Avaragado's blog

Woke with a sore throat and a bit of a head this morning. I’ve been expecting it – it’s the vernal equinox. I often get colds and stuff at an equinox. Hadn’t realised it was today, though, until I looked at the calendar while the kettle was on.

I’m sure Shazzie says something about colds and equinoxes in Detox Your World, but I can’t find it right now. (I told her it’d take a week or so to do a proper index, but, oh no, she said she it would only take her about five minutes :-)

champagne-lunch
Originally uploaded by avaragado.

Spring arrived today. Almost certainly the warmest day of the year, and the first day for ages that I could drive home from work in daylight. Ah, that’s better.

I spent most of it in a stuffy, hot, artificially lit meeting room, as one engineering team presented stuff to anyone who was interested. I did my turn as doc boy. Mostly I stood at the back and filmed everything, since TPTB want those who couldn’t make it to see what went on. It will be, er, interesting to see my own presentation style. I must resist the temptation to edit myself out entirely.

In unrelated news, the company floated on Wednesday. We had champagne for lunch, as my photo shows. (Bob, that was why we were all outside the office having our picture taken.)

Tonight I went to Cineworld with Chris, Melanie and Louise to see Hitch. I was expecting a pretty lame oh-so-predictable romcom, but it turned out to be a not-too-bad oh-so-predictable romcom.

Avaragado’s rating: eight dark green leaves.

Snow in Cambridge
Originally uploaded by avaragado.

Just in time for the thaw, snow finally settles in Cambridge.

All week we’ve had warnings about snow in the region, followed by blazing sunshine (and a biting wind) but nothing more than half-hearted non-settling flakes. Meanwhile Kent has closed schools, got the army out, etc.

I imagine our snow will last until, ooh, lunchtime or thereabouts.

While attempting a “quick check in” at Heathrow for Monday’s trip to Frankfurt, I broke it. It’s not my fault, all I did was show it my credit card and type in my flight number.

I think the cause was that at some point during the check-in process, Lufthansa decided to cancel my flight.

I checked in the old-fashioned way, and was promoted to an earlier flight. Which was then delayed to allow passengers turning up for the cancelled flight to catch the earlier one. And consequently the earlier flight took off at the originally scheduled time of the cancelled flight. Ho hum.

Frankfurt was cold: -5 or so. And by the time I arrived, pretty much shut. Anyway. That night’s hotel had a sign up next to the lifts that, as far as I can make out, meant “no ice cream”.

This week’s taxi driver could find the correct destination, thanks to some advance preparation (multimap and a printer).

One all-day meeting and another six hours travelling/waiting later, and I was home again. I was away for about 30 hours, I guess; it seemed at least double that.

In other news:

Today I bought a new shirt. I’m off to Germany again on Monday, you see (we’re going at a reasonable hour this time). I need to beef up my customer-friendly long-sleeved shirt ensemble; I don’t believe in dastardly things like suits and ties, and although I’ve got a few decent short-sleeved shirts they’ll have to wait until spring hits.

I also bought a new phone for my flat (I thought the line had gone screwy, but I figured out this week that I was wrong – just in time to avoid a £60 callout charge from BT). Come to think of it, the phone went pop around Christmas. I’ve only just taken down my Christmas cards too. What happened to January and February? Did I miss anything important?

Tonight a few of us went to see The Life Aquatic. I enjoyed it; relevant adjectives include “quirky” and “offbeat”. Avaragado’s rating: four crabs.

Oh, there was an teaser trailer for the League of Gentlemen movie, Apocalypse. It has certificate L, for Local. I hope they don’t overdo the “local” gag; catchphrases don’t generally make good plots.

Blimey, Roger’s in the news again – well, same story as last time but just noticed by Slashdot.

Well, I think tonight went pretty well for a first date. But then, I have had something to drink. OK, several glasses of something. (Eagle, No. 1 King’s Parade.)

We’re thinking of seeing each other again next Thursday, maybe. He’ll call me.

Awake at 2am on Monday, “too excited” to go back to sleep. Get up at 3am. Have some breakfast, though arguably it’s a very late supper. Get picked up at 4am by a mulleted half-asleep driver; consequently I stay awake in case he doesn’t.

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Bah.

Mikey’s in town today, so we went for lunch at the Fort St George. And then a few more pints. And then a wander into town to the Champion of the Thames. And then a quick slice of cake etc at Clowns. And then we met up with Chris and Melanie, and had another pint at the Bun Shop.

It’s nearly 9pm. In twelve hours I’ll be in a meeting in Frankfurt. I’m being picked up at 4am for a 6:30 flight from Heathrow.

I think I ought to go to bed kind of, well, now.

Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
You could end up paying too much tax
If you do not complete this form

Bah, Inland Revenue – desperate to know my employment history since 11 January 2004. I guess they’ve finally got round to looking at my tax return.