I’ve just finished uploading my photos from my trip to the FIFA World Cup in South Africa. That was my third major sporting tournament I’ve attended and will probably be the last I travel abroad to.

London has the Olympic Games in 2012, maybe England will get the World Cup in 2018. Apart from that, I’m done. It’s not that I am no longer enjoying myself, it’s there are lots of other things I want to do.

There major football tournaments on three different continents in eight years is enough for me.

new friend

So what next? I can’t afford to be a space tourist. So maybe a couple of months in China or India, perhaps a cruise around the Adriatic or Caribbean. There are lots of places I have yet to visit in Europe. I have never visited Paris, Berlin or any other major capital city. I tend to stay off the beaten track.

A couple of years to think about it yet, and I need to get off my ass and find some more work to pay for it all.

Once I have a new plan I have incentive.

I’m getting lots of fresh air and starting a tan. Seriously, I can get sun burnt in an English April, the ginger curse.

I’m meeting lots of new people, most of whom are nice even if they are not voting our way. Some are coldly polite. A very few are unpleasant. I had the first door slammed in my face this week, luckily I remebered to turn my microphone off.

I have been visiting parts of Stevenage I haven’t been in years. On the way from leafleting, I took a short cut through woods I used to walk through on the way to school. It’s much overgrown now, as the school is no longer there.

Bluebells were in bloom. They are late this year because of the long winter. I had forgotten about Bluebells. It’s now official: Winter is at last over.

]]> http://www.timneale.co.uk/2010/bluebells/feed/ 0 http://www.timneale.co.uk/2010/shopping-spree-1-new-tv/ http://www.timneale.co.uk/2010/shopping-spree-1-new-tv/#comments Wed, 03 Mar 2010 14:23:35 +0000 Tim Neale http://www.timneale.co.uk/?p=1504 My TV stopped working. Strangely, the world didn’t stop turning.

I realised I was in trouble when I rang up the repair people and they put me through to a “special department” after I told them my TV didn’t have a plasma or LCD screen.

“You have a cathode ray tube set?” I was asked in the strange tone I hear when I tell people I don’t own a car.

“Yeah, I live in a tower block,” I told them. I’ve found that people accept, “I live in a tower block” as an explanation for just about anything.

the hole in my life where the tv isn't

They wanted the model number. It took me a while to find it under the accumulated dust. Then the number didn’t exist on their system. I worked out the TV was 20 years old. It had never previously needed repairing.

They don’t make ‘em like they used to.

No one locally knew how to service a CRT TV. They had to find a repair man in London. When the guy saw the set he laughed and I knew it was the end of the line for the TV.

The repair man took a look. The circuit board on which the transformer sits had carbonised with heat and age, become brittle and cracked.

No chance of replacement parts. Short of getting hold of the circuit diagrams and building a new board myself, that’s that for a faithful old friend.

Time for an upgrade.

I only replace things when I have no alternative. I’m the kind of guy people at Apple hate. When I do get something new, I get the biggest and best model I can with all the gadgets and gizmos. I then play with all the gadgets and gizmos once and never use them again.

It keeps me happy.

I’ve been drooling over the 42”, all singing, all dancing, high-definition ready, plasma screen TV’s. Then it occurred to me to get a tape and measure the hole the new TV would occupy.

A 42” TV is 1 meter wide. That would stretch from the arm of the sofa to the edge of the wall in the photo. It would over-dominate the room.

I would have to move the furniture and plants. The ivy wouldn’t like that. See it growing up the wall? And let’s be honest, I don’t watch that much TV.

I have settled for a 32” plasma screen, which is not quite state of the art when it comes to clarity etc, but it is “high definition ready” and will be a huge improvement on my old set.

It arrives Friday, which gives me a whole weekend to play with gadgets and gizmos.

The scaffolding’s reached my floor. It’s strange to see people standing outside of my window. On the eighth, you get used to privacy. Walking into a room and coming face to face with someone is a shock.

new neighbours

But they have moved on up. Next they will be encapsulating us in the blue plastic. Everything will be dingy and blue.

I’m told that the worse part is when the drilling starts, eight hours a day, five days a week. I don’t know weather I’ll be able to work.

At the end the block will have cavity wall insulation. My heating bills should go down. Maybe it will be worth while.

great view

Another couple of letters arrived from Stevenage Homes today. Again, I haven’t opened them as I don’t want to spoil my good mood.

Tomorrow maybe, after I finish the Leaseholders Online site.

home (not so) sweet home

It keeps getting cut off. I have called Virgin Media four times in the last week. It’s getting ridiculous.

It’s also getting expensive. Calls to Virgin customer service costs 40 pence a minute on my mobile. And each call takes on average ten minutes.

They’ve changed the call waiting system since I last called. Now, “to ease the pain of waiting” you can select the type of music to listen to (at 40 pence a minute). You make your selection. It then ignores it completely and plays the same song

…Pain not eased.

It turns out the wires are being cut maliciously. I’m told I’m not the only one affected. It’s nothing personal.

Apparently’ someone’s “in dispute” with Virgin Media. Something I find easy to believe. I’m not a happy customer.

The last time the technician called, I got him to show me the junction box. It’s not exactly safe or secure.

I’ve been promised there’ll be a new case fitted soon. Meanwhile, you don’t need CIA training to tap my phone. I guess I should be please someone drew attention to the fact.

Another reason to dump the landline September 2010.

where am i?

I have trouble waking up on winter mornings.

Summer I’m OK, I leave the curtains open. I wake up no problem. The sun shining into my bedroom.

Winter’s a different matter. I find it very hard to get out of bed. Perhaps it’s that I’m too tight to have the heating on for long. Anything over 20 DegC is outrageous opulence.

My niece just started selling for Avon. I looked through the catalogue. There was an alarm clock with a light. The light brightens slowly over 20 minutes to simulate a sunrise.

no no, not the cyottees!

I thought I’d give it a go and bought one. I set my clock radio to come on 10 minutes into the lighting sequence.

Two weeks on, I find I’m not waking up consistently. The light sometimes wakes me, but I can’t rely on it. The alarm with the light is not particularly harsh.

And I have to pick the thing up to find the off switch.

During the 20 minutes between the light coming on and it reaching full brightness I have been having the strangest dreams. Not that I can remember any now. And when I do wake up I am very confused.

On Sunday I overslept by two hours. It’s been years since I overslept without going to bed late.

So I have got my old alarm clock out again. It is really harsh and I have never slept through it. But I also have the lamp beside my bed.

I’m disorientated when I wake up, but the strange dreams are kind o’ fun.

ohhhh yeah

burnt out circuit board

It was the circuit board. You do not have to be an electrician to see there is something wrong with it.

It was only five years old.

The price of the new board was £150. That’s the same price as the motherboard in this computer. But the processing power to run a household boiler is minimal.

I suppose the much smaller numbers of boards for a boiler compared to a PC explains part of the price. But I still feel ripped off

More home maintenance this week. I fixed the pull switch in the bathroom. The spring had been going for a while, it finally gave up last week. I couldn’t get an exact replacement and now have a hole in the bath room ceiling to fill.

I have spent about £200 on the flat this week. I’m a bit broke. Rather than go out tonight, I’ll sit and luxuriate in the warmth generated by my now working heating system. And maybe turn the light on and off in the bathroom a few times.

And good TV tonight with a new episodes of House, later Chelsea beating the Arsenal 3-0.

They grew loads and passed some around. Which is just as well as mine died. To put them to good use, I’ve decided to have a Mexican theme for my meals this week.

I’ve never cooked much Mexican food. OK, I’ve been cooking chilli since my student days, but I doubt if any Mexican would recognize my chilli as such.

I did have a phase of eating TexMex a few years ago. The Break for the Border restaurants in London were a favourite venue for my birthdays. I love fajitas. And the beer with a slice of lime in the top, was all the rage for posing with a decade ago.

But this week I intend to try cooking some authentic Mexican food. Should be fun if nothing else. It’ll probably turn out as nothing else.

If I don’t post for a while, it’ll be down to chilli overload.

The heating had not come on. When I looked at the boiler, the overheat light was on. The fail safe had cut-out.

Normally it resets if you turn the boiler off for a minute. Not this time.

Mick Carrol came round lunch time and took a look. There was water inside, possibly from last night’s storms. It has been raining heavily all weekend.

Mick thinks the circuit board has got wet and will most likely need replacing. I need to contact Kevin Knibbs to see what he can do. Problem is, it’s an old boiler, spare parts may be difficult to find.

So no hot water or heating for the next couple of days. Not too big a problem as I have an electric shower. The weather is not too cold as yet.

If I can’t get spare parts for the boiler, I will have to get a new one installed. That’ll be a pain. A new boiler can’t be installed where the old one was, due to changes in the law. It will cost quite a bit to have the new system installed.

On the positive side, a new condensing boiler will be more energy efficient. Plus, I will no longer have a storage tank of hot water to heat up. I use very little hot water.

It’s just that money’s tight right now .