A New Hope

I've finally decided to start a project I've been thinking about for a while. Hopefully it'll be some fun and will keep me occupied on the long, cold nights

Blow by blow account can be found here

Technology ... at last

Our updated technology is finally here

Following yesterday's disappointment, the Engineer came today and we finally have our shiny new Sky+ system. It was rather galling since he was here for a total of about 20 minutes, including checking the alignment on the dish. After all that waiting, it was so quick and simple. We're now looking forward to all the whizzy things that it can do.

Boo ... new technology failure

After MONTHS of waiting, our new Sky+ box was not delivered today

I reserved the box back at the start of July. Due to the strange system that Sky use, you have to wait to actually be allowed to order it (I think it's a way of making it look like they're not totally rubbish that doesn't really work). Last month I was told I could order it, and today was the earliest they could install it. Not what I would call great customer service

We had the usual thing of an appointment any time between 8am and 1pm, so I dutifully waited in to make sure I didn't miss the engineer when he arrived. At 11:30, Sky rang to say that they wouldn't be coming because the engineer had rung in sick.

Whereas I do understand that you can't predict sickness and there isn't much you can do about it at short notice, what I don't understand is why it took them until 11:30 to call me. That was 3.5 hours after the Engineer should have been working. It just adds another instance of dreadful customer service that we seem to have to put up with because there is only one company that we can use to get anything like a decent TV service.

Watery Voles

Just back from our hols. More watery pursuits for us with lots of diving and swimming and general lazing around in nice hot places.

First week on a liveaboard is remembered here.

The second week we were at the Coraya Beach Resort just near Marsa Alarm airport in Egypt. This is a reasonably upmarket sort of hotel which we enjoyed a great deal. The staff were excellent, friendly and helpful without being over the top. The food was generally pretty good, although we noticed a little lack of variety by the end, but on the whole most enjoyable. We, luckily, didn’t take the advice of people on trip advisor to go fully inclusive. Basically, because we weren’t drinking loads due to the diving, the restrictions imposed by “fully” inclusive made it not worthwhile. We also found if you chatted to the staff for a bit, then tended to slip you free drinks anyway.

or diving we had to walk all the way around the bay (about 10 minutes) to the sister hotel on the other side which was far more family oriented. The dive shop was very well organised (by Germans) and there was a very creditable house reef which took care of our diving needs for the second week. Nitrox was free too, which was nice to see, although we didn’t make use of it because our itinerary was a very relaxed one.

The first week saw some problems on the boat which did detract from our enjoyment a little, but the second week was a blast and overall left us with great impressions of Egypt once again.

Brass Monkeys

In preparation for our forthcoming holiday (hooray) herself and myself ventured of to the NDAC dive centre in Chepstow to refresh our diving skills and try out our equipment.

It’s quite an impressive sight, with the car park overlooking the huge hole in the earth which was the quarry and is now the dive lake.

They were a great bunch at the centre and we soon had all our kit sorted out and jumped on the minibus for a lift down to the water’s edge (much appreciated, it would have been a long walk). After the usual faffing about we took the plunge – literally – and got rather a shock as to just how cold it was.

We descended down to the bottom of that part of the lake at about 14m and it was eerie and murky – typical British diving. To try to prevent ourselves getting lost, we headed to the quarry wall and followed that around – admiring the collection of gnomes they had thoughtfully installed – and Olga tried out some extreme ironing whilst I tried, rather unsuccessfully, to snap some photos.

We had a quick surface interval on the pontoon and then went in to the shallower end for our second dive, which was just as cold and murky but a good deal shorter. Olga broke her torch, which was not a good Omen, and after swimming through a couple of cargo containers we decided to call it a day.

The showers were a welcome relief, being nice and warm, and after a quick cup of coffee to further defrost ourselves, we headed off – mission accomplished.

Back to the Future

We had a reunion of everyone who I used to work with this weekend.

It was a lovely afternoon and we all relaxed in the beer garden and caught up on things trivial and meaningful. It was especially goo d for me - having finally secured a job – because there was a real sense of everybody moving on. It already seems like a long time since we all worked there together – I guess it was nearly 18 months, which is quite a while. Good to see everyone doing something new and also good to reminisce and air a few of the old grievances as well.

Shaken, not stirred

We had the pleasure of enjoying a champagne cocktail evening this weekend.

We seem to have got into the habit of doing these tasting events every couple of months were our neighbours get together under some pretext and then eat and drink to our hearts content.

On this occasion, champagne cocktails were the order of the day and we were presented with a dazzling array of different cocktails – from the simple to the bizarre. In order to maintain the semblance of a serious tasting session, we had to score each one before moving onto the next. This resulted in a great deal of serious thought and consideration being given to each one (no, not really).

A clear winner did emerge by the end of the evening but none of us can remember which it was – I guess we’ll just have to repeat the whole thing again to find out.
Being champagne, the morning hangover was thankfully minimal – a good tip, I think.