The weather of late persuaded me to be-arsed to get the Ducati Taxed and tested, and then I fell foul of the fickle finger of fate ...
Being temporarily without access to the femto truck, I thought I'd bob over to Focus Hall for a quick review of progress and a bit of Python consultancy from Paul. The Ducati thought otherwise.
No signs of life when i pressed the starter, and no signs of trouble when I took all the obvious bits apart. It appears to be some problem in the immobiliser or the starter motor itself.
Or as my work colleague in the Engineers stores at Bassets Licquorice Allsorts factory once memorably said "Fucking Fucker's Fucked!"
Arse.
A motorcycling legend and all round sound bloke, Barry Sheene died from cancer earlier today. If ever anyone epitomised being arsed, he did.
With a vengeance.
I first noticed him when I was just gettin into bikes and he was making bike racing famous with his playboy antics, charm and falling off at 160m.p.h. and getting his legs filled with metal.
More recently, I've read his outspoken columns in the bike press, enjoyed his spats with motorcycling's powers that be (and Phil Read!), and watched him get back into racing on a Manx Norton in Classic bike races. His performances the past two years at the Goodwood Revival meetings were as polished as ever - last year he flew over from Australia, despite his illness, and won!
He had no pretensions (still changing into his leathers in the paddock) and was happy to chat and joke with everyone, pose for photos etc. Compare that with the old scroat Phil Read who had a face like a bashed crab and positively radiated 'I used to be famous, don't talk to me' vibes. Read lost, Baz won.
Lots more could (and will) be written, so suffice it to say it's a sad day for bike racing and be-ing arsed.
I couldn't resist replying and this is what they said ...
Blackadders
SOLICITORS
30 & 34 Reform Street
Dundee DD1 1RJ
LP6 DUNDEE
Tel: 01382 229222 Fax: 01382 342220
Visit our website at www.blackadders.co.uk
Our Ref: SW
Your Ref:
I understand that you have received an e-mail purporting to have come from my colleague Gregor Murray, with the subject line 'I am the best solicitor in Scotland'. This message is to advise you that the offensive message which you received did not originate in this firm. Some unknown person has 'hi-jacked' Gregor Murray's e-mail address and used it to send the message. As an externally produced e-mail, it has not involved any penetration of our own security.
As a result of this incident, we have contacted the Police, the Law Society of Scotland, our own and other Internet Service Providers. Efforts are being made to trace the origin of the message.
I apologise for the fact that you have been troubled by this message, and trust that you will appreciate that what was sent was outwith our control. I can also confirm that we will not be keeping your e-mail address on record for any purpose other that to facilitate enquiries into the source of the incident.
Regards
Scott Williamson
IT Partner
Direct dial - 01382 342236 (+44 1382 342236)
Private and Confidential: This e-mail transmission is strictly confidential and intended solely for the person or organisation to whom it is addressed. It may contain privileged and confidential information and if you are not the intended recipient, you must not copy, disclose, distribute or take any action in reliance on it. If you have received this e-mail in error, please delete it then notify our Systems Administrator on +44 (0) 1382 342219 as soon as possible.
It is the responsibility of the recipient to ensure that the onward transmission, opening or use of this message and any attachments will not adversely affect their systems or data. Please carry out virus and other such checks as you consider appropriate.
Blackadders is authorised to conduct Investment Business under the Financial Services and Markets Act 2000 by the Financial Services Authority. Members of the Law Society of Scotland.
The (rather more accomodating) staff at the Orange shop in Staines kindly reserved their last P800. It is very nice indeed!
Waiting for the SIM to become active (1:30am, so I guess I wont be around to see it). Then up early so I can setup email and show off whilst in London tomorrow :D
Continues. There is a fault apparently, and clearly a catastrophic one because 24 hours later it still isn't fixed and they have not provided me with a progress update as promised.
An interesting direct mail campaign from a solicitor in Scotland.
> Subject: I am the Best Solicitor in Scotland 10:21:57
>
>
> If you want to raise a Civil Court action against someone anywhere in
> Scotland then I am your man. I am a ruthless bastard and I will screw
> the opposition to the wall even if it means bending a few rules. Email
> me back or give me a call on 01382 342213.
>
> Gregor Murray
>
> gregor.murray@blackadders.co.uk
>
I know they can advertise now, and that things legal are a bit different North of the border, but this appears to be pushing the envelope a tad.
Reinforcing my theory about a good engineering team being let down by a mediocre infrastructure and disinterested customer support, I spent a lifetime (an hour or so) trying to report the fault.
Except that it wasn't a fault, apparently, because the number I had was not allocated. It could not have worked ever so therefore wasn't a matter for the staff of the BT Customer Support Centre.
Instead I was prevailed upon to spend a further lifetime listening to a message telling me that 'due to circumstances beyond our control there will be a significant delay in answering your call'.
Perhaps someone's cut off all their phones.
I wrote too soon!
After working for a good 3 hours, both phone lines now don't work at all. Bizarely I still have ADSL so it can't be a serious fault. Maybe I should be arsed to sort it out myself.
It's not often you hear that, but whenever I interact with the BT engineers who actually come to my house to do things, I am always pleased with their efforts.
Having been arsed to get a separate business line at home, to accomodate the huge increase in the scope for inter and intra-familial chit-chat engendered by the arrival of the Chabster, the great day dawned when BT said they'd come and install it.
The van pulled up outside and a chap started rummaging around under a personhole cover. Then he knocked on the door and said he was just here to do the exchange setup, and that the installation would happen tomorrow. I said I could've sworn it was today, so he phoned base and volunteered to do it, so 'a customer wont be let down'. Whilst he was doing that I re-read their letter and saw that it wasn't due until tomorrow - doh!
Anyway he did the job and we had a nice chat about broadband. Just the sort of person you'd want to represent you with your customers, although you can bet his employer dumps on him regularly and doesn't appreciate the asset he is to the business. It was the same with the guys who installed ADSL.
Maybe M. Dannon has transplanted this idea from Xerox (the engineers were always pretty good and seemed genuinely to GAS about their customers needs. Unlike most of the senior management, who were fools.
Or maybe it's always like that in large corporations.
Inspired by my technology acquisition advisor, I sped along to my local Orange shop ...
They told me they had one of these in stock so off I went into meat space, moist with excitement. Upon arriving at Orange in High Wycombe I was confronted by a huge queue of the public all wanting answers to dumb questions about tarrifs etc. - no-one actually wanted to buy anything and had clearly been placed there just to irritate me. It worked. So I went off to do some more mundane shopping.
Upon my return to a shop with no customers, just 4 bored looking 'assistants, I was accosted by someone who would be rejected as a Saturday person by Dixons for being too dilatory and feckless for the demands of selling blank tapes and batteries.
After confirming that they had a p800 in stock, she went through a lot of hopeless attempts to explain what a mobile phone is and the options available in Orange's talk plan, then failed to persuade to sign up for a 2 million hour, 6,000 texts per week variant.
Then she went upstairs to fetch the phone, my excitement levels increased and I was prepared to forgive them their policy of recruiting buffoons. All was well with the world. I would be able to email them a photo of my arse soon anyway.
Then she said they hadn't got one in stock, couldn't tell me when they would have and suggested that I ' ... call back every so often just to see if they had one ... '.
I was so disappointed I completely forgot to grace her with a suitably pithy comment.
Being Arsed is (or may be, depending on how successful this is) back after a brief hiatus.
For reasons yet to be explained, my mySQL account disappeared, and then returned, but leaving me unable to login to Moveable Type or do anything.
It seems John is right when he says I have an aura which causes software systems to break. The sphere of influence (is an aura spherical?) of my aura is spreading.