Sunday, March 30, 2003

Much of this weekend was spent doing battle with the giant jasmine (seen at left from above on a frosty winter morning) that has been taking over a large part of our garden. Not anymore. I cut the beast down and now we can actually see the garden from our kitchen windows, and you can see all the extra space we've gained. I suppose the bees will miss the thing, but we certainly won't. The next project will be digging out the roots. 8:15:25 PM

Friday, March 28, 2003

Another birthday rolls around. Charlie and I spent the day at home while Alice was at work. When we went to the park and to the bank, Charlie was proudly announcing "It's my Daddy's birthday!" to anyone within earshot. That alone made my day. We'll have the official celebration this weekend. We might take a walk up Reigate Hill, like I did last year on my birthday. 7:32:26 PM

Listen to REM's The Final Straw. 7:26:52 PM

Thursday, March 27, 2003

Better late than never The evil bastard who got us into this mess has resigned. Unfortunately, I don't mean Dubya. 11:53:21 PM

Monday, March 24, 2003

I'm still getting lots of traffic from people searching for webcams at RAF Fairford, and even a few for webcams in Baghdad (yeah, right). I suppose that item I posted the other day only made it worse. Damn, there I've gone and done it again! 8:17:34 PM

I'm also suffering from Control Key Syndrome. I am forced to use cursed Windows machines at work and when I get back on the iMac at home I have trouble remembering that it is the Apple Key rather than the Control Key you need for many functions. Kind of like when I go home to the States and get in a car to drive somewhere. It takes me a frightening few seconds on the road for my brain to determine if I'm on the right side of the road (as opposed to the left side of the road that I'm used to driving on here in the UK). 8:14:23 PM

We've been having problems with our DIY webhosting project. Thus www.ridey.net has been unavailable for a day or so. For some reason the IP numbers mysteriously change, making the webserver unreachable. Some kind of breakdown in communications between the DSL modem and the Airport Extreme base station. I think I've got it figured out now, but then I thought that yesterday, too. Anyway, I'm starting to appreciate Chris's geek skills even more than I already did! 8:06:09 PM

Friday, March 21, 2003

BBC: Massive Air Raid Rocks Baghdad Looks like those B-52s have reached their target. Pity the poor souls who are underneath those bombers. 6:33:35 PM

The BBC is streaming it's excellent and objective news coverage of the war. If you live in America, you just might find it a refreshing change from CNN or (God forbid you actually watch it) Fox News. It is worth a look even if you don't have a broadband connection. 4:42:27 PM

BBC: Bombers take off from airbase. Those B-52s everyone's been searching for are now airborne. 2:32:57 PM

This weblog is getting a fair amount of traffic from people putting the words Fairford and webcam into various search engines. As both Fairford and webcam appear in this blog in various places, it comes high up the results lists. Sorry everyone, but there is no webcam of the B-52s at RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire on ridey.net. If we hear of one, we'll let you know. Might be an idea for the USAF press boys, though. After all, they've been going out of their way to keep the bombers floodlit throughout the night, so that the BBC, CNN and others could show them still sitting on the runway, and thus not on their way to Iraq. All part of the psychological warfare, we reckon. 2:17:06 PM

It's official: we have joined the wireless revolution. This post coming to you via an Airport Card-equipped iMac via an Airport Extreme base station. Looking forward to blogging from the garden when the weather turns nice. 12:22:40 AM

Thursday, March 20, 2003

Washington Post: Shortly before 4 p.m. yesterday, Director of Central Intelligence George J. Tenet offered President Bush the prospect -- improbable to the point of fantasy, yet suddenly at hand -- that the war against Iraq might be transformed with its opening shots. The CIA, Tenet said, believed it had a fix on President Saddam Hussein. 7:23:58 AM

And so it begins. 7:12:32 AM

Wednesday, March 19, 2003

One of the highlights of our trip to Arizona was getting to take Charlie to his first baseball game. Here he is in Surprise, Arizona, watching (well, not when the photo above was snapped) the White Sox beat up on the Texas Rangers. (Confession: the top photo was taken just before we left the game in the fifth inning with the Sox trailing 6-1. Despite the sunshine it was a chilly day and some of us had come underdressed). But before we left, Charlie had learned how to boo like a true Sox fan. 11:05:15 PM

As USAF B-52s based at RAF Fairford prepare to begin the war against Iraq, it is fitting to remember another bombing run on this day 58 years ago. 10:38:34 PM

With just eight matches remaining, our beloved Sheffield Wednesday are heading for relegation from the First Division. The former Labour MP Roy Hattersley explains what it is like to support the Wednesday in a piece from the Guardian. 10:29:54 PM

We are back again. Too jetlagged to post until now. We got home Monday after two terrific weeks in Phoenix. Pictures to come. 10:24:13 PM