The Gorse Fox

Snow

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 23:13:40 PST

The Gorse Fox woke to find a thick covering of snow being added to as he watched. This exceptionally mild winter forecast by the Met Office (using their climate models) is redefining the meaning of exceptionally mild. The Gorse Fox has decided to work from home rather than fight his way back up to London.

London

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 13:04:29 PST

The day started early with a trip on the Southern Railway up to London. The train was surprisingly quiet but the journey was soon over and the Gorse Fox was soon settling in to the offices by the Thames.

It turned out to be a very busy day - meetings, calls from the last project, more meetings, and more calls. It was lateer than planned before the Gorse Fox got away, but a short stroll along the Thames and charge across the River took him to the Underground Railway in order to head back to Victoria in order to catch the train back to the south coast.

Not a stunning day, but interesting

Bang

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 12:17:29 PST

The working week/year certainly started with a bang. The Gorse Fox has been hard at it now for 13 straight hours... and suspects he has another hour to go. The Silver Vixen and Urban-cub are at the health club so GF can work on without offending anyone.

Early start tomorrow for trip to Starfleet's Thames-side offices.

Winding up

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 12:05:56 PST

The Gorse Fox has had a good day winding himself back up ready for work. This has meant that he has spent most of the day in the study reading through and summarising the Requirements Definition for his new client. This took longer than expected and ended up with reams and reams of notes.

Lunchtime saw the regular attempt to contact Cousteau-cub... but as she had left her charger on Phi-Phi we had to call her partner Jon. This went surprisingly well - though there was some lag on the line making conversation a little difficult.

Un-decs

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 11:22:11 PST

It seemed like the ideal time to pack up the Christmas decorations... it may not be the 12th day of Christmas but it was close enough. After 27-30 years we decided that our tree should be replaced so that will head to the dump. It only took an hour or two and everything was packed away and stored for next Christmas.

Once that was done, Gorse Fox decided it was time to get the Tax Return out of the way. As usual this was an immensely painful affair - not difficult, just painful watching so much get poured into the black-hole that is this Governments extravagance and debts.

3D

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 08:39:25 PST

Having crossed to the country estate of Betty and Barney Rubble we had a refreshing tea before heading off to the moving picture palace in the nearby metropolis of Basingstoke. There we settled down with our special glasses to watch the 3D version of Avatar. Gorse Fox was a little apprehensive about how the 3D effect would pan out over a 3 hour film... but it was done very well and added to the film rather than overcoming it.

The film itself was an adequate story pitting the rapacious industrialist against the gentle nature-aware indigenous occupants of a distant planet. The Gorse Fox won't spoil the story - but he would comment that it was fairly predictable - though this was not detrimental to the overall enjoyment.

Leaving Basingstoke we picked up some fine Indian food and then spent a silly evening playing games on Barney's Wii.

After seeing in the New Year and calling Urban-cub we had what seemed like a short night's sleep we were soon enjoying scrambled eggs with smoked salmon.

North West

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 02:33:04 PST

The Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen will be heading north-west to join Betty and Barney Rubble to see in the New Year. Plans include a visit to the moving picture palace to see Avatar 3D before returning to their country pile for the festivities.

Meanwhile GF has taken a call regarding the new project and is set up, it would appear, for a busy year ahead with a very large deal to be won. Next year will evidently start with a rush of activity; there'll be no easing one's way into this one.

Life in the Fast Lane

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 09:20:59 PST

As 2009 splutters and coughs to an asthmatic close the Gorse Fox has been living life in the fast lane with a trip to Sainsbury's to replenish supplies and a trip to the BP filling station to get some diesel. Sometimes the excitement is hard to contain.

The Gorse Fox is staying clear of the Silver Vixen at this moment as she has discovered the boxing feature on the Wii and is now in training for a few rounds with Joe Calzaghe.

Playing a round

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 07:49:11 PST

The Gorse Fox is not one to exert too much time on the links... and given today's weather a few rounds of Wii Frisbee Golf with the Silver Vixen seemed like a much more sensible idea.

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 06:10:05 PST

The Urban-cub returned to work first thing. Rain poured down along the coast and it remained dark and grey enough that we had to keep the lights on much of the day.

Family

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:43:50 PST

Yesterday's outing to see the latest adventures of Mr Sherlock Holmes and his trusted companion Dr Watson was a most pleasant affair. There was little traffic to delay our journey and we settled into the commodious seats in plenty of time for the show. The show itself was a ripping yarn displaying the talents of such actors as Mr Robert Downey Jr. (an American gentleman) and Mr Jude Law (a fine English Thespian). The story itself strayed from the canon of adventures first recorded by Mr Arthur Conan Doyle, but this did not detract from the experience.

One the striking features of the moving picture show was the depiction of Victorian London. The Gorse Fox found this very credible - particularly some of the scenes that showed the docks. The Gorse Fox remembers the areas around the docks - with the huge warehouses, alleys, and narrow streets. It had a menace and imparted a sense of foreboding about it even when he was young. What it must have been like when Her Britannic Majesty, Queen Victoria was on the throne, can only be imagined.

Today is an altogether different affair which sees us headed across the wastelands of Surrey to the dense metropolitan areas of Berkshire in order to spend some time with the Gorse Fox's sister and her family.

221b

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 02:53:03 PST

The Gorse Fox, whilst in search of the great literary classics (see yesterday's homage to education: St Trinian's) has decided that today should feature the great sleuth of 221b Baker Street and proposes a trip to the moving picture theatre to see a depiction of the latest escapades of Mr Sherlock Holmes.

BMI

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 11:08:02 PST

The Gorse Fox, Silver Vixen and Urban-cub have had a quiet day being bullied by Wii Fit Plus. This electronic dominatrix has insulted, cajoled, and teased as we tried one workout after another.

After the torture was complete we settled down in front of one of the great classics. A Christmas Carol? No. Miracle on 34th Street? No. In fact it was St Trinian's!

Complete

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 00:27:20 PST

Possibly the greatest machine on the planet is the telecommunications network. This allowed the Gorse Fox, Silver Vixen and Urban-cub to connect to Cousteau-cub on an Island in the Andaman Sea. Somehow Christmas was finally complete... whilst the family was not physically together we had at least had a chance to chat.

Crisis averted

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 02:39:39 PST

Cistern now functioning correctly.

Central heating boiler opened, examined, poked, twisted, turned, and prodded. Pilot light re-ignited. Heating now working again.

Happy Christmas... oh no!

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:30:25 PST

With a monotonous regularity domestic disasters seem to befall the household at Christmas time. A couple of years back it was the TV, last year the central heating failed and the drains backed up... so it was with a degree of trepidation that the Gorse Fox rose from his bed this morning.

He was right to have worried - the cistern in the loo is overflowing and the central heating has, once more, packed up.

Merry Christmas one and all!

Scraping by

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 09:33:37 PST

The Gorse Fox notes that the Disney chief exec, Robert Iger, is having to get by on a 28% reduction in his compensation - leaving a meagre $23M to get by on.

You have to wonder how some people manage?

Log on/off

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 09:20:04 PST

The problem with the delivery of a 2000 metric tonnes(*) of logs for the fire is the sheer effort required to move them from the driveway round to the back of the house and to stack them neatly where they will be sheltered from the rain. This pleasure has occupied the last two lunch hours as the Gorse Fox traipsed back and forth with logs in hand neatly creating 5 stack of logs about 10 metres high and 50 metres long(**). Fortunately Urban-cub finished work early today and helped out with the last few tonnes.

(*) This may be a slight exaggeration.
(**) This may also have been exaggerated to some small degree

Ping

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 09:03:25 PST

"Ping" went the laptop. The Gorse Fox received an alert from a colleague and after a 10 minute follow-up call the Gorse Fox suddenly had an avalanche of documents to read and a team to help put together and a solution to dream up for a client who is expecting to spend over £100m for this.

As you will understand - this has therefore not been a gentle wind down into Christmas, but a frantic attempt to try and understand the 70+ documents that have been released.

All very exciting and it looks like a busy year coming up.

Unprecedented

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 06:23:21 PST

The Gorse Fox would like to bring the following to your attention (sent to him by email):

US Weather Bureau Report

The Arctic ocean is warming up, icebergs are growing scarcer and in some places the seals are finding the water too hot, according to a report to the Commerce Department yesterday from Consul Ifft, at Bergen, Norway. Reports from fishermen, seal hunters and explorers, he declared, all point to a radical change in climate conditions and hitherto unheard-of temperatures in the Arctic zone. Exploration expeditions report that scarcely any ice has been met with as far north as 81 degrees 29 minutes. Soundings to a depth of 3,100 meters showed the gulf stream still very warm. Great masses of ice have been replaced by moraines of earth and stones, the report continued, while at many points well known glaciers have entirely disappeared. Very few seals and no white fish are found in the eastern Arctic, while vast shoals of herring and smelts, which have never before ventured so far north, are being encountered in the old seal fishing grounds.

Oh yes, did he mention that this was published on 2nd November 1922 and was apparently reported by AP and the Washington Post.

Gravity

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:58:51 PST

Late in the afternoon there was knock on the door. By this point in the day it was dark and the temperature was dropping once more. "Logs" said the visitor. We had been waiting a couple of weeks but the time had arrived and nestling in the back of tipper truck was a full load of logs. Cars were moved and few moments later the back of the truck was lifting and gravity took over.

We have discussed before the fact that gravity can be a bit of a devil. When it came to the logs it was benign... when, however, it was the Urban-cub carrying her fresh chilli con carne across the light beige carpet it takes on a certain malevolence. Only time will tell whether chilli and beige are sufficiently close on the colour wheel not to matter.

Slush

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 12:16:49 PST

The temperature rose overnight and by mid-morning it was raining along the south coast. The snow slowly disappeared and a degree of normality returned. (Meanwhile there were reports of significant snowfall near Basingstoke - and traffic reports were dire).

The Gorse Fox had a Council planning meeting early in the evening, but it was soon finished and GF could return to peace and quiet of home.

and Even

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 13:25:58 PST

The Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen headed out into the cold. Thick ice replaced yesterday's tire tracks, vestiges of snow crunched beneath our boots as we trudged to the car and headed out onto the Queen's highways. As we headed west we soon passed the snow line and continued on past Chichester and into Hampshire. Before long we reached the home of our elderly friends Betty and Barney Rubble where we spent a pleasant few hours and had a satisfying meal at a local hostelry. The hostelry was hampered by its lack of efficient heating in the restaurant area so this merry bunch of chums made a hasty exit as soon as the repast was complete and coin of the realm had changed hands.

Due to the inclemency of the weather we chose to leave before the sun dropped below the horizon and made our way back to the coast.

Soon after our return the phone rang and Beloved Aunt was at the other end, calling from the colonies. It was lovely to hear from her and catch up with all of the news from our distant cousins

Summing up COP15

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 04:56:46 PST

A commenter on the Telegraph blog summed up the bun-fight as:

"Something that was never going to happen because it does not need to happen hasn’t happened. What a surprise."

Let us just remind ourselves that these eco-warriors have burnt the equivalent of 41,000 tonnes of CO2 at the conference - more than the whole country of Malawi.

Crisp

noreply@blogger.com (The Gorse Fox) — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 03:26:03 PST

The overnight temperature remained sub-zero but there was no further snowfall here by the coast. The Gorse Fox had to take Urban-cub to the railway station so spent an inordinate amount of time clearing the frozen snow from his car windows. Never mind, the CO2 from the exhaust will help warm things up a bit ! The side roads were treacherous with huge sheets of black ice, but once on the primary roads it was fairly clear.

According to the forecast it's unlikely to rise above -3C today and drop to -7C overnight (though a Finnish friend revealed it was -24C in Oulu yesterday). At least it's bright and sunny.

GF was delighted that Copenhagen ended up as a damp squib. Unfortunately there are now so many vested interests that the chance of real open debate on the differences between correlation, cause, measurements, adjustments, and fraud are unlikely to take place.