Numbering on Blogger/Word toolbar

Just a quick observation.  I’ve just started using the Blogger/Word toolbar and I’ve noticed that the numbering on the previous post is a bit weird (1…1….1). Hmm, think I’ll leave it as it is (

Zoom-ing on the Mac

Bit of a blogfest going on today as I’ve a few minor updates, other the weekend doings which are mentioned earlier.

The other update I suppose is my trip to the Apple store in Chavwater, er Bluewater.  I was extremely keen, as mentioned before, to have a good play on the Mac, especially with regards to its access features, Zoom and Voiceover.  Well the store was suitably empty and I even managed to grab hole of two Genii (or is that Geniuses?) who showed me how to finish off the job of making it work.  I had a good play, and here are my issues:

1. Zoom gives Zoomtext a run for its money.  So far this has been the best mag package I have used on the PC, so I was pretty impressed with it overall.

1. I was also impressed by its OS look and feel in general.  However, I must just ask any MacHeadz reading this (yes, I know there is a least one of you reading) – are there any keyboard shortcuts to do common functions?  For example, ALT-F4 closes a window in Windows; CTRL-C is the copy key, etc etc.   Since I try to use the keyboard if there is a mouse equivalent, then this matters to me.  Sure they exist, but can’t find much about them online. I certainly didn’t find many which were freely translatable from Windows, but a) I was fairly time-limited and b) I only really thought about when I let the store.

1. A Mac seems like a good idea in principle, but is it significantly better than, say, my standard Dell laptop (its an iBook I’m interested in)?  The only sin this laptop has against it is that it is pretty slow by today’s desktop standards, but then again it is three years old.  

1.   Can I be bothered to learn a new way of working?  I am forced to us PC software at work, and I’ve not done else from about 1990 when I first acquired the old Ness (home build job) 386sx running DOS 4.01.  Windows/PC day-to-day operation seems pretty neat by those standards – those days when using a Mac was entirely different ballgame to running a PC . How different, other than the fiddly little learning differences, is one from the other now?  I hate computers for their own sake in the sense that my wife is.  I just want something which works and does a few small tasks well, eg, Internet, WP, email, blogging.  The most advanced thing I currently do is log on to work via an SSH secure link (which apparently can be done on the Mac, but I suppose I’d better check to be sure).   Not much to ask so perhaps a Mac is just overkill?  

Mood: Hot, but generally feeling pretty fine.
Book:  Mac mags (ooh the excitement is excruciating)
Music:  BBC London burbling in the background

Lincoln (parked) - yeah, crap pun

We had a great time in Lincoln over the long weekend with Angus and Corie, her daughter (plus boyfriend) and were introduced to Corie’s old friend from school, Nicky From Bolton (Graham’s female nemesis and a real beer monster – or at least that’s what she likes people to think…).  

Great times, a barbecue cooked to perfection by yours truly after those bad kids opted out to play of all things, Cluedo. 15 years old and the sound of rebellion is deafening by its absence. A nice, sloppy long weekend.   C and A are the sort of people its just damn nice being around and we felt truly at home in their alt-gaff.  Lots of good music played, especially the new Ben Folds and some James Taylor-esque stuff by a band whose name I’ve forgotten.

We even climbed up what must be one of the Britain’s steepest hills. No, we didn’t make it to the cathedral on top, but we did find ourselves in the Magna Carta pub, which wasn’t a bad place at all as it turned out.  Clean bogs, always a good sign and getting back via the long way hone was fun (

The only downer?  Getting home again.  Nether of us wanted to leave and the train journey to London was a bit cack, but nothing untoward.  



    

Angry

I am pretty narked off today.

Mainly because I am working. Two weeks ago I asked for a week’s annual leave, which was denied because I this week, I am meant to be testing our new database with access technology.

Not happening. So we have a guest, Johan, at home, Lynn taking time off after I was the one to agree to have him over, and me at work when I should be taking Johan round London, and no f**king testing either. In the meantime, Michael is doing the tour thang, and up till now, Johan and Mick didn’t know one another. Good job Mick’s boiler is knackered and is benefiting from the use of our central heating and bathing facilities.

I am freaking jumping mad. What a waste of a good day.

We get some reasonably good jazz in yesterday as part of the Johan on Tour season, at the Cricketers in Greenwich, a pub, which I have to say, I won’t be a rush to return to, mainly because of the diminishing supply of beer. It became pythonesque towards 2200. No lager (apart from bottled Becks), no bitter of any description, badly kept Guinness. Shit, I’m surprised they managed bar staff (well there was one of her, but she was over-worked and was very, very, very slow due to a fault with one of the pumps).

And by the way, the famous Tai Won Mein Noodle House in Greenwich is probably the least guide dog friendly place I have ever had the privilege to go to. It took threats with a mobile phone camera (I’ll snap your picture if you don’t back down with your stupid and illegal denial of service) and continued and ever-more angry threats from me to report them to Greenwich Council’s environmental health department. I’m just glad I was in an incredibly mouthy and articulate mood yesterday, as my next step would have been to make a loud announcement to the restaurant’s clientele that apartheid was alive and living in London. This wouldn’t have got us served, but, believe me, when I have done this in the past, patrons do tend to leave in disgust. The management here are tossers and need to spend time chivvying up on the laws of this country. Much as I loved the restaurant when I was a student living in Deptford for their cheap and tasty gut-fillers, this is the last time I go there or bring friends. (And their steamed dumplings, which once set the benchmark in my opinion, were deep fried – nasty nasty nasty).

Mood: Grrrrrrrrr + + +
Book: Too tired to read
Music: Too busy chatting with Johan / Lynn / Mick and getting pissed in the evening, hence lack of book and dearth of music.

Political correctness - a rant

I'm going to have a rant, something I've not done on here for quite a while.

Its in response to an email I received from a list I'm on, suggesting that multiculturalism has caused the dilution of our society. While I agree that being British isn't the same as it might have been in the 30s, 40s and 50s (and I'm not massively displeased with that), the email then mention that the sender's sone had a been banned from wearing an England T-shirt for games because it 'might cause offence', an argument I've heard for all manner of petty displays of patriotism. This started my blood boiling and elicited this response:

Mainly, its doesn't appear to be ethnic minorities who complain about our so-called racism (er, patriotism). Its do-gooding white people who, since they've set themselves the onerous task of solving the world's problems, ought to concentrate on real racism (you know, the stuff that causes real bloodshed and guts distress and reduced opportunities), and not this kind of thing which will only cause an ethnic minority distress if they set out to be distressed in the first place. Ostensibly it looks as if PC should benefit people like me,but the only thing its done is drive real racism, discrimination against disabled people and other poor attitudes towards minority groups underground, or covered up the issues in non-English English if you get what I mean.

Most Political Correctness in my humble opinion is geared to appeal to the lowest common denominator and directed by people who really ought to take themselves less seriously. Lynn came across someone on a chatlist who described himself as sight-free. Now I might tread one few toes by pointing out what seems to me to be obvious, but what's wrong with 'blind' or 'partially sighted' as a description? Both phrases do the job required of them. Unless you actively search for alternative ulterior meanings (blind = unknowing, as it "too blind to see I was being taken for a ride by my manipulative partner") then its a word understood by 99.9 percent of English speakers to mean someone with no or seriously reduced eyesight.

Adam, somewhat sight reduced

A level update

Just in, a very proud daughter phoned me to tell me the news.

So to the tune of 'here we go, here we go'....

...three straight As, three straight As, three straight As!

Nothing much needs saying! What a cool dude.

Carly's A levels

We are eagerly awaiting Carly’s A level results. I’m probably more nervous than her.

Update to come as soon as I know…

Bric a brac

I am now using Putty to tunnel into my work PC which speeds up things nicely now we’ve got 2 meg broadband. I was getting heartily sick of the slow speeds I encountered using dialup but until how I’ve not had much of a choice. This makes things whizz. It is almost as fast working here as it is in the office.

Mum and dad have been decorating the house now for several days and its looking good. Surprisingly, its not been at all painful having them here. What I mean by this is that you always feel the need to clear up (which they’ve done anyway), and somehow ‘fit in’ with them, which we’ve done to some extent, eg, smoking outside, making lots of tea (ugh! Grim stuff). They’ve redecorated the bathroom and living room painting away the nasty pink wallpaper our house was blessed with when we moved here five years ago. The house is looking somewhat better than it was. Now all we need to do is move to somewhere bigger, and possibly further into London.

To reciprocate for all their help, I’m taking mum out to buy her laptop – think I have the one she’ll need. I’m a bit worried about the lack of memory though, I’d be going for a gig myself, but they seem to think 256mb will be OK, and since they are only going to use it for email, who am I to dictate they spend more money.

Still feeling sad about Nigel. Last night was chatting to Lynn in bed about all the things he’d never now be able to do. Thank goodness she is here to talk to – whenever I start thinking about him too much, I become quite maudlin about the randomness of life and death.

Mick has an interview next week – his first one in over ten years.

Music: Orbital, various
Mood: A bit flat but better than yesterday

Nigel Stevenson - RIP

I rarely mention people by their full names in this here blog, but I’m going to today, because he isn’t here to defend himself.

Nigel Stevenson, my work colleague for the last six years, died last night. He was 35, and his car was hit by another. I don’t know yet how or why. He died instantly.

Nigel smoked, in fact that’s how we met, in the smoker’s hole of shame outside RNIB in Great Portland Street. We smoked together, discussed writing together, as he too had written a number of pretty good pieces. He wasn’t the kind of buddy who you’d stake your life on, but he was a genuinely nice bloke, with a good heart and the sort of the bloke you could chat to. He was a moody bugger, and as a fellow moody bugger, I had a lot of empathy for him. We went to see Al Murray with him one evening and had a great time. He had a quiet, wicked sense of humour.

My nan died earlier this year, and I didn’t’ feel as devastated as I do by Nige’s death. Partly this is because we are the same age. Partly because of the randomness of his death. Partly because, well people like that, neither old, cancerous, hard-living, a hanger-around with bad company – they just don’t die do they? Where’s the fair play?

I’m writing this in the office, and earlier today you could hear a pin drop, just the sound of air conditioners to break the silence. All in all, a pretty sombre day for us.

So, Mr Stevenson, wherever you are, I hope you are doing well, either entertaining God with your wit, or haranguing the Devil himself.

And to my compatriot and colleague, fair thee well old bean.

Mood: Sombre
Music: Silence for once
Book: Watching the English by Kate Fox

The bus in London - funky (or least not dowdy)

A friend of mine works for the Snivel Service’s Department of Transport, and we got into a smallish debate about why bus patronage in London keep rising, while every where else, it falls year in year out. I wanted to know his theory.

Mine is simple. London government has made car ownership, or certainly drivership, quite expensive. Also, the bus priority measures in London (CCTVs in bus lanes, bus-controlled traffic lights) have made bus travel faster than elsewhere. Also, other than some towns in the North and Scotland, the cost of travelling on buses in London is comparatively cheap, especially when you include the aggro-factor of driving, plus the expense of parking. Plus, if you live in Central London, owning a car itself is tres pricey with residents' tickets and the likelihood that some kamikaze parking nazi will book you even if you park legally in your own street. This has led to a middle-class rejection of the car. Or rather the middle classes have come to realise that in London its not so important own cars given the existing reasonable alternative. Bus travel in London is the only place where it can be called classless. Ken has done wonders - where as the train was always seen as multi-class with its wealthy commuters and scurrying suburban secretaries, it never shared the same stigma of the bus.

Thatcher (that lovely woman) once said that a man aged 26 or over finding himself on the bus should consider himself a failure. This stigma never applied to trains, and to a lesser extent, tubes, which served some quite wealthy suburbs like Northwood, Golders Green and Epping. Unbelievably though, the reason the District Line is having problems with dwell times at stations was because it was decided in 1975 or 6, when the D stock trains were designed, that since Underground patronage would inevitably go down (yeah, right), they'd build the trains with smaller doors. So even the tube wasn't safe under the 80s Tories; they considered it a means of transport only the poor would need to use.

This sad philosophy failed: this is because there are only two options to choose from when considering a rising amount of cars in a fixed amount of space:

a) make car ownership harder (eg, more expensive)

b) build more roads. Which the Tories were quite happy to do, a la M25, numerous by-passes and so on). This was destined to fail. Numero uno, we like to kid ourselves we are a "green" nation. This is obviously bollocks, but it is true that Brits hate the idea of killing their environment, as they crank up the heat to max and invest in that new truly earth-saving 4 wheel drive leviathan. Secondly, simply put, no one wants to live near a motorway. The only time this is acceptable is when you are at the M52/M6 TravelLodge and want a hasty start to your day's journey.

Cuddly Ken's adoption of plan a) has left a vacuum of journeys which still need to be made by people who still need to make them. Thus, the tubes of London are busier than they have ever been. The Victoria Line itself is running 3 times over its intended capacity, with a train about every 3 minutes throughout the day, the most that can be run, bearing in mind trains actually need servicing, cleaning etc. This vacuum is further being filled by buses, which to some extent have plugged the gap left by clearer roads courtesy of the congestion charge. In London, unlike any other city in the UK, the bus too has become classless, no matter what Thatcher in her "wisdom" would have to say about it. In a sense, getting a bus in London is like experiencing a microcosm of London itself.

Elsewhere buses are full of chavs, elderly women doing the shopping, and the Thatcherite definition of a loser (read poor), as well as the desperate looking, lost person who's car is in for a service.

Ken - we love you. Now London now only has the cheapest bus transport in the UK, but one of the best.

Except the 103 which is appalling both in fleet (knackered old Olympians allegedly due to retire in November) and timetable. A bus every half hour in the evenings and all day Sunday is no incentive to spend the evening in Romford, our local large town.

Its not because Londoners are inherently greener than anyone else, or have a nostalgic attachment to their red double deckers. Its because they have no choice. And bearing in mind the environmental catastrophes, on a micro-level and on a world-wide scale, damn good they don't.

Reply to Diego's email

Hello Diego

Yours are the first comments I've recieved on this blog. Oddly, Gmail forwarded your first comment but not the second one, which i found on Blogspot, but my reply applies to both I hope. I did try replying to your email yesterday before realising that the reply-path was to anonymous-sender. Perhaps there's a setting in blogspot which can fix that, but maybe its because you've deliberately chosen to remain anonymous. There isn't a 'reply to comment' link on Blogspot which seems like a bit of an ommission to me.

Anyway, here's my reply.

(I'll keep this post on the blog for the next month or so which I hope finds you. Let me know if you read it, but bear in mind I can't reply to you via conventional email)

Hiya Diego.

Thanks very much for you helpful comments regarding the Mac operating system and Voiceover. I'm actually surprised you or indeed anyone else has found my blog. I tried looking for it on Google myself recently and it didn't show up on the first couple of pages. So far, its been a sort of personal random diary of bits and bobs significant to me rather than anything I've encouraged people to actually look at, hence the lack of (ie, 0!) comments. But hey, its a *blog* so I guess it was inevitable someone would find me some day :)

You are the only person I've come across with a visual impairment of any kind who uses a Macintosh. I think in a version's time or so, theMac will catch on with the blind and VI communities as word gets around that you don't have to spend a fortune on top of your computer on speech/mag technology to actually use the computer out of the box.I'm sure if Apple consult with blind and partially sighted users they can work wonders in perfecting Voiceover. My wife, who is a web developer and totally blind, was initially rather sceptical when I mentioned to her that I was dallying with the idea of buying a Mac, but now I think she's curious having read a few reviews. Her comments, backed up by the reviews I've read, is that as a totally blind user, you can use the existing package of applications which come with the standard out-the-box system, but there was no guarantee old software, which never had Voiceover in mind, would work properly. I'd be happy with a decent magnifier, but since my wife and I share acomputer, the speech element is important, as there isn't analternative for the mac as yet. And whereas JAWS can be used to navigate quite complicated documents and web pages, this doesn'tappear to be the case with voiceover right now, but I think she wants to play as much as I do regardless of its known problems.

A mate of mine used to use (I might have the name wrong here) Appletalk, which as you say, was phased out. I can see why Apple felt financially, if not socially,obliged to create an accessible means of entry to their systems -obviously the US education market is worth a fortune to them so it makes good business sense. However, I regard Microsoft's reason for NOT including a similar system, even a half-baked but workable one (yep, the Windows magnification 'program' is cr*p indeed). They say that they don't want to put small companies who currently design and market such software out of business. If they have such a big hearted attitude to small businesses, then I'm afraid this hasn't been evident much in the past (ask Netscape!). And they could do what most business do when they are large and want to acquire the rights of the smaller business - buy it up lock stock and barrel and invest Microsoft millions into making a product which doesn't bluescreen out (as my old copy of Zoomtext Xtra used to three or four times a day at work). At least they'd be able to write the accessibility code alongside the main windows code, which would in theory make a tighter, better integrated OS.

I'll be trying the Apple Store again, only this time I'll book up one of their Genius staff. To be honest, I was surprised at how full the store was, as I left work deliberately early to miss the rush. The staff were not unfriendly, but they did seem overwhelmed with the number of visitors. I suppose the West End tourist zone is never empty. Now, if they opened a smaller store in the suburbs....

Thanks again for your comments.

Best regards
Adam
London UK

Trip to Ireland / Christianity

Well I’ve been back from Northern Ireland since last Friday and loved it there. We drove the Antrim coast from Larne to the Giants’ Causeway, then on to Port Rush, via the scary rope bridge. With the mad weather they have over there – basically rain and wind 24/7 – it must be one of the most cut off spots in Britain. The whole feel of the place is one of isolation, and quite beautiful desolation. If anyone is reading this from abroad and fancies going to Ireland, this is a must-see, just so you can experience the atmosphere. Like a lot of Ireland, though, you will need a car, as public transport isn’t up to much. One day I’ll actually post some photos on this blog and all the crap I’m writing about might make a bit more sense.

In Ireland, as well as meeting my beloved mum-in-law (I guess I go against the grain of mother-in-law jokes, she’s quite a special woman and I love her to bits! – and what a life she’s had too), and Caron, Sandra, and the various kids, Lynn was baptised at Pastor Billy’s church in Belfast, my mum and dad met the outlaws for the first time (and got on famously – they’ll be making return trips without us now!). We did a lot of driving (Loch Neagh, Lisburn, Carrickfergus Castle). Had a generally and very needed chilled out time.

My parents are coming over next week to do the much needed decorating on our house, nothing major, but a lot of snagging. We’re trying to sell up still, but the housing market in our part of the world basically froze around October last year, I expect to by writing this here blog from this here computer in the same house next year. Sad, but London winning the Olympic bid has meant that we’re going to be outpaced price wise in the parts of East London we originally set our sights on. So it looks like we’re going to have to look elsewhere or remain in Daggers, which is a mixed blessing. On the one hand, this house as done us proud, and it’s a pretty safe area, within walking distance of the tube, and generally not too unfriendly a place to be. On the other, we are 16 miles from the centre of town, and getting in even when the tube is running perfectly takes over an hour. Mind you, if could be Hayes!! (Note, I grew up in Hayes, so I know what I’m on about –the one in Kent isn’t too bad though!)

After Lynn’s baptism, she needed to find a church over here. For her, whenever she goes home, she gets fired up on a religious kick, which then dies when she returns to Dagenham. And thanks to a guy called Graham, on the blindoscafe list, she found one. Its only about 7 mins from ours on the bus, and you can take a look at it by going here: www.bethel.org.uk. My first impressions of it? – well it offers a good mixture of both spirituality (if that doesn’t sound too ‘new age’) and intellect. I’ve found churches I’ve left to be lacking in one or both of these aspects. I told the pastor that I came to Christianity from a cynic’s point of view, and had quite a few problems with reconciling my religious upbringing (my parents were Billy Graham converts during his 60s London mission) and my ultimate faith in empiricist science. I’m also a very self-reliant person (Lynn wonders sometimes why I got married) and therefore leaving what happens in my life to an ‘outsider’, namely God, is something I’ve a real problem with. My independence hasn’t really been a issue up till now, I’ve got to say, because there are too many people unable or unwilling take responsibility for their lives, but I don’t suppose as a fully functioning Christian you can be 100 percent dependent on yourself. I feel like a complete weakling when I find myself needing someone else, or a resource I can’t get via my own efforts. Anyway, this is an issue I’ll keep on the back burner as I do intend to keep going to Bethel. If they can deal with me (and the minister didn’t seem fazed by directness in telling him what I’ve written above) then perhaps I’ve found the spiritual place I need to be.

All that I can say about the Lynn is that I’m proud of her for sticking her neck out so publicly. She is no longer afraid to tell people about her Christianity. Its deeply unfashionable in the London I know to admit your faith, and doing it, especially to her boss, who is a very public atheist, takes a lot of balls. Sometimes it feels how it must have been to be gay in a small village circa 1952.