TEMPERATURE IN NOTTINGHAM NOW
Wed 19 May 2004 Money received from the takeover of Host Europe: profit of over £800. Also, France Telecom
has paid me over £300 for my shares in Wanadoo, ex Freeserve. All profit as I covered my costs when they were towards their peak
four years ago And I still have 11 shares in FT! Sold my holding in HBOS
for a small profit this afternoon. For further details,
Click Here
Sun 9 May 2004 Although I have belonged to the LDWA for about 8 years now, I have never led walks of any sort...until today. I was told that a walk leader was wanted to lead the 20 mile walk for the Ollerton & Boughton Annual Parish Walk today. We completed the route in about 7 hrs, and all 12 participants succeeded in what for some of them is a long distance. I had already done 26 miles yesterday, the Caunton Canter, in 6 hr 32 mins, again being the first walker, this year by 5 minutes. But I took 53 minutes longer! Pix
from todays walk: Click Here
Wed 5 May 2004 Spent an interesting five hours at the home of a marking colleague last night. They are the
worlds' experts on mastermodels, small die cast models produced in the 50s and 60s to accompany Hornby 00 gauge railway models.
For the results so far, Click Here
Sat 1 May 2004 Seems as if I have lost the chance of being a press photogapher. Apparently a news item
is to be written concerning an LDWA walk on May 9, and I have been invited to take picures, with the remote chance that they
could appear in the Guardian! Well, it's a start. The Guardian today, page 3 tomorrow! However, that is the date I am leading
my first ever walk, from Boughton ( pronounced Booton), near Ollerton. Such a busy life.
Chuck Berry & Jerry Lee Lewis are
appearing together in
this country. I have booked for Liverpool. Chuck Berry is on his own, with his group and special guests, in Oxford the next night.
I will be there as well.
Sun 25 April 2004 Got back a few days ago from walking the Isle of Wight Coastal path, arranged by that
famous LDWA subgroup, the Irregulars.
The two Birman cats are three today. Happy Birthday Abbie and Milo.
Sun 18 April 2004 Fun and games in #holics! It really is a friendly place.
BT shares fell last week, so, having uploaded cash to my ISA for 2004/5, I took the opportunity to move in.
At the end of the first day they had moved up enough to recover half of the dealing costs of buying and selling, but at the time
of writing, I am still showing a slight loss.
Sat 10 April 2004 Public discussions on private matters do not resolve issues. Eventually reality dawned,
and the matter was resolved by a simple transfer of funds, enabling savings to
be made by both parties to the agreement.
Nothing of importance has happened in the past week. A couple of walks, of 18 and 20 miles, both in the Ladybowere area of Derbyshire,
have taken place. There is also the posibility of my leading a 20 mile walk for a local leisure centre later in the year. I also hope
to make contact with someone interested in speed walking.
Sat 3 April 2004 Why do I have four different hosts for Page 1 of this blog? One is on my computer, to prove
that I am capable of setting up and running one that way! After all, if I can do that, so can anyone. Secondly I use hostultra, which
accepts php pages and also has a site manager with on site editing. Thirdly I
have polarhome, only set up using ftp. I have heard that
ftp access to this host is difficult at times, but I have not had too much of a problem with that. Lastly the page is available at
nodalpoints, a personal server set up by friend gubbs from freenode channel #incantus. As grateful as I am for this, being a
personal server can have its problems. It is not always on line, the ftp or alternatives do not always work, and there could be a time
when it is no longer available. I hope by using four hosts at least one will always be around and so you will not be deprived of reading
my exciting comments!
Did YOU know there were conditions about access to PCA forum agreed to
in their recent hacking case?
Fri 2 April 2004 Is it really 4 days since I updated this blog?
Visited the North Pennines again today, for a short walk. Unseasonally warm weather made for a very pleasant time.
So peaceful up there in the week.
At last the predicted bid arrived for Host Europe. Pipex wishes to take it over, and is offering 2.549p per share.
That will give me a profit of £838 since I initially bought at 1.34p topping up
later at 2.38p.  ; But the company is worth even more on predicted
earnings for the future. Maybe the time is right to acquire some Pipex!
Mon 29 March 2004 The Nottingham tram is proving a great success, with 24,485 people travelling on Saturday. But who does
the counting, and how do they ensure that no one is missed? When I travelled on it last Tuesday a lot relied on the honesty of passengers,
and at busy times I am sure that some will get away without paying.
I received the new Strider, the LDWA magazine today. Yet another new format, with the improved challenge walks section moved
and expanded. Also, to split off the Hillwalkers Register into its own
supplement is a good idea, and proves the point that I forwarded to
the editor last year. However, with membership figures down by 2.9% , it is not surprising that the restrictions have been eased for
this years' 100 mile walk. Now anyone can enter without having already completed a 50 miler. I will be updating the Hillwalkers Register
data that I place on the internet, unofficially, simply because that information should be publically available.
Click here
Sat 27 March 2004 I received news last night that really upset me. I cannot go into details, but I
spent about two hours
trying to help minimise the effects, suggesting a way forward, and generally listening. At times like this one finds out who
the real friends are.
Somehow the name Pegasus springs to mind today. I am unable to think as to why that should be.
Fri 26 March 2004 Negotiations are continuing for a takeover of Host Europe, possibly at 2.5 p per share. Although
that will give me a satisfactory profit of not far off of £1000, I will be
unable to participate in any further upside if the bid succeeds.
Click here and study the attached record of my visit to my website last night. :) as they say.
Thur 25 March 2004 The gubbs' dad walk went well, until the final mile when he disappeared into the distance ahead.
So I continued on by myself to Bulwell, picking up the tram from there instead of from Phoenix Park. I also passed Bulwell Cemetry entrance, the first
time for about 40 years. How it has changed. Then there were no houses around.
Another walk yesterday, trying to bring John Henry
up to longer distances. We did about 18 miles from Keyworth.
A pleasant surprise in the post yesterday. I received the Council Tax
demand from E. Lindsey Council for my holiday home. And guess what.?.it still has a 50% discount!. That saves me about £286 in the coming year. Great news!
Mon 22 March 2004 Eventually made the walk yesterday. Had another great day. Now for the walk with Gubbs snr tomorrow.
The press refers to the body found
in Newstead Abbey grounds as 'the Byron Murder'. Click.
Sat 20 March 2004 Weather forecast not looking too good for the north
of England. Hope things improve for tomorrow.
Thur 18 March 2004 Route description for the Exmoor 100 mile walk received today. One problem:
I prefer the sections to be complete on each page. This is not the case. last year I downloaded the route, but that does not seem to be possible this year.
Looks as if I will have to scan the pages in, then print and cut and paste. In which case I may as well upload the route here. Look out for the link.
The 18 mile walk with Gubbs snr went well yesterday, taking about 8 hours, from Watnall cemetry, going all round Hucknall.
Even though I live close to this area, there were sections in the afternoon that I had not walked before. Arranged the next walk for Tuesday,
going in to Nottingham from Hucknall using the tram, and walking the first
sections of the Robin Hood Way from Nottingham Castle. In the meanwhile there is
the walk from Knock on Saturday. I hope the weather is as warm as the January
walk. Definately worth travelling to the North Pennines for this!
I received a reply from literally a lifetime friend, born 12 days before me in the same
hospital. Last seen about 15 years ago in the entrance to John Lewis. Should I pay Friends Reunited the £5 to email? At the moment I could
send only plain ecards, being unable to personalize them. Here is the reply. ecard
Mon 15 March 2004 Sad news received this morning concerning the steam engine in which I have a shareholding.
Read about the problems it encountered on the trip on Saturday. CLICK HERE
The Weakest Link. Janet from Nottingham has just won £2600. Well done for Nottingham!
It has just been reported that on
Saturday at around 5.30 pm two trams were approaching each other on the same
track around Butlers Hill, Hucknall. They managed to stop about 40 yds apart! It
seems one had passed a signal at red.
Just received my council tax bill for 2004/5. £1901.72. I think there is going to be a
ratepayers revolt in the council elections next year. The trouble with Notts is that ever since the council was created in 1971
I think, it has been labour controlled. And what with all the rises in the tax, as well as the expense claims by councillors
such as Mick Warner, who flew club class at MY expense to USA, there could very well be a backlash next year. Rememeber Mansfield
elections last year, where Independants took control after 30+ years of Labour. And the Labour Party is still bitching about that,
and not working with the new council. Such bad losers!
Sun 14 March 2004 And look what has happened now! I have been made an op on gubbs' channel #incantus.
I hope it lasts. Maybe he thought it needed a responsible IRC expert in charge
to keep certain visitors under control!
Did you know that today is International pi day? In USA the date is 3.14 2004, hence the value of pi to 3sf.
And the press reports that Daniel Tammet knows pi to 22,500 places. I only know
it to 6 sf . :(
Fri 12 March 2004 I now have my own channel on holics.
[19:08:03]
-ChanServ- Information for channel.
[19:08:03] -ChanServ- Founder: john_
[19:08:03] -ChanServ- Description: John_'s Home
[19:08:03] -ChanServ- Registered: Mar 12 13:54:41 2004 EST
[19:08:03] -ChanServ- Last used: Mar 12 14:02:34 2004 EST
See if it is listed already on the page linked from the banner on my index page.
Click for the link to the java access to the channel john_ .
MY HOLICS CHANNEL
Now wasn't that link a good idea. I bet I know someone who wishes they had thought of this idea first!
Give me credit if you do. I will report back here if that is the case!
As usual on news like we heard yesterday, my local radio station, Radio Nottingham, forgets about
local news. It happens also to be the 20th anniversary of the miners strike, so we are getting a rehash of that as well. I have complained by phone
already. The motto for me is 'local radio for local news'.
Now for the good news. An email received this morning offering me a walk on Sat 20 March. Will it be Pennines or the Cheviots? I like both areas so I don't mind
which.
Maybe I rushed in too soon last night, buying shares in HBOS. I expect them to fall more first thing this morning. I may top up with more
if that happens!
Thur 11 March 2004 A great walk yesterday, from Yorkshire Bridge, Ladybower. Met Derek again, and John, who will be doing the
Wales walk later in the year. Did 15 miles including Win Hill in 19 minutes.
No contact from Gubbs dad so far. Hope he has not given up
the idea.
Having fun in #Holics. Really enjoying the entertaining chat. Thank you!
But where do all those bots come from every so often. I think they breed them at
Holics!
Tue 9 March 2004 Great coverage of the first tram rides on Radio Nottingham this morning. I will be riding on them as soon as
possible.
61264, the B1 steam engine, is being moved this morning. At present it is at Loughborough, and it will be pulled down to Quorn, ready for
its trip by low-loader from Quorn to Ruddington. On Friday it steams to Doncaster, and on Saturday it will be pulling a train from there to Scarborough.
I hope everything goes to plan. Having been on one of these trips by 61264 some months ago, I have seen the amount of advance planning that goes into these trips.
It makes the £60 cost seem cheap!
Having watched the whole process of loading at Quorn, I followed the low loader to Ruddington and watched it settle in!
Pix available HERE
Having been banned many months ago from the Holics server, I have tried from
time to time to get back in using my own IP. This has not proved possible, but
of course proxies are always available for that purpose.
So I was very surprised last night to discover that the IP ban has been lifted, enabling me to have a
chat with the owner. I hope he understands me better now, and that I am not the ogre that I am made out to be.
Pity about the key necessary to access #forum though..
Mon 8 March 2004 At last, trams arrive in Nottingham, line one costing £200M, but
at no cost to the taxpayers. What a great day
for the city. Official opening and ceremonies in the market square today, by the latest transport minister. Public services commence tomorrow
at 5.58am from Phoenix Park, the park and ride service from Cinderhill. 3000 spaces in the car parks.
Sun 7 March 2004 The results of the Belvoir Challenge have been available for a few days, but I have just
remembered to look at them. Belvoir Challenge results
Sat 6 March 2004 A quick visit to #holics this morning, to pass on a few hometruths.
I joined the LDWA 21 mile walk from Kelham today, led by Rob, and I met Derek the map, who is setting up this Welsh walk for later
in the year. Also, another of the walkers has done about half of the Munros. I hope to get back up there later in the year with Derek,
who has not done any yet. I sent a couple of pix off to Strider. But why
do we have a 50 minutes pub stop?...as well as two other stops of about 15
minutes each, and several more while others catch up. The long lunch stop is not
necessary, but seems to be creeping into the agenda of long distance walks. Go
with the ramblers if you want slower walks with long stops! I sent a couple of pix to Strider. Maybe we will see them in August.
Thur 4 March 2004 More and more people are supposed to be using pgp messages for privacy. ...a good thing too!..but
how will the average person get on with them. We keep getting problems with the decoding. I have
just received one and no matter what I do it just will not decode.
Thanks for visiting this site, but when you block your details, referrer etc then I will attempt to block you getting here! Fair enough?
Wed 3 March 2004 Now here's a turn up for the book. Moira following me into row's forum. At least I was there
first. I have sent a pgp PM since row said that he does not mind those!
A walk round Ravenshead today, about 11 miles, with gubbs' father, who needs the regular incentive of a walking partner to help him get
more exercise and thus lose up to lose 3 stone in weight! We walk again in two weeks time.
Mon 1 March 2004. 04 car registration day today. Seen two already, but not as good as JG04FUN, which I own.
Need the Honda R to go with it though!
Back from the Jerry Lee Lewis concert in Manchester. He appeared more relaxed and in tune with the audience. ...and he did 45 mins.
Much better value. Here are the pix; CLICK
Don't try to travel on public transport on a Sunday. Going out in plenty of time for the 11.10 am Transpeak to Manchester yesterday,
I was foiled at the first hurdle. My 737 service was 35 minutes late, so I missed the Manchester
transpeak connection. Since the next was not for another
two hours, I decided the train was the answer. Apart from costing more than four times the bus, it was only rail to Sheffield.
Because of track maintenance, a bus took over from there to Manchester. However, I was only about one hour later than I would have been, and
there was the advantage that I found the Apollo theatre was on the A6 road out of Manchester. After visiting the theatre I walked to the
Youth Hostel, taking 30 mins. From the catering and make up vans in the area, filming of some sort had been taking place. Turned out to be
for Coronation St. Not that I would have recognised anyone as I have never seen the soap!
A delightful and efficient journey back by
train this morning, going on the Hope Valley line, through Edale. The hills looked very tempting in this bright early spring sunshine.
Maybe a walk or two will be planned fairly soon as I need to meet the organiser of the Welsh walk sometime before we set off in late July.
Sun 29 Feb 2004. Leap year day today. Have YOU received any proposals yet?!
Jerry Lee Lewis in Manchester
tonight. Maybe he will do more than 30 minutes.
Sat 28 Feb 2004. Today it was the annual Belvoir Challenge walk, starting from Harby, held to raise funds for
Harby School. This year it was started by a well known BBC TV evening news presenter. Just look at those ear rings.
It is an extremely popular event, and, although at this stage I do not know how
many had entered, the results will be available in a few days showing that data.
As usual it was very muddy, which always slows everyone down. Although aiming
for 6½ hrs, in the event I took 7 hrs 47 mins, coming in as the 4th 100% walker!
I understand I was
removed from the forum for
comments in my blog...relating to the proposed hacking attempt? But why were the comments related to a third party and not to me?
Fri 27 Feb 2004. A couple of days away to see the Jerry Lee Lewis concert in Newcastle, 42 years since
his last appearance in that great city! Instant memories: a great performance from one of the originals, a wonderfully warm
north east audience,
and snow! For a brief concert report and a few pictures:
CLICK HERE.
Also, there was the very quick meeting with a walking friend I see occasionally on LDWA walks in the Cheviots
and the North Pennines, Moira, who even managed to wangle a free coffeee at the YH this morning!
Tue 24 Feb 2004. I received the voting paper for the General Teachers Council today. (GTC).
As I could vote online, I decided to try that proceedure. This was very straitforward:
Click Here to see the details. Oh, and by the way, I voted
for Nigel Bowler, the only candidate to write: "it should attempt to address the unacceptable behaviour of pupils and parents".
Mon 23 Feb 2004. Fantastic news for shareholders in O2, in that it could be receiving a hostile
takeover bid, at around the 120 p level. Pity I sold out at 59 p!
Maybe you could email me with the details if you appreciate the
significance of the above date. And no, it's not when I collect my pension!
Sun 22 Feb 04. Setting up my own server using a simple program may not be such a good idea
after all. Apart from the fact that it will use up bandwidth from my ntl connection, there is the problem that
each new internet log on after reboot means a new IP, and so I have to change my links for access.
Interesting news today that will create trouble in the teaching profession if implemented. It may be proposed
that Maths teachers get extra salary of up to £10,000, to bring starting pay up to £28000, on a par with accountancy.
Apart from the obvious fact that the latter is much less stressful, this does show how much importance is attached
to the availability of good Maths teachers. I would still suggest accountancy as a better option though...fewer
awkward children around. Teaching would be an excellent career if it were not for the children.
On the walk yesterday we disc overed
three bird traps. I will be making some investigations as to their legality.
They consisted of a wire mesh structure, together with mesh in the shape of a funnel, narrowing off at the lower
end.
The crows etc are attracted in by the dead rabbits left inside, but the birds
are unable to find any means of escape.
Here are some pictures. Pics
On a happier note, here
are all the pix from yesterdays walk.HERE
Sat 21 Feb 04. A delightful walk in the Cheviots once again today. Not too long, reasonable
weather for the time of year, and once again Moira was present! We enjoyed discussing the Guest situation on SF,
and had a good laugh about our mutual proxy visit to freenode, especially concerning the length of time before
anyone woke up to remove us! Read the logs of our conversation: we did not discuss anything confidential.
CLICK HERE
I am also toying with the idea of a page specially devoted to my SF experiences, expanding on the comment written
earlier- see below
On reflection I am glad to have had the decision
taken for me in that I no longer belong
to www.security-forums.com. Most of the time the treatment given to me by those in positions of responsibility,
with a couple of rare exceptions, was at best childish,
sometimes hypocritical, and
at worst despicable. PMs frequently wrongly interpreted my words, assuming I had stated or implied something that was not
there to the
the
sensible everyday person. I said about eight months ago that an addiction to computers can addle the brain.
I have met a few addled
brains around here. And, just in case you are wondering, it is me who is having most fun, in the past and continuing
right now, even today! Why don't you take up something like long distance walking: get away from that computer.
You might get a realistic
view of the world, see some good in people for a change, and not believe everything you have been told.
You may even begin to think
for yourselves, and not always assume the worst of people. There ARE genuine people in the outside world you know!
Fri 20 Feb 04.A strong word of warning to anyone sending PMs on
Security Forums. The moderators of the forum reserve the right to read YOUR
private messages! Yes that's correct.
They are not private at all. This was proved to me last week when I was instructed NOT to send PMs by pgp,
an encryption method that prevents their contents being read by anyone other than the recipiant. That can only mean that moderators
want access to your private messages. What a dreadful state of affairs. This is not even mentioned in the rules of the forum,
and when I proposed that it should be stated, I was told not to tell them how to run the forum. After all, it is supposed to be a Security Forum, and
even individuals PMs are not secure!
I came across this today. Why not have a go for yourself!
The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Sixth Level of Hell - The City of Dis!
Here is
how you matched up against all the levels:
Take the
Dante's Inferno Hell Test
Thur 19 Feb 04. At last I have cracked the problem of web hosting, but to be on the safe
side there are two links from www.jg4fun.com !
Host Europe continues its relentless advance. Today, with lots of
early buying interest,
it reached 2.6p, that is nearly double my 1.34p purchase price. My normal policy on a doubling of price is to sell
half, so that
The remaining shares have cost nothing, but in this case I feel there is a long way to go yet. I believe they did reach
20 p in the heading days of
the dot com boom. They closed at 2.4 p, showing a gain of 74%.
Wed 18 Feb 04. An odd thing happened to my Ravenshead Property
site HERE
Since I last updated it about six weeks ago all the £ symbols had changed into J s !
I am even more pleased with the progress being made by the shares in host europe, bought 1 Sep 03 at 1.34p. Today they continued
their upward movement sprurred on by strong buying interest. They closed at 2.15p today, a rise so far of 60% in 6 months.
Also
today I received a share tip at 4.05 pm to buy shares in First Property at 15.5p. So I immediately had a look
at the real time price, which showed it at 19 p. Investors were getting in and chasing the price up, since
it had reacted to that tip. There were more deals in the final 25 minutes than during the rest of the day.
The prospects look good as explained in the tip, but I will be waiting for the price to fall
back once this intitial reaction to the tip has subsided.
A cold telephone caller started off with his script, alleging that on a survey I had filled
in I had expressed an interest in
reducing my mortgage payments. As I don't fill in such surveys, and as I have not had a
mortgage for 13 years,
he was on a losing wicket straight away!
|
