Ahahhh there Jim-lad!

This morning I worked out what the new “Road Safety Demonstration Scheme” on the Cowley Road in Oxford is going to involve, and I’m not impressed.

First, a background:-

The Cowley Road in Oxford is on the city’s most heavily used bus route. It is also one of the most heavily used cycle routes for those who commute. In the place where this new scheme is being implaced there is a reasonably large group of shops. In fact, it’s only third in size behind the city centre, Headington and Summertown in the size of the shopping area.

So, what’s the new scheme?

Well, they’re narrowing the road at several points. These narrow stretches are probably just about wide enough for two buses to pass with no space between the sides of the buses and the curb. I say probably just about wide enough as I’m not actually sure that it is possible to get two buses past them.

It’s obvious that this “safety” scheme has made no provision for the safety of cyclists. Indeed, it’s made the situation a whole lot worse. I’m not sure it’ll make the pedestrians any safer either, especially if buses keep having to ride over the edges of the pavements to get past each other.

I think all the local planners should be forced to commute along the Cowley Road everyday for a month before they cook up any more stupid schemes. These are Green Party members on the whole so they should know better… shouldn’t they?

Who should I vote for?

Your expected outcome:

Liberal Democrat

Your actual outcome:

Labour -40
Conservative -21
	Liberal Democrat 58
	UK Independence Party 12
	Green 27

You should vote: Liberal Democrat

The LibDems take a strong stand against tax cuts and a strong one in favour of public services: they would make long-term residential care for the elderly free across the UK, and scrap university tuition fees. They are in favour of a ban on smoking in public places, but would relax laws on cannabis. They propose to change vehicle taxation to be based on usage rather than ownership.

Take the test at Who Should You Vote For

I spent most of the weekend trying and failing to wake up.

Dispite the lovely weather outside I just felt so shattered on both Saturday and Sunday that I couldn’t force myself outside the house other than to do the shopping.

I did force myself to move a lot of stuff I’m brought back from Cornwall up into the loft though, so the weekend wasn’t a total loss. I did also try to recover my old data from the Atari ST’s old hard disk but failed dismally. The old disk is the one which originally came inside the TT but I replaced it about 10 years ago when it got sticktion problems. It was good enough for use with the ST, however as I could shake the box it was in to start it. However, when I tried it out on Saturday it didn’t work well, or much at all. I got it spinning but a bad block analysis showed that about a third of the blocks were dead. Looks like I’d have to start again if I wanted to revive programming on that platform.. and I just can’t be bothered.

And so, now it’s Monday morning. It’s cold, wet and a whole lot of no fun… and I’m still tired.

Well, Jess has just left.

She did manage to find my place, eventually.. though it took her a couple of runs up and down the estate to do so. Because of this we were a little late getting to the cinema but not too much. There was still time to get the tickets and popcorn before the film began.

The film itself was not exactly what I expected, with more plot twists and less of another “Die Hard” film. I guess Bruce is getting a bit old for that role now. Though the little kid did seem to be an apprentice for that role. (Not giving any significant spoilers.) Though I thought the ending did sort of leave a lot of plot points hanging. Oh, and the credits were very well done.

After the film we came back to my place where I plied Jess with tea (from a pot) and we chatted for a bit until it was time for her to leave.

As for vibes.. well, not sure. She said “we’ll have to catch up again soon” but in a paranoid way I’m not sure she meant it as the tone of voice wasn’t as upbeat as it could be. Anyway, I enjoyed the film.

The plans are now fully in place for my evening out at the cinema with Jess tonight.

Assuming that she can find my house, she’ll be picking me up just after 8pm to toddle down to the Ozone Multiplex to watch “Hostage.” then drinks/coffee afterward. Well, that’s the plan, anyway.

In case of her getting lost we’ve exchanged phone numbers.

It’s been about 2 weeks since I last posted on here. I guess a quick run-down of what’s been happening is in order.

Jess and I didn’t manage to sync our diaries to the point where we could go and see a film.

Out of the blue I got a phone call from Lindsey asking if I’d like to pop up to Liverpool to spend her parents money on a broadband router so as to set up her parents machines to share her cable modem, oh and to see her as well. So I toddled up on the Friday night, spent most of Saturday setting up wireless stuff and doing Windows Update on her Dad’s machine as well as trying for hours to recover from the installation of one of the security updates (KB891711) which nuked the machine before you could get to the point of removing the b’stard. (This update also caused massive problems for me on the librarian’s computer at work, but different symptoms.)

Saturday evening Lindsey and I saw Constantine.. not a bad film but reminded me of a meld of Dogma and Buffy with all the humour removed. Sunday started reasonably late before driving to Steve ???’s place for a roast dinner before driving home.

It was only then three days before I drove down to Cornwall to spend Easter with my parents. I also took the opportunity to mostly clear thier loft of my old computer equipment (which is now in my spare room until I can shunt it into the loft). I drove back on Tuesday through awful weather and awful traffic. Instead of the normal 4.5 hour journey it took 7 hours, amongst the very worst I’ve experienced on that route.

And so, I’m now back to work. Still, I have got Friday night to look forward to. Jess and I have managed to arrange to see Hostage at the Ozone Multiplex at last. It seems I’ve missed “A Life Aquatic” at the cinemas, oh well. Anyway, I’m not sure if you could class tomorrow night as a “date” as such but who knows what will happen, eh? I’m classing it as a night out with a woman friend, myself.

izye told me that xencat told people that I got caught talking to susanc and backstabbing reverendgrim. Don’t let me hear about that again or I’m gonna kick some heads!

And also I gave everybody my wishlist of computer hardware for my birfday, but nobody bought me anything :-(.

Oh and I don’t know why gfrancie went all psycho over me and jillybean2001 having a little fun.

This entry automatically generated by the LJ Drama Generator!

Well, first of all, my new bike arrived. Other than it could do with a slightly smaller rear cog and/or a slightly bigger front cog and a design flaw on the rear light which means that it turns off every time I go over a bump (the batteries bounce, break contact and the light resets to the off condition) it’s hunky dory. The roller brakes are REALLY efficient and only need the lightest pressure to brake heavily. I did manage to break the chain a week ago, however, a week after I got the bike. As compensation for the mix-up over the frame type and the broken chain Trek UK sent me a new hi-tech helmet.

The weekend before last Jerry and Em came down to visit. Em was going to a “Creative Memories” annual get-together event which was held down the road at The Kazaam Stadium. It was really nice seeing them and their two daughters, Laura and Amy. My goodness, they’re growing up! Most of the weekend involved trips to the park, plus a rather nice visit from Howard and Alec on the Saturday evening. Jerry helped me set up the bike’s suspension on the Sunday as well. What a nice fella he is.

A week ago was the Oxford Polar Society annual dinner. It took place at Pierre Victoire in Little Clarendon Street and a good time was had by all.

On Saturday it was the Polar Society’s trip to the Scott Polar Research Institute in Cambridge. Because of the relatively small numbers going (8) it was decided that instead of renting a minibus that two of us could drive the rest there and back. I was one of the volunteer drivers. I plotted the route which is the fastest and least congested I know, which involves going up to Northampton and then across on the A45 and the old A45, now the B645, which goes right past my old school, Kimbolton School. It’s a rather impressive place as its main building is Kimbolton Castle, where Catherine of Aragon died. One fly in the ointment of the journey was that while going passed the Wellingborough junction on the A45 I was concentrating on drivers doing silly things and missed the start of a 40mph limit due to roadworks. I only noticed the limit as I was exitting. I’m just hoping that there were no cameras.

The trip was fun with us drivers getting all the other expenses such as a greek meal, as payment for the petrol. After dropping off the people I’d taken (including a rather nice tasmanian zoologist called Jess) I finally got home at about midnight. Though I understand the other party who decided to go back via the M11/M25/M40 arrived back rather later.

Sunday was uneventful other than having time to rest. And so to this week. So far nothing, but there is a possibility of a night out at the cinema on Thursday (with Jess) and Lindsey’s asked if I can visit her in Liverpool this weekend (with the ulteria motive of getting me to fix their ADSL connection properly).