Time, the Universe and Something

It's not just time. It's fast flowing, rapid passing British Summer Time at GMT+1. But this isn't Marks and Spencers - it's nature.

That's my excuse for not writing on my own site often enough, and I'm sticking to it!

Truth is, I've done more of those "things you never get round to" recently than ever before. But is it so easy to mention everything?

See, when you write something so public and personally-identifiable like this, you never know who's reading. Strangers and lurkers are a given. Internet friends and acquantances from other sites even more so. Then you have 'real life people' and things get interesting - friends, family, friends of friends, friends of family, associates, people you want to be associated with, people who want to be associated with you, past employers, present employers, prospective employers. If you're paranoid, the government. If you're more paranoid, governments from other countries. If you're just being silly, purple three-headed reptilian space creatures called George.

So, what is a blog? Is it there to spill all your inner thoughts and feelings? Not this one. This is my semi-professional outlet. Maybe one day I'll write a full and frank autobiography like you sometimes see celebrities doing. Until then....

OK, something completely different..

I gots another car! (Insert 'w00t' comment here). Really happy with it. Switching wasn't something I was about to do lightly - my existing Renault 5 may be getting on a bit, but it's my first car and was handed down by an uncle (well, my mother's uncle technically) who is an absolute top bloke. I still haven't parted with it, but will have to by the end of the month when the tax runs out, and it'll be a sad day. It's served me well. Isn't it funny how we get attached to these things!

But - this wasn't an opportunity to pass up. Another hand-me-down (I like those!) from a friend 'darn saarf' and whilst it'd cost me a bit to get here and get fixed - something which led me to be a little apprehensive, hopefully without sounding ungrateful - it'd be a fair bit newer with fewer potential problems in the long run and more chance of passing next year's MOT. Car in question is a 1991 Toyota Corolla.

What a good decision - it might in fact still have issues, but they're not urgent with the low load I'm putting it under - and the returns are great. Power steering is a biggie. You can turn this thing with your little finger - great for parking (once you've figured out where the boundaries of the car are). Much more comfortable ride - though that might have something to do with the shock absorbers / suspension / whatever not being knackered.

Where it really gets interesting though is that it's an automatic. This is where our American audience thinks "what, you drove a stick shift?" - yeah, here in the land of the drab weather, most of the cars are manual transmission. The thinking was probably that unless we had something to do with our spare arms, they'd cease up, and nobody would be able to make a decent cup of tea or make a decent job of trimming the hedges.

In our country at least, someone who drives an automatic is often assumed to be a woman (sorry - ouch!), disabled, old or incompetent. I like to think that I'm none of the above. You in the corner, be quiet - that object in work's car park had a mind of its own!

Seriously I like that kind of convenience. I did the same with computers not so long ago by buying a Mac - often known as the computer that grandma can use. So what? Usability is meant for making things convenient for everyone - not just those who rely on it - something which I was taught during User Interface Design lessons and which has stuck in my mind ever since.

I have absolutely nothing to prove with computers, so why make things difficult? Just because I know how to compile an operating system kernel doesn't mean I think it should be necessary. So I went with a Mac - it's ridiculously easy, doesn't suffer from viruses/spyware (even though I'm good at avoiding them, it's nice not having to worry about them), and doesn't crash. The only one laughing here is me.

It's the same with cars - ok, now that's a field where I'm no genius. In fact, I'm somewhere on the ascending scale between 'female' and 'useless' (just kidding, ladies!). But I know how to drive, how to hold a car on its clutch, how to hill start etc. Doesn't mean I have the desire to actually do the latter two though! Again - why make things more difficult for yourself? For the most part it's to impress people or prevent them from thinking you're useless. I prefer intelligence to speak for itself.

I'll leave it at that, been waffling for far too long. Hello you can wake up now. Hello?