I was lucky enough to go to the Wales v England warm-up match at the Principality Stadium last weekend. It wasn’t a pretty match, but the end result of that and the other matches on the weekend is that for the first time ever, heading into the Rugby World Cup starting next month in Japan,… Continue reading A day at the rugby
The stop/start nature of blogging
It has been a while since I blogged (how many blog entries start like that?), but I’m about to kick it off again, or so I hope. The plan is to have a mix of travel (reviews, reports), tech (networking), and maybe something about my new home, Manchester. My wife and I left Twickenham at… Continue reading The stop/start nature of blogging
Seventeen years ago
Following on from Simon Lockhart’s reminder of his ticket from September 11th 2001, this is the one that I was involved with: Ticket Number: 20010912-2 Ticket Status: UPDATE Ticket Type : Unscheduled Ticket Source: TEN-US NOC Ticket Scope : Site Site/Line : New York Ticket Owner : TEN-US NOC Problem Fixer: Telehouse NY Ticket Opened:… Continue reading Seventeen years ago
Which mobile phone should I buy?
Getting on for two years ago I bought a Samsung Galaxy S5 tied to a contract with Three UK (so the phone had all of Three UK’s cruft on, as well as the Samsung TouchWiz). It was one of the flagship phones when I bought it, and it can still hold its own, but as… Continue reading Which mobile phone should I buy?
Coffee cups — safer in a bag
Travelling back on Virgin Trains from a meeting in Birmingham, I popped to the on-board shop to buy a coffee for two pounds and five pence of our sovereign sterling monies. As usual, the coffee comes in a cup with a lid which was firmly attached and requires tearing a plastic tab to drink from… Continue reading Coffee cups — safer in a bag
A note to Eleanor Laing, my Member of Parliament
This evening saw a vote in the House of Commons on allowing same-sex marriage. It passed, but my MP Eleanor Laing, the Shadow Minister for Women and Equality whilst the Tories were in opposition, did not vote for reasons she explained to the local media. I decided to send her a message through the “Write… Continue reading A note to Eleanor Laing, my Member of Parliament
Spain gets a little bit Moorish.
The Alhambra. Just the name conjures up a mental image of the medieval clash between Europe and the Middle East, between Christianity and Islam, a time of religious quests and bloody battles. These days, the tales of battles are limited to the legendary queues to obtain tickets to visit it, so after a particularly busy… Continue reading Spain gets a little bit Moorish.
Protected: Connectivity … as long as it is when we say so.
There is no excerpt because this is a protected post.
A Middle-Class Whinge
I’ve called this post a ‘Middle-Class Whinge’ for reasons that will become obvious as you read it. It isn’t about a matter of great importance, just a couple of disappointing instances of customer service at the end of a long week. I’m not asking for pity, I am just venting. It was the end of… Continue reading A Middle-Class Whinge
Buzzwords
Buzzword: Cloud Image: Light, fluffy, ethereal grouping of water vapour. Reality: Secure building filled with steel, silicon and fibre-optics that consumes megawatts of power.
DNS
Last week at the IETF I wrote a short item on a lunchtime panel discussion on the future of DNS.
Villa Tinto
Just a quick plug for anyone looking to visit a small, family-run winery in the Barossa Valley, South Australia. I can highly recommend Villa Tinto. Wine is obviously a passion for Albert, and I only wish my visit had coincided with one of his, apparently, near-legendary asados. They have two small vineyards, and the whole… Continue reading Villa Tinto
Train Ride through the Peak District.
Given I usually write about trips to far-flung places, this is just a quick mention of a train ride yesterday morning from Manchester to Sheffield. Straight through the Peak District and Hope Valley it had some spectacular views of snow-capped mountains and fields, and towards the end through one of the UK’s longest rail tunnels,… Continue reading Train Ride through the Peak District.
War Memorial of Korea
November 1st, 2009. This entry has taken a long time to publish. This is not because it is some great feat of literature, it is because I am no great blogger, and can rarely be bothered to upload two things that I managed to (mostly) write in consecutive days. On with the tale… After yesterday’s… Continue reading War Memorial of Korea
The Demilitarised Zone
October 31st, 2009. My base in Korea was Daejeon, but as the “must-see” tourist trap, I mean trip, leaves from Seoul at 07:00, I’d stayed a night in the capital so I could be at Camp Kim, a US military base and home of USO Korea who arranged the tour that I joined, for the… Continue reading The Demilitarised Zone
If only every airport was a bit more like London City.
I hate Heathrow Airport. There, I said it. This sentiment may come as no surprise to those that use it frequently (I use it fairly regularly, but nowhere near as much as some), but I’ve held out a long time before admitting it. I like what airports represent, people coming and going, whether it is… Continue reading If only every airport was a bit more like London City.
¡Viva España!
Like many people, I grew up with an image of the Costa del Sol. TV programmes showing 1980s package holidays in Torremolinos and countless programmes on late night ITV since then (not that I watch late night ITV of course). The tales of streets populated by bars and Fish and Chip shops to serve the… Continue reading ¡Viva España!
Manila
Now that I’d arrived in Manila, what did I do? Most of the time was, of course, work related. However I did have a day or so the weekend before the meeting started, and a couple of hours in the odd evening to wander around. The meeting hotel, the Sofitel Philippine Plaza, is a little… Continue reading Manila
Manila (or at least getting to it)
I’d been looking forward to this since it was booked, a trip to Manila in the Philippines for APRICOT 2009, the Asia-Pacific network operator’s forum. I’d wanted to go for a while, so when one of the programme committee suggested I submit a talk on our recent backbone upgrades to 40Gbit/s, I jumped at the… Continue reading Manila (or at least getting to it)
Stimulating the economy
The Chancellor has announced his plans for breathing life into the economy, a 2.5% drop in Value Added Tax, but paid for by increases in National Insurance contributions from 2011. I can’t imagine many retailers are going to drop prices from £9.99 to £9.78, for example, they’ll just pocket the difference. Meanwhile, I’ll still have… Continue reading Stimulating the economy