Saladdaze

Blogging from my Iphone

2008-10-06T21:18:00.000Z

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Tea for Tea Lovers

2008-08-10T15:20:00.001Z

Tea for Tea Lovers Long time no post. Natty and I are now selling tea online:

Luxury loose leaf tea from the world’s top tea gardens

Specially designed tins and bags that retain freshness and flavour

Versatile and useful accessories

Buy premium tea online safely and securely

Detailed tea information and brewing advice

We are passionate about providing fine tea for tea lovers everywhere

LIFE Marriage

2007-04-19T20:46:00.000Z

Slightly late in the day, I am heartily pleased to report that on 24 March 2007 Natalie and I got married. Best day of my life by far.

The ceremony was magical and the reception an awful lot of fun. Thanks everyone for turning up and making it such a good day! Married life so far has been fantastic

Photos from the table cameras are available here, whereas pictures from Natty's father can be found here. My younger sibling's photos are here, whereas Mr Justin Woodward has some photobox photos here. Will link to more photos when I have them including the official photos when I've got a scanner working again and from the honeymoon in Rome. There might even be video excerpts! Though sadly not of the Pope...

LIFE Beer Beer Beer

2007-04-19T20:33:00.000Z

Just received the following important email about beer:

"CAMRA has today released new research showing that a shocking 26.6% of pints served in pubs are short measure by more than 5%. This is costing consumers a whopping £1.3 million every single day.

CAMRA is taking its campaign for full pints straight to the top, by launching a national full pints petition addressed to the Prime Minister.

Please add your name to our full pints petition at www.takeittothetop.co.uk. Please also forward this email to your friends and family.

CAMRA has taken an advert in Monday 16th’s Guardian newspaper and another is planned for Friday 20th April. This is the first time in CAMRA’s history that we have placed campaign adverts in a national newspaper. Together we can put an end to short beer measures."

Sign now! Matthew

LIFE The Suicide Room

2006-11-14T18:26:00.000Z

My very good friend Mr Matt Terry has been putting his band though the paces for quite some time. I'm currently sat listening to their demos on their myspace page. Its darn good, there is some lovely guitar work and the old boy sings well! Its thoughtful provoking music. Keep an eye out for them next year and indeed myself when they next play.

WEB Celebrity Lookalikes

2006-11-14T18:23:00.000Z

Yet another 'put it on your blog' download. The allusion to Hugh Laurie is quite flattering, I've got no problems looking like Jodie Foster, but the allusion to Bruce Willis is somewhat confusing. I mever realised I had such chiselled features. Now for Natty:

LIFE Admission!

2006-11-11T16:27:00.000Z

After a rash of updates to the blog I appear to have gone a little quiet since Summer. Things are reasonably dandy. We’re still off geocaching whenever possible and Natty is busy revising for the next set of exams.

Firstly the big news - after many travails, I was admitted on 15 September as a Solicitor of the Supreme Court of England and Wales. I am currently staying with the firm where I trained situated in civil litigation. If you want to sue someone give me a ring! After all the expense, hard work and stress it’s a real pleasure to have finally qualified. Though this seems incredibly sad – the best thing was getting my own business cards. I almost feel grown up!

We’ve set the date for the wedding – 24 March 2007. In the space of 2 weeks I’ll turn 30 and get married. I’d better arrange a pension and buy some slippers and a pipe. Natalie’s family being legion makes the cost somewhat prohibitive, but I’m assured they all like a good a party. The most difficult thing so far to organise is finding a suitable tailor!

Pluto

2006-08-24T21:20:00.000Z

Its still a bloody planet! Bastard astronomers in Prague know nothing. See the BBC for more details.

Lots happening with life at the moment (get admitted to the roll on 15 September 2006!!!), but too bloody stressed to write anything.

Windsurfing

2006-06-28T20:55:00.000Z

Windsurfing

I had a busy but bloody good weekend. I appear to have taken up windsurfing, we went for the second time last weekend. We did our RYA Course a couple of weeks ago and now just hire the boards / wetsuits with FC Watersports down in Poole Bay by the Sandbanks Hotel.

Windsurfs are classified by volume. It seems that larger volume and larger boards are used for beginners. We started for the RYA starter course with 240, which are big wide boards which are more difficult to fall off. We were on the intermediate 180 boards which, with a tad more wind, certainly go forward a lot faster.

Many of my earliest memories are of being on the beach in France watching my father windsurf. Its nice to keep up the family tradition! Our wetsuits have been delivered and I can’t wait to go again. The only problem is that it certainly makes you feel stiff the next day!

I went to a BBQ at my little brother’s and stayed there for the rest of weekend. I took him, Andy Muggeridge et al geocaching and left both of them looking at buying gps units!

Work is rather hellishly busy at the moment and I’m looking forward to qualifying in September. Natty appears to be enjoying her new employment and seems to be coping with the daily commute to Blandford (the town built by the brothers Bastard!). We still haven’t done much in the way of wedding organisation, but looking forward to going off to Tallinn half way through July.

SALADDAZE History Pages

2006-05-03T21:24:00.000Z

The first draft of the Saladdaze history pages has now been completed. You can now see a complete history of English victories over the French throughout the ages.

Much of the detail still needs updating and this is still largely a work of plagiarism. I intend to this periodically with more links, original analysis and pictures of our brave boys in red. Comments, suggestions and errata gratefully received.

LIFE Old Harry, Geocaching and Cycling

2006-05-01T18:51:00.000Z

Well what a fantastic day! Amongst other things, Natty and I have spent the May Day bank holiday cycling around the Isle of Purbeck.

We left the house at 10:30, cycled down to Sandbanks and took the ferry across to Studland beach. We cycled through Studland and then up to Old Harry (big rocks on edge of Isle of Purbeck peninsular). We found up there our first geocache (see below) and then headed down to Swanage. As you can see from the pictures, the views at the top here were absolutely breathtaking. Still can’t believe we’re living in such a beautiful environment.

The nice grasslands disappeared on the path down from the cliffs and it was so steep we had to push / carry our bikes through the gorse. Swanage is a quaint seaside town where we had a nice’ish cream tea in Swanage, followed by very good portion of chips by the sea front.

We then took the Swanage Railway steam train to Corfe. This was the first steam train I had been on since taking my Grandad on the Bluebell line about 20 years ago. The carriages were strangely reminiscent of the old SWT carriages but the sound of the tracks and whiff of the steam was very romantic.

Getting a little tired by this stage we did not wait around in Corfe and headed towards the ferry. These last 6 miles we (relying on the GPS) travelling along a lovely path through Rempstone Heath forest. We finally got home (after a quick pint at the Inn in the Park) covered in mud, tired and hungry.

For those interested - Isle of Purbeck Cycle Routes.

Geocaching

Natty spotted an article in the Telegraph weekend section about geocaching late last year and suggested I buy a GPS unit. I as ever needed little encouragement. People hide little boxes across the world and advertise their coordinates online. Using a GPS people then find these boxes, write in the log, take and replace an item from the box.

The first cache we found was hidden under a tree amongst a patch of wild garlic by Old Harry on the Isle of Purbeck. Details here. I got badly stung by stinging nettles but enjoyed finding the cache immensely. Can’t wait to go looking for some more! Thanks to Justin for the fab bike holder for the GPS unit.

POLITICS Dave the Chameleon

2006-04-18T21:21:00.000Z

A most amusing party political broadcast is availbe from those friendly chaps at the Labour Party - Dave the Chameleon.

Best advert for the tories I've seen ina long time. The chameleon is so cute, it really should be PM. Quite astounding the levels the parties will go to these days to get their message out. The ad could possibly backfire for Labout as it does not really saying anything about labour local government policy at all. Think this shows that Mr Cameron has caused Blair and chums a couple of sleepless nights.

I for one am looking forward to part 2 of the campaign next week.

LIFE 'Drive Thru' Elvis Wedding

2006-04-18T17:35:00.000Z

In preparation for our forthcoming nuptials, Natty has got me looking at the following:

Las Vegas Wedding Chapel - A Special Memory Kings Drive Up Package

I hope she's jesting! As the great said, "thank you very much..."

WEB Fun with Google Images

2006-04-11T21:31:00.000Z

Stole this from my little bro, who took the idea from others previously

Instructions: Using the search criteria below use the picture you like best from the first page of the search results on Google Images.

i. The city and state of the town you grew up, no quotation marks.
ii. The town where you currently reside.
iii. Your name, first and last, but again, no quotes.
iv. Your grandfather’s name.
v. Your favorite food.
vi. Your favorite drink.
vii. Your favorite smell.

My Results

i. The city and state of the town you grew up, no quotation marks.

ii. The town where you currently reside.

iii. Your name, first and last, but again, no quotes.

iv. Your grandfather’s name.

v. Your favorite food.

vi. Your favorite drink.

vii. Your favorite smell.

SALADDAZE Skype Button

2006-04-09T13:26:00.000Z

I have spent some time this weekend looking at Skype's website. Although I've not got it to work yet it is possible to use Skype on my new telephone over a wireless network or 3G. I am hoping

Whilst browsing, I found the Skype button now situated to the right of this page which will allows my readers to see if I am online and call me if they so wish.

TECHNOLOGY MDA Pro

2006-04-09T12:57:00.000Z

Afer many hours searching the internet, I have ignored all my previous suggestions and have bought my new phone, a T Mobile MDA Pro. Andrew kindly suggested that I looked at XDA Vario, the model below the Pro. Despite its slim form and slide out keyboard, I was put off the Vario by the lack of 3G.

The MDA has 3G / GPRS, small camera for video calling, 1.3 megapixel camera with flash light, runs Windows Mobile 5, has Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and came with a 512mg SD card. Somewhat confusingly the phone has different names with different providers. It is sold without contract as the I-mate JASJAR, O2 call it the XDA pro and Orange the SPV M5000.

My initial impressions are very positive. It is such a feature rich machine. The most obvious fault with the MDA is its size; its a damn large and heavy phone, and even a rather large and heavy PDA. I get the distinct feeling that this won't be a 'phone I leave in my pocket whilst out in town and indeed will not fit inside my jacket pocket without causing an unseemly bulge.

The screen spins and pivots round so it can either be used as a mini laptop or a more conventional tablet form PDA. More than anything in mini laptop mode, the MDA reminds me of my old Psion Series 3. It is the first PDA I have bought since then which has had a decent keyboard.

The operating system is functional, but Microsoft still have not produced a stable and as simple a platfrom as palm. I still think it is a real shame that Sony stopped producing the Clie. A sony clie palm phone would have doubtless been an interesting prospect.

I've been quite pleased with the package I have got from T Mobile. Their web and walk offer at £5.63 per month allows (almost) unlimited web access. When in a 3G area, the internet is only a little slower than my broadband at home.

I've always felt a little guilty using the internet on my P910 because of the data costs incurred. I am hoping that this package will allow me to make full use of the web browser on the MDA, much in the same way as when I changed a number of years ago my home internet service from one that charged by the minute to an unlimited package.

Best review of said product is at Coolsmartphone. Enough ramblings from me - off to dowse my head in water to alleviate hangover.

LIFE Marriage & Bruges

2006-04-07T20:25:00.000Z

I am very pleased to formally announced to the world (or at least the web) that last Saturday Natty and I got engaged to be married.

We've not made many plans yet for the wedding other than to hold it within a year. We're both still getting used to the idea!

I took Natty away for a suprise tour to Bruges and stayed in a well appointed 4* called the Hotel Navarra, which was formerly a prince's town residence in the seventeenth century. Her best guess for our destination was Exeter!

Bruges was a beautifully compact medieval city. The river allowing silted up in the sixteenth century which has meant little development since then. Highlights of the visit (other than the obvious!), were taking the cheesy boat tour around the canals, visiting the Gruuthuse Museum (old house containing various items, including the town's French revolutionary guillotine) and the main art gallery. I am very annoyed that my reasonably new camera died and so was unable to take any photos. The attached photo of Bruges' canal has been stolen from the internet.

I regret to inform you that Natty won the holiday spot the nun competition with her carefully spotting of a singular bicycling nun dressed in brown habit. I had carefully planned a visit to the city's Beguinage but foolishly did this whilst all the religious were busy singing vespers!

LIFE It's not easy being green

2006-03-29T07:29:00.000Z

Watched It's not easy being green yesterday - absolutely fab! More soon...

LIFE PSP Found!

2006-03-27T19:03:00.000Z

After searching across the county and accusing both Natty’s parents and my elder sibling of purloining said item, I am pleased to report I’ve finally found my PSP. Rather embrassingly the said playstation was lurking in a non descript blue carrier bag beneath my bed.

I had a rather relaxing weekend with Natty’s folks and little sister whom we popped up to see for mother’s day. I spent a pleasant few hours on Saturday with Justin and my niece and nephew. I sat down and wrote a story with my niece. Its pleasingly scary to see how well she’s getting on with the writing thing. That said my elder sibling always had a precious talent when it came to school work.

I’ve just watched the gadget show on Channel Five for the second time (website here). Its fairly simplistic, but for the first time appears to be a successful and intelligent program about computing and gadgets. They had a section on using blogger to audio blogger – so pending me not playing World of Warcraft all night, look forward an audio blog shortly.

POLITICS The Budget

2006-03-22T22:42:00.000Z

Only time for a quick post to say Gordon Brown’s a nasty man. Another budget and another penny on beer and four pence on wine! Booze is too expensive in old Blighty.

There were some other things decided at the budget – but that’s the important things discussed.

TECHNOLOGY New Phone

2006-03-21T20:00:00.000Z

I have been a long devotee of Palm PDAs, having started with a Palm M130, followed by a Sony Clie T615 and then a Sony Clie NX70v. I replaced the NX70v with a Sony Ericsson P910 smartphone which just over a year old.

My phone has started to have to die a death and I am in somewhat of quandary as to what new phone to get.

Sony Ericsson P910i

In many ways this has been a very good phone / PDA, but I was disappointed with this after being so impressed with the ease of use and quality of software for Palm PDAs.

It looks good, has many functions and is not too large like some smartphones. I had hoped that the P910 would provide me with a suitable telephone, PDA and mp3 player, but the P910 has failed to meet my expectations in successful achieving any of these uses.

There are some specific complaints in that it does not sync smoothly with outlook (for example whole day events do not sync at all), the camera is so poor quality as to be useless even for drunk photos in the pub, pop3 emails are difficult to retrieve and there is only limited third party software available.

The one thing I have been sorely impressed with is the large screen for web browsing which using GPRS is fast or very usable. Whichever new phone / PDA I buy, it will need to have similarly good web access.

Now the phone has started playing up (not recognising the sim, buttons not responding or responding incorrectly and failing to keep charge), I decided its time for a change. The following are various telephones I have been looking at.

P910i Details

Sony Ericsson P990i

My first thought for a replacement was the updated version of the P910i, the P990i.

Unlike the P910, the phone has 3G, a 2 megapixel camera and improved Symbian 9.1 operating system. However, as is evident from the picture, for reasons best known only to Sony Ericsson there have got rid of the large screen – a real boon with surfing the web on the P910 and have replaced this with a second keyboard. This is doubtless part of an attempt to jump on the Blackberry push emailing craze.

I am somewhat tentative, especially given the smaller screen, to invest in another Sony Ericsson telephone given my troubles with the P910.

P990i Details

Palm Treo

I have had really good experience with Palm products in the past and have read some good review of the Palm flagship smartphone.

This has the benefit of the renowned Palm hotsync which allows you easily and seamlessly transfer documents, programs and outlook information to and from the PDA.

The Treo is only available in the UK on a contract with Orange. It took Orange some time after the Treo was released to include this with one of their contract packages.

I have some reservations about the web browsing capacity of the Treo and its size, but the main thing that holds me back from rushing out and buying a Treo is its lack of 3G and a rumour that a new Treo is going to be released.

Palm Treo Details

Nokia E61

I know very little about this phone, only having spotted it this evening. Nokia, however, have an atrocious reputation for feeling and being cheap, but I intend to find some more details out.

Nokia E61 Details

Fujitsu Siemens Pocket Loox T Series

It has to be said that this machine has a really crappy name. This smartphone, however, sports the same good looks and size as the P910.

The included Wi-Fi, 2 megapixel camera and GPS is an instant draw. I am very intrigued about the possibility of using the included VOIP to use the telephone effectively as a landline over my home wireless network.

The operating system is Windows Mobile 5 which feels me with some dread. I have a Mio 168 Pocket PC which I use purely for its GPS in the car, cycling and walking.

Pocket Loox T Details

Blackberry

Whilst on my higher rights course in London I was surprised that all of large city firm solicitors had Blackberries.

Blackberry have just released the 8700g which is in many ways a glorified PDA. They reportedly have excellent web and email capabilities, including push email – where email is pushed to the machine.

However, to make use of this feature requires a rather expensive subscription which is clearly based on business, rather than poor trainee solicitors like me.

Blackberry Details

Conclusion

Suggestions on which of the above telephones I should purchase or indeed other ‘phones I should consider are gratefully received. A discussion on what network I should use will come on another day.

WEB Bounce-o-meter

2006-03-20T20:56:00.000Z

Yes they’ve made a website showing how boobs bounce. Now that’s technology for you. This has got to be one of the funniest websites yet. The story is from the register and the bra website is here.

The worrying thing when I showed Natty she suggested that I should be making purchases for her. C’est la vie.

SALADDAZE Website Updates

2006-03-20T18:58:00.000Z

The links and bio pages have been updated and now the new gallery is accessible. I've not worked out how to link back to the main website from the gallery software and will doubtless be calling on my little brother for advice.

Meanwhile a plug for my friend who is trying to get a band The Suicide Room up and going. His prototype website is here.

If you’re in Nottingham, don’t forget to check out The Riot website for gigs. I do the website and its in sore need of an update!

Enough plugs, more importantly I’ve finished the academic stage of my higher rights course! Thank god for that.

LIFE Higher Rights

2006-03-19T12:20:00.000Z

I’m about as good at updating this blog as I am with keeping in touch with people! Don’t get too exited about 2 updates in 1 day; It won’t last! Here’s the next instalment.

My life for the last 7 days has been taken over with my Higher Rights course. The exam is tomorrow morning! Fingers crossed. After 12 months advocacy experience, passing Monday’s exam and a further advocacy exam, I will be a solicitor advocate entitled to speak in the High Court / House of Lords like a barrister. Which will be rather fab.

Natty and I are looking forward to coming out of hibernation soon. The cold miserable days of February are over and we’re both looking forward to the summer. Nat is promising to start windsurfing which sounds suitably fun apart from the spending the day falling into Poole Harbour! Also since my last major post I’ve become an uncle again. Samuel Barry Knight already has his own website.

Regarding the site, I’m working on an updated gallery, thinking and morning to wordpress for the blogging and planning to update the overall look sometime soon. Including finally finishing off my history of French defeats. Interactive dead Frenchmen will be all the rage by the end of the year!

BOOK The American Civil War

2006-03-19T12:09:00.000Z

I am currently reading The American Civil War (Essential Histories Series) at the moment, which is an overview of the entire conflict divided between the eastern and western campaigns. It is a workman like textbook full of anecdotes, pictures and maps and a perfect introduction to the war.

I’ve long had an interest in the Napoleonic period and never really bothered what the colonials were up to in the back of beyond. It was all started by reviews in the Telegraph and Radio 4 of a novel called The March by EL Doctorow which charts General Sherman’s march across Atlanta and Georgia during the civil war. Rather than having a leading character, the story is seen through the eyes of many on both sides of the conflict. Whilst it is not going to win awards for literary prose, the book successfully captures the historic feel of the period.

Despite no longer being a badge wearing, card carrying historian its good to keep the interest up. Would recommend both books to anyone – especially the novel.