Journal Entries
I can prove I read it
Posted May 11, 2005
I don't know if I mentioned this already (and reading the previous entries in my journal is clearly far too much work), but I'm doing a distance learning course in proofreading. Anyroad, I just got my first assignment (of 4) back and I got 4.8 out of 5, which seems pretty good. Typically for me, I'm disappointed at my 4.4/5 mark on "Spots and corrects editor errors" (I probably missed a couple of spelling mistakes; I'll have to have a look), but bearing in mind 4 is "good" and 5 is "excellent", I shouldn't feel too down.
Better yet, my tutor has put a note to the effect that there's a high demand for readers of maths and physics books, which kind of suits and MSc mathematician. If t'site'll just accept my application to be a subed I'll even have some experience to add to my CV.
I'm feeling quite positive about this.
Oh, and for some added practice, I've got the contract from my day job. I won't give too much away, but their head office is in Bidford-on-Avon, which is rendered "BIFORD ON AVON" at the top of the document.
Discuss this Journal entry [13]
Latest reply: May 11, 2005
A Canadian's adventure - Monday
Posted May 7, 2005
On Monday, Amy announced that she had quite a bit of stuff to do, so Carol and I were left to our own devices much of the time. I called my friend Andy, who had agreed to meet us that day, to sort out the details. This was more complicated than it sounds because we also had to sort out when Carol and I would be catching our respective trains, which meant finding out what time another Canadian friend could meet her in London. Phew.
Anyway, after another nice breakfast of fruit, porridge (I stuck my fruit in my porridge, Carol copied me), bagels and tea, the two of us caught the bus over to Roundhay Park. We wandered around the big lake for an hour and a half and I demonstrated my ineptitude with a camera. Much of the park was undergoing some sort of work, so orange netting abounded and the mansion was surrounded by one of those temporary wall things they use.
In my eagerness to be a good tour guide I may have been explaining things that didn't need explaining, indeed Amy had laughed at me the previous day for assuming Carol wouldn't understand the expression "ten a penny". However, I hadn't realised that a coot would be new to Carol. I lived in Canada for two years without seeing one, so perhaps I should have realised, but then they have a tendency to run away when anyone looks at them. The ones in Roundhay were less timid than most - perhaps they realised that there was nowhere within several miles that they could expect any solitude.
We returned to the Ant's Nest (I pointed out a Bagpuss in a shop window to Carol - our h2g2 nicknames had been mentioned), whence all three of us caught the bus into town. We said our goodbyes to Amy and went to Whitelocks to meet Andy and his lass for a sandwich and a pint (Andy had referred to this arangement as "predictable" on the phone - I happen to like Whitelocks okay? 
). We had a wide-ranging conversation covering how the government tempts teachers in from abroad (Carol and Amy had talked about this before as well), Doctor Who and real ale amongst other things. 
Then Carol and I said ta-ta and headed for the railway station. I went to find out what time the trains back to Middlesbrough were and it turned out one left in about five minutes, so I had to abandon Carol on her platform and run over the footbridge. Phew, a tiring long weekend. Fortunately I had a late start on Tuesday, as I was volunteering in the woods before starting full time work on Wednesday.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: May 7, 2005
A Canadian's adventure - Sunday
Posted May 7, 2005
Sunday morning both Amy and I were up well before Carol, who slept for about 12 hours. We had a lovely, slow breakfast of bacon and eggs and bagels and fruit whilst sorting out what to do for the day. The first activity we chose was "shopping". I use quotation marks because I don't recall any of us actually buying anything, rather we tried lots of free samples at the monthly Kirkgate farmers market. Carol didn't like black pudding, so I got extra. I think a nice bit of Wensleydale went down better.
After "shopping" we wandered over to the Henry Moore Institute, an art gallery that was mainly closed, but we did get to stare at a couple of wooden sculptures for a few minutes. Then we headed to the railway station and thence to Saltaire, a town that nineteenth-century industrialist Titus Salt had built for his cotton mill workers. The mills are no longer functional, of course, having been turned into offices and homes and in one case a museum featuring a lot of David Hockney paintings.
One other remarkable thing about the museum is that the gift shop is not a seperate room, but takes up tables spread throughout the main gallery, which is a large room with a brick ceiling that once will have held dozens and dozens of looms (the room, that is, not the ceiling). The good news is that the shop sells not over-priced pencils with little mills on them, but various interesting books about art and design.
At the end of the room a doorway leads to a small room with Saltaire's history described around the wall. Carol read this in detail, while I skimmed most of it and amused myself trying to decipher 19th century legalese ("said Titus Salt two tunnels or culverts to be constructed heretoafter and theretofore" sort of thing), after which we headed upstairs, through another gallery to Salt's Diner for dinner.
In the afternoon we took a stroll along the canal side, watched a cricket match for a bit and tried to explain the basics to Carol. We also saw ducks, swans and a narrowboat entering a lock. Then it was off back to the station, because we wanted to be in Leeds in time to catch a film called something like "Dosser's Map of the Universe".
Quite clearly the main British institution that any foreign visitor needs to be introduced to is the pub quiz. Forget Michael Howard's ideas about immigrants taking English tests and getting checked out for diseases - they should instead be challenged by a number of general knowledge questions and a badly-photocopied picture quiz. So we went to the Bricklayers Arms near the university where two friends of mine run the quiz. Our team, Igloos and Totem Poles won by quite a margin, despite failing to identify the Phantom in the comic book picture quiz. Okay there were only five teams, which is unusually low, but still I despair at the state of today's undergraduates.
Sadly we had to leave before we could claim our prize of a gallon of beer, but Amy kindly offered to drink it at some future time, as the other two of us would not be in town.
Discuss this Journal entry [1]
Latest reply: May 7, 2005
A Canadian's adventure - Saturday
Posted May 2, 2005
On Thursday night I discovered I had an email from a Canadian friend of mine, Carol, saying that she would be over from Azerbaijan Friday to Friday and perhaps we could meet up ("How far away is Leeds from London?"). After several more emails and a phone call it was sorted that she could get the train up from Oxford on Saturday and head down to London on Monday (today).
Our very own Amy the 
very kindly agreed to put us up at extremely short notice (I don't live in Leeds, but thought it would be a more interesting place for Carol to visit than Guisborough). Sadly I could not make it to Leeds until Saturday afternoon as I had to work at Sainsbury's in the morning (from 5am, but I won't harp on about it as several wagon drivers already beat me at the whole Four Yorkshiremen thing). Saturday mornings are always chaotic work and I was relieved to leave. As I went, soon after one o'clock, I mentally searched for a valedictory phrase that would give expression to my mixed emotions about the place, having worked there for just a couple of months. I think "Screw you guys, I'm going home," summed it up nicely.
My dad kindly gave me a lift to Darlington station, saving me the bother of getting a bus to Middlesbrough and a train to Darlo and consequently putting me an hour ahead of schedule, giving me plenty of time to buy an ivy plant and 300g of fizzy cola bottles at the Kirkgate market before returning to Leeds station to meet Carol, who was about 40 minutes later than I expected anyway.
A short 
ride later we were at the 's Nest, where we three enjoyed 
, 
, chips, Russian 
, 
Who and conversation before taking an early night. 
Discuss this Journal entry [7]
Latest reply: May 2, 2005
A sign of the apocalypse?
Posted Apr 17, 2005
"And the BAFTA goes to: I'm A Celebrity, Get Me Out Of Here."
Discuss this Journal entry [3]
Latest reply: Apr 17, 2005
Bagpuss
Researcher U152404
Write an Entry
"The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a wholly remarkable book. It has been compiled and recompiled many times and under many different editorships. It contains contributions from countless numbers of travellers and researchers."