Well, that's annoying: today is the second day in a row that I've been issued with an £80 penalty fare notice for "failing to produce a valid ticket" on the train. I've appealed both of them with IRCAS (Independent Revenue Collection And Support), and hopefully they'll see things my way. However, my experience may be useful as a cautionary tale for ( Read more... )

I've had a LoveFilm DVD subscription for a few years, and it's quite useful: it's helped to reduce clutter in my flat, since I can easily rent films and/or TV episodes rather than buying them. The only real downside is that I can't choose what order things arrive in. For instance, I've put Scrubs season 8 on my list (high priority), which consists ( Read more... )

(Disclaimer: As with all my blog posts, these are just my personal views. I'm not speaking on behalf of any organisation that I work for.)

As I mentioned in my previous post ( International commerce) there are sometimes reasons to import goods from foreign countries. One potential reason is when homegrown companies do a crappy job. Here are a few ( Read more... )

I've been looking at a server that has Progress OpenEdge installed (10.1C). I've found a bug in this recently, and it's useful to be aware of this if you use the same software. More generally, it's something to be aware of if you write any computer programs, so that you won't make the same mistake.

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In my previous post I was partway through The City and the City (by China Miéville), and I didn't like it. I've now finished it, and it didn't get any better. I've certainly read worse stuff, e.g. fanfic stories that are full of typos and just serve as the writer's self-insertion fantasy. However, I can't remember the last time I read a book that ( Read more... )

As I've mentioned before, my big event this year is cycling from Land's End to John O'Groats. I've been planning this for several months, and I've used Bikely to map out my route ( Read more... )

The weather's been getting a bit warmer recently, which is good for cycling: I put my thermal jacket away a few weeks ago, switched to a short-sleeved jersey yesterday, and wore shorts instead of tights today. Unfortunately, I've seen some remarkably poor driving from other road users: I've had two close calls, and a car hit me this morning.

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As most people have noticed, it's been snowing in England recently. However, some local authorities and train companies handle this better than others ( Read more... )

As I mentioned a few weeks ago, you can now use Oyster cards on National Rail; this is a good idea, but they could have implemented it better. Since then, I've had several problems with it, where I've had to pay the £4.30 maximum fare (in addition to any price capping). They say: "Please remember to always touch in and out during every journey." ( Read more... )

The BBC often refer to the unique way they're funded, i.e. they don't have adverts because everyone with a TV has to pay a licence fee. In theory, this means that they don't have to pander to popular tastes, and I've heard Americans speak about this in amazement (e.g. watching fly fishing on BBC2). In practice, it doesn't always work out that way, ( Read more... )