Category Archives: Daily Life

Daily Life, Random Silliness

What would you buy with a £100m lottery win?

This isn’t a problem I really have to consider at length. I haven’t won anything. But I did get asked this question in an online survey I was taking, recently. First it asked what I’d spend £1m on. That was easy. I’d clear my mortgage, quit my job, retrain and/or start my own business doing something.

But the next question was the big one. £100m! What would you spend it on? To start with, the same. Clear mortgages, etc. But it’s £100m! I’d never need to work again. I could clear the mortgage of everyone I know, and barely make a dent in it. There’s the old thing about giving some to family/friends, etc. but still – you would have a lot left.

So the next thing that came to mind was so odd, I thought I’d share it here. Continue reading What would you buy with a £100m lottery win? →

Daily Life, Random Silliness

The Park and Gardner Podcast

If I’m terrible at one thing (yes, JUST one), it’s advertising my abilities, talking myself up, or voluntarily telling people about things I’m up to. I’m the worst self-promoter in the world.

Oh, you want an example of this?

Well, how about this. I do a weekly(ish) podcast with my friend Stephen Gardner (http://twitter.com/lordhyperbole). It’s called the Park and Gardner podcast, and we’ve made 28 episodes of it so far, before I realised I hadn’t mentioned it on this blog of mine at all. So this is me, mentioning it.

It’s recorded in my garage, and it’s basically the two of us talking about the last week, both in terms of what we’ve been doing, and watching on TV, as well as looking at the quirkier news stories. And when I say news, there’s no miserable ones about death or war – just the odd ones about aliens, smut, and usually at least one cute animal story.

It’s available on parkandgardner.com so you can either visit the website to check it out, or subscribe to it by doing one of these two things:

1. If you use iTunes, then clicking this link will prompt you to open iTunes, where you can subscribe.

or

2. If you hate iTunes with a passion, then you can click this link, and then..whatever you do if you don’t use iTunes. Copy and paste it into another xml reader, or something.

Anyway, that’s me self-promoting. The advert ends there. I might mention it again in another year.

Business, Daily Life, Gripes

Sportsdirect – very poor customer service – part 3

This is part 3 of my ongoing complaint against Sportsdirect. You can read part 1 here, and part 2 here.

Quite a few weeks ago now I made the mistake of buying a supposedly cabin-safe suitcase from Sportsdirect. I got it home, discovered the measurements on the label were wrong (they say it’s smaller than it is), so I attempted to return it (due to it being useless in the actual size and not the product described on the label), and they refused to refund me.

Since part 2, I have written them a letter and posted it recorded delivery. I posted it on the 8th May, and they received it on the 10th May.

sportsdirectsignedfor

As of 3 June, I’ve received no reply or acknowledgement of this letter. Continue reading Sportsdirect – very poor customer service – part 3 →

Daily Life, Random Silliness

The Spotted Egg

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This morning in the yard behind my workplace, I spotted this:

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An egg.
Not just an egg, either.
It was also moving. With little breeze to blow so much as my hair, let alone the weight of an egg, I thought “maybe it has a bird inside!”
There are lots of birds around my workplace, so you never know. Not sure how it got there, in the middle of a Tarmac yard, without breaking, but never mind that. It’s a baby bird, trying to hatch!

I got some cardboard to scoop it up with (and a box that might make an ok temporary nest for it), and picked it up as carefully as I could. It rolled quickly a I was lifting it, and I nearly dropped it. It was also surprisingly light.
It was made of polystyrene.

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But why?
What is the point of a perfect egg of polystyrene? The only things I can come up with is that it’s used to model eggcups, or confuse snakes. What other use could it have?

Daily Life, Random Silliness

No Milk This Morning

I typically get up for work a couple of hours before my girlfriend. This morning, I got up to discover there was only enough milk for a cup of tea each (we would normally both have cereal as well, at our respective breakfast times). So I had my tea and toast for breakfast, and sat down and wrote my girlfriend a short note about all of this. I’ll save you the hassle of trying to read my spider-scrawl handwriting (which is even worse at 5.30am), and type it up for you now. Continue reading No Milk This Morning →

Daily Life, Technology

I’ve bought an E Ink e-reader

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After a lot of thought, I’ve decided to purchase an E Ink e-reader, and done just that.

This is more of a troublesome decision than you might imagine. I didn’t want to spend too much money, although thankfully there’s so few options in this area really (compared to the myriad of tablets available, for example), it’s quite difficult to spend a lot. I narrowed it down to something from Amazon (Kindle), Barnes & Noble (The Nook, models of which have just recently become available in the UK) and something from Kobo.

I ruled out the Kobo models almost immediately due to a load of average reviews of the interface, and complaints about the speed of use. It’s apparently the most popular eInk eReader in Canada (but then according to something else I read, apparently you can’t buy Kindles in Canada). It’s about the same price as the rivals, at £59.99 for the base models (either a 5″ “mini” version, or a 6″ version.)

This left the Nook Simple Touch, and the Amazon Kindle. Continue reading I’ve bought an E Ink e-reader →

Daily Life, Gripes, Technology

Phishing/telephone scam

I’ve been on the Internet for long enough to know to ignore phishing emails (Paypal has lost ALL my details? What? Again?!), dodgy links (free s3xx0r in MY area!), and anything that claims to have information on my police record (I don’t have one), but something happened today that I’ve never had before. A phishing phone call. (Not sure that’s even the right term as it didn’t happen electronically. Phroning?) And as the various pennies have only just dropped, I thought I’d write about it. Continue reading Phishing/telephone scam →

Daily Life, Technology

The laptop replacement?

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In the last year, I’ve wanted to leave the house, travel, and do stuff from other locations, occasionally. Fight the cabin fever, or something. My main computer at home is a sexy iMac, and while it runs perfectly, it’s not really what you would call portable, as it’s a desktop computer with a glass-fronted screen and requires a mains power socket. I do have a laptop, but it’s very old, very slow, quite heavy, and has a battery that lasts 80mins. Crucially, NOT 1.5 hours – as I’ve reminded myself several times, while shouting “NO! DON’T HIBERNATE NOW, YOU BASTARD!” Continue reading The laptop replacement? →

Daily Life, Employment, Gripes

“No DSS”

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(I meant to write this post months ago, but I was busy, then I forgot all about it. Recently, I overheard a few people discussing some articles they had read in some piss-poor excuse for a newspaper, about benefit claimants, as if the story was factually accurate. While I held back from shouting “ABSOLUTE BOLLOCKS!” and/or laughing in their faces at the time, I’d like to use this opportunity to vent.)

A few months ago, I was looking for a new place to live. I was also unemployed.

Gumtree is always awash with people renting rooms. Hundreds and hundreds of them. And despite me seeing the same properties listed, and relisted, and relisted again – because the owners or occupants clearly can’t find anyone to move in, when I emailed asking politely if they would consider someone on benefits, and “either way could you let me know” – most of them completely ignored me. Which is rude, whichever way you look at it.

And that’s just the private ads. There was (and is) agencies listing and relisting and relisting (on Gumtree, Easyroommate, and other sites), like some form of house-based spam. Some of them pretend to be private landlords, for some reason. I was onto you “Lauren” and “Riccardo”. I’ve even seen “Lauren” advertising multiple properties in different locations with the same internal pictures. I emailed you twice and you couldn’t be bothered to reply to either. Well fuck you, fake “Lauren”. Continue reading “No DSS” →