Made a relatively easy journey by rail yesterday (Chesterfield to Headingley). Let’s see how that went.
Fairly well then, only arrived two and a half hours later than planned.
Looking at the webshite logs, it appears I’ve ended up on the l33t hax0rs brute-force attempt list. Multiple failed attempts to log in using a variety of user names. Not that they would have ever got in, seeing as I’ve deliberately used a long password and 2FA.
It’s clogging up my logs and using precious bandwidth anyway so some black magic is now in place which should stop that in future.
“Where’ve you been then?” asks nobody. Well now.
I’m off the booze again. Went out in Sheffield with Rich and overdid it severely. To the extent that I have pains in the side that are still popping up even though I haven’t drank. I should probably arrange to visit a doctor to get checked as I suspect there may be a liver issue, but my legendary slackness continues so haven’t managed it yet (ditto: Contacting the Water Board to sort out why they’re billing me in arrears, which is more expensive, instead of in advance; installing a bike anchor in the outhouse so I can store the bike in there rather than in the kitchen; procuring new bedroom furniture, amongst other activities). I know I have form in stopping drinking then starting again a few weeks later but I really must break the vicious cycle so I’m going all out for broke. I’ve been dry for nearly two months now, have been out several times and kept it dry and even enjoyed being more social rather than chasing the next pint, so I know I can manage it. I want to be known for more than just “he liked a pint”.
Pete was the lucky recipient of the contents of my alcohol cupboard, so at least my supplies got a good home.
There was a trip to London to see the Kunts play a one-off birthday gig at the New Cross. It also tied in nicely with another chart campaign to “celebrate” the coronation. I got some reasonably priced accommodation in Woolwich which, combined with the new Crossrail/Elizabeth Line service, worked out quite well. I’ll probably stop over in Woolwich instead of Croydon in future whenever I need a hotel in South London.
What didn’t work out quite well was transport for above:
Fortunately, I only lost £15 on the coach tickets which were non-refundable. I got the money back on the other journeys that I had to cancel, which covered the fuel costs and parking instead.
Speaking of Luton, I got a ride on the new Tonka Toy Train between the airport and railway station. As there were no trains on the Friday, there was a lone staff member at the airport end discouraging use on the basis of a lack of trains at the other end, but that wasn’t an issue really as all I was heading there for was to retrieve the car. Surprisingly, there was a load of around twenty people coming into the airport, but I got a train to myself heading back.
I got a head up view of the train in action, but WordPress is complaining when I try to upload it so I’ve put it on Youtube instead.
I continue bollocking about in the Fediverse, but I mainly concentrate on mastodon.beer as it works better on the mobile and is more useful when posting pictures and such. I haven’t deleted the GNUsocial account yet as I am interested in what v3 of the software looks like, but development seems to have stalled somewhat.
Unfortunately, the Twitter account is back. The threatened API cull finally took place and was rather brutal, so all my RSS feed workarounds are now effectively dead. I rarely post there, the account exists purely to log in, catch up on posts, then log out and carry on with my day. I’ll continue to try and fully get rid of it some day.
The house is tidied up. Everything has got a good dusting, a bloke came out to clean the carpets, and I’ve taken the trimmer to the hedge for a final time. It’s polishing a turd to be honest, but I’ll be blown if I’m letting them get away with any of the deposit when they haven’t bothered to fix any of the issues that have been repeatedly raised over the past 24 months. Luckily, whilst sorting out some paperwork in the move, I came across a post inspection letter from the back end of 2020 where they stated that they were going to sort out the peeling wallpaper and “leak marks” (which was actually damp caused by the pointing being shot) but haven’t which will provide some ammunition to the case.
Another Lancs/Yorks T20 cricket match, this time at Headingley. Another underwhelming result, but an entertaining evening anyhow.
The house is no more. I’d grown tired of the lack of forthcoming upkeep on various bits of the premises coupled with another rent increase. Whilst I could cope with that by itself if it was the only increase, factoring in the cost of utilities, fuel, and pretty much everything else and it starts me worrying about whether it’s worth it. I’d been looking around but came across a flat at a nice price and got lucky with it. The resultant savings in rent and utility bills should provide some buffer for the forthcoming period of shit.
The move itself went generally without a hitch. I employed Doc Rob as an unwilling volunteer and Pastor Matt as a willing one, thus increasing the manpower available by 50% on the previous move. This was worthwhile move, as getting a washing machine up two flights of stairs was somewhat interesting. We managed it though, thanks chaps.
The keys to the house go back in a couple of weeks time, so it’s just the fun task of tidying the place up to look forward to. As well as work, another cricket fixture, another pub shift and probably some other appointments as well. It’s going to be rather busy for the next few days.
Another period of slack. A round-up then.
