my man and said “i hope you don’t mind me asking, but how am i meant to get home this evening, you’ve just taken my season ticket away”
and he said “oh, do you want me to reissue it to you” and i said “nope, i want a refund”
and he said “well you’ll have to buy a ticket” and i said “but that one is still valid today, it’s just you’ve got it and i haven’t”. He was obviously an unempowered train droid so i had to buy a £10.50 ticket to get home.
I shall be writting a letter (except there isn’t an address on anything they’ve given me so i don’t know where to send it!)
how outrageous. i’ll keep you informed how i get on. i suspect i’m not going to be happy. still, at least i’ve set my expectations low !
bloomin’ first great western

i had to send an email just after 9am yesterday morning (and not before) and since i was on the way to a meeting i set up an impromptu office on this wall by a little garden.

i wasn’t quite sure where i was heading so i checked out Google maps whilst online to find the street i was standing on. technology is so cool and i was thinking it was all very james bond when i looked across at the buildingi was standing next to

the blue plaque reveals it’s used to be ian fleming’s gaff !

here is abbie. she’s leaving the world of UK telecommunications regulation to travel the world with her chap and eventually end up in New Zealand (the idea being to get there by surface, mostly by land). how cool would that be ?
she’s keeping a blog of her adventures which you can read here

here is Roger at an awards ceremony where he was nominated for Internet Hero.
He didn’t win, so i think that makes him simply *an* Internet Hero rather than *the* Internet Hero.

here is laughing harry and laughing walter. they are laughing.

remember the great opening of my new office over 2 years ago ?
well, yesterday morning the time came for it to be taken apart.

i knew something was up when i saw this by my phone

and pretty soon the windows were gone

and i became open-plan

on the same day they took the walls away we were given some corporate freebies. here is john sporting his with pride – i wonder if they are planning on turning the heat off ?

just in case anyone is wondering, i really do enjoy my job and the company i work for is very good. and since this it’s got even cooler (which is probably why we need the winter gear).

here are some freebies i got yesterday from two different sources.
the mug on the right was ‘personalised’ which actually involved someone writting my name on it in a fat pen ! inside was this helpful note saying i needed to bake the mug if i wanted my name to remain on it. now where’s my kiln …
still, you shouldn’t look a gift house in the mouse.

i bumped in to keith and his wife in henley yesterday. i haven’t seen keith in yonks so it was great to have a speedy catchup.
this picture isn’t the most flatering ever, but at least proves i saw him !

this is a very poor photo, but still manages to catch the ‘essence of harry’.

i don’t know if you noticed but this week’s blog was all preloaded on sunday night. i’m just so stupid busy at work.
on monday i went from meeting to meeting and ended up eating only 4 cough sweets all day (but i did manage dinner in the house of lords, so i guess that made up for it). yesterday i ran from meeting to meeting and the whole day passed in a blur.
at one point i passed this sign. i went to the meeting at the top but the other two looked at least as interesting, if not more so. i’m especially curious about the bottom one (london deanery think tank).