Autumn Blog

With the autumn weather set in and leaves falling the landscape is changing once more. Gone is all the lush green replaced by the yellows, reds and browns as we move into winter, and the farmers busy themselves getting the land ready for the spring and gathering food for the animals over the winter months.

 

Hopefully soon I will have some time to get out with the camera and capture some what going on for a post in the blog, which seems a little neglected at the moment with still a mass of posts to complete. In the meantime with the nights getting colder it will be time to have a real fire at the weekends and snuggle up warm against the cold. Everyone loves them and it one of the things that makes the cottage feel so homely over the colder months.

The blog hasn’t been forgotten, although it form and subject seems to be changing as life changes. There will be posts in the future, just not so many as the in the past, as there isn’t so much family stuff to write about now. Expect more photo posts and maybe the odd thought or rant, bur that will be about it for now.

O2 Netwrok Problems Strike Again

May be it is time that O2 considered changing the advertising slogan on the advert below to "It's our O2, See how little you can do", after at least ten percent of the customers faced hours without network coverage again today.

 

In a world where mobile communications is becoming ever more imprtant to people lives to have network problems over and over again is making the company look like the one to avoid, and because the same fault affected GiffGaff and Tesco Mobile they are in the same boat even although it wasn't their fault.

 

How long people will put up with this is anyones guess, but given the poor 3G coverage compared to the other mobile companies in the UK I would guess it won't be for long. Just like Blackberry who lost the trust of it's customers when it network failed the same thing is likely to happen to O2 if things carry on like this. People won't put up with the rubbish network which clearly has a number of short coming and suffers from lack of investment.

 

If I was in charger of the regualtors, or in government, I would be looking at pulling the companies rights to setting up 4G networks until the company got it's act together. I would insist they had 3G coverage that is of the same level as the other companies and set minimum reliablity standards for the company before letting them proceed with upgrading their network to 4G. This would force the company to put in the investment into the inferstructure that should have be put in place years ago, all lead to benefits to all of the customers rather than the select few with 4G handsets.

 

O2 need to get this right and they need to do it now. People won't stand for this for much longer and the regulator need to make sure that they sort out the network problems and network coverage issues. The regulator needs to act on this and show it's got some power to make the failing mobile companies like O2 work for the customers.

The National Museum of Computing

Anyone that knows me will know I have an interest in old computer, why today I went back in time with a visit to The National Museum of Computing loacted at the home of the code breakers at Bletchly Park near Milton Keynes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The museum is quite a sight and covers the period from the birth of computer, with a rebuild of a working Mk.2 Colossus, to the dawn of personal computer age and the internet. All wonderfully laid out and explained. It is well worth a visist, but what you get to see is only part of the collection. It is currently housed in one hut but there are other huts containing more old computers waiting to be restored. All they need is the man power and the money to help out and you don't have to be a electrionics expert.

Eyebrook Reservoir

When you say to people that you come from Rutaland everyone associates the place with Rutland water, the largest Reservoir in the area, however their is more than one.

 

 

 

 

The Eyebrook Reservoir near Uppingham is equally as beautiful if not nearly as large. Originally built to provide water for the Corby Steelworks some 4 miles to southeast, the between 1937 and 1940. It is an ideal place for bird watching, it also boasts a fine trout fishery which was opened back in 1942. It was also the the location the final practice run for Guy Gibson's 617 Squadron Dambusters  prior to Operation Chastise, the attack on the Ruhr valley Dams in mid May 1943.

 

It is a lovely place what ever time of year you go there, especially when the sun is shining like it was today, so if you are ever in the area don't just get drawn to Rutland Water and have a look, or maybe a cycle, round the Eyebrook Reservoir too.

 

 

Born of Hope

So you have twenty five thousand pounds and you want showcase your work and that of others, why not make a feature film and put it on line. That what it seems a group of people did when they made the film "Born of Hope" based on the work of J.R.Tolkin.

It is a great example of what you can do with next to nothing in this internet age. If you have a good idea, a good script and actors and you end up with something like this. I won't spoil the film by talking about the story line, but I will say it is worth watching. I really hope all those that took part in the filme do well, some of them unemployed actors and film makers. It is a great showcase for their work.

If you want to watch the film then it is avaliable on YouTube just follow this link. It is worth the time and effort if you are a fanatsy fan, but don't expect the effects to be as good as that of it's fifty plus million of it Peter Jackson conterparts but the musical score is lovely as is the direction and the acting. I can assure you, it is a lot better than a lot of simular type fantasy productions that come out of the US television industry costing a lot more that are shown over here.