Running on Rails

And so to London. As to prove conclusively that it does exist early in the morning, the universe treated me to a fantastic sunrise, viewed through the train carriage all the way from Hull to Peterborough. Wisps of cloud lit golden by the rising sun were like streaks of fire across the dark blue of the sky, whilst on the ground the trees that rushed past were swathed in rolling mist.

Unfortunately I'm having to use inadequate words here because I couldn't get a photograph, darnit.

London was, well, London. "Full of Sound and Fury, signifying nothing" (I think I took the lyrical pill this morning).

David and I gave a conference paper which seemed to go down OK. However, you would think that with all my years of marriage I would have learnt to keep my big mouth shut. But no such luck. Someone said something about how horrible programming is, and how unpleasant it is to learn it. They even went as far as saying they gave a "Welcome to Hell" speech at the start of their programming courses. Wah! As someone who puts programming in a category of self expression alongside writing poetry and drawing pictures, I take strong issue with this. And done properly and with commitment from the person being taught, learning to program is actually quite fun. I said as much and was in the process of being shot down for saying this when someone called time out. Just as well I suppose.

The trip back was made slightly more interesting by a points failure just outside Selby which meant an extra half hour on the train. Ho hum.

(extra note: The Blogger spell checker is wonderful. It suggested "featherbrained" for Peterborough)

(extra extra note: The quote above is from Macbeth. Just to prove I have a literary side too...)

Heading for the Big City

Going to London tomorrow. Capital city. Seat of government. Place of residence of the monarch. And I'm pretty sure that there is a Starbucks there somewhere too. I now know that the streets are not actually paved with gold, so I won't be taking the shovel this time. Or the smelter. But I will be taking the train. At 6:18.

This is not a nice time to be rising. Or indeed doing anything else. As far as I'm concerned (and I am quite concerned) the universe doesn't actually have a need to exist at that hour of the day, since I'm not usually around at the time. But then again, I hope it does. Actually, thinking about it, the world doesn't actually have to be there when my eyes are closed. BLINK. Hmm. Anyone else spot that?

A Watched Pot...

As she was leaving the house this morning my wife pointed at the duvet and said "You know Rob, those bedclothes won't change themselves". I think she might be right. I've been watching them for the last hour and nothing has moved. It has just dawned on me that I'm wasting my time here. I've set up a webcam and time lapse photography stuff so that I can make absolutely sure. If anything happens I'll post pictures.

Pain in the Third Degree

Three degree ceremonies in one day. Now that is what I call hard work. The good news is that Andrew was along to take the strain at the last one. But even so it is a long time in a suit and academic gown + silly wobbly hat. I still like doing the job though. The graduands really enjoy the day. One chap had flown in from Bahrain for to get his degree and was flying out again at lunch time. We had to move him into an early ceremony so that he could have his moment of glory with the Chancellor and then catch his flight back. Great fun.

Then I went to see a movie. Meet the Fokkers. My advice: It's too late for me. But you can save yourselves.

Don't Give Up Without a Fight

People, I'm not going to be beaten by someone just because they are funnier and more witty than me. It is not like me to give up without a fight. I'm more likely to not bother in the first place, or perhaps be somewhere else at the time. So here we go.

I rang someone up on my mobile phone but I didn't hear anything. I think I may have it set to "silent". The person I called was shouting "You've got it set to silent you idiot". On the other hand I suppose I could have just asked them to pass the salt. Then it dawned on me that I don't particulary like salt anyway. It reminds me of the sea. I had a bad experience there one day when I forgot the boat. Do you know that sharks have to keep swimming, otherwise they drown? I wonder how they know? After all, no sharks are going to come back and tell them. Perhaps there is a shark school somewhere. Or is that Wales. Only been once. I thought I'd find out what "the size of Wales" really means. Apparently it depends on the scale of the map that you use. On mine it was the size of a beermat, or a compact disk cut to the size of a beermat. I tried this and ruined my copy of "Brothers in Arms". The follow up "Sisters in Legs" didn't do anything like as well. But that's the music business. And you know, I feel a lot better now.