All the way from Cambridge

On Friday night (last week now) I met up with Bill Rowe. He was in London before flying home on Sunday.

Actually getting him out of the tube station was the first problem, apparently it was too cold to wait outside.
Then when he finally came topside I dragged him off to a nice drinking establishment on High Holborn, called the Cittie Of York. They only serve 'homebrew' beers in here, none of your main brand lagers or ales. Thanks for the reminder Dan

After a few drinks in here we opted to go and get some food. It wasn't getting any quieter in the pub, what with it being Friday night and all, so we decided to go and find somewhere to sit down and eat.

We eventually ended up in a little restaurant called Tuttons which is to be found in Covent Garden. The food was superb, and the barman suggested a bottle of Rioja Blanco, which was surprisingly tasty. I was also pleasantly surprised by the quality of the service staff, most effecient. It's one of those places that could quite easily go either way, in so much that it is quite probably popular with theatre-goers, as well as those looking for a nice place to eat, it is a typical brasserie in that sense, but it seemed to have everything just right, so I am sure I will be back.

As for the company, well, what can I say? The conversation (some might say) predictably turned technical, or ASF focused. BUt a good time was had. So, Bill if you're ever passing through again (or anyone else for that matter) give me a shout.

Late last night whilst I was sleeping I received an invitation to join the Apache HTTPd PMC. Of course I accepted, who wouldn't. Right?

So with all things pending I am now a member of the PMC. This is quite an achievement for lowly old me =)

This is great it means I can finally commit patches for the HTTPd websites. woo.
I would also like to thank whoever gave me the thumbs up, (a.k.a. the +1). It is very much appreciated.

Danny,

I have to say I am not entirely surprised. My employer has used easyspace/IOMart/internetters for years (until late last year). Following on from your post I can also report that I had a very similar experience with them only 2 weeks ago.

They were used as a domain registrar, and as primary NS record holders for several domains both internal, and for many of our clients. When they decided to just wipe several zone files from their NS hosts they not only wiped our clients public facing services from the "great big bad web" but also that of my employer.

Now whilst due to my careful planning, my employer did not suffer an entire loss of service, but some of our clients did. I too tried to contact them through email, calls, and opening tickets. But to no avail. They were no where to be found. Very annoying.

Unlike Danny I could not just drive the 500+ miles to ther office to see if they were there, but I have no doubt they would not have been.

I have already started the process of moving all the domains registered with them to an alternate provider. Who we now pay a sizeable fee to ensure we have absolutely no repeats of any such problems again.

Danny I feel your pain.

In fact I still have problems, getting them to unlock the domains to transfer them has proven nigh on impossible. Stating several excuses such as, your reverse DNS records dont appear to be correct, neither do your SPF records. Yes you absolute shower of cretins they won't, be as you deleted the zone files.

I have no doubts my letter of complaint will fall on nothing but deaf ears.

If you see them, or worse still use them. Run, as fast as you can. Run.

Just recently the wife and I have stumbled across two Jamie Oliver TV programmes. Now normally I would have say I find that Jamie Oliver is the preserve of those who like to be irritated. He just bugs me.

Now the first programme (Jamie's foul dinners) that was on TV not so long ago, was an eye in to the world of production of chicken and eggs. In the past the wife and I have always (so far as I can tell) bought free range chicked and eggs. When bought fresh. However one of the things that I don't think we have ever considered was the quality of these products when included in other produce, like read-to-bake pies. This purcashing of free range produce seemed to come as second nature, what with the wife being a farmers and all.

I don't think we are ones to follow the latest trends or popular movements, but I have say I have eaten anything but fresh chicken since watching this programme. Since making a concious decision to only eat chicken that I know has been responsibly famed has meant that I have not had chicken for almost a week now. That just goes to show how much of it we ate.

The second programme (shown last night, rather late too) was more about the quality of foods that we tend too stuff down our throats. The show went on to explain that >30 years ago the quality of foods being consumed was much higher, invariably due to the fact many more women stayed at home. Now I am not sure how much truth can be placed on the latter of that argument, but that seems to be some credence to it.

Last nights showing was entitled "Eat to save your life". On the face of it this seemed to be yet another eat sensibly, exercise blah blah in your face programme. But it wasn't. I was intrigued. They tried shock tactics, scaring people and just giving people the down right dirty truth about their bodies. Some seemed genuinely concerned, whilst others tried the 'stuff upper lip' kepeing up the appearances for the camera.

Dr. Gunther von Hagens displayed some remarkble body slices, as well as showing the 'insides' of one healthy man, and one very unhealthy man. The latter looked like he met a very unpleasant end to his life. Sad really. I don't want the same for me.

Now whilst shock tactics don't usually have an affect on me, it did provoke a conversation between the wife and I. Off the back of which we have agreed to go and have a well-being assesment with BUPA, or a.n.other practitioner. Now I fully expect to be told as part of this that my diet, lifestyle and general health is very unacceptable for someone of my age, and size. In fact I am sure I will be technically classed as obese. Now the thought of being told that neither scares or worries me, even though I know it should do.

What I do want to do though is go and see a qualified nutritionist who I want to better inform me, so I can make better choices with my diet. Over the last 5 years or so I have seen my health, fitness and overall well-being plummet whilst my waist line has ballooned. This is far from unique, but is not somewhere I want to be any longer. So what can I do? My job invariable makes it impossible for me to carry a 'packed lunch' whilst convenient healthy food seems like a paradox in parts of London.

So what is the reason for all this self reflection? Well the wife and I want a family of our own, and I can't very well be a fat father chasing his children over the park? Can I?

So I need to pull my finger out. Who can I blame but myself? Yes there maybe contributing factors, like the bloody long days, and the frequent drinking, but ultimately it's either me and my health I need to worry about.