Saturday, January 28, 2006

Romance by the bus load on way

Romance by the bus load on way
By ALISON BELLAMY



IF your loved one goes to work on the bus, then it could be your chance to give them a Valentine's surprise.
Arriva Yorkshire is hotting things up by displaying customers' romantic messages on the buses.

Bus company Arriva, which operates services across Yorkshire, is inviting customers to phone the Love Bus team and leave their amorous messages before Saturday, February 3. Drivers in Yorkshire will be displaying a selection of the most romantic messages on their buses to make Valentine's Day even more memorable for that someone special.
David Shadbolt, marketing manager for Arriva, said: "Valentine's Day can become quite similar each year with the usual card, flowers and chocolates. "So we're trying to do something a bit different by asking people to declare their love on board buses for their Valentine to see on the big day."Our Love Bus team is waiting to take your messages, so get calling and let your 'Snuggle Bunny' know how much you love them on the most romantic day of the year."
To leave your short messages of love, call the Love Bus team on 0845 270 1660 before February 3.
A selection of the best messages will be displayed on buses across Yorkshire on Valentine's Day.

Friday, January 27, 2006

Friday, and work

Not a lot to say about today. After the day was blanked, volunteered for a few extra hours overtime tonight - and even managed to stay an extra half-hour on the end, as it was somewhat manic. I was on floorwalking duty for a bit of the evening i.e. helping out colleagues with difficult issues. In the end, I just had one query to deal with, but had to keep an eye on the calls coming in, as there was more of them than there was of us! Good fun, but tiring. There are some managers which I wouldn't have done it for, but it was a good crowd of managers and staff tonight - meaning I actually got a "thank you" for the extra half hour and effort. I spent a bit on the (mobile) phone when I got home, and then dozed straight off.

Thursday, January 26, 2006

... oops speaking of which...

... We'd rearranged the abortive meet from 16th January, after my mother reassured me that she definatly definatly wanted to meet... then today, she's postponed, when I called her, without warning. The idea is that she has someone coming to visit tommorrow for an hour or so (probably lesss), around 1130.
So, what made me think she wasn't interested? Well, she's not called me all year - I've had to do the chasing. Did she suggest meeting afterwards? - no. Earlier in the week, she'd hinted at maybe not meeting anyway.
Now, she wants to postpone meeting for my birthday until two weeks after the event... and then not even going as far as to fix a time or a date, unless I happen to remind her for the 200th time that I work the same four days every week.
Why do I seem to be such low-priority?

Story of a mother of a transwoman

This book has been out of print for so long, it's now been put on the web. This book might be suitable for my own...

Chicco Time!

Out of all those who have walked out of our work in the last week and a bit (hello to Danny, Julie, John B, Randa, Lisa, and anyone else reading this who's name I've forgotten), one of the departures this week sticks out a bit, as it's our floor manager. Ghullam (aka Chicco) has been here for close to three years, after coming in from another campaign, and moved from team manager to a floor manager type role when the job became available (I never was quite sure of his title, but hey never mind).
One particular moment from 2004 was when I did Christmas cards on the last day of work. He then complained that "Oh you , you waited till the last day so I couldnae gie you ain back!" So, I promptly gave him a spare, which he signed and handed back to me... well, it would have ended up in the bin otherwise.
I'm not sure on where he is going, and although he has been a bit of a slave driver over the years (with the "watch yir not reddies"), there's no doubt about it, he's going to be missed! There's not many of the old guard left here....

Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Sweet Crispy Walnuts makes a comeback!

It kind of died from favour, almost as quickly as it started becoming common place talk on transe web comics (and beyond) back in October. But, now I've found Grey Matters - another MTF transe comic, and another one for the "highly recommended" listing. Then, take a look at 22nd of January... bottom left... there it is!

Strathtay fare rise

Following Travel Dundee's recent fares rise, a surprise announcement from Strathtay. A fare rise on Monday (30th January) sees them putting up most singles by 5p, returns and Rovers by 10p, and a bit on all Commuter and ZoneCards. I'll be putting more up on the Techpark section in due course.

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

At home

Yes, a quiet day. If you are reading this, then my experiment of doing a typed document in OpenOffice, then saving it as a doc, putting it on a CD-RW, and taking it to a web cafe, has worked! (later - in the end, it didn't, and I had to try again the next day!) Shame I'm currently reduced to this, but there we go!

Remember on w/c 12 December, I had something bad every day for the week? Well, in the last seven days since I've been off work, I've had something good happen every day. Well, positive, or at least, not negative. That's a good way to turn my life around.

First screaming tommorrow who tries the personal “none of you lot care about us” s#ite will get the RLS (end call) key! I'm having a good time!

Unfortunately, today's announcement (right in the heart of a by-election too!) means Lexmark are now also claiming costs are too high. All the recent Lexmark ink i'd bought (I used to have two of theirs at one time, including the 2030 which I had from 1998 to 2004!) had been “Made in Philippines”. The fax still has one, although that's never used, so refilling won't be needed for a while. The “faith” in my Epson CX3200 (misplaced faith?) was that it wouldn't print, claiming to be “empty” - despite claiming to have 10% in it when I used it last! Still never mind, it's less than £3 a pair. Even with this week's budget being stretched beyond redemption, I should still be able to reach £1.50 or so for a black.

Printer firm cuts 700 jobs
Computer printer firm Lexmark has announced it is to axe 700 jobs with the closure of a manufacturing plant. The factory in Rosyth, Fife, which produces inkjet cartridges, will be shut down by the end of the year. Further cuts are expected to be announced at the US-based company's offices in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. The losses at Rosyth have been blamed on high production and maintenance costs at the site. Around 500 employees will go by the end of April before the plant is shut down at the end of the year. The news has come as a major setback for Labour, which faces a crucial by-election in the area…
General manager of the plant Alan Spiers said in a statement that the company "truly regret" the loss of jobs. He added: "While we do not have the ability to change the impact of technology or economics, we nevertheless recognise the challenges facing our employees and their families.

Monday, January 23, 2006

Newtyle trip - and 956 now pictured!

I phoned my mother, and wanted to arrange to try again after our attempt at meeting last week. We've agreed to meet up on Friday, but in the meantime she was going up to Newtyle to see my dad. So, headed to the bus station for the 1300 57, picking up some new Tayway timetables (changing next Monday!) on the way. Metrobox 814 was used – although I'd been hoping for Volvo Olympian 956... On the way out, spotted Volvo B10BLE 615 returning to Dundee on the 77's, with a stash of new 77 leaflets in the window! (I'd not seen them in print at this point, and I was in such a rush in picking up the Tayway's, I forgot to ask!) We got to Newtyle, he's fine, my mother's mother's sister is fine too but was mostly asleep when I was there, and we left just after three... Volvo Olympian 956 rolls up! This, for those of you who don't live locally, is the first Strathtay bus to be painted into new Stagecoach colours - and last time I saw it , there was no card in the camera. Snapped that... on the way home, picked up the new 77 timetables (one of my own work – also changing on Monday).

Monday evening was a quiet one, but reports stated that overnight, north and middle England would be MINUS 5 DEGREES overnight. Thought about doing the Manchester day trip that I'd got on a cheapie, but decided a combination of the ice (the last time I did a 0620 start [now 0615], I'd nearly slipped three times, and made it to the bus to get a scornful eye from the driver because he was trying to nip and leave three minutes early!), and the fact that I'd sat on a bus for 22 hours on Thursday-Friday-Saturday, meant I thought i'd leave it this time, and have Tuesday to update everything and clear up loose ends etc. before going back to work on Wednesday.

Sunday, January 22, 2006

Hard drive returns – ish!

After several hours of experimentation (bastardization?) with different bits from the “boxes of bits” I bought back in 2004, and after many attempts, I finally cobbled together two working hard drives – one 3gb (the former Maxtor D drive from the pc anyway), and one 1.7gb (a Western Digital model), and installed Red Hat Fedora Core Linux 2. I'd bought the book with CD “RHFL2 For Dummies” reduced in The Works (clearance type bookstore) reduced from $29.95 USD or £19.99 GBP to either £7.99 or £8.99, I forget.

The book included a DVD of the full operating system – a “legal” copy (for those who've never heard of Linux, it's an open source operating system, meaning anyone can distribute it, as long as you let people ask for the source code, and let them hack about with it). Dundee City Council use it in Finance, but not quite the same version. I've installed it – finally – and it's got OpenOffice already built in, it can do CD burning just like windows xp, and it's got a printer driver for mine already there (I was especially impressed that the Epson CX3200 was already there!)

But, it's slow on this. It's an x686 to Linux, or what Windows would call an Intel Pentium 2 400. I've just upgraded (with more bits from the box) to 96mb – the minimum for graphical use of Linux (recommended) is 128mb. If you right-click on a mis-spelt word in the word processor, it whirrs for two or three minutes, and shuts the program without prompting to save! So, for now, I don't see it as a replacement for the main hard drive, but at least I've got something I can write letters with etc. for the meantime!

Saturday, January 21, 2006

Quiet Saturday

A saturday without work ...was largely spent waking up, then out for meter cards etc.

Friday, January 20, 2006

On the way home...

After I left the web cafe in Oxford Street, I went back to Victoria via Trafalgar Square, and then onto the 1300 Megabus back to Dundee – inadvertently blinded for Aberdeen! Another new skirt obtained in the sales, one size smaller than what I've had until now, and it's still huge on me! Several people have commented on my weight loss this year, I don't know how much, but it's mostly been with being at home – I think – as I don't eat that much at home...
On the way home, the “Lite Standard” (the freebie version of the Evening Standard) had a full front page about Bob Crow (head of RMT)'s drunken antics... The Standard version, for some reason, was not online when I went to look for it.

'Laddish' RMT leader barred from pub
By Frances Booth
Bob Crow, the rail union leader, has been banned from a pub near his office after a rowdy drinking session with colleagues.

The group of RMT workers were involved in an altercation with bar staff in the gastropub near Euston station, central London.
Onlookers said they were being "loud and laddish" and that, when asked to quieten down, they refused.
They were so offensive that bar staff took pints of beer off them, and called the police. But the group of around 10 men, including Mr Crow, left the pub just before officers arrived, it was reported.
The incident happened towards the end of December, just after the Somers Town Coffee House, on Chalton Street, reopened after refurbishment.
Mike Bradfield, who lives nearby, was sitting in the pub two tables away from the RMT group when they were thrown out. "It was nothing unusual to see all the RMT people here," he said yesterday. "It was obvious that they were in high spirits."
The management of the pub refused to comment yesterday. More than 80 people have been barred from the pub since the new owners took over in May.
Mr Crow, 46, said: "The only reason that RMT people were barred was for the singing of festive songs, to which the new management for some reason took exception."

... From Wednesday...

The session timed out on Wednesday before I could add this in, and the server was down on Thursday, so here goes...
Following Wednesday's events, that day's Venus Envy strip was somewhat amusing (although even more so if you've read all of this particular chapter).

In AND Out Of London FOR A £1

You've seen the megabus advertising that says "In and out of London from £1?" Well today, managed to get both ways for £1 !
Yesterday in Dundee, Ninewells went fine, and was able to pick up the Xmas & New Year posters from DCC (hello to Neil if you're reading!) All went fine, except on the way down Crichton Street, the shelter contractor had a van parked in a loading bay, with the orange harzard roof light flashing, so they could apply new circles and willow leaves! I am told they've been waiting for this for several months... so now they are like a kid with a new toy. What's different? Well this is one strip, so you can't pull it off like you could with the individual ones. That's the theory anyway... oh yeah, and I had my mother on the phone, who is denying everything from Monday, saying she did plan to meet, etc.etc. Oh well, that's done.
Thursday night, Neoplan 50139 down to London, arriving about 0630. Went via Victoria and Shepherds Bush to Acton Vale, to hand in the hard drive (in person) to Datasavers. They are based in a multi unit buisness centre, and I got there about 0840 - before opening, but when it was wet, but somone else let me inside, so I could at least sit on the sofa. A quick browse of the Thompson Local for Ealing - why are Stagecoach Perth HQ listed in the Bus Services when Stagecoach have nothing in the area? - and then about 10mins later, they arrived. It is going off to the workshop, and they will let me know.
Today, 1300 bus from London, to arrive back in Dundee at 0040 on Saturday morning. See u soon!

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

How to turn around my week - for the better!

I've just realised... I never did finish off my blog post from the 8th of March - International Womans Day, date of announcement of the first set of Scottish Executive Bus Route Development Grangt Funding (i.e. Kick-Start) - but it's also the last time I was through in Glasgow for a medical appointment. Last time I was at Carswell House, and I was awaiting a medical testing prior to commencement of hormone treatment. Now, this is what I'd been awaiting for a while. As I posted on Saturday, a short-notice appointment arrived from Sandyford, for this afternoon.

So, got to Dundee Bus Station in time for 1305. I've now seen 956 in Stagecoach colours - with "strathtay" lettering exactly like the old logo, with the shading and shaping removed, and a Stagecoach beachball on one end. The bus has got the right plate back - when shown on Scotlandbus, it was shown at Kilmarnock after painting i.e. with R596 TSL instead of R956 TSL. Now fixed, but IMHO the red at the back should be wider - not too wide, but proportionatly the blue at the front is ok. The red just looks a little silly.

Anyway, to Glasgow, and arrived around 3pm. It was a fine day for it when I left Dundee, but wind and rain sweep down on me from above as I left Buchanan to head up the far end of Sauchiehall Street. The centre is opposite the 57 bus terminus, as it happens, as a result there were Gemini's, PS's and Scania's sitting their on stand (it's also where the x78 commences from in the afternoon, as I saw one there on the way home!)

Met up with two doctors, Doctor Carr once more, and a second who has came down from Gartnavel Hospital to get a bit of experience in all other clinics. Following a brief discussion and update on all events, the blood tests were done (including two additional bottles for a Glasgow University project into the effects of hormones on transwomen), and all six bottles are now on their way, for me to go back on the 1st February.

VG, but via Argyle Street, St Enoch Travel Centre and Buchanan Street, before stopping off at St Vincent Street i.e. here, to do this, and the rest. I'm going home on the 1830 M9.

Well, that's a good way to pick up the week!!!

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Lost Property Handed In - 1 Confidential Medical Report, CHECK...

This one was done yesterday, but had so many other good ones to post then!

Probe after patient records found on bus
NHS Tayside was today investigating the circumstances surrounding patient details found on a Dundee bus, writes Marjory Inglis, medical reporter.
A top nursing manager said the documents should never have left the hospital.
Papers referring to elderly patients cared for in the Royal Victoria Hospital included patients’ names, their diagnosis and medication.
In the case of some patients, the instruction not to resuscitate was also included.
The documents were “status reports” that give current information on patients and are handed out to staff who will care for those patients when they start their shift and take over responsibility for the care of those patients.
The documents were found by Mr Simon Robertson on Friday while he was travelling on the No 22 bus from Dundee city centre to Downfield.
He claimed he recognised one of the names as being a neighbour of his father.
It is understood home addresses are not part of the limited information available on status reports.
NHS Tayside confirmed that the documents were returned to the hospital today.
Liz Wilson, Director of Nursing at NHS Tayside Primary Care Division, with responsibility for RVH, said, “The document found is actually a daily report used by ward staff giving up-to-date information on patients and should not be taken out of the hospital.
“It is now back on the ward and I would like to thank the gentleman for returning it.
“A full investigation is under way to find out how this document ended up outwith the hospital.”

Not all enthusiasts are created equal...

Bus fetishist who took a trip too far down lover's lane
By Will Pavia

A TEENAGE bus spotter who took his love to the next level, stealing buses to make night-time trips along the South Coast, has been jailed for eight months.

Paul Hughes, 19, had an unlimited enthusiasm for buses, which led him to hang around Havant bus station, Hampshire, talking to drivers. When that was no longer enough he began to drive the buses away, taking two 100-mile trips, apparently without anyone noticing. He would board the bus while the driver was in the lavatory or on a break.
It was only on a third trip that he triggered an alarm and was cornered by police after a chase through the suburbs of Fareham, Hampshire.
The story began on Sunday at Hilsea bus station, Ports-mouth. Hughes boarded a First Buses bus there while the driver was in the lavatory and drove it away. He visited Lewes, East Sussex, a journey of 60 miles, then Winchester, another 70 miles, before heading 20 miles north to Basingstoke. That night he slept in the bus at a service station and returned it the next morning.
District Judge John Woollard found it “surprising” that Hughes had not been stopped, and “concerning” that he had “kept it for hours and nobody at the bus station was aware that they had lost the vehicle”.
A spokesman for First Buses told The Times yesterday that security was not an issue. “I understand that it was reported missing by the driver,” he said. “When he got out of the toilet it wasn’t there, but then it reappeared the following morning.”
However, that very day Hughes took another of the First Bus fleet on a 110-mile round trip to Brighton. The First Buses spokesman said: “It was later found in the South Coast resort of Hayling Island. It had run out of fuel.”
Hughes then turned his attentions to a Stagecoach depot in Havant, but this time he set off the company’s bus-tracking equipment. Six police cars gave chase down the M27, finally boxing Hughes into the side of a highway in Fareham.
Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court was told that Hughes, of no fixed address, had been released from prison only 12 days earlier, where he had been serving a sentence for stealing a bus in Sussex. He admitted three counts of taking a vehicle without consent, driving while disqualified and driving without insurance.

Monday, January 16, 2006

End of the day...

... so that rounds off the birthday for this year, and in the end, just pretty much like any other day. Thanks to Paul for making me smile a few times ;-)
At work - well, in the side area catching up on blog stuff etc. that happened throughout the day. Interestingly, the planned moves (of our work to HCL Bangalore) and the transfer of staff (to other campaigns) is now on hold until April - I just found out this evening. Interesting... I can't say a lot more to it than that, but then this one (slightly old!) caught my eye!
The rest of my week...
Tuesday 17th - working (in place of Wednesday 18th)
Wednesday 18th - very short notice appointment (got it on Saturday!) at Sandyford
Thursday 19th - phsyc. appointment at Ninewells re test results from last month
Thursday 19th overnight - Megabus to London, fare £0.00
Friday 20th - have six and a bit hours in London, and come home (before I go spending money I don't have!) - fare £1.00. Arrive Dundee at 0040ish on Saturday 21st.
Saturday 21st - off, paid leave.
Sunday 22nd - off, RNDW (rest day not worked)
Monday 23rd - off, paid leave.
Tuesday 24th - off, RNDW (rest day not worked). Manchester Megatrip - £0.00 down, £4.00 up.
Wednesday 25th - back to work...

My hard drive...

One from a customer from earlier on re my hard drive issue last night...
After mentioning my hard drive had been smoking, he said "Oh, can't you get a patch for that"...?
Smartar5e.

SmartBus For Londoners

"iBus - Try the new bus travelling experience"
Basically, it's Dundee SmartBus for Londoner's... well, the Dundee system is not quite finished, but you know what I mean.

I do Sudoku in hex

TechnoDepot does Sudoku - in hex
One for the geeks amongst us!

Not just a quick one...

... take a look at...
A GAME THEORETIC APPROACH TO THE TOILET SEAT PROBLEM

Found via
Groovymother

Meeting or not?

I was meant to be meeting my mother and my sister this morning. They knew that I was working, and that I wanted to be in a little earlier, so I'd be leaving town to go to work at 1200ish. I thought that was all fine. She promised me on Saturday that she'd call me back. Yet again, it was down to me to chase her three times today. By 1050, she'd not even left her house in Linlathen to come into Dundee City Centre, and as she was still undecided as to where to meet. When I suggested "top of Crichton Street at 1130" I was told there was no-where suitable to meet for food & drink before going. When I hinted that this going to be easier for making my way to work, I was basically laughed off. Then, some time later, whilst in the Courier office (looking for last Friday's paper! hmm I wonder why!)... I'd said for her not to bother... Naturally, no doubt I will now be the bad one for doing so, but time will tell. At this time, I was on 147 on the 9x to work. I made it to work, and I almost think she intended that I wouldn't... I've been off long enough...

Volvo B6 Hard Drive...

... and from Paul @ TWM comes the latest comment, about my former C: Drive, which is now the Volvo B6 Hard Drive. Shame I can't paint it sky blue and punt it off to Dundonian's, isn't it?

Birthday morning

Whey hey - birthday. I went to bed fairly early after the "chargrilled" hard drive incident (although no signs on the exterior!), and gave myself many hours, so that even if I only got half, I'd still be happy. I'll be getting up soon... my mum wanted to meet me in town, but she's still not called me...

Sunday, January 15, 2006

Hard drive's aren't supposed to start smoking...

Sunday. So what do I do, between insominaic, and going back to work on Monday?

"I know, let's have some fun with the RedHat Fedora Core 2 Linux book & dvd I bought myself a few months ago..."

In fact, there's nothing of use on the D drive, lets move it all onto the C drive. (Not a lot, just some IE cache files now of no use, and a prehistoric OE build).

So, the D drive is now 3.0gb, and all free.

Formatted the D into hdb, and C remains hda - for Linux use - but all that stuff went onto D... sorry, hdb.

The installation stops, or "inexplicably fails", a few times.

So, I went back into Windows. No Drive D. Not surprised.... I tried to add it back into Windows, to see if I could reformat it a 2nd time (and remember, I've no way of getting this online).

The screen goes to the Blue Screen of Death, and says "Unable to write to Drive C: Data may be lost".

By this point, the computer has the panel off, so I put my finger in to have a look.
There's SMOKE coming from it.

Dusty? Not as bad as some I've had to work in, in the past...

Now, it won't make any noises, and to say something a little improper, I think I've f**ked it up. Seriously. Close to three years of work on it, too... most of it is on the web, but a lot of it is not. I could have lived without the contents of the D drive. The timing is just co-incidence, as it could have gone up at any time. The consequences of it going alight when I wasn't paying attention don't bear thinking about. But, for now, it's now marginally less important to get my phone and broadband back... for now anyway. I think the money is to go on a new hard drive...

Saturday, January 14, 2006

Not back to work after all...

... After being up awake until well after 0500 this morning, didn't make it back to work after all. Oh well, we can try tommorrow. Aaggh, even more in one day!

BTW, I chased up Sandyford re the ongoing wait, as I'd been waiting to hear from them for some time, awaiting an appointment - not sure if I am awaiting one there, or one somewhere else. Anyway, got a note today - there was a cancellation, so I've got an appointment this coming Wednesday! (Then Ninewells on Thursday, possibily London on Friday - I've got it on a cheapie, then on holiday until the following Wednesday...)

Thursday, January 12, 2006

... but I'm about to be 27 !

It's my birthday this Monday (16th). Now, last year, a few people complained that I didn't tell you of my birthday until afterwards! Now, you've no excuse!!! LOL but I will be working...

I'm 16...

My inner child is sixteen years old today

My inner child is sixteen years old!

Life's not fair! It's never been fair, but while
adults might just accept that, I know
something's gotta change. And it's gonna
change, just as soon as I become an adult and
get some power of my own.

How Old is Your Inner Child?
brought to you by Quizilla

Thursday, January 05, 2006

Me

... oh yeah, knew there was something else. Was at the docs today, and am off work until next Friday. This means I go back on Saturday coming (14th), all being well. I've only just shaken off most of a cold/flu bug, but could do with a few days more to myself, before returning. It's been good, quiet, everything in one, and I've also made progress on a few backed up projects. I will survive....

Radio

I've not done one of these for a bit, so here goes... Virgin Radio's newest morning person (from 23rd January) is the former XFM morning man, Christian O'Connell - who was somewhat highly thought of during his time on the London-based "alternative" station. For whatever legal reason, they can't have his voice on yet, so they've got an R2D2 impersonator, and the guy from the Yellow Pages/yell.com adverts to do it instead... Speaking of X, they've came to Scotland, with the launch of XFM Scotland . This is as a result of Beat 106's parent company Capital Radio (now also owners of the XFM brand) relaunching Beat 106 into XFM Scotland. Let's hope this means more of the stuff that Beat106 was better for in the beginning i.e. no Micky mouthing into the mic whilst flirting with the traffic girl, we get enough of that on every other commercial radio station!
Speaking of which, the new XFM Scotland wake-up person will be none other than Dominik Diamond, who has answered the usual twenty questions on his welcome page...
"20 Questions For... Dominik Diamond
1. What would you say is your defining characteristic? "That I give a sh*t about stuff."
2. What is your idea of happiness? "My kids laughing."
3. What is your idea of hell? "Stupid people talking at me."
4. What is your biggest flaw? "I always try and make a joke out of everything."
5. What fault in others are you most tolerant of? "Nymphomania."
6. What was your worst ever job? "DJ at Real Radio"
7. Where would you most like to live? "New York."
8. Who in musical history do you most dislike? "Victoria Beckham."
9. Which characters in musical history would you most like to be? "Jools Holland, Britney Spears' gynaecologist."
10. What's your favourite album ever? "Manic Street Preachers 'Generation Terrorists'."
11. What was the first single you bought? (Be honest!) "Adam And The Ants 'Stand and Deliver'."
12. ...and your first gig? "Bronski Beat at Fat Sams in Dundee."
13. What are your favourite qualities in a band or musician?"Passionate eloquence."
14. Who's your favourite author? "Michel Houellebecq."
15. Who's your favourite film director? "Hal Hartley."
16. What person (living or dead) do you most admire? "Anyone who encourages kids to learn."
17. What's your favourite food and drink ? "Lobster and Horlicks. Not together."
18. What's your favourite restaurant? "Anthony Bourdain's Bistro des Halles in New York."
19. What three songs would you have played at your funeral? "My Chemical Romance 'I'm Not OK', Meat Loaf 'Bat Out Of Hell' and the whole of Jesus Christ Superstar!"
20. What's your motto? "Try and let the lady climax first..." "

Going back to London, Heart have reshaped the evening, dropping the late night slushy bits after so many years. Another case of too many people liked it, so they quietly? dropped it...

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

From N&P...

... From this fortnight's N&P...
---------------------
Public Inquiry (32168) to be held at Highland Council, Council Offices, Town House, Inverness,, on 20 January 2006 commencing at 09:30(Previous Publication:(1815)
)
PM1043672 SN
SCOTBUS LTD T/A SCOTBUS
Director(s): NEIL MACDONALD.
5 , DARNAWAY AVENUE INVERNESS IV2 3HY

PSV - S17 - Consideration of disciplinary action under Section 17 (The Public Passenger Vehicles Act 1981)
PSV - S28 - Consideration of disciplinary action under Section 28 (The Transport Act 1985)
PSV - S26 - Consideration of disciplinary action under Section 26 (The Transport Act 1985)

Comic Genesis / Keenspace

From 1 Jan, Keenspace.com was supposed to be no more, so use these new links for VE and LOM.