News Archives: September 2008

Friday, September 26, 2008

Happiness is...

It's nearly a fortnight since we got back from our holiday in Wales, so I guess I'd better post about it now or never. Wales (or at least the bit we were in) is beautiful, surprisingly well populated, full of red kites, and has no placenames I can even begin to pronounce. Twas a great holiday. Some of Claire's photos are up on the web - she'll be sticking more up when she gets back.

Claire's been away all this week, on a management training course. I've not got much idea what this involves, other than caving and occassional texts asking if I know of a way to find the number for a phone box based on its OS grid reference. Claire's being kept pretty busy, so I haven't had much chance to talk to her, but she seems to be enjoying the course, quite excited, and a little bit proud of herself.

Zak's quite wound up by Claire being away for so long. I'm not sure whether hearing her voice over the phone is helping him or not, but he definitely reacts when he hears her. Tara also seems to be missing Claire, not sure the other two have noticed she's gone.

I might have been lonely were it not for friends visiting, me visiting Mum, and all the phone calls. The ones from family and friends were welcome. The sales calls not. The FIVE calls from Virgin Media looking for "Brian Morgan" needed the threat of police attention before they stopped.

Current listening is the new Marillion double album, and it's a good un. Not quite Anoraknophobia, but well worth a listen. Scarily, there's been hints from the band that they may not exist much longer. Too many people grabbing the music for free means the band can't afford to record. And this from a reasonably successful band who own their own studio, own the recording gear, and have no record label creaming off the lion's share of the profit...

Posted by graham @ 06:02 pm

Thursday, September 25, 2008

Grid Ref > Phone Number?

Okay, an obscure problem here, but if I have the OS grid reference for a phone box, does anyone know how I can find the phone number for that box?

I said it was obscure...

Posted by graham @ 11:37 pm

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

Cars & Pets

Claire came home this evening with our new car. The Megane's problems earlier this year, along with signs of impending new problems, spurred as on to get rid of it. We'd initially looked at doing the decent thing, and buying something highly eco-friendly. When we discovered that this meant (a) struggling to fit two humans and three dogs in one car, and (b) attracted a 3 grand premium, we thought again. Perhaps I'm cynical, but I can't help feeling that eco-cars are being deliberately priced to encourage punters to buy cheaper, traditional petrol engines.

In the end we've gone for the Kia Carens, an MPV (for those who know what it means - I'm not sure I do!) with room for five humans and three dogs at a push, or two humans, three dogs, and a load of luggage in comfort. This is reasonably eco-friendly - same tax bracket and better MPG than my Almeira. Even with diesel costing more than unleaded, this'll work out cheaper to run the Almeira. Now I just need to figure out how to attach the Carens to my Ipod...

***

Alfie has been with us for a month now, and is settling down nicely. Possibly too well - he's a naughty dog, who refuses to believe the vets that he needs a low protein, white meat diet for his kidneys. No, no. What Alfie really needs is the gobs of protein of dubious origin contained in Cisco's cat food. Worse, he can open the door through to Cisco's domain, something the youngsters never figured out. I've (hopefully) foxed him, by the addition of a hook on the back of that door, which holds it open just enough for Cisco to get through, and no more.

In case anyone is worried about Cisco & Alfie getting along, here's a photo I took earlier today. Alfie's just woken up and is wondering what I'm up to, hence his expression.

***

For anyone marking their diaries well in advance, we've settled on Saturday, 8th November for this year's bonfire & fireworks party. Usual rules. More details nearer the time.

***

At Continuum, I was asked to take on writing for the new Heroquest line. While I got the impression they were keen for me to do this, I wasn't clear as to why they wanted me, or why they thought I needed a new hobby. I said no, but did promise (half in jest) that if they sent me manuscripts, I'd look them over, and tell them why they were wrong. This turned out to be a mistake, as I left Continuum with a draft of the new Heroquest rulebook. It isn't terribly good. Last week, I sent an e-mail explaining why it's wrong, and I suspect that'll be the last time they dare send me a manuscript. We'll see...

Heroquest, for those unfamiliar, has a beautifully simple central mechanic, which takes about four pages to explain. In detail, with examples. There's a couple of fringe cases which trip up a few GMs new to the system, and the new rulebook does a fine job of discussing those pitfalls, and how to work round them. That's another four pages. However, the market for eight page rulebooks is a bit slim, so Heroquest has always added some extra stuff, to make up the page count. In the first couple of editions, this extra material was badly thought out, inappropriate rules that attempted (and failed) to simulate the more pedantic aspects of the world of Glorantha. This edition has dumped all those (hooray!) and instead adds badly thought out, inappropriate rules and advice that (if followed) will lead people to being truly awful GMs. (But possibly halfway decent novelists and screenwriters.)

Right, now to walk the dogs...

Posted by graham @ 09:25 pm

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