Vacant Chair

2010-09-01T17:22:00.000-07:00

So let's catch up a few years in a few words.

I am in love with J, S's sister,

Funny really cos when I 1st met S after 15 years, he wanted me to seduce J.

2006 was a weird year, quit Morrisons, went to live with S, an old mate fron Uni, years before.
He was undergoing treatment for prostate cancer, he had a great job, Head of Operations, 30,000 staff.

We went back to 1977 when we first when to University in Southampton.
S did law and was in Connaught hall, just across the road from Montefiore Hall, brand new in 1977, 6 rooms to a flat, kitchen & 2 loos.

S has sadly died now, he was only 51.

We had so much fun...I miss the bugger.

bed now
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

2010-09-01T16:54:00.000-07:00

It's been years since I have updated this.

I have been in a stable relationship with J for over two years now.

We met at S's 50th birthday party. Of course it wasn't the 1st time we had met, went back to the late 70's, when S & I would run rampage through Berko.

I have never gone as red in the face as when i came down to breakfast after S's 50th.
S was sitting in his chair watching TV, N was at the dining table and asked me if I had any luck the night before up the house side steps.

S guffawed.

J, he did warn you about me.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

2010-08-31T16:08:00.000-07:00

Lots of peope have said Alex you must write a story.

So here is my 1st.

Have you ever been so bolloxed that a late night race to the car to get my hidden (from her ---sleep now) stash, keep lights off, cant let her see.

"Fuck her, let her see"

2006-11-22T08:29:00.000-08:00

Artwork

http://www.jacksonpollock.org/

2006-11-11T14:34:00.000-08:00

Bankers Trust.
Now taken over by Deutsche.

I worked there for 18 months, contracting, great pay, hard work and fantastic fun.

Names I remember.
Philippe Bibi - Analyst
Simon Stanhope - Project Leader Back Office
Ian Gillies - Project Leader Front Office.
Alex Rawson - Programmer/Analyst
Arthur 'Taffy' Ellis - Programmer/Analyst
Gordon Reffell - Programmer/Analyst
plus about 20 more that I cant remember.

Task : Equity Derivatives Trading System.
Location : Appold Street, London & Southwark.

We developed this system from scratch.
Resources used :
Prep - a Bankers Trust product which wrote 'C' code and Vax Basic code from the in-house proprietary product.
DECIntact - a transaction processing sub-system, originally written by Bankers Trust, but so successful DEC bought it.
VAX Basic - a truly wonderfully fast language, both in execution and programming.
Vax 'C'.
VMS - later to become OpenVMS.

The Equity Derivates department, some 40 dealers, had been struggling with a cobbled together system using Access...and not much else. Bankers Trust decided to spend some money on putting this right.

We spent 12 months programming, just to get the infrastructure in place, tested & secure.
Add currency, Remove Stock, Modify Customer, Add Settlement Rule.

Now we had to write to proper business side of things.
See a stock price...press a button and automatically, up on your screen would come...history graphs, risk analysis and finally recommendations...all database driven.

The dealer then had to make a decision...Buy or Sell.

It was looking great, we went into testing...."not fast enough" shrieked Phillippe.

Errrrr...OK....pre-load all common database look ups in Global Sections.

Nope.

Right then....what's slowing us down ?

It's the 'C' modelling.

No problem...put that on an Ultrix box, that's all it will have to do. No time slot problems with the other 600 users.

Hmmmm....still not good. What the hell is wrong ?

Answer...the hard disks weren't fast enough.
Couldn't get the data to the processors fast enough.

Jeez...what can we do ?

Solid state ! OMFG, those things cost a fortune.

"Who cares", they bellowed, "Just get it done, you have an open budget"

We shipped in a couple of 128MB solid sate discs, cost about £125,000 each at the time....ridiculous I know, considering my camera has 128MB removable CF memory...and you can get that for £20 now !

Lets run it all up now.

Press button and.....wham....graphs, analysis and the all important..."BUY/SELL" flag.

We went live, it was an enormous success. Those 40 dealers made £160M profit in ONE year.

Head dealer was given a £4M bonus, not bad for 28 years old.

Seems all a bit unfair, but never mind. I had done my job and I loved it all.
I can't say I did too badly though. I remember putting invoices in for £12,000 a month.
Not surprising there were a few 80 hour weeks in there.

A great experience.

2006-11-11T13:29:00.000-08:00

Right or Wrong.
I don't know what brought this up in my brain.

In 1977, I was finishing my 'A' levels and wanted to go to Uni. What better way than to get paid to go.
I therefore applied to various establishments, one of which was the army.

Thus I was sent to RCB - Regular Commissions Board - Westbury, Wilts for 3 days.
I had been to RCB before, but that was only because my school was nearby in Warminster, and the army needed some 'fake' RCB candidates for a video promotion that they were doing.

Anyway...back to RCB....a pretty gruelling ordeal.

One of the tasks was in an exam room, silence, a task...and a time limit.
Turn over the paper and, there is a photo of a soldier, rifle aimed at camera.
Titled "Who is right? Who is wrong ?"
Discuss this topic in more than 500 words and less than 3000.

Cripes ! I thought.
Anyway. I sort of described how a young squaddie, tired, at unease, in a very hostile envirnoment had in fact shot an innocent.
I ended my 'story' with
"Who is right? Who is wrong ?"
"What is right? What is wrong ?"

I think that didn't go down too well.

Anyway, I failed to be taken on by the army, good job too I reckon.
I did however get my University Scholarship from Jaguar Rover Triumph...but thats another story ;).

Back to "What is wrong ? What is right".....I dunno. A lot has to do with perspective.
I am hoping to demonstrate this here shortly.
Stories from the same situation, told from another perspective.

2006-11-07T06:11:00.000-08:00

Simian Lines

The simian line runs across the hand replacing the heart and head line. It is a sign of inner tension.

It may be destructive or creative or even both.

http://www.handanalysis.com/simian.html

People with Simian Lines generally live their life differently than most other people who do not have Simian Lines. Not necessarily living better nor worse. Just living more intensely with an undercurrent of uneasiness.

http://www.humanhand.com/simian.html

It is interesting that a number of well known people with a Simian Line have made a positive contribution to history. They include British Prime Minister Tony Blair (both hands), former Russian President Nikita Kruchev, writers John Steinbeck and Henry Miller, to name some well documented cases.

People with a simian line never really find peace. They spend their entire lives searching for an answer they never really find.

To the person with the simian line there is only right or wrong and nothing in between. People with this line work twice as hard, study twice as hard and fight twice as hard.

Persons with the Simian Crease on even one hand often feel isolated, seeing themselves as radically different from their peers. They do not recognize their own talents and may consequently suffer from problems with self-esteem.
http://www.astropalmistry.com/study4.html

I have them on both hands.

I have only met one other person with a Simian line. Gordon Reffell. Brilliant 'C' programmer.
Worked with him at Bankers Trust on their Equity Derivatives Trading System.
He used to call me "Awesome Rawson".Lol.
Met again at Cantors, he came in as Head of Front Office Systems, while I was Back Office.

2006-11-07T05:13:00.000-08:00

Unreal Tournament.
http://www.unrealtournament.com/

http://www.unreal.com/

This is a PC based game.
I like this still. Game of the year.
I suppose I am a bit of a Flak cannon 'whore'

Top picture is VC, Flak Cannon, fetching green & Grey. Liandri Central Core.

Next VC in fetching blue, rocket launcher in hand, location Hyperblast.

Next one is VC & Flak cannon, in red , Hyperblast again.

Next Flak Cannon...he he...told ya I liked them, blue. Location Curse[]

Lastly, blue wimpy VC with multigun. Fetid Sewers.

I see that they have brought out UT 2007
http://www.unrealtournament2007.com/

I might get that.

2006-11-06T12:59:00.000-08:00

Addiction.

For anyone that knows me. I'm an expert on addiction.

Current One

Crib ! Yes, that old card game that they play in pubs sometimes.

That's the one.

I am quitting this addition.
I can't take the pace.

I haven't got the time for this any more.
Takes up too much time. 1:30 til 11:30 everyday.
joined the Loonies at the beginning of the year with a friend.
He soon left. Ya gotta be tough to be a Loonie.
Yes I got badly drawn into this one.
I now feel it's time to quit.
No longer clicking on http://www.pogo.com
and quickly followed by http://www.myleague.com/teammates/
See whats happening.

Then zoom in on Standings to see how Loonies are doing http://www.myleague.com/php/page.php?p=lad_frame&t=myleague&lng=eng&l=teammates&g=cl&svr=cgi4&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;pl=
You have to Press Display under View Ranks, middle top on last link.

Yay...No1 ....or No 6 now.

Then see recent Winners http://cgi4.igl.net/ts/displaywinners.php?path=teammates
Wtg Loonies...3 Tourneys out of 4 today !!!

Then look at how I am doing http://www3.igl.net:81/perl/find.cgi
Not too good...Oh well.

At least I can go out on a personal high. http://www.myleague.com/php/page.php?p=hall&t=myleague&lng=eng&l=teammates&g=cl&svr=cgi4&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;pl=
BTW You may have to Refresh the last URL a couple of times before you get it. Cases is weird.

I managed to get into the Hall of Fame, two entries. 7th higgest win percentage .50 games and more. 7th highest win percentage, 500 games and more.

So this huge waste of my time has got to go.
Classify as an addiction, along with http://ebay.co.uk

Back to my ebay
See how the sales are. Pack cartridges
Yup another addiction.
I really gotta find another one.

2006-11-02T14:38:00.000-08:00

How to use Ebay !
Ever used Ebay ?
Buying or Selling ?
How did you do ?

I am going to grab some screen shots and explain some bits.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Nokia-CARK-126-Car-Kit-suitable-for-most-Nokia-phones_W0QQitemZ280041609320QQihZ018QQcategoryZ35191QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

2006-10-31T08:29:00.000-08:00

Lincolnshire.

The highlight to my day was going thru Lincoln, on my way to pickup a cheap ebay aquisition was........

Hills !

How exciting is that. Yup, that's the way of my life now....most exciting thing is finding a hill.

Also I saw a shop front in Lincoln that was amazing.
It was for a tattoo artist and looked as though it had been done by the tattoist....with Graffiti Paint. It was awful. I don't think I will go there and have some out of focus magician permanently ink my skin !

I have come up for a name for the 'fresh' car....can't say new 'cos it isn't.

Chitty has been replaced by The Batmobile.

I am missing the Peugeot Turbo Diesel...50mpg....this one does about 25 !
and the fact that it had tax. Ooops...Now I'll have to wait.

Living in Lincolnshire you really need to make fuel consumption top priority...it's 10 miles to the shops !
300 miles a week pottering about at 25mpg = ouch on the £££££.

The following video is a sort of collection of bits of what I did today.

My old m8 Chinny was in his office. http://www.staffsmartuk.com/default.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/York_Street
http://www.bufc.drfox.org.uk/Main.html
I did their computers a few years ago.

His is the Lambo, mine is the Honda Accord.

Since that Lambo photo was taken. Things have happened. Charlotte, 21, Michael's wife, was at school with Rob, went to pick him up from their Weston Hills house to the Red Lion, Bicker and had a crash on the A16 and was killled in a head on.

Follow on. Seems Michael lost his licence last Wednesday and couldn't drive. She was driving Lambo for 1st time !! Jeez, this is a car that does 60mph tickover !
He rang her up to pick him up from Bicker, Saturday evening, Dark, never driven a Lambo, not really knowing the way, she set off. Ooops.

2006-10-29T02:35:00.000-08:00

New game !
Google search on your own name.
Then post the 1st 3 sites that you find that actually are about you.

For example

Search alex rawson

Results 151 - 160 of about 324,000 for alex rawson. (0.24 seconds)

Bloody hell ! I aint going thru that many !

Search "alex rawson"

Results 1 - 10 of about 422 for "alex rawson". (0.42 seconds)

Thats better

http://www.dennisuk.com/messageboard/view_msg.php?mid=44

http://h71000.www7.hp.com/wizard/wiz_3809.html

http://jan3004.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!84A6F7AF4E881F00!148.entry

Now

search "alex rawson" warminster

Results 1 - 1 of 1 for "alex rawson" warminster. (0.26 seconds)

http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/Thebes/1976schoolphoto.htm

Right...now introduce a new prize.

Winner is the the 1st person to tell me which one is me in that photo.

search "alex rawson" lincolnshire

Results 1 - 2 of about 9 for "alex rawson" lincolnshire. (0.22 seconds)

Hmmm...we've seen that one

Results 1 - 3 of 3 for "alex rawson" southampton. (0.20 seconds)

Bollocks, no matches.

Results 11 - 18 of about 28 for "alex rawson" london

Oooh 2 and a new one.

http://jan3004.spaces.live.com/PersonalSpace.aspx?_c01_blogpart=blogmgmt&_c=blogpart

Results 1 - 2 of 2 for "alex rawson" oman. (0.21 seconds)

Nothing.

Results 1 - 1 of 1 for "alex rawson" vms. (0.17 seconds)

Yup already seen that.

Results 1 - 10 of about 538 for "vacant_chair" . (0.27 seconds

http://www.openvmshobbyist.com/phpbb2/profile.php?mode=viewprofile&u=166&sid=79f50637ca51f8d5da12249d2e485cb2

http://www.truff.net/forums/member.php?u=1598

http://lyricsgump.com/s/steve-winwood/Chronicles/Vacant_Chair.html?PHPSESSID=7c6be0a081fcdb1164f34aa341aec2ef

http://www.utstats.jolt.co.uk/chatlog.php?match=209964

http://utstats.truff.net/?p=match&mid=42666

http://cgi4.igl.net/cgi-bin/ladder/teamsql/team_view.cgi?ladd=teammates&num=108&showall=1000

Omg Alex and VC together.

http://www.openvmshobbyist.com/phpbb2/memberlist.php?mode=joined&order=ASC&start=50&sid=c2fd405973a8e93c1f5d32bfeb7fe634

http://www.myleague.com/php/page.php?p=hall&t=myleague&lng=eng&l=teammates&g=cl&svr=cgi4

Wtg loonies.

So basically a whole load uf Crib, Unreal Tournament sites and Computing and links to the Steve Winwood song Vacant Chair from which I take my Internet name.

Pretty boring.

2006-10-08T10:51:00.000-07:00

Education

I was schooled in Iraq and then Nigeria, until we had to leave Nigeria in a hurry in 1967, a war had erupted which went on become the Biafran War.

My parents and sister then went to live in British Honduras, where my father was building the new capital city Belmopan.
I boarded at Caterham Preparatory School for 3 years 1967-70
http://www.caterhamschool.co.uk/

When my parents came back to UK, after having been in Bolivia, I went to the day school from 1975-77.
http://www.reigategrammar.org/main/index.htm

I did so badly at my 'O' levels and my father was supposed to go overseas again, so I did my 6th form here. 1975-77
http://www.warminsterschool.org.uk/

I got my 'A' levels in Maths, Physics & Chemistry and managed to get a scholarship from Jaguar-Rover-Triumph to study Mechanical Engineering at Southampton University.
http://www.soton.ac.uk/

After I had my motor cycle accident in 1980. I returned to do a City & Guilds course in computer programming at
http://www.croydon.ac.uk/

2006-08-19T16:23:00.000-07:00

My Current Toys

2006-08-19T15:51:00.000-07:00

Famous People I Know and relevant links

Ian Worboys - Managing Director, Gazeley Properties, a subsidiary of Walmart. Grew up with Ian in Reigate, Surrey. His sister Jill was one of my first girlfriends...lol.
http://www.tiaca.org/content/AEC2005/ian.asp

Tim Worboys. Executive Director Stonemartin plc. Brother to Ian & Jill...see above.
http://www.practicalfm.co.uk/shownews.asp?search_type=id&id=72140

Liz Kettle - Actress - She was at Warminster (boarding) school with me 1975-77. I saw her a few times in Inspector Morse but she has done a lot more.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0450580/

Alison McDougall - Managing Director - TigerRed Partnership. At Warminster school.
http://www.dma.org.uk/Content/Dir-Company.asp?Prf=2523
http://www.tigerred.com/index.html

Colin Cox - Actor - also at Warminster school with me. Now in America. http://www.willandcompany.com/bios/cox.html

Adrian Newey - Designer of Formula 1 Cars - At University with him 1977-80 Southampton
He did aeronatics & astronautics, drove a Ducati 900 and had a Lotus Elan...at University !!!
Now reportedly on $10Million a year.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adrian_Newey
http://www.grandprix.com/gpe/cref-newadr.html
http://www.soton.ac.uk/~debating/pdebates/newey211103.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/motorsport/formula_one/4416342.stm

John Inverdale - TV Sports Presenter - also at Uni with me.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Inverdale
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tv_and_radio/rugby_special/1840410.stm
http://www.bbc.co.uk/pressoffice/biographies/biogs/sport/johninverdale.shtml

Duncan Billing - Chief Marketing Officer, Hasbro Toys, USA. University friend and captain of Southampton University Rugby Club.
http://www.zoominfo.com/people/billing_duncan_1135530.aspx

Simon Poland - Actor - University friend. Simon was an accomplished cricket & tennis player too.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0688857/

Chris Davies - Patent and Trade Mark Attorney - Shared a house at University with Chris in our 2nd year.
http://www.frankbdehn.co.uk/people_az_def.htm

Charlie Hussey - Managing Director Edina Software - Shared the same house with Charlie & Chris Davies (see above) at University.
http://www.edina.co.uk/AboutUs/StaffProfiles.html

Alan Stoney - reflexologist, Reiki practitioner and massage therapist. At University too. Now runs a very nice holidaying complex close to the castle he grew up in in Ireland.
http://www.rosturk-woods.com/

Stuart Salt - Registered Foreign Lawyer, Linklaters, Hong Kong. University friend and rugby player.
http://www.linklaters.com/people/peopledetail.asp?navigationID=3&personID=225

Paul Sheridan - Lawyer. University friend and rugby player.
http://www.dentonwildesapte.com/en/Our%20People/SheridanPaulPartner.aspx

Simon Bush - Head of Group Operations, Standard & Chartered Bank. University friend. We shared a house at Uni and were always getting into trouble.
http://www.carretek.com/main/details/india_advantages.htm
http://www.infomaticsonline.co.uk/computing/analysis/2075644/pros-cons-offshore-outsourcing
http://64.233.183.104/search?q=cache:avgia6CMWdEJ:www.paconsulting.com/NR/rdonlyres/1B85B901-5731-4645-9C0F-782C5DAE1DC6/0/11132SCBcasestudy.pdf+%22simon+bush%22+standard&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=12

Janet Bush - Journalist & Politico - Sister of Simon Bush (see above) http://www.newstatesman.com/writers/Janet_Bush
http://comment.independent.co.uk/commentators/article296378.ece
http://www.fathom.com/contributors/3776.html
http://www.newstatesman.com/nssubsfilter.php3?newTemplate=NSArticle_NS&newDisplayURN=200501010027
http://www.newstatesman.com/nssubsfilter.php3?newTemplate=NSArticle_NS&newDisplayURN=200608280035

Hugh Trevor-Jones - Chairman, Lowe & Fletcher. Studied Mechanical Engineering with me at University.
http://www.lowe-and-fletcher.co.uk/ENGLISH.HTM

Sir Bob Reid - Ex Chairman of Shell & British rail. Doug Reid his son was at my Uni too.
Stayed at the Reids country house near Oxford a few times.
http://appbio.net/biographies/Reid-%20Sir%20Bob-5A1D.html
http://www.50lessons.com/viewlesson.asp?l=25
http://www.miltonkeynes.com/expansion/sir-bob-reid-interview?PHPSESSID=d3e417248c0b27877a9bb9b29f

Ginger Baker - from Baker Gurvitz Army
Song "Mad Jack" - all about a car rally in Nigeria - The Argungu, 4 days 3 nights thru bush & tree. My father was also in this race navigating for the local works Fiat team.
http://www.ginger-baker.com/

Charles Dunstone - Chairman & founder of The Carphone Warehouse.
I worked for CPW from 1997 to 2001 during which the company expanded from 60 shops to 1300. The computer systems were undoubtedly part of the reason CPW was so sucessful.
http://www.carphonewarehouse.com/commerce/servlet/gben-server-PageServer?article=MAIN.UK.INTERNET.HELPINFO.COMPINFO.CEO
http://www.hugopublications.com/charles.html
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,17709-1861767,00.html
http://www.anagramgenius.com/archive/charle33.html
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/business/story/0,6903,1567078,00.html

Brendan Forster - Ex IT Director - The Carphone Warehouse. My boss at CPW.
Awesome boss.
http://www.cpwplc.com/cpw/media/imagelibrary/seniorexecphotos/
http://www.zoominfo.com/people/forster_brendan_77042685.aspx

Hamish Donaldson - Ex Chairman of Hill Samuel. he was head of IT when I worked at HS and then went on to higher things. His book "A Guide to the Successful Management of Computer Projects" was a best seller when it was published in 1978 going into several reprints. In the book Hamish Donaldson introduced concepts that are accepted now, but which were far ahead of their time.

Philippe Bibi - CTO, Putnam Investments. Philippe was Project Manager of the Equity Derivatives Trading system that I co-wrote for Bankers Trust.
http://www.banktech.com/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=177103340

Kevin Cubbage - Chairman Builders Merchants Federation - Kevin was MD of Crosby Sarek and I was recruited specifically to write a Customer Service Monitoring System for him. This system revolutionised the way the company operated and highlighted internal flaws which were then corrected. Crosby Sarek went on to become the UK's biggest door manufacturer, which prompted Premdor, the world's biggest door manufacturer, to buy them.
http://bmfnew.sums2.ebiz.co.uk/?page=3358

There are more that I will put in when I have more time...and can find some links on the net.

2006-07-22T11:41:00.000-07:00

My trip today.

I went out on the moped today and visited a friend about 2 miles away.

She gave me back my DVD's that I had lent her last year.

From left to right, top then bottom.

Friends Series 9
Enter The Dragon
The Lord of The Rings - The Two Towers
Tombstone
A Clockwork Orange
Apocalypse Now
Life Of Brian
The Butterfly Effect

Awesome films....well..... all except the 1st 3.

I didn't know where to put these, so I have decided to put them here.

2006-07-22T05:29:00.000-07:00

My Ebay

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQfgtpZ1QQfrppZ25QQsassZvacantQ5fchair999

2006-07-22T03:45:00.000-07:00

My mum Zola

Mum is a well known Saluki dog breeder & a very succesful dog show judge.

She has her own website http://www.mumtazsalukis.co.uk/ which Anthony wrote a few years ago and is always beeing pestered to update.

I live at my mums house in Lincolnshire with my 19 & 20 year old boys.

We used to have a problem with moles on the lawn but now the problem is the dog !
The dogs have caught 9 moles so far this year but now dig up the lawns for the hell of it. As soon as I fill it in, they dig it out...some photos.

2006-07-21T18:51:00.000-07:00

Companies I have worked for and job that I did.

The Carphone Warehouse, Senior Analyst Programmer
Crosby Sarek Ltd , Analyst Programmer
Cantor Fitzgerald Ltd, Systems Analyst
Cantor's New York office was on the 101st-105th floors of One World Trade Centre and was hit it the 9/11 disaster.
They lost 685 staff some of whom I knew, met and/or had worked with.

Spelgrove Ltd, Principal Consultant
Formed my own software consultancy and had the following clients

Digital Electronics Corporation, Fareham, Computer Manufacturer.
Centre File, London, Software House.
Bankers Trust, London, International Investment Bank.
Lloyds Bank, London, Clearance Bank.
Computer Aided Decisions, Boston, Massachusetts, Software House.
SD-Scicon, London, Software House.

SD-Scicon, Senior Analyst Programmer
Hill Samuel & Co, Senior Programmer

2006-07-21T18:15:00.000-07:00

Simone 2nd ex wife

2006-07-21T18:08:00.000-07:00

Jasmine Jade DOB 10-10-1991

Jasmine is my daughter from my 2nd wife Simone.
They both live in Hove, East Sussex.

2006-07-21T18:04:00.000-07:00

Rob (Robert) DOB 26-05-1987

Rob dropped out of college & stuff and is working in Loaded, a local nightclub.

He drives a Ford Fiesta, his 4th car, and 2nd Fiesta. The previous two being a Vauxhall Astra and a Peugot 309. All 3 previous cars have endede up at Selwyn's scrap yard.

He has a bit of a temper...as shown here

This video may give some clue as to why his Pug didn't last.

2006-07-21T18:00:00.000-07:00

Anthony DOB 13-12-1985 Friday 13th !

Anthony has just finished his 2nd year of reading Law at Northampton University.

He is a Special Constable, wants to join the police on leaving Uni, and spends a lot of his time in Northampton driving police cars and dealing with crime.

2006-07-21T13:15:00.000-07:00

Cars that have been in my life.

Lancia Fulvia 1.3
Mini 850
Hillman Imp
Wolseley 15/60
Citroen BX
Ford Escort XR3i
Vauxhall Cavalier SRi130
Renault Laguna 2.0 16V
Vauxhall Cavalier Turbo Diesel
Peugeot 405 1.9 Turbo Diesel
Rover 820SLi
Ford Sierra Estate
Ford Granada Ghia X 2.0i

The Peugeot 405 Turbo Diesel was a magic car. £250, did 15,000 miles, 50mpg, 117mph.

I found this on the PC today...lol

2006-07-21T09:58:00.000-07:00

Simon Bush Dulwich

I went down to stay with Simon for a while.
Simon was at University with me. He did Law and now was Group Head, Banking Operations for Standard & Chartered Bank.

When I went down in November for the weekend, Simon told me "It's either a Porsche or a new stereo for the house"

We went for a new stereo...what did it cost....£22,500 !
We went here http://www.kjwestone.com/

Simon was given a budget of £17,000 plus he had his old stereo to exchange too.
It took 3 hours of listening to different songs and different amps and CD players and he got.

Acoustic Research CD Player
Krell Pre-amp
Krell Power Amp
Sonus Faber speakers

It came to budget perfectly...£17,000 but what Simon had forgotten was the cabling. That cost another £5,500 !!!

He bought the £48,000 Porsche Carrera 4 3 Months later

Friday nights was always take away curry night. Simon, Nana (his wife), Dhika (step son) , me and sometimes Edward (son) would turn up, would order in a monster curry for dinner and sit watching TV eating it. I dont think the bill ever came to less than £50.

When I was down there, we had a little incident. This is what I got off the CCTV.

2006-07-21T09:00:00.000-07:00

Fiat Brava Project

Anthony's Brava 1.4 12V has died and I am going to revive it over the nexr couple of months, by which time I will have got my driving licence back.

Now then, I need buy a new camshaft from Wilco for £85 + Vat or BIN of Ebay at £90 + £10pp.

Like this one

Why not buy my geniune antique version, well used. Look at the quant metal filings scattered all over the place, to add to the authentic worn look.

I have decided to see if some moron will buy my genuine antique used camshaft on Ebay.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/FIAT-1-4-BRAVA-BRAVO-12v-CAMSHAFT-KIT-Used_W0QQitemZ290010462250QQihZ019QQcategoryZ10382QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

2006-07-20T15:42:00.000-07:00

Current Game

http://www.ea.com/official/battlefield/battlefield2/us/home.jsp

Awesome game.
I am enjoying this a lot.

Not so much Unreal Tournament now.

Or Serious Sam

I also play crib in a league.

http://www.myleague.com/teammates/

I play for The Loonie Tunes and we are normally top of this league.

This league uses the crib tables at http://www.pogo.com

I also play High Stakes Pool and High Stakes Poker on pogo.

2006-07-20T15:14:00.000-07:00

Where I Live

This is my room and where I sleep.

Yes that is Robert & Anthony's old bunk bed !

On the window ledge the leather gloves Jan bought me and the cap Belinda gave me for Xmas.

Boots, I always seem to be wearing boots !!

2006-07-20T14:53:00.000-07:00

Perianal Abscess

I thought I had a boil on my bum, so I went to the doctor. He recognised the problem straight away and sent me packing off to hospital. it was a perianal abscess and needed surgery !!!

Anthony dropped me off at Pilgrim http://www.zyra.org.uk/pilghosp.htm at about 9:45am...I had to put £5 of petrol in Robert's car so that we could get there....what a surprise ;)

I went up to the Surgical Assessment Unit, 9th Floor and waited in the day room for about an hour for the bed to be made ready.

The doctor came to see me, a very young 'studenty' bloke. I don't think he enjoyed looking at my smelly, pus oozing bum....the abscess had burst by now !

Then an anaesthetist came in, asked some Q's, told me that surgery started at 2pm, there were 2 patients ahead of me and that I would be seen at about 5pm.

I had already invested £3.50 in the PatientLine card http://www.patientlinesystems.com/uk/en/home.aspx, enabling 24 hours of TV viewing on my bedside unit, so I watched a bit of Big Brother on E4 and dozed.

At about 6pm the surgeons came and told me that they had run very late and that I had a choice.

Stay overnight to have the Operation in the morning, but no food, NIL by mouth..General Anaesthetic.
Have a local anaesthetic, get it done immediately with a bit of pain, food & go home.

I went for the pain, food & home option.

So, they injected me with something, I haven't got aclue what is was, I believe it was supposed to anaesthetize...it didn't. They then got a scalpel and made a few cuts. The pain was quite bad, especially when he cut out what he described was dried skin !

Anyway, it was all done, they put some Sorbosan (seaweed) dressing http://www.dressings.org/Dressings/sorbsan.html in the hole and I could now go home...when the nurses had done all the paperwork.

I had missed the last bus home 7:20pm, so had to ring Mum who I managed to persuade to collect me.

I now have a district nurse come round every day to change the dressing. This is very important as the wound must heal from the inside out and not scab over.

No that I have started a 'medical' page I may as well tell you about other things that have happened to me.

The most common problem that I have is due to Delayed Pressure Urticaria http://www.emedicine.com/derm/topic447.htm

They do not know what causes this or what can cure it, so I'll have to live with the problem.Lmao !

And we cannot forget my knee.

In May 1981 I had a motorcycle crash in Cyprus and was quite badly damaged. I broke my left knee joint and suffered a Brachial Plexus injury.

I complained about my knee to doctors for years, they kept on telling me that I was bound to have problems, because I had broken it. I even had keyhole surgery on the NHS to look at what the problem was - they couldn't see anything...perhaps they had left the lens cap on the laparoscope !

Eventually in 2000 CPW's doctor in Wimpole Street sent me to see John Browett, who rebuilt Paul Gascoigne's knee, in Harley Street. I went for an X-Ray first, walked in to see John, he looked at the X-Ray, came over to the bed, felt my knee and straight away said "Alex, this is still broken".

"Blimey" said I, "You mean I have been walking around witha broken knee joint for 19 years".

"Indeedy you have mate" , he replied, "and it's called a non union of the medial tibial plateau."

He then booked me in for a keyhole session and sent me for a CT scan and loads of Xrays.

2 weeks later I was in The Princess Grace Hospital, ready for the early morning operation.

It took about 7 hours, but it was all done...and now I had 3 months of recovery & Physio to go through. They had to take some bone off my hip to put in the knee. Hammer & Chisel were used...see photo.

There is a nice metal plate in there now along with 6 screws and a drill bit....it was supposed to be 7 screws, but the drill bit snapped while drilling out the hole and they couldnt get it out...so they left it as it was...lmao.

2006-07-20T14:28:00.000-07:00

My Current Web Sites

http://www.ebay.co.uk/

http://www.pogo.com

http://www.google.com/

http://www.nationwide.co.uk/default.htm

http://www.scan.co.uk/

http://www.openvmshobbyist.com/phpbb2/index.php

http://www.swingingheaven.co.uk/

http://world.altavista.com/

http://www.paypal.co.uk/uk

In no particular order....more to follow

2006-07-17T10:27:00.000-07:00

Funky Moped !!!
Robert & Co messing around garden with Moped.
This became a bit of a distraction...and when the exhaust fell off, bloody annoying with the noise !!

Justin & Richard brought a motorised skateboard round...Robert had a go....and it is now broken.

2006-07-17T09:53:00.000-07:00

Pergola and various garden shots

2006-07-17T06:09:00.000-07:00

AlphaServer 4100 4/500 4*400MHz CPU 2048MB RAM 8*16GB HD

I saw it on Ebay and just HAD to have it.

I had already got OpenVMS 7.2-1 and the full Alpha Software Library from Ebay...all 18 CD's.

Now I have to set it all up and install stuff.

And work out where and what to plug into the various network bits & bobs.

Should keep me busy for a while, along with redecoration.

I have so far managed to get onto the system

Decnet_Osi v7.2-1
DwMotif v1.2-5 (Though I dont know how to use it !!!!)
OpenVMS v7.2-1
TCPIP v5.0-10
VMS v7.2-1

But I have been informed at http://www.openvmshobbyist.com that

"Looking at getting a newer version of VMS and TCPIP - V5.0 was really bad"

So I have ordered OpenVMS Alpha Hobbyist Kit V3.0 from http://www.montagar.com/hobbyist/mount.html

OpenVMS V7.3-1
DECWindows 1.2.6 (Motif)
DECnet Phase IV
DECnet OSI Phase V
TCPIP V5.3
Compaq C V6.5
FORTRAN V7.5

It has to come over from the States, so it gives me a few days to do other jobs. I have managed now to get the switch in, the PC is on the net. The router is on the downlink....I had to figure out I needed a crossover.

When I have updated VMS and TCPIP I will give it another go.

Oh yes, I was wondering where the TCPIP License PAK was and couldnt find it. I then 'remebered' something about UCX and used that one. It seems to have worked.

One of them non-documented 'features' ?

No wonder VMS didnt make it big, it's a pig to install & licence !

Any comments ?