Arcoarena

What Kind of Blog are You?

Interestingly Typealyzer thinks I’m a:

“ESFP - The Performers

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation - qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead - they are always in risk of exhausting themselves. “

Interesting (possibly stretching the word) because previous Myers Brigg profiling told me I was a ….well can’t actually remember but it told me I was something else. Another online test told me I was a ISTJ.

The methods of assesment differ, maybe the difference between ‘what I think I am/how I think I behave’ and ‘how I actually think/behave’ would tell more about me than either result.

Oh The Irony!

I’ve been back on the bike in to work this week. It’s been quite a while since I regularly cycled in (over a year) but my average speed is slowly creeping back up.

One of the bane’s of my life was punctures (sorry, p********s). I was getting one a week on my bike a one point and I regularly carry two innertubes on the basis that trying to repair road bike tires is like trying to hold back the tide. I’m getting a hybrid bike on works newly set-up cycle2work scheme (probably a GT Transeo). My theory is that the wider wheels will enable me to get puncture resistant tyres that actually work.

So anyway…  Monday and Tuesday this week I cycled in and it was painful but uneventful. I decided to have a rest day today and drive in. So I get to the car, reverse out of my parking space and something feels wrong, and bugger me, my car had a flat tyre. Now that’s ironic, Alanis.

The Philippines

Right so this is quite a long post but it might be worth it. I went to the Philippines for work a couple of weeks ago. It was quite a surprise as I only agreed to it on Wednesday evening and I flew out on Friday morning. It wasn’t even my project I was going out for either. Anyway I wrote this whilst I was out there and thought someone might be interested.
Friday 22nd & Saturday 23rd June

Flight to Hong Kong - not very comfortable so didn’t sleep that well, this, I knew was going to be a problem later. The movies were ok (”Starter for 10″ - a reasonable english romcom about a poor kid who gets on the University challenge team and falls in love yada, yada, yada. “Music and Lyric” a romcom with Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore, this was, frankly, awful; well not awful, maybe just awfully trashy - I couldn’t face “A Beautiful Mind” and I’d already watch the Friends and Top Gear episodes twice that flight)

HongKong airport is nice, as airports go, Manilla airport is grotty, and they are quite strict, it’s the only airport I know that actually checks the luggage tags against the tags you get given to make sure you haven’t got someone else’s bag.

The Shangri-La hotel in the business district, Makati, is very posh. So posh infact that I’d almost prefer a cheaper one….almost. Everyone says “Hello Sir” as you pass them, I’ve just got out of the habit of looking round to check to see if they’re talking to someone else. It just feels a bit odd, Give that the only people at work who do something if I ask them to are the secretaries, and I even feel guilty doing that.

Anyhow, I get to the hotel at around 12:30 localtime (some time around 5:30am BST I think) and find out I’m going into the vendor at 2. A quick shower and then lots of work (I left at around 10:30 that evening), most of which I tried to do standing up, or at the very least typing so I didn’t fall asleep.

We ate that evening in a Pirate themed italien restaurant run by some Italians who had somehow ended up in Eastwood city. Even at around 10 in the evening the office buildings were quite busy. A lot of call centre work is being located in the Philippines, probably due to the price and the obvious advantage of english speaking workers. Dell have a large call centre there so there is always someone around

Sunday 24th

Today is a day off, they don’t work Sundays (they don’t work Saturdays either but they came in since I was there). I got up late as I haven’t quite got used to the time. I headed out to have a wander.

Manilla is quite a cosmopolitan place. If you removed the people from the business district only the temperature and humidity would give away the fact you were in S.E. Asia. As a rule most Philippinos are Bi-Lingual and all the signs are in english. I think they are fairly westernised. That’s certainly the impression you get as you walk out of the hotel and past the one of the many Starbucks in Makati.

Just opposite the hotel is a large complex of shopping centres, many of the shops were recognisable, even Marks and Spencers & Crabtree and Evelyn. Near a park type area was a series of restaurants, all I could find that would even vaguely resemble Philippino food was a Japanese restaurant, so I did what any sensible person would do…and went to a Creperie. I was sat there feeling guilty about eating european food when two French women came and sat down, I felt a bit better after that.

After lunch I decided to head for Rizal park in the city center in the hope of it being a little more ‘authentic’, it seemed a pity to leave without getting a bit of an idea what the city is really like. In the taxi on the way to the park the driver was talking about the corruption of the government and how the value of the Peso has fallen since the new head of state got in to power. The park was very nice, lots of flags, there’s an auditorium opposite and there was a Christian concert going on. The Philippines has only been independant since 1946 and it was occupied until 1899 by the Spanish. I suppose that explains the corruption, a young government. The Spanish occupation explains the religion, most people converted to Catholosism at some point during their 300 year rule.

After the park I headed into the walled bit of the city to see the San Agustin Church, it’s a UNESCO world heritage site etc. It’s quite nice, it looked really nice inside but there was a mass going on so I couldn’t go in.

I then headed back. Another ‘interesting’ taxi ride. In the Philippines they tend to take the rules of the road as guidance more than rules. It’s not they don’t have red lights, it’s more that they don’t pay them any attention. Rights of way don’t exist either. That’s not to say pedestrians are any better. So much for, ‘look left, look right, look left again’ it appears to be wander out into the road and assume cars will stop for you.

Anyhow, back at the hotel doing some writing up of the trip so far (I’m sure I’ll have to prepare a trip report for work so I might as well do it now). I’m considering heading out for dinner soon, I’ll propably have a mexican

Sunday 24th Continued….

I did actually have an oriental meal in a ‘Asian Fusion’ place, a bit of a fast food place really but I didn’t feel like walking too far. I was sat opposite a flatscreen TV on the wall which advertised various things inbetween showing pictures of the food and tips on texting etiquette.
One of the adverts was for Brown Rice Tea “Stop frequent night urination”, the other was for a cooling company that bizarrly both made the air con units for the hotel I’m staying in and have a base in Havant. It’s a small world. Quite why one would sit eating Singapore Fried noodles (or whatever) and think “I really want one of those hemetically sealed, horizonal screw refigeration units” is beyond me.

Monday 25th

Mostly work today. On the way in to work we passed through the chaos (or something closely resembling chaos) of rush hour traffic. As the driver weaved his way through the traffic we slowly passed through the less weathly areas of Manila. Staying the in Shangri-La makes it even more shocking to see the huts and cobbled together shanties in the middle of the city.

I found out today why English seems so common despite having a native language. The Philippines was tribal for a long time, it was only with the colonisation that it was attempted to bring the tribes together. The tribal nature means that there are several vastly different dialects, so it seems easier to use English.

The Rest

Work took up most of the rest of the trip. The only other remarkable point of the trip was leaving. Manilla airport is quite grotty and much like the rest of the country the security was really tight and as a white male on my own I figured the chances of being pulled aside were quite high. Fortunately everything went fine but I’ve never been quite so glad to get out of an airport.
Photos are here

I know I’m going to miss something…

….after all the last time I wrote anything was in March. That implies I’m either going to forget to mention something or my life is meaning less and empty, I’m going for the first.

To start of with something geeky. I got a laptop for my birthday (well when I say got I mean I paid for it my self, when I say paid for it myself I mean it’s on the credit card and will be paid back at some point in the near future). It’s a HP nx6325, more of a business laptop allegedly but I didn’t want Vista (it’s got XP Pro on it) and I didn’t really want a widescreen (sort of defeats the point of a portable device if it gets too big).

Anyway to cut a long story short I barely use XP as I have installed Ubuntu Feisty Fawn on it, which was one of the least painful installations of anything I’ve ever done. Most stuff just worked out of the box, wireless was a bit of a problem but I realized I was using the wrong driver and got it sorted. Basically everything just works, I was very impress.

It’s been quite busy at work and barely less hectic at home. I guess the real reason I’m writing this is because I was up in London recently on Phil’s stag do and it was a little shocking that I hadn’t made more of an effort to see people. I’m quite bad a keeping in touch with people I don’t see everyday. It’s odd how quickly it seems like you’ve never left though.

I’m already running out of things I’ve done since last time. Went to Cornwall for a week in March (the week just after the really hot sunny week, yep that’s the one, the one where it rained most of the time and battered me with hail-stones for the rest of it, still beats being sat in the lab at work though).

I went to Oxfam Live in London, it’s a sort of conference for volunteers and supporters. I’ve been being dragged into doing stuff for Andrea’s shop so I figured I’d go along. It was quite interesting, I was surprised to see a few volunteers around my age, unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to ask them how they found the time to actually work in the shop. I obviously don’t as I’m at work during the week and I’m too selfish to give up half my weekend. I have given up all the bank-holidays so far this year (apparently pensioners don’t work bank holidays, don’t ask me why). The event was cut short by a fire alarm but it was quite interesting anyway, some of the figures are amazing.

I’m still doing some theatre stuff. I helped out down at the Station Theatre on Hayling Island. It’s been converted from the former engine shed of the railway station (the Billy Track still runs down from Havant but is now a cycle-path rather than a railway). It’s run by the Amateur Dramatic Society (both in man-power and financially I believe) and is really well equipped for a venue of it’s size so kudos to the people that run it. I’m also going to light ‘How To Suceed In Business’ at the New Theatre Royal in Portsmouth (can’t be bothered to find the links, just google them if you’re interested). I’m slowly getting prepared but obviously I’m slightly nervous about it as it has to be good.

I’m sure there’s more but I won’t bore you with anything else. I’d say I’ll write sooner next time but I’ve done that before and then haven’t so I won’t lie. Expect something around September at the current rate of posting.

I really should do this more often

Ok, so it’s been two months since I last wrote anything. Does that mean I’ve been busy? Probably not.

[thumb:42:l] I have got up to a few things. We went to Lille via Eurostar thanks to Andrea’s parents. The main image I have of Lille however is not quite typical as you can see. A little odd I think you’ll agree.[thumb:50:r] In fact going to Lille was further confused by turning up at the end of a Bollywood festival whilst all the Christmas fairs and big wheels etc. were still up and running. It’s a nice city though.

Most of my time has involved decorating the living room, very slowly. As you may know my living room has been painted a sickly blue colour. Not only is this not a very nice colour it doesn’t help reflect the light in what is a very dark room. This being the case I’ve vowed to not have the walls the same colour for the anniversary of us buying the house (I’ve got ’till May so I should make it ). Whist I’m at it we’ve had the ceiling re-skimmed (to get rid of the horrible artex pattern), got rid of the gas fire (we’ve bought a cast iron solid-fuel fire to install but I’ve got to read the building regs before I do that), and the borrowed light (a window between the kitchen and the lounge to let more light in) have been replaced with glass blocks. You may notice that despite my couple of weeks of effort only one of those is in the past tense. I got distracted having to make a stand for a mannequin for Andrea’s shop (but at least it was an excuse to buy a router).

I’ve also been doing more theatre stuff. I helped out with a production of ‘Bent‘ (although actually to be fair I was probably a little useless for that one. I’m going to watch HumDrum’s production of Habeas Corpus.

The reason I’m writing this random selection of snippets of the past few months is that I’m currently officially ’sick’ as I’ve just had all four wisdom teeth removed. Thankfully I was asleep for the whole thing and oddly it doesn’t hurt that much. When you mention it to anyone beforehand it generally involves a sharp intake of breath and the impression that you will be writhing round in agony with a face like the Elephant man for at least a week. The reality is some what less in my case. I even got a few things done that have been piling up for a while. And I’ve got all my food cooked for me (that would be a bonus if it didn’t hurt to eat)

So what am I doing in the near future? Well I’m off to Cornwall for a week at the end of March (thanks to Andrea’s parents - again). Things are looking to be quite busy at work and at some point I might finish the living room.

Busy Christmas

The run up to Christmas was quite busy for me. I went to the work Christmas do on the Friday, stayed over night and then set off up to Warwick. A friend from school was getting married and Andrea and I went to his reception. It was quite good fun. It’s amazing how after a couple of minutes it seems like only yesterday when I last saw him, not the three or four year gap it must have been. After the reception it was back down to Andrea’s shop the next day and then home. Christmas day was then spent at home and on Boxing day we travelled up to Cumbria. We’re back home now and I’m glad all that driving is over.

I’m particulary bad a keeping up with friends I don’t see on a daily basis. I really need to make the effort to get up to London to see my old flatmates and email all the othe people I haven’t seen for ages.

The only reason I seen Dramsoc people so often is a mixture of Comus and Tour. Speaking of which, I won’t be at the Comus Dinner this year unfortunately, a bit of a mistake with dates etc. and so I’ll be in Lille. Better news is that the show I might have been lighting is going to be a different musical and other people are keener to light it than me so I should make it on tour this year.

Happy new year to everyone. Hope everyone manages to keep at least one of your resolutions (I’m going to attempt to cycle to work more often, run more often, cook better meals and get some of the home improvements done)

Been a while

As someone pointed out to me I’m only writing something once a month and I’ve missed quite a few things out of that so in summary.

• I did a sailing course at the outdoor centre in September, the water was surprisingly warm

• Andrea has a new job, yay, its part time but she now has a shop to manage so a bit more responsability. I’m really pleased for her. The boss seems nice and the organisation as a whole cares quite well for it’s staff (as far as I can tell), better than Rail Gourmet at any rate
• Imperium by Robert Harris is very enjoyable, more political than his previous books but still very accurate (only Roman Empire geeks need to care about that bit), I read one of the recent Terry Pratchett books (’Thud!’) and it was as good as his rest but I just didn’t really enjoy it as much as I used to. ‘The History Boys’ (the film) is quite good. Casino Royale is excellent, Daniel Craig is very good (shut up anyone who moans about him being blond) but there is still loads of product placement
• I lit ‘Cards on the Table’ by Agatha Christie at the Havant Arts Centre, hopefully it wasn’t too badly lit. It was quite an enjoyable play though

Now, the thing that actually inspired me to write this was this:

A group of British ex-pats has launched a campaign to get ‘Pom’ banned from adverts on the basis of it being a derogatory term. The actual subject isn’t that interesting but in fighting his case he compains about Australian cricket fans calling the British smelly, with bad breath. He continues

“The worst you hear from the Barmy Army is that Aussies are sheep shaggers and you all live in a penal colony.”

The article continues

“Asked by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) whether being called a sheep shagger was worse than been accused of having poor personal hygiene, Mr Thomason said that it was not. “Not really, because sheep shagging, that’s generalising. Bad personal hygiene, that’s sort of a personal attack,” he said.

easyCruise

Well I’ve just got back from holiday. Yes thanks, it was good, very relaxing.
As you might have guessed I spent my holiday on a big orange boat, in a cabin with no windows. To be fair the cabins aren’t that small, but they are very very orange. [thumb:11:l]They’re ok for sleeping in and that’s pretty much all you’d want to do (as long as the weather holds out).

They way it works is this….. the booking is very similar to easyJet as is the business model. No drinks or food are included (not even breakfast). You turn up and the take your passport and give you an easyCruise card. This works as your room key, a way of them working out whether you’re on-board or not (you sign out when you go ashore and back in again) and an account for drinks/food (no cash is used on board)

The ship doesn’t leave port until early the next morning so effectively you’ve got an afternoon and evening in every destination. When you awake you’ll be on the way to the next port of call. The fact that you’re at sea until around 1pm each day is quite nice as it forces you to relax, so take a book and sit on the deck reading (or just sit in the Jacuzzi if you so wish). There is also a gym on-board (which is free), it was empty the one time I went but there wasn’t an amazing choice of equipment.

The one drawback of being on-board all morning is you have to eat the food. As one could have predicted the food wasn’t that good, and along with the drink prices it’s what you would expect to pay in the UK (in fact the prices are in Stirling, I suspect that this makes everything seem cheaper than it is as you keep having to swap between euros and pounds)

We set off from Monaco (not as pretty a city as you’d think but we did get to see bits of the F1 circuit) and went to Genoa (pretty in places but you end up walking down a side street past a gaggle of prostitutes if you’re not careful (not quite sure ‘gaggle’ is the correct collective noun for prostitutes but anyway….)), on to Portofino [thumb:5:l] (which is very, very pretty), via Imperia (we didn’t get off the boat as it didn’t sound very interesting and it rained that day) and finally back to Nice (which is …..errr…nice).

In general (provided it doesn’t rain) you don’t spend much time in the cabin so the lack of windows and orangeness doesn’t matter. Time on deck is quite pleasant in good weather and the drinks might be more expensive that the local shops but they aren’t extortionate. Some of the cities are quite nice. Portofino is definitely worth a visit. If the boat based element doesn’t particularly appeal you’d be better off getting a hotel in Nice and taking the train to Monaco, St Tropez etc.

Anyway, we had fun and it was nice and relaxing. I’d think about doing it again but I wouldn’t go back on that area purely because I don’t have much of a desire to go back the the ports we visited.
Pictures to follow

Progress

Well things are coming along. Following a busy week last week, mainly taken up by ‘The Full Monty’ at the New Theatre Royal (you’ll be glad to know I got most of the cues right, especially the last one to the relief of the actors who rely on that cue for the audience not seeing them ‘buck naked’).

I’ve got back to painting now and I’ve finished the bedroom, so all I need to do is buy a carpet and wait for the new bed to arrive.

So two down, one to go, and then the kitchen. I’m leaving the kitchen as it’s a big job and requires lots of money (hopefully we’ll get Christmas bonuses so I can pay for it). The next room is the living room which somebody decided to paint an odd blue colour, so that’ll take quite a few coats to get rid of.

On the horizon we have the final of the sailing race. It’s two ’round the cans’ races and one lap of the Isle of Wight, hopefully this time we’ll get all the way round.

Complete

Well, myself and Andrea are now proud owners of a 2-bed terraced house in Southsea. It’s a little odd moving from a rented flat to a house with a mortgage (I logged on to my internet banking to see a new Mortgage section with a huge negative number by it).

Having exchanged contracts, completed and moved over the weekend all the worries about things going wrong or being delayed (and having to find somewhere to live as our tenancy on the flat runs out this week) disappear. In their place are a whole new set of worries like, ‘is that damp’ and how on earth to get the washing maching out of the front room and into its rightful place. Sunday morning was filled with removing doorhandles, doors, washing machines, and part of the kitchen cabinets in order to get the washing machine to the rear of the house where it can actually be used.

It’s nice to have a place where you can actually consider making changes, the downside of this was an expensive trip to B&Q and the promise of many more to come.

Anyhow, all that DIY will give me something to do in the evenings. The other surprising outcome of all this is the clock on the living room wall. I’ve owned that clock for almost a year and a half now and it’s been attached to the wall of both of the flats that we lived in since we moved down to Portsmouth. For the first time on Saturday I actually heard it ticking. Hurrah for lack of road noise.