Hmm. Well, my office furniture has been delivered, and it is damaged. One of the feet of the desk is smashed and the "modesty panel" has been badly scored by the other components that were poorly packed. The packaging was badly damaged and the entire carton had clearly either been dropped heavily, or had something heavy dropped on it. Naturally, nobody is at the customer services centre on Sundays, in spite of the fact that MFI stores are open on Sundays and they make deliveries on Sundays. But, hopefully, I should be able to get these items sorted out tomorrow - I can’t construct it just yet anyway, as the panelling and flooring in the office needs to be completed first.

One in four Britons has debt other than mortgage. Shock! Whatever next? Grass to be declared green? Sky to be confirmed blue? Honestly, is this such a surprise? When property prices are so high, and people have mortgages which are worth four times their salary or more (or are paying equally astronomical sums in rent), then the only way for most people on typical salaries to have anything other than a most basic lifestyle is to borrow money. The trick, of course, is to carefully plan and manage your borrowings, and not rack up five figure sums on credit cards buying things you don’t really need. Anyone who does that must surely deserve all the hardship they get as a result. All it takes is common sense.
I don’t offer a solution, I just wonder why this is such surprising news.

Silly, but fun.

Thanks to Bella, I’m now up to 20 new tunes for radio grayblog, and I have more up my sleeve yet. So don’t expect the update for a few more days yet, not least because I have other things to do like laundry, eating, sleeping, cleaning the flat, decorating my office and work, as well as occasionally taking a bit of downtime to listen to new music, read, go for a walk or just laze on the sofa. But I am working on it, I promise.

I’ve just renewed the web hosting for this site for another twelve months. So you’ve got at least another year’s worth of drivel to suffer. Sorry.

If the mountain won’t come to Mohammed, maybe Mohammed should go to the mountain?

Replacement desk components ordered - they say it will take five to seven working days, which means that they should be here between Monday and Wednesday next week. We shall see.

OK. Let me get this right. The unions are upset that companies are moving call centre activities abroad in order to save money. Correct me if I’m wrong, but aren’t these the same unions that campaigned for a minimum wage and are now campaigning for it to be dramatically increased (and speaking as an employer that has always paid above minimum pay, I can assure you that it has had an upward impact on all wages, which has a knock-on effect on to other prices, including property).
What makes me think that the unions are incredibly divorced from common sense is that they are threatening strike action unless things change. When will they learn that this sort of activity will only drive more employers abroad and deter inward investment to this country?

Spiky bras. via flabber.nl

Also from flabber.nl - a mountain rescue helicopter game, which is bug hard.

A little while ago, we took on a new member of staff at the nursery. I really don’t think she is going to last the course. Today there is a little rain here. She has just said that she can’t go out in the rain because it makes her hair go curly. Last week it was alternately too hot and too cold. It strikes me that she just isn’t cut out for working on a nursery, and certainly won’t survive the winter. In fact, I honestly doubt that she’ll survive the summer. Which means that we’ll be going through the whole recruitment rigmarole again soon. Gah.

Whatever your opinion of nuclear energy, I don’t think it could be disputed that many of the power stations are striking, even beautiful, examples of architecture, many exemplifying the "White Heat" technology age of the 1950s and 1960s.
Image of Torness from Reuters.

My new hard drive has arrived. Prepare for much swearing and cursing when I (attempt to) install it this evening.
Meanwhile, I’ve just ordered a flat panel monitor for the nursery - much more straightforward.

Burping Action Man tested at North Pole.

Home build your own cruise missile for US$5000! via Nico.

Now, if I’d been really clever and forward thinking, I’d have defragged the existing hard drive on my desktop overnight last night so that I was ready to begin installation of the new hard drive today. I’d also make life easier if I shut down all the applications running in background, like my anti-virus software, before starting. Guh.

Wow! A night just like 1999, or something. Sightings of Simone, Claudette, Anne, Trevor and DJ, as well as Mich, Hamish, Paul C, Kearn and Arron, as well as Kristian, Leah and Lucy. It was like the old days.
Missing someone though.

Hard drive successfully installed, eventually. Needs partitioning and formatting, but the difficult bit is done. And how much fluff can collect inside a PC?

Busy, busy, busy. Looks like the rain is stopping, which is a good thing.

Isn’t shopping easy when you’re in the right mood? Today:

• a haircut, in the company of Sarah H as a result of simultaneous appointment coincidence
• four pillows
• six paperbacks
• a sheet
• a towel
• a shower curtain (yup, the legendary kinky inflatable pvc version is to be replaced, with a new kinky non-inflatable pvc one)
• four very large wine glasses
• dinner (layzee ready meal)

Top marks to Microsoft for their online support in the knowledge base. The documentation that came with my harddrive assumes that the software they provide will actually recognise the model of drive (it doesn’t - has lots of similar numbers, but not exactly the same). Beyond that, it is less than self explanatory. The Microsoft knowledge base, on the other hand, gives a nice easy explanation of the correct use of FDisk and Format, with tips on how to avoid messy formatting-of-wrong-drive mistakes. Bless ‘em.

Thorough ScanDisk. Hmm. Sloooooooooow. I think I’ll go to the pub. I may be waiting some time.

Sometimes the beginning of summer can be a pain. Everyone’s lives seem so full, everyone seems to be rushing around. The blogs go quiet, fewer people leave comments, even my email inbox is quiet. There’s a few people I haven’t heard from in a while. I don’t know what they’re up to, how they are, how they feel, what’s happening in their lives, when I might see them next or anything. For someone who is naturally gregarious, it takes a little getting used to.
I think I’ll start on one of those paperbacks, as I’m going to the pub tomorrow night for Kearn’s birthday, so an energy/money saving night might not be a bad idea. And I can keep an eye on the ScanDisk progress.

Forgot to say that the replacement components for my desk arrived today - not bad service there. And the new flat TFT monitor for my PC at the nursery also arrived too, affording great savings on desk space.

What do you do when you don’t feel happy making a cold, reasoned and logical response to a situation and when the warm, soft, hopeful and emotive response probably doesn’t serve your own self interests very well? And what do you do when there is no "third way" middle option.

The logical response would be a bit harsh on another party. But for me, it would terminate the situation. It would mean the external ties are cut, although the internal would still need to be wrestled with. Equally though, to remain within the situation could have some very good long term benefits if I am prepared to wait, but those benefits are unknown and by no means guaranteed.

The alternative, the emotive response, is to maintain the status quo as it has become. It isn’t ideal by any means. In fact, it’s probably causing a negative impact on both parties just at the moment. There is no real indication as to how long this situation will remain, but it is certainly temporary. Beyond this period, things will be different. They may be only slightly different from the current situation. Or they may be very much better than the current situation. Or they may actually equate to the outcome of the logical response, only in a slightly more tortuous and less comfortable way.
Thus the current situation is uncertain, and uncertainty is bad.

I don’t know what to do. I favour the emotive response, partly because it would be easier, inflict less on others and keeps the hope alive for tomorrow. But a dispassionate observer would probably recommend the logical response. The trouble is that I’m not dispassionate.

Either way, go watch the new Weebl.

I’ve just managed 411.68 at this.

This morning, I’m feeling a bit .. well… deflated. Just once, I would really like things to go as planned, without people getting hurt or disappointed along the way. Just once.
Of course, it’s up to me to be strong and walk through all this with my chin up, and carry the people who are having real crises in life with me, and hope that there are better times for everyone on the other side. But some days it’s hard to do that.

Happy birthday to Kearn. There is a drinking plan for this evening, apparently. I think I’ll head to either w2 or the Nags, safe in the knowledge that they’ll get there eventually, as I don’t really fancy the Chicago Pox place, as it will inevitably become known.
Kearn shares his birthday with Brian.

Pants.

Good news for Brighton as Steve Coppell signs up for another season. Meanwhile, the reason for relegation is revealed.

Bum. Arse. Bugger. Fuck.
Beers tonight with Arron, Kearn, Kev, Paul C and Aris. Happy birthday Kearn.
But I don’t feel good. Distance is pants.

I’ve been over to Stansted House to visit the Garden Show there today. It’s pouring with rain, and I’m very glad that we’re not exhibiting there this year. I don’t think I could cope with a drenching like last year. Still, it looks like there are still plenty of visitors there, which is good. Jane, the organiser, deserves success as she puts so much hard work into it.
After visiting Stansted, I ran a few errands which involved driving along miles of lanes in the Downs, getting to see bits of Sussex that most people never look at. In spite of the low cloud and steady rain, it is beautiful, all lush and very green. For those familiar with Sussex geography, I travelled from Aldsworth to Forestside, on to West Marden, Walderton, Stoughton and East Marden, then from Chilgrove to West Dean along the back roads and finally through Goodwood to Westhampnett.
As I went, I had some jazz on the car stereo turned up loud, and I took the time to think. I need quite a bit of thinking time at the moment. I’m going to stay in this evening to do a bit more. One area of life is not working out the way I’d like at the moment, but I’m at a loss to know how to change it. But I’m not going to walk away from it, for sure. I just need to think my way through it and come to a positive, constructive and forward-looking conclusion.

Sleepy. I guess that is part of the problem - I’m a bit tired and run down, which means that my patience is less than normal, and my thoughts are less than clear. I think some rest and an early night will help. I’m not going into the office this weekend at all.

More tunes in preparation for the radio grayblog refurb, including the legendary Aphrodisiacs’ track, This Is A Campaign, that Peel flogged to death around the New Year. And some classic XTC too.

Some good music, good reading, an early night, a solid night’s sleep, a soak in the bath and a strong cup of coffee later, and my thinking is done. I know what I have to do. And I feel good about it. As someone said to me recently, you know when it is right. I just hope it isn’t too late.
But before I can do it, I need to tidy this place up (it’s a complete tip and Sarah’s coming round later), go to the bank and then head out for some lunch. Plus do some laundry.

Hmm. I think that this crosses the fine line.

Lunch with Sarah in the garden at the Nags, followed by a shopping trip in search of vases for the office (three purchased - splendid!) and then an extended session of sitting in Priory Park in the superb sunshine, reading and keeping an eye on the cricket.
Oops. I seem to be a bit sunburnt.

Hmm. Having just told someone in an email this afternoon that my life is full and I have lots of interesting friends that I spend time with, I’ve just been into the city, walked through all the pubs (well, not all of them, but the Nags, W2, Sadlers, Slug and Lettuce and the Dolphin and Anchor) and not seen anybody. Well, not exactly anybody, as I did see one or two people I know, but not anyone I could spend an evening and a couple of pints with.
Oh well, no harm done. My lunch was largely liquid, so a night off the beer will do me no harm, and will conserve the pennies.

I might go to this next Saturday.

Hmmm.
Sunburnt arms. Hot shower.
Oooooo! Aaaaah! Eeee!

Busy busy here, getting back into the much-neglected paperwork for PFE. Now that PFE actually has customers, those agreements and contracts that I started working on are actually required. Which means that I need to finish drawing them up. So I’m busy working away on my laptop, whilst leaving my desktop chuntering away with a big pile of mp3s in the background.

Blogger has been down all day, bless its little digital socks, hence silence.
Meanwhile, Boob Scotch (not safe for the office).

Busy busy, as always.
Seamus, the nursery cat, has got it into his furry head that it is fun to chew holes in the side of cardboard boxes. Nutter.

I’ve just had two conversations by telephone. One was with someone to whom I am offering the opportunity to sell their goods to five thousand well-heeled Sussex folk in exchange for a very reasonable fee, in a smart marquee in a beautiful setting. To the other, I was offering the opportunity to stand outside for a weekend, giving up his free time, for which he would gain no financial reward at all. Same setting, but not in the smart marquee.
One conversation was extremely satisfactory, and left me smiling. The other was not and did not. Guesses for which was which?

Bit lacking in fine works of literary genius here lately, for which I must apologise. I’m afraid that pressures on my time mean that grayblog will be Minutiae Central (what a great name for a blog!) for the time being.

One of my old school teachers has just been into the nursery, and told me that Ernie Webb, my former biology teacher, died recently. Mr Webb famously once described Sarah as having "child-bearing hips". These days you’d get the sack for saying that to a pupil.
She also told me that Terry Beaumont, who was once my physics teacher and form tutor, left school for the summer recess one year, and simply didn’t bother to turn up in September. Top bloke!

Musical discovery of the day is Louise Vertigo (on Musiques Hybrides - en français, mes amis), although I’m not sure about the lyrics of the excellent track Peau d’Ane. My shaky French translates the chorus as "I’m the skin of a donkey" which I’m sure can not be right. Can someone verify this?

Tim Weber of the BBC gives a plain English interpretation of Gordon Brown’s analysis of the five tests for euro membership. For those that are really keen on learning more, HM Treasury has devoted a whole section of its website to the subject.
No doubt there will be more press coverage and analysis tomorrow. My opinion? The outcome of Brown’s analysis has been driven as much by political motives as by hard economics, and whatever he would have concluded, it is unlikely that the pro-euro campaign could win a referendum in the foreseeable future, sad to say.
My little new business has to run a dual currency accounting system, complete with attendant extra costs, extra accountant fees, extra paperwork, etc. I will have to offer my clients the choice of being invoiced/paid in euro or sterling. Inevitably, I will lose money on currency fluctuations and transaction costs. Adoption of the euro in the UK would simplify my business and save me a lot of money.

Busy. With matching earache. Ow.

I think a job lot of P45s, or the Ghanaian equivalent, will be more useful to Ghana Airways than prayer.

I’m getting the hang of this laptop malarkey - two documents typed in the seven minute journey between Barnham and Chichester.

Wow! Onboard video from the launch of NASA’s Mars robot from Cape Canaveral (requires Real Player).

Hmm. For the second time in four days, I’ve just been down to the pubs (Nags and W2) and none of the usual suspects are there. Must be something I said.

Jim the Cat’s on Channel Four Thousand Six Hundred!. Meow. (1.8MB download kids).

Busy busy. Not sure what to do first. Ear seems better today though.

I’ve just spent an hour correcting a fundamental mistake at work, and then realising that I hadn’t made a mistake at all, and therefore correcting the correction. I’ve come out of it mildly frazzled, having used my stocks of spare Inland Revenue stationery and owing an employee a bun. Guh.
Time to go home, I think.

There is currently a British based blog that is being heavily promoted by its author. I don’t have too much of a problem with that, except that this rather foolish and short-sighted person is promoting it by spamming the UKBloggers mailing lists and the comments areas of various UKBloggers. He’s recently left a comment over at notsosoft, which I expect Meg will have deleted by the time you get there (it’s in the Haywards Heath post).
This person (who I will neither name nor link to) has not yet learnt that if you want to get linky luurve from other bloggers, you need to earn it by writing well and possibly offering a few choice links yourself. And not just links to any old soul, but links to good sites that you actually like reading. If you insist on spamming, all you will do is get people’s backs up.
And if this person shows his face here, I’ll simply delete the comment and block the IP.
Oh, and incidentally, the site itself is crap in my opinion. To consider Death Row to be "funny" is just plain odd.

I really must update my list of personal sites in the sidebar there. Several of them have closed down now, including, sadly, this latest casualty.
Some of us are made of sterner stuff. Or have textual diarrhoea.

I love spam. Not. But it does amuse me sometimes. So far this evening I’ve been able to pay off my mortgage several times over, get enormously wealthy without so much as lifting a finger, have much bigger breasts and a penis the size of Cleopatra’s Needle. Nothing unusual there, but to have that all followed by an offer of a cheap 0898 telephone number is just a wee bit serendipitious. All I need now is the phone number for a journalist at the Daily Sport, and I’m sorted.

There is a big fire burning on one of the industrial estates on the old Ford Airfield. That’s about three miles or so from here, yet you can clearly see a broad plume of smoke billowing into the sky. A paramedic car has whizzed passed, shortly followed by a fire engine from Chichester, and I could hear sirens from the Bognor fire crews going along the A259 in the distance. I’m sure it’ll be on the news later.

Today’s main task: assembly of flat-packed office furniture. So far, I’ve done the shelf unit, which took ages. It has so many nuts and bolts and screws, I can’t imagine it will ever fall apart. Looks good though, so well pleased.
Next: the desk.

I’ve just taken delivery of the new Ulrich Schnauss album, A Strangely Isolated Place (on City Centre Offices records). I think it’s brilliant. Pitchfork review here.

Charlie and Peeeeet are coming over for dinner tomorrow evening. So I’ve made sure the flat is ready for them - a fresh crate of beer and two bottles of wine in the fridge. Oh, and I have bought the food too. I’ve also packed a whole load of stuff into the car to take over the office - it’ll be good to finally have PFE all in one place.

Gah! I could play this all night, and I haven’t finished tidying yet!

It took the whole of the day yesterday to construct the shelf unit and desk for my office. All I have left now is a four-drawer pedestal unit, and I get the feeling that it could take another whole day to do.

A tartan of old ladies.

Furniture construction completed. Now to nip out and break the law with some illegal signs. Again.

Charlie and Peeet over for dinner last night.
Poked about the shops in Brighton today with Kate.
Full report later. Now pooped.
Sometimes text messages at 1am are an annoyance. Sometimes they are almost exactly what you want.

Beer with DA, DA (as I said I’d mention him twice for failing to mention him last time), Kearn, Jeremy, Simon, Stein, James, Paul F, Helen, Hamish, Ruth, Al, Lyn, Arron, Matt, Cat and various other usual suspects.

Right: let’s deal with all the questions you want answered:

• What did you cook for Charlie and Peeet, Graybo?
• Lime and chilli trout fillets. Strikingly simply and very tasty, using a Waitrose recipe. Served with new potatoes, and chocolate mousse for dessert. And, of course, much wine was consumed, with lots of conversation and Jenga.
• What did you buy in Brighton?
• Stupidly, not the one thing I really needed - a new shower curtain. The one I bought recently isn’t quite long enough, so water trickles down the side of the bath and onto the floor. So I need a slightly longer one, which I was going to get in Habitat, but forgot. So I’ll look in A&N later. But what I did buy was some cheese at the food fair by the Pavilion, some shoes and five CDs, as well as a beer in a pub and some bread and olives to go with the cheese for a late lunch at Kate’s new flat.
• What CDs did you buy?
• Susumu Yokota - The Boy and The Tree
• Susumu Yokota - Sakura
• Appliance - Six Modular Pieces
• Animals That Swim - The Moon And The Mothership
• Amon Tobin - Bricolage
• Any amusing anecdotes or observations for us, Graybo?
• Not many. Has to be said that Brighton has a real attitude, and I’m not sure it is entirely good. Yes, it is an amazingly interesting and exciting and vibrant place, which I love visiting and walking around, with a real cosmopolitan and slightly continental flavour. But it also has a strident arrogance that is all-pervasive - there are people there who firmly believe that they are cool just by being in the city, and have a real "look at me" mentality. If you’re not cool, there must be something wrong with you. Unless you’re being deliberately retro or something. That whole attitude strikes me as a little unhealthy, and is one of (several) reasons why I love Brighton, but wouldn’t want to live there.
• What are your plans for today?
• In spite of it being Fathers’ Day, I won’t be seeing Dad today. I do need to go and buy him a gift, so I suspect a trip to the off-licence is in order. I also need to buy a shower curtain, as I’ve already discussed. And I need to go to Waitrose for some provisions. Other than that, I may take the laptop down to Priory Park, as I need to do some work, but it is much too fine today to stay inside.

[written earlier this afternoon as I sat in the park]
Remarkable! I’m currently sitting in Priory Park, on the banks of the city’s defences in the shade of a beautiful holm oak so that I can see my laptop’s screen on such a bright day, and before me is a ladies cricket match in progress! Such advances in social standards in Chichester are hard to believe! A pity that they are not all wearing proper whites (I spy a couple of pairs of dark shorts, and at least three pairs of black trainers), and one of the umpires is barefoot (risking injury, I’d say - I wouldn’t fancy having a fast moving cricket ball clobbering me on the big toe!) but I guess we should just be grateful that such a match is taking place.
Chichester vs Eastleigh - looks like the teams are pretty well matched.
Still, it doesn’t seem to matter who is playing here - there’s always a bunch of prats who come onto the pitch and start larking about with a football, ignoring the requests of the umpire to get off the pitch and away from in front of the sight screens.

Surely this is what the English summer is all about - sitting on a park bench in the shade of a tree, watching a cricket match beneath a glorious blue sky, whilst in the distance the Cathedral bells ring across the city’s rooftops. Children are playing with a football away to my right, whilst to my left the grass is scattered with sunbathers, singly and in pairs or groups, enjoying the warmth of the June sun. On the other side of the cricket pitch, elderly folk are playing a gentle game of bowls and catching up on the week’s gossip.

The only downer is that I’m here with a laptop, pounding away at building the new website for PFE (I should be working on a licence agreement form, but left some paperwork I need in the office), instead of enjoying a good book and a pint.

Sure is hot.
Observation: I need to get a blind for my office window - can’t see my laptop screen very well due to the bright light behind me.

Sorry. Quiet. Too busy at the moment. But had my first full day of working for PFE, which was good, although interrupted at several points by Croftway Nursery issues. I shall be monitoring that, don’t you worry.
I’ve just driven umpteen miles and sponged up a whole bunch of illegal signs. Now, after I’ve had some dinner, I intend to flop on the sofa and read a book, whilst listening to some good music.
I also note that I have two of the music recommendations in Wallpaper already - the latest releases by Broadcast and The Cinematic Orchestra. I am übercool, it’s official.

Good Spanish dry white wine should definitely be shared.
I think I’ll put one in the fridge, just so I’m ready.

Gah. I’ve been sniffing, sneezing and suffering from itchy and puffy eyes all day long. We desperately need a shower of rain to lay the pollen a bit.

Day two of working on my own account "properly" and the Croftway Nursery intrusions continue. I’ve just snapped at Mum after the umpteenth interruption (and subsequently apologised). My stress levels are very high, and that is entirely due to the Croftway Nursery element of life, not the PFE part, which is hectic but enjoyable and actually running pretty smoothly. I really need a break, but I have to work on Saturday this weekend, and the following weekend is my Garden Event at West Dean, and therefore one of the busiest and most stressful weekends of the year (and also, hopefully, one of the most profitable). So I’ve now ringfenced the weekend of 5th - 6th July for a bit of downtime and, with luck, some company.

..slap..slap..slap..slap..slap..slap..slap..
What is it with this ridiculous fashion at the moment for wearing loose sandals or flip-flops? I’ve just walked through Chichester following a rather large woman wearing such footwear, thoroughly revolted by having my attention forcibly and audibly drawn to her somewhat leathery plates. Yuk.
Please, don’t wear them. They’re not sexy. Or even terribly practical.

Interesting reading in places. Certainly not office safe. Guaranteed to offend. But interesting, nonetheless.
The blogosphere can be a strange place. But then so is the "real" world.

Beer and cocktails tonight with Paul F, Kearn and Aris.
And a long distance call that made me smile.