Victoria Wood – she’ll be pissed off she’s only had a few weeks break from Paul Daniels

Work was fairly dull. Couldn’t get what I was trying to get to work so moved on to some stress testing, at least that all went according to plan. Tonights title by the way was going to be ‘My gutters got cleared by a pole in more ways than one’. Gutter man arrived, he was fairly rotund and how the hell he didn’t crack the guttering getting his fat arse up the ladder I will never know. Still, he had a nice day for it. He really did fill up one of those big plastic buckets with what was basically earth, so hopefully gutters will now work again. Walked Sasha quickly as I had a conference call at a certain time. Didn’t go to Pump this evening as the weather was too nice, so went for a walk instead. Plus my leg is still bad.

Then heard the news that Victoria Wood had passed after a short battle with cancer, she was only sixty-two. She’ll be well pissed off that she only had a break from Paul Daniels for a few weeks and now she’s stuck with him for eternity. 2016 seems to be the year of celebrity deaths, it’s getting a whole lot funnier up there.

She was the only comedian I ever paid to see and twice at that (no, you’re wrong before you say it, Jasper Carrot I never paid for).

Last week we had four candles and now this week we have two soups. RIP Victoria, you will be greatly missed.

The fuel tank is empty

So I spent the morning working out integration problems in an old project. Then I got on to some complex threading atomic shit which still doesn’t work. Walked Sasha via the vets so she’s all up to date with everything and now her kennel cough is in sync with everything else. Went for a run this evening but after three miles I was totally knackered, the fuel tank really was just empty. I came back and had a hot bath to soak all my painful bits in. I have pain in my leg, my buttock, my scrotum and my stomach. I’m basically falling apart at the seams. I’m going to have an early night and put some heat on my neither regions I think.

Don’t try and do a manual when you’re 44 and not wearing a brain bucket

Work was okay, I spent a lot of the day syncing and building code for a project I’m not directly involved with. Got to work on my fun stuff as well. Managed to take Sasha out during a nice sunny moment. Rode bike to gym, thought I’d pull off a manual going down the road. Now the last time I pulled one of these I was actually probably heavier, but probably twenty years younger with better balance. I failed to bail out in time and ended up on my back and whacked head on floor, bike went flying. Must remember that a modern BMX is about half the weight of an old one. Still, it was a learning experience. Incidentally it was on a dirt track so it hurt my ego more than anything else. Continued to gym and did Combat. It was very busy, word must have got out that Laverne wasn’t doing it. Rode home, actually it only took twelve minutes each way, so very efficient. Did more work, ate salad. Also visited the Physio this morning, I’ve apparently pulled a tendon, so have to do some weird stretches and everything should then hopefully settle down. If not my groin will fall off. Also on getting home I managed to whack the front of my head on the bedroom door. So that’s pretty much every part of my body damaged in one day. Ordered a brain bucket, I think I’ll wear it permanently.

Security detail

Started this morning with the usual coffee and cereal. I was planning on resting my leg somewhat but that didn’t happen. Due to an insurance issue I had to fit a five lever mortice lock to the office door, this took around two hours in which I managed to shove a chisel through my hand and a screwdriver through my thumb, still, lock is now working. Then we went over to Virgin at Cribs and then I came back and fitted a third lock to the patio door. Finally got out into the garage and built my new bike. Rides nicely, the seat is more of a decoration than anything else, you certainly wouldn’t want to sit on it. Jamie said it’s all a bit low, it’s a fucking BMX, it’s designed for a twelve year old. Had a bath and cooked dinner, curry. Leg still hurts a lot, not sure if it will ever get better unless I rest it completely and there isn’t any chance of that happening. Mother asked if I can spare any time to fix her shed, I don’t even have any time to fix my own gutters that have more grass in them than my garden.

I didn’t understand a word you said but the service was great

So today started with the usual ideal weekend setup, I had coffee and cereal, read the paper. Didn’t get up until far too late. We walked the dogs, had lunch and then headed out. Walked into town, did the usuals, popped into ‘Forbidden Planet’, whinged at the exchange rate for the dollar at the postoffice, went through T.K.Maxx and bought things we didn’t need. I stopped off at Toolstation to get a five lever mortice lock for my office door as it’s now a ‘requirement’. I’m tempted to installed full recorded CCTV on the house due to a spate of burglaries in the area, and I’m paranoid. Priced it all up, will install next week. Popped into B&Q, everything is on sale, but it’s still cheaper on Amazon. Looked at my new bike, very pretty, can’t do shit as my leg is still bust. We had a lovely meal this evening at the Aztec Hotel, proper poncy. Got served by a lovey Chinese lady, didn’t understand a word she said all evening, but she was very attentive so got a twenty quid tip, which apparently ‘made her day’, well that’s what I translated it to anyway. Walked home, Jamie was quite pissed and played Modanna very loudly from his phone. Busy day tomorrow, locks to fit, bikes to build.

Well I thought my leg was better until I tried to put my sock on

Leg felt fine first thing until I tried to put my sock on, had to get Jamie to do it. Work was very similar to yesterday, I’ve had a pretty good week work wise really must admit. Walked Sasha, walked to the gym, did Pump, walked back via the shop and picked up a paper. Have some fun things to do this weekend, build my bike, fit a few locks. Probably have to have sex at some point, may put that off for a couple of weeks yet.

Blake’s 7 now becomes 6

Started at a reasonable time, played around with buffers a bit more but didn’t really gain any ground. Did a load of other stuff which did work though and gave me a nice frame rate boost. Tried to find a new Geocache first thing and failed. Walked Sasha in the sun. Went for a run this evening. Now going to settled down and watch the last half hour of my German spy drama.

Sad news today about Gareth Thomas, Rog Blake from Blake’s 7. Although he wasn’t in half of it. Grew up with that with it’s wobbly sets and dodgy plot-lines.

My new bike is still in the lounge in it’s box, in front of the coffee table, the weekend perhaps.

Trying to do with DirectX what David Cameron does with his tax returns

So started a little bit earlier and cracked on. Had a pretty fun day today, first with trying to figure out the best way to get a CPU fence running on DX11. It seemed to be a bit driver dependent on if it worked or not. As it happened I didn’t really need it anyway. Then spent the rest of the day trying to convince the driver to do what I wanted it to do and not what I wanted. It was very much like David Cameron’s tax return, there was nothing technically illegal but wasn’t really in the spirit of the rules. I will get it to work how I want, just needs a bit more twiddling. New bike arrived, in a shipping container, ‘some self assembly required’, I may as well buy that steel company cheap and make it from the component parts. I’m sure it’ll just need the pedals and bars attaching…and probably the wheels, brakes, okay, everything. Walked to the gym, did Pump, my leg is feeling better this evening, but I couldn’t get my sock on again this morning. I now have pains elsewhere so I think I’ve screwed over a whole set of muscles or I’m about to explode.

So German subtitles can be quite rewarding

My leg is still very painful, if I don’t move it. Cracked on with work, had a much better day at it today, very enjoyable, good stuff done and plenty of ideas to go on with. I’m sure it’ll all turn to shit tomorrow. Walked Sasha in quite warm weather, compared to yesterday where it felt like the arctic again. Went for a run early evening, very nice. Had a shower and then settled down to my East German spy thriller, which is 100% subtitled. It’s bloody hard gong but very enjoyable, only a couple more episodes to go. Then tried to stand up and couldn’t, probably need to go running again.

Groaning groin

I’ve definitely pulled something, I woke up this morning and couldn’t even put my sock on. Oddly when I’m moving around I’m fine, but sitting an lying down is painful. Anyway, Monday being Monday, work wise not much happened. Spent all day building data and stuff, still, all set for a more interesting day tomorrow anyway. Walked Sasha in the rain, which just kept hammering down until the end of the day. Walked to the gym, it had stopped raining, did Combat, which was painful and then took a long walk home as it was actually quite a pleasant evening. Did more work. Sat on couch, groin hurts. Think I’ll go to bed and put some heat on it.