Archives: June
Sunday, June 19th
RIP Formula One
Mood: Disgusted.
I've had my doubts about the continuing relevance of F1 for a while, and haven't really been following it this year, but there was always a bit of doubt in my mind that I might be missing something, that I might be wrong. Maybe there was some room for 'sport' and 'racing'.
Apparently not. For those of you who didn't watch the 'race' you might want to have a look here for the full story.
So racing isn't that important to Ferrari compared to maximising their points in a championship which they are unlikely to be fighting for at the end of the year. They would much rather pick up the 18 points any way they can (even though under one of the compromises offered they would have probably got the points anyway). And once again, where Ferrari wishes to go, the FIA follows.
Apparently the FIA may now raise a charge of 'bringing the sport into disrepute' against Michelin. What Michelin did was turn up to a track where they have not tested with a tyre they thought would work. When it became apparent there were safety issues they did what they should have done - acted in the interests of the safety of the drivers. What the FIA did was ignore the wishes of nine of the ten teams, as well as the interests of millions of fans, all because Bernie's favourite team kicked up a fuss. You tell me which one has brought the sport into disrepute.
So for me it's over. I have no more interest in this 'sport'. Fortunately yesterday I bought tickets for the Donington MotoGP race, where we will see people actually racing. The next time I watch an F1 race will be if Valentino Rossi makes the switch from bikes to F1.
posted by David @ 09:27 PM [link]
Monday, June 13th
Telephone Interview
Mood: nervous
Telephone interview with Rolls-Royce in two hours. I don't like telephone interviews.
After that I am heading up to Brum overnight, to go and look at a couple of houses in Derby tomorrow morning. All quite exciting. It's also quite impressive what we can get for less than £400 a month in derby (as opposed to the £580 we are paying between us for the privilege of sharing with four other people in Bath).
On a less happy note, Jonny's bike's been nicked from outside his work. 
Buggers!
posted by David @ 11:11 AM [link]
Sunday, June 5th
Italian MotoGP
How good was that? I don't think I breathed during the last lap!
posted by David @ 02:15 PM [link]
Friday, June 3rd
BANES Parking Attendants
Those of you living in or around Bath will probably know that we are subject to the evil that is decriminalised parking enforcement*, and may well have seen the council employed parking attendants riding around on scooters applying tickets to people's cars.
Now before I go too far, I'd like to stress that I believe parking regulations should be enforced, and that it is important to keep the roads clear of dangerously parked cars. However I believe that the justification for this should be Road Safety. Recent events have led me to doubt this is the case in Bath.
Back in February, I was walking onto the University Campus via the western end of The Avenue. For non-locals, the Avenue is a narrow, residential road subject to a residents only parking scheme. At the western end it is closed off and separated from the main road by a pavement. I watched a PA ride down the Avenue, checking for permits. When he got to the end, he obviously decided he couldn't be bothered to turn round and ride back, so he rode straight over the pavement and back onto the main road. This was at about 9am, when hundreds of students use that bit of pavement to get onto campus. Illegal, Dangerous and Stupid.
A week or so after that, I was driving up Wells Road (major route into and out of Bath) when I spotted one coming the other way (into town). As he came alongside a row of parked cars he slowed and rode past them at about 5mph, looking over his shoulder at the windscreens (it's another resident's zone). All the traffic following him was forced to drive round him. Dangerous and Stupid.
Then on Tuesday, I was driving into town through Bear Flat. For the benefit of aliens, this is a bit further up the Wells Road from the last case. If you are driving towards Bath, you come past a load of shops and then the road makes a sharp left turn. I was literally about to take this corner when the PA decided he was going to try and overtake me on the inside of the corner. If I didn't ride bikes, and hence wasn't very aware of anything on two wheels, then I would probably have turned into him and knocked him off. Probably Illegal, extremely dangerous and very stupid.
So, BANES Parking Attendants...Keeping the roads safe by preventing illegal parking, or making them more dangerous in their rush to issue as many fines as they can? You decide.
*For those of you who are unfamiliar with this concept, decriminalising parking enforcement means that rather than parking violations being an offence dealt with by Traffic Wardens, who are employed by the Police and whose task is to keep the streets free of illegally parked cars, we get Parking Attendants who are employed by the local council to issue fines.
posted by David @ 02:05 PM [link]
Thursday, June 2nd
More template tweaks
Have now sorted out a few issues with the template, so the about, comments and archives pages reflect the look of the front page. Not very exciting.
posted by David @ 01:14 PM [link]
Wednesday, June 1st
New toys
Soundtrack: System of A Down - Mesmerize
Decided to celebrate my new found freedom yesterday by venturing into town for the first time in probably a month, under the pretence that I needed a new set of headphones, but in a sudden triumph of abstract reasoning managed to convince myself that I could spend £10 or so on a set of headphones with which to listen to my knackered minidisc player, or I could spend £40 and buy a fairly cheap MP3 player, which as an added bonus would come with headphones.
Ladies and Gentlemen, we have gone solid state. Let the process of ripping my 250 odd CD's begin!
Also bought the new System of a Down and Asian Dub Foundation albums. I'm sure System get wierder with every album they bring out.