Trust me…

Lanzarote with Libs

So we’re back from Lanzarote, back to reality some might say! We had a great time out there, revisiting some places and generally having fun with Libby. She especially loved all the swimming and beaches along with all the spoiling that comes with being on holiday with some of your grandparents.

While we were away Libby seems to have learnt so much but, the one thing that she has really taken away is the word, “No”. If you ask her a question now you just get “Noooo” which is quite amusing - even more so when she does herself out of things as she says it before she thinks about it! She can now move herself around the swimming pool unaided and has worked out the Grandad is always good for icecream ;).

Charlie and I also enjoyed revisiting some of the places and things we did during our honeymoon as we were staying quite close and had a car - a Zafira which was actually alright. We didn’t go up to Timanfaya this time but I not sure I like the idea of Libby being in those coaches. Libby did however get to enjoy looking for the olivine at El Golfo and the beach at Orzola.

The Island was as windy as ever but the weather has still ensured that we’ve all come back with a tan - even Libby though how she managed that after being plastered in factor 50+ suncream all week remains a mystery to me, she has more colour than me using the factor 15 stuff!

On the Saturday that we were out there we watched the Lazarote Ironman competition, this is a hardcore triathlon that is done on the Island each year. First they swim 3.8km in the sea, then a 180km cycle course all over the island and then when they get back from that there’s just the small matter of a full marathon to complete - and on Saturday that was in temperatures of up to 33 degrees - madness. The winner did the course in about 8hrs 37mins, now that really is an Ironman Downey Jr. We met a guy who works for Renault F1 who was doing it for charity - I asked him if they needed any Software Engineers but there’s no word yet…

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Good Hunting

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-05-23

• Time to go, see you in a week! #
• Time for bed, now do I run tomorrow or not? #
• @james_dunmore So do I in reply to james_dunmore #
• @james_dunmore Lanzarote! in reply to james_dunmore #
• Almost time for Holiday - work almost done… #
• @simon_dyson Buildbot is my favourite, we haven’t completed the switch yet in reply to simon_dyson #
• What’s wrong with porridge this morning…? #
• Cruisecontrol is inexplicably hard to decipher… #
• Hum, this is harder than I thought… #
• Looking forward to Sing & Sign with Libs #
• Compile, wait, compile, wait… #
• Ash ash go away, you can come back whilst I’m on holiday #

Looking forward to a week in the sun

Ash cloud depending we’re off to Lanzarote tomorrow! It’s look like it’s going to be fun as I won’t be able to get the internet and so won’t be able to do any work which will be a change! Just playing with Libby and RA Salvatore - perhaps the odd night out with Charlie ;).

We’re nearly all set, we know the sign for Ice Cream, Libby’s stuff fills the cases and I’ve found the paper part of my driving license. It’s going to be an experience taking Libby abroad but I’m quite looking forward to it, perhaps that’s just naivety though ;). A four hour flight is going to be interesting…

We’ve also got the Ironman competition to look forward to whilst we’re out here (http://www.ironmanlanzarote.com/) which should be fun to watch, Charlie says that it’s an impressive sight, I can’t really imagine how these guys would be able to do all of it in a single day but then they’ve probably done more training than me. Hopefully they would find C++ similarly challenging - mind you so do I some days ;).

So nothing for a week, twitter will fall silent, my inbox will grow and the cat will wonder where we are…

…he probably won’t miss us

Good Hunting

Twitter Weekly Updates for 2010-05-16

• @alan_patterson Congratulations, I can highly recommend little girls! in reply to alan_patterson #
• @seo01 How on earth do you do that accidentally…? in reply to seo01 #
• @alan_patterson Hope it all goes well! in reply to alan_patterson #
• ♺ @alan_patterson: Looking for a top C++ Developer in reply to alan_patterson #
• I will make this compile… #
• @beth_tk @djr36 I think it looks better, I always felt that it was being obtuse before and it looks right now… in reply to beth_tk #
• @dhawes667 Good point in reply to dhawes667 #
• @giftedmike Afternoon in reply to giftedmike #
• @dhawes667 Not cool, though perhaps without reselling some of these retailers couldn’t make a living? Or would that be a good thing? in reply to dhawes667 #
• @james_dunmore autoconf -i in reply to james_dunmore #
• Ok, compile from source it is then… #
• Or simplejson… #
• Why oh why does CentOS not package erlang! #
• Not sure about five year fixed terms… #
• Still not sure about the new google layout… #
• If only Gordon Brown had been as eloquent and passionate in his speeches before the election… #
• @dhawes667 Does the movie industry get paid for that then? It seems strange that downloads don’t play more of a part then? in reply to dhawes667 #
• @pierrefar You missed @djr36 in there with 6, I gave it the longest! in reply to pierrefar #
• @djr36 Gah indeed! in reply to djr36 #
• @AndiSmith Not sure that scary covers it in reply to AndiSmith #
• @pierrefar 8 months in reply to pierrefar #
• @csstacey @james_dunmore @simon_dyson in reply to csstacey #
• Just #
• Maybe #
• @simon_dyson If we get voting reform, they temper the huge cuts in public expenditure and sanity on europe we might just get away with it in reply to simon_dyson #
• We can only hope for a minority government that can’t push anything through or a coalition that falls apart… #
• Oh my, what have we done… #
• @csstacey It’s just being slow… in reply to csstacey #
• @james_dunmore Sorry in reply to james_dunmore #
• Charlotte is now on twitter! @csstacey #
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0dE23jVLXw awesome! #
• @rwspencer More people have voted for Lib Dems and Labour combined than the Tories… in reply to rwspencer #
• The papers aren’t keen on the political situation are they…? #
• Hoping the journey to work will make me feel better… #
• @beth_tk But not us! in reply to beth_tk #
• I’ve learnt more about what’s happening from watching @james_dunmore and @simon_dyson tweet than the news! #
• @simon_dyson @james_dunmore I think they did… in reply to simon_dyson #
• @beth_tk Don’t encourage him - Charlie x in reply to beth_tk #
• @beth_tk A bit, some fresh air on the way home in reply to beth_tk #
• On the other hand I’m not particularly sympathetic to the Uni at the moment… #
• Student’s at Essex are moaning about noise at 7.00am - I’m not sure about that but they’re getting £500 each! #
• @djr36 Twitter is having fun… in reply to djr36 #
• Seems the most powerful man in the country at the moment can’t be PM #
• Guys at twitter look like they’re having fun today… #
• Could we yet escape Toryland…? #fb #
• Brave move by Brown really #
• Could we yet escape Toryland…? #
• Hum, waiting for the long compile… #
• @AndiSmith Who are you Ferrari? in reply to AndiSmith #
• @rwspencer You think…? in reply to rwspencer #
• Why can’t people be nice about parking… #
• End of weekend = sunshine… #
• @giftedmike He’s almost as annoying as Jake now in reply to giftedmike #
• @pierrefar I know the feeling! in reply to pierrefar #
• @beth_tk You could always bar him… in reply to beth_tk #
• @pierrefar Try Python it’s much more fun… in reply to pierrefar #
• Still not sure about the new rules for F1, and I wish that Eddie Jordan could make more than one point during a race… #
• @beth_tk Surely the beanbag was more fun in reply to beth_tk #

We have a government at last - it’s just…

So after pretty much five days of uncertainty we now have a government and a new prime minister, they are however Tory. With the Lib Dems support in coalition the two parties will set about running the country with the Labour party in opposition. Nearly all the tabloids seem to be rather smug about the whole thing.

The saving grace is that we as the voting public didn’t vote the Tories in as a majority government and that they had to join into coalition with the Lib Dems. And whilst I don’t agree with everything that the two parties offer, each tempering the others views can only be a good thing - though having said that it remains to be seen how much the Lib Dems can stop.

I doubt they will be able to stop the huge spending cuts that the Tories seem certain to implement, I can’t see how they are going to push through the savings that they want without cutting frontline services - or at least making front line services work harder on background things to effectively cut them. I can only hope that amongst other things it isn’t good bye to the childrens centres that Libby so loves going to and that the Maternity services in this area don’t suffer as it should serve as a model for other areas that don’t get the same level of care. That schools will have better support from the parents to continue offering the level of education that they do now. Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying that Labour had everything right but they did a lot of good in their 13 years in power - let’s hope the Tories don’t dismantle it.

The coalition is new ground for the UK and maybe it will work out but with such major differences in the idealogy between the two parties is seems odd that they were even talking in the first place. However agreement has been reached and we have this government until the coalition breaks down - when will that happen? I wonder whether it will be the first time that the wishes of the Lib Dems are really put to the test.

We shall see…

Good Hunting