Powis Castle

Day 8 - Time to move on to the new base for the second week of my Holiday. I'm relocating from south west Wales to the north west - half way there I took a major diversion to visit Powis Castle.

Given it's location - it not somewhere I could normally visit so it was an opportunity not to be missed.

Kidwelly, National Botanic & Llansteffan

First stop of the day - Kidwelly Castle - apparently I visited it as a child but It's too long ago for me to remember.

R.I.P. Personal Computer World 1978 - 2009

I was sad to learn of the demise of one of the UK's longest running computer magazines.

I started reading it not long after it's launch, and before I owned my first computer. I learnt a lot from it and it helped me over the years as a bought my various computers. It even carried program listings for my Sinclair ZX-81 and QL. I still have a wall-chart they gave away that shows all the BASIC commands and their syntax for all the popular operation systems of the time (around 1983) which allowed you to take a listing published for, say, the BBC micro and workout how to convert it to run on a Sinclair Spectrum.

Trevarno & Godolphin

The day started off cold and dull as I headed off to the nearby Trevarno Estate for a walk around the grounds and gardens,

Before long the sun managed to break though and I headed to Porthleven for Lunch in the Harbourside Inn.

Dishonest Doorstep Tactics - Southern Electric

I can't believe the gall of these people - I have just been visited by one of these low lives. I wouldn't have answered the door to him but my neighbour had already let him into the communal hallway. The conversation was something like this.

R.I.P. - Haywards Heath Farmer's Market

In recent years a farmer's market has tried to gain a foothold in the town - this struggled to find a decent home as in was shoved from car park to car park. In the last year it seemed that things had begun to look up - it found an ideal home in the heart of the town's Orchards Shopping Centre.

Emergency Rations

Too cold to go shopping for food so it was time to break out the emergency rations!

This had been sitting in my cupboard for some time - a tinned Fray Bentos Steak and Ale Pie!

Well it didn't look anything like the picture on the tin when it was cooked - but it tasted OK.

Data Centre in my Lounge!

I've just had to add another disk to meet my ever growing data requirements. This brings the total raw storage in my house to 5TBs.

The Gurkha Justice Campaign

Please support this campaign by adding your name to the petition.

Despite the recent high court ruling, the battle is not over to allow these people the right to live in the country that they have risked their lives to defend,

Go to Gaol

Bodmin Gaol is one of those places that you keep seeing advertised but something tells you that it is probably best avoided. Well it is so close to where I am staying, I had to give it a go - I wish I had listened to my instinct!

Royal Fail

I am getting extremely fed up with the standard of service offered by the Royal Mail.  Not so long ago if an item was posted first class, there was a good chance you would received by 9 am the following day, mid-day at the latest. Worst case you would receive it in the afternoon second delivery. If the item was too big for the letterbox, your postman would leave it in a sensible safe place.

Not any more.

Raindon?

Day two and after the 300 mile journey yesterday, I was not going to drive too far.

Last time I visited the area I took the train up to the top of Snowdon.  What I didn't realise then was how much more there was locally.  This time I visited the Padarn Country Park at the foot of the mountain.

Iron Bridge & Unfinished Business

Day one of my Spring Break 2008. This year I'm back in Wales and on the way I stopped off at the Ironbridge Gorge.

Dumb Cashier 0 - 1 Kevin

All they have to do is take your money, remove the Security Tag and put the item in a bag - how hard can it be?

The Lounge at Night

I think I need to look at my carbon footprint. Click picture for larger. The lights come from around 13 devices - of these though, at least eight need to be on 24X7 and of the remainder, only one has a power switch.

 

Another Media Format War Ends

I've just regained a whole drawer full of storage space as I dumped my collection of MiniDiscs and MiniDisc Players.

Economy Tree Surgery

Apple BSOD in Leopard

I'm sure those apple developers though it was very funny - they gave any Windows machines on your network a nice icon with an innocent looking blue screen.

But another feature of Leopard is that you can view the icons up to a resolution of 512X512 and at this size the full detail is clear - Its a Windows 95 Blue Screen of Death. (Click it to see)However, they have slipped up - Apple's own Airport Extreme base stations also display this icon if they don't have a disk attached and given how flaky these devices are, a BSOD seems very appropriate.

Have Apple Abandoned the Apple TV?

It's been six months since the one and only upgrade to the Apple TV - since then it seems to have been sidelined by Apple.