Was at the UL dinner last weekend, and gave a speech. Was an excellent do, and a bargain at just 25 quid a ticket. Even more of a bargain for me as I got mine for nothing.
Fortunately I got away with the speech rather well (despite the last minute preparation) and didn't get any cabbages thrown at me.
The after dinner disco was very good, not of that usual 80's cheese you always get at the Welsh Colleges dinners. We're having a barn dance this year though, so there'll be none of that gubbins. Not on my watch, soldier. I'm off to the Welsh Colleges quarter peal weekend tonight that Kit has organised.

Stay off the roads

Hooray! Passed my driving test today. Got a few faults, mostly for driving too slowly.
Need to go out looking for a car to buy now....

Oops.

No, your eyes aren't deceiving you - The cam at the moment does say 8:17 thursday morning.* So why is it still dark outside? It isn't - my webcam was face down on my floor. The one chance that it could have shown anything interesting (and I use that term reluctantly), and it wasn't pointing in the right direction. Still, you wait until the summer, you'll see plenty then. Almost certainly.

* Of course, this will change as soon as I next dial up from home....

Just renewed my joshuainternet subscription, which means this site's around for another year. The best thing about the package (well, the most entertaining anyway) is the stats they supply, which uses the webaliser. This includes a list of search strings - what people have put into search engines and found your site as a result. Here's the top ten list for october:

1. democratis
2. floccipaucinihilipilification
3. defloweration
4. sexual positions
5. strainer
6. chemistry puns
7. david blaine satanic
8. felching
9. kevin snoad
10. stockport

I've moved the details of my trip to America to here. It's still only the first few days of the trip, but I'll be updating it. Promise.
Also, see that black square on the right? Well as the title indicates - that's going to be my webcam. My webcam is a l'espion from digital dream, and will show the view form my bedroom window. This is of course completely pointless for three reasons:
1. My road is very quiet, and nothing ever happens, apart form the odd car going past.
2. My computer is very rarely online - and even then only when I'm at home in the evenings and it's DARK outside, so you won't see ANYTHING.
3. Who CARES what's going on outside my house? Even I don't, and I live here!

Failed my driving test today, which was rather irritating. Managed to stall it, and rolled back, then started and stalled it again. I also managed to clock up a load of faults for not checking my mirrors before signalling. Oh well, there's always next time - and failing that I've still got my bicycle. Not that I'm any safer on that.

Got back from the Welsh Colleges Summer tour on Sunday. Cycled probably about 200 miles in total. Last tuesday I successfully rode from St Albans to Oxford. Had a few stops for mechanical failures - the first was in Redbourn to tie my bag on more securely. Then in Jockey End my gears jammed going down the first hill of the day, and at Studham I had to adjust the height of the saddle (twice). Then I got a puncture between Chearlsey and Long Crendon which took me about an hour to fix. Arrived in Oxford about 5.30pm, rather later than expected and had a shower and a few beers.
The next day we were supposed to cycle to Pewsey, but due to the weather conditions and various other factors we decided to get the train to Swindon and cycle the rest of the way from there. Got absolutely soaked on the way out of Swindon, and managed to go over a huge pothole at speed on the A346. Buckled the front wheel (not too badly) and burst the back inner tube. Unfortunately I had a rather large lorry following me up the hill at the time, and had no way of getting out of it's way, so had to continue until it overtook me. Managed to get the back wheel fixed (in the rain) and we continued into Pewsey for a swim, and gradually others arrived for the rest of the tour.
There should be a write up of the tour on the Welsh Colleges site soon, but in the meantime here's some photos.

Spent last night stuffing envelopes, so I could get all the tour sheets for the up and coming Welsh Colleges summer tour to the Vale of Pewsey. Will be cycling there over two days, so this time next week I'll be somewhere between St Albans and Oxford.

Was up in Leicester this weekend, where we rang the first peal of Percy's Tea Strainer Treble Place Royal. We also rang a quarter of PTS Max - the first blows in the method!

And the winners are...

David Edgar and Cairngorm J. McWomble who both sent me the correct answer this morning. The original motto was:

"I don't really know what I'm doing"

Quite apt really, considering my appalling translation. Some FaberMaunsell Mints and a FaberMaunsell Pen are on their way to you both, congratulations.

Keep an eye on this page for more exciting competitions with equally naff prizes in the coming months.

Competition update

No-one's really got even close yet - so I've had another crack at it. Turns out I managed to give one of the words almost the complete opposite meaning to what I wanted....
Here's the second attempt - keep those guesses coming!

"Ego nescio profecto quid ego effectus"

Competition!

I decided I needed a motto. Actually, to be honest, I though of a phrase and decided it should be my motto. Like all good mottos, it should be in (or at least be translated into) Latin. I don't know why, but most seem to be....
Unfortunately, I don't know much Latin (hardly any infact), and so I looked to the web. I couldn't find any websites that would translate the whole phrase for me, only individual words, so I had to make do. I translated each word individually, combined a couple to save myself time, and put them all together. As you can imagine, it doesn't make much sense anymore, but here it is:

"Ego ignarus quid ego quiesco"

So here's the challenge: translate it back into English again for me! The closest to the original meaning will win you a prize of some description. I haven't yet decided what the the prize will be, it may only be a virtual prize. Whatever it is, I can guarantee it won't be very good, you probably won't even want it, but at least you'll have the satisfaction of winning.

Email me with your suggestions.

IWD Generator

Those of you on the bellringing email lists may like to save yourselves an awful lot of time by using the IWD Generator. All your IWD email needs in one handy website, courtesy of Mark Davies (no relation, apparently).

I'm not too sure what to make of this:





Which flock do you follow?

this quiz was made by alanna

Managed to lose my wallet this weekend, which was quite unfortunate. Had a message left on my phone from some chap saying he'd found it and I should call him; but unfortunately he didn't leave his number, and someone tried phoning me just afterwards. So if you're reading this mate, email me!

Is this the world's smallest website?

Boredom
If, like me, you've really got nothing better to do, have a look at this page translated into French and more importantly translated back into English again!

Notices

Saw these two notices in a carpark in Peterborough a few weekends ago.

Check out the recently launched site Ooh! I could crush a grape! A sounding board for the ranting of a mate of mine who's getting very annoyed at all those muppet drivers out there.

Rang two peals this weekend. Managed to fall asleep on the train on the way back from London. The taxi driver who drove me back from Harpenden assured me I was far from the first to have done so...

Top five reasons to buy the new Oasis single.

5. NME's 6th most influential artists.
4. "A great big, wallop-smack of a single." - dotmusic.com
3. "A meaty, bloke-rock relentless beast of a tune" - Chris Long, BBC Manchester
2. "A typical slice of Oasis guitar-driven rock" - Reuters.
1. Let's knock Gareth bleeding Gates off number 1!

Actually, this looks a bit more like it:

	You are Fozzie! Wokka Wokka! You love to make lame jokes. Your sense of humor might be a bit off, but you're a great friend and can always be counted on..
Take the What Muppet Are You? Quiz!

Went to see Les Mis?rables last night at the Palace Theatre in London. Was very good, and I never realised before just how many Cockneys there were in revolutionary France....

Hmm...

	You are Beaker! You are very quiet, and your vocabulary mostly consists of a series of beeps. You don't assert yourself; because of this, you have a tendency to get hurt.
Take the What Muppet Are You? Quiz!

Bought some business cards (well, personal cards really) from VistaPrint.com.

They arrived in just two weeks (about three weeks the website said. Well, two is about three.). They were free infact. Well, I actually paid 10 quid for them, but that was just for the p&p and stainless steel business card holder...

Didn't get up to too much at the weekend, read the justifiably disturbing A Child called "It" on Saturday night, and rang a half muffled quarter peal on Sunday. Also did some minor updates to the Welsh Colleges, Gopsi and Drivel list websites.

This has got a method named after it!

Added a new section on St Albans Pubs.

Had a great time at the MUGCR dinner at the weekend. Went for some very nice (and cheap!) beer and a curry on friday night (see photo), and rang at a few places on the saturday before the dinner. Gave a speech and proceded to drink and talk rubbish for the rest of the evening. The dinner was made all the better by not having a cheesy after dinner disco.

The Shere Khan, Rusholme. Not exactly packed, but good food.

A tower in Stockport. We rang there on Saturday. Had to stick two photos together, didn't manage it very well...

I no longer work for Oscar Faber, I now work for FaberMaunsell! Spot the difference...

Thanks to Phil Ringnalda's Blogger archive script generator I've got the archives working now. The Show All / Fewer is a bit pointless at the moment, will have a bit more meaning when this site is more than 4 months old.

Also my digital camera arrived yesterday, so expect some pictures soon. You lucky, lucky people.

And to demonstrate the new camera, here's a picture of St. Albans Abbey tower that I took at lunchtime:

The Ancient Society of Efquire Drivelling Youths

Trumpington, Cambridgeshire
SS Mary & Michael

Saturday, 23 February 2002 in 2:47 (10)

5088 Spliced Treble Place Major (5 methods)

On Saturday the twenty third day in the month of February in the year of our Lord MMII (Anno Drivelii IV) the following gentlemen did ring a true and exquisite peal of spliced treble place major, being 5088 changes of the following methods (with all of the work for all of the bells and one hundred and twenty eight changes of method) according to the most excellent composition of E A Barnett Efquire, arranged and rotated by Cairngorm J McWomble Efquire, and conducted in a masterly fafhon by Simon C Farrar Efquire:

Percy's Tea Strainer Treble Place Major
Lou's Carrot Treble Place Major
Drivel List Treble Place Major
Ancient Society of Efquire Leeds Youths Treble Place Major
Cambridge Treble Place Major

Call'd Bobs: Simon C Farrar

1 Ian J Wells Efquire
2 Stephen W Percival Penney Efquire
3 Phillip M Orme Efquire
4 Clive G Smith Efquire
5 C James Hustler Efquire
6 Philip J Earis Efquire
7 Andrew J W Tibbetts Efquire
8 Simon C Farrar Efquire

First peal for the society at the first attempt.
Believed to be the most spliced treble place major
Percy's Tea Strainer Treble Place Major:
b -38-14-58-16-12-38-1478-78
Lou's Carrot Treble Place Major:
b -58-16-12-38-14-58-1678-78
Drivel List Treble Place Major:
b -36-14-58-36-14-58-3678-78
Ancient Society of Efquire Leeds Youths Treble Place Major:
b -38-14-58-16-14-58-3678-78

My mini digital camera should hopefully arrive early next week, which will mean I can put photos on this blog of stuff. I can tell you're excited.

Found this:

"A new bell-frame was constructed and fixed in the south-west corner, and the whole peal received an entirely new set of fittings by Warner and Sons, of Cripplegate. The 21st December, 1871, was a day to be remembered by those in St. Albans who were fond of campanology, for then the College Youths rang out a glorious peal ; the long period of forty years had elapsed, more than a generation had passed since the former peal had been rung ; none but the old and middle aged had heard their glad sound, except when chimed, and their recovery to their old life seemed to give infinite pleasure and satisfaction to the good people of St. Albans. May their sweet music long continue to gladden the hearts of this generation and of fututre ones!"

- John Chapple, "The restoration of the Abbey of St Alban", 1874.
An appendix to "Middlesex & Hertfordshire Notes and Queries" Volume II (1876)
(My links)

Still recovering from the Welsh Colleges dinner weekend. Managed to get my speech finished in time, just.
At the AGM, the fools voted me in as Social Secretary, so the society is surely doomed. I've got the Easter tour to sort out now, which is worryingly close (so get on with it Percy).
All in all a very enjoyable weekend, and I'm looking forward to the MUGS dinner in March, at which I've got another speech to give. Send me any suggestions for what I could talk about.

Speech writer's block
I've got my Masters speech to do for the Welsh Colleges dinner on saturday, and still have absolutely no idea what to talk about. I've had a few ideas, but they've all been pants. If you've got any suggestions, then please let me know.

Got the archives working, sort of. Might be able to make them look a bit better using this.

Made the date headers a brighter colour (i.e. white instead of black!), and the whole blog text a bit larger too, so it should be a bit easier to read now.

Went to see Oasis last night with IWD, who I managed to lose by the end of the evening. The third time I've seen them, and the smallest gig too, which meant I was much closer to them than I'd been before. The size of the venuedidn't affect the energy they put into the songs however, the atmosphere was still as electric as ever.
My memory is a little hazy as to what the set list was, they did a couple of new songs, the second of which was "Hung in a bad place". Took a wild guess at the first one, so I may be wrong. The songs, as far as I can remember, and undoubtedly in the wrong order were:

Go Let it out
Columbia
Morning glory
Acquiesce
Fade Away
Supersonic
?Hindu Times?
Gas Panic
Cigarettes and Alcohol
Hung in a bad place
Slide away
She's Electric
Live Forever
Champagne Supernova
Rock n roll star
Don't look back in anger
I am the walrus

Looking foward to the new album "Heathen Chemistry", out in May.

Was supposed to be going to Cardiff this weekend so I can ring a peal at Brecon Cathedral tomorrow. Unfortunately, I've just found out that the peals been cancelled. Fortunately, those nice people at TheTrainline offered me a refund for the tickets.

Apparently people are having problems viewing this site, especially the blog date headers. As soon as I find out why I'll see what I can do to change them

Got my sandwiches at lunchtime...
My Boss decided it would be a good idea to order a copy of the FT and the Guardian everyday. In his absence, they've been building up somewhat (although I've been taking home the Guardian). Opening it this afternoon, to see what IT jobs might be available (hey, just because you're on a diet doesn't mean you can't look at the menu), I noticed the front page article of 'Online' was "A tale of one man and his blog". An article all about our much loved blogger.com.

Oasis tickets arrived yesterday, but as they required a signature they were taken back to the post office. Annoyingly, I left the slip at home so I can't pick them up after work either.
Just realised I've left my sandwiches at home too. Might have to suggest a detour during my driving lesson this lunchtime....

Went to my Uncle's funeral this morning, up at King's Lynn.
Evening was rather more jovial, rang a superb peal of Stedman Triples at Harpenden with the College Youths.

Received this rather interesting puzzle in my email today (from some spammer or other). Unfortunately the link to the answer doesn't go to the answer, it goes to some advertising page.
Oh yeah, and we didn't get the quarter last night....

Got to re-learn Bristol Royal, sorry I mean Bristol Royal for a quarter peal tonight. Don't know if I'll be able to fit it in at work, so might have to miss Buffy tonight.

Managed to get tickets to see Oasis, so am rather chuffed. They seemed to sell out in less than five minutes, so it's a bit of luck that I didn't oversleep....
Now I need to check my diary to see what I have to cancel.

I see Oasis are playing in Watford next month. Will try to get tickets tomorrow morning, if I don't oversleep.