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Malware.

Dordie — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 23:56:00 GMT

Monday...Scotty pops up a window....will you accept...why the hell I accepted I don't know.

'Antivir solutions pro' loaded itself on my machine, disabled all functions, all websites and browsers.

Disabled the 'Add remove' function, the lot.

"Run a scan, buy this buy that'.....piss off!

PC Solve, in my area....yes, we will sort it, bring your computer, we will need it for 4 days, cost �75.

Phoned a couple of people advertising in yellow pages... 'leave a message', invited them to call me, none did.

My friend, Mick asked if he could have a crack at removing it, be my guest! He spent 4/5 hours tweaking and exploring to no avail. He left, I restarted the computer to find the malware GONE but, some settings were adrift and no access to browsers.

I phoned Virgin on free 150, waited for 30 minutes for an advisor, he said a techie would visit me today, Thursday between noon and 4pm.

He tweaked a couple of settings, checked the modem and expressed glee at how short a job it was and left...Now running smoothly.

I will let NOTHING past Scotty in future. NOTHING! :(

Garden Project up-date

cliveanne — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 07:49:54 GMT

Well, the first shed has been sorted, a lot of "useful stuff" has been removed to the local tip, much to my dismay.
:erm: I now have to convince my son that his belongings will be better off at his flat, & that will be a bigger job than the sorting was :hmmm:. This has to be done before I can get to grips with the second shed . That is the biggest job, it is so full, I have around a square foot of space in which to plant a foot in order to get to anything. "Elf & Safety" :adolf10: would have a field day if they paid me a visit.
Oh well...........

Day three....

Dordie — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 10:38:59 GMT

Osbourne road on Sunday morning bore no resemblance to the Osbourne road I walked along on Saturday evening when heading for my warm bed. Gone were the revellers, the drinkers, the girls in delightfully short skirts, the bouncers, and the clink of well used drinks glasses outside most hotels. A couple of police cars were in attendance but both, sirens blaring, made off somewhere else in a hurry.
It was quiet and serene when I, after a good breakfast, made my way to the terrace in the sunshine for a smoke and to wait for Chris to surface and join me. I decided not to phone anyone but to sit, wait and read the hotel courtesy copy of the Mail on Sunday....as all decent folk do...
Chris eventually joined me, I did not ask what the lads got up to after my early retirement, what business was it of mine? The secretive git did not tell me either...
As always, Chris is a mine of information, he told me we were going on a tour, Scrot needed to realize his dream of being a tour bus driver.
We were going out and about for the day, in Scrot's car. 'They will arrive shortly'
Out come the maps, the tourist info and the discussion, we decided we were initially going to look at the Angel of the North. Chris did his impression of a navigator in his usual thorough manner and we arrived right by the side of the ice cream van, I think it was Scrot who volunteered to pay.
We then set out for Whitley Bay a sprawling seaside resort....of sorts. Park up, lean on a railing chatting, the weather was rather fresh up there.
The main objective was to see the England/Germany match, so we set off to our adopted pub in Jesmond.
By this time, Nick had his name on a seat in the pub and nobody was allowed near it. I made it known that I was not of a mind to watch the match but that I was going to catch the 3pm train from Newcastle Central I had a premonition that after the previous dismal performances of the England players the match would have bored me to tears.
At this time I was sitting outside the pub in the sunshine. Two young ladies with decent suntan were sat on a kerb close by, there were two vacant chairs on my table, I beckoned them over, they smiled and sat with me, they had returned from a holiday in Turkey at 4am that day, we chatted until Scrot came to run me to the station in his car...
The Newcastle meet was...and I think it is unanimous... a tremendous success and very enjoyable.

Day Two.....

Dordie — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 14:59:35 GMT

Had breakfast and out on the terrace by 9am for a smoking session. Joined by Chris at about 10am. He had phoned Scrot and Nick and they were 'on their way down'

Phoned Reg, he had car problems and would not be joining us. Where to go, what to do! Tourist info, maps and ideas. I stated that I would like to visit Gateshead and after that I would be no more trouble. Chris thought we should all buy a day rover ticket for the Metro. Made our way to the station and acquired them, off to the quayside, a pub directly underneath the Tyne Bridge, where a multitude of Seagulls were nesting, creating much noise and scrapping a drink and a bite then down by the Tyne. Walked down to the millenium bridge, loosing Nick to the air conditioned bookies shop. We had ice creams on the way
To an exhibition and a sprawling cafe for cakes and drinks, Nick joined us wearing a straight face, he had been watching the harbour masters' launch sparring eyeball to eyeball with a jet ski, then on a bus to Gateshead. I went 55 years back in time to wallow in nostalgia and the lads were brilliant in showing interest.
To the Metro station in Gateshead where an old woman with a zimmer frame held us up, a door stuck, Nick clouted it and it opened, the woman got on but the doors closed before I could get on the train. My phone rang, Chris told me he had got off the train at the next stop to wait for me there and he would also board it.
We arrived at Jesmund to fond Scrot and Nick, looking bored and leaning against a bin. We left the station and sat outside a pub, Scrot bellowed his phone was AWOL, he clawed back into the station, to find he had left it on top of the bin, panic over.
Around 10.15 pm, I was getting rather cold and struck out alone on foot for my hotel, I was in my warm bed before 11pm. The day went very well, Chris is a brilliant organiser and exeptionally bright in sorting out problems with transport, directions, you name it. Day over.

Newcastle meet.

Dordie — Thu, 01 Jul 2010 09:45:53 GMT

The last time I travelled by train was two days after 7/11, from Gatwick to Kings Cross. I passed the multitude of flowers near the Kings Cross Concorde and stopped, with my 2 items of luggage to look at them, a passer-by gave me much more than a casual glance.
What was on his mind?
To the Newkie jaunt...Tickets in my pocket...coach E seat 7. The bus cost me �2.15 for a 4 mile journey to the station.
S'cuse me, Mush...where will coach E stop? About here, Klondike...ta!
Window seat, a no talk, 2 hours 20 minutes trip, perrin had previously told me a cab would be a "fiver tops" to my hotel, it was �6.50, he owes me �1.50.
Slid into the wrong hotel, the lady directed me to the correct one, stood outside and phoned Scrot....I'll come down and meet you, he said.
The more I watched the blue shirted geezer staggering down the street towards me, the more I assumed he was already well oiled.
Checked in, Scrot coveted my room, we walked down to the rest of the guys, met perrin for the first time, Scrot was telling me how he had been accosted by the bouncer at his dump and how he reacted....Scrot would fall out with a Nun if he thought he was right. :hump:
The only bitter I could get was John Smiths, well liked by most but not by me.
Reg and I went to the bar in my hotel for a couple of last drinks, the lads followed shortly after.
So we were pretty well ensconced and ready for anything.....

2010 project....

cliveanne — Wed, 23 Jun 2010 22:02:30 GMT

is slowly coming on, I'm taking my time over this one, I don't want to have to do it again. I had a shock when laying some stonework, I sat down for a drink, & looking at the pond area where I had been working, there was this face staring at the water :e9. I just had to take it's picture.
Nuff said about that. Although I am enjoying the job, I would not like to try making a living from it.

Garden Work

cliveanne — Fri, 14 May 2010 07:54:25 GMT

It's about time I put something in here, it's a long time since I blogged.
I have started to redesign my back garden. Well, I started last year actually. First thing to go was the pergola. The Wisteria was geting too heavy & the centre was caving in, so out with the power-saw & other tools & do some serious trimming & demolition.
Next was the pond. It is roughly 9'x8'x2' deep I have a slow leak, & I lose about 9" of water. I emptied the pond last year, having caught all 36 fish, & putting them in a large paddling pool. I was then taken ill for about 5 weeks. Nothing serious, it was a very heavy cold, & over the 5 week period I was as a weak as a kitten. Meanwhile, the pond refilled with rain. We decided to forget the garden until this year, & put the fish back.
I restarted the garden work about 3 weeks ago...taking it slow (I have a back problem). I have since removed the patio where the Wisteria & pergola were sighted, removed 2 rockeries,& taken up 1 path, with 1 more to go. Clearing the soil of various plants & weeds (Bluebell bulbs go deep don't they?), transplanting other bits & pieces I want to save, such as a dozen or so cyclamen & other plants which I do not know the names of (but I like them)
Having cleared most of the ground (still plenty to go at), I am now working on the water side of the project. I have made some in-roads to making a header pond & have a rough idea of the route for the stream. The problem is, I think "This", my Good Lady thinks "That" but we manage a compromise somehow. I need a new pump, my old one packed up after 15yrs of good sevice, running 24/7. The replacement needs to be bigger, something like 10,000ltrs per hr. My old one was aroung 5,000ltrs per hr. I have the liner (FREE!!! I hasten to add) & the "underlay for it as well. There should be more than enough to do the pond(s) & stream, I think. If not, the old liner can be used for any shortfall. I then need a new filter box with UV lighting, plumbing & electrical connection, the old connection was via the shed (& that's got to go as well sometime, but later, methinks).
When that lot has been sorted, it is a case of relay a patio, replace rockeries somewhere, & restock with plants. I guess that lot will keep me out of mischief for quite a while.
I have since taken photo's which can be found here

Today

superwoman — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 00:05:22 GMT

today i touched a real lizard for the first time. I dont know what type of lizard it was. Someones "pet"? About 16 inches long, and when it gets annoyed or frightened it has the fan shaped areas behind the ears that rise up and out
to make it look fiercer and larger.

A fascinating experience

Oh my pookin' god, what a cheese!

NiNjiiN — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 05:31:48 GMT

Old Shire Vintage from Morrisons.

It's a creamy looking stunner in a verdant green wax jacket.

It's so nice that I've been defending it for days. A small bite gives waves of tantalising taste for about thirty seconds. The aftertaste makes you go hmmm.

If you like a proper powerful kick ass cheese with a good hard poke of flavour, this is your cheese. The texture is simply dreamy.

Second ony to the vintage cave aged cheddar from Cheddar.

y:1 Hello George. :D xxx

Employers

Scrotnig — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 19:39:12 GMT

A note to employers:

If you treat your STAFF like shit...and then you treat your CUSTOMERS like shit as well....don't complain when your customers leave you in droves.

Luckily, my own employer doesn't do this. But I know one that does.

Two Stars

Alice — Wed, 06 Jan 2010 18:27:53 GMT

Today was quite interesting. Almost got excited when I saw I had 2 stars in BC, wasn't sure what that meant but thought it looked good. Then I spotted that johnboy had 4 stars and Calidore had something that looked like a diamond but could have been a chicken nugget.

2010 - the year of Nu-Lab's annihilation

Equinox — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 18:36:03 GMT

So here we are - 2010 - the year that will go down in history as the year Nu Lab got annihilated at the polls. Just as 1997 did for the Tories.

Finally after 12 years of this government that hates everything Brirish, we'll get a government that puts Britain, enterprise and hard work above lazy, foreign loafers.

:k9

Hating Work

Scrotnig — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 17:45:58 GMT

I have to go back to work on Tuesday 5th, and for the first time in this job, I am dreading it.

My manager doesn't like me and the job I am being asked to do has turned into a "call centre" type role, with you being timed in the toilet etc. I'd never have taken a job like that (and my salary is too much for such a job).

I am also under instruction NOT to use many of the technical skills I was brought in for (and am paid for), because it's "not my job".

I am of the belief - if you don't like a job, stop doing it. So that's my plan. Obviously I can't be so frivolous as to leave without a new job, but I no longer give a shit what they do - I am leaving.

At the same time, I am also going to finally Manchester, the shite city I currently live in, and move further south.

None of this can really happen until late spring, but it will probably take at least that long to get a new job anyhow. But the decision is made - I am on the move!

2010 Graphics

Scrotnig — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 02:33:34 GMT

I have decided to go for some "2010" graphics in the header once more to commemorate the new year.

I think we last did this in 2007, don't think it was done in 2008 or 2009, though to be honest I can't quite remember.

Anyway, this is no mean feat, as they have to be colour coded to match the style they are being used in.

Also this year we got all the header changes ready so I was able to switch from the "Christmas" header back to the standard one (but with 2010 graphic) at one minute past midnight.

And away we go for another year...amazingly BC's 9th year of operation as a forum.

Happy New Year!

New Year's Eve

Scrotnig — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 19:39:38 GMT

It's new years eve and although I am away seeing friends(!) I will not be drinking a drop as I my amazing driving skills are required. :s3

Trying to install Windows 7 (Full Version)

Scrotnig — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 14:06:45 GMT

My attempts to install Windows 7 have run into catastrophic issues.

Having managed to get a very poor installation of it working (slow boot times, frequent crashes, etc), I have ended up flattening the disk entirely. However, it now won't install at all, hanging and/or crashing at various different points. At one point it also refused to format the disk after partitioning.

In desperation I have tried to install Windows XP with a view to running the Windows 7 disc from within there, but three attempts at this also fail, it installs but won't boot due to corrupt files.

My old Windows Vista disc also won't install, with similar errors.

I am now running a CHKDSK from within the XP recovery console, as I seriously suspect the hard drive is buggered, though quite how this could have occurred I have no idea.

Embarrassingly I may have to take it to a computer repair shop next week, but I really do think that if three different OS's refuse to install with random disk errors, it's got to be the hard disk.

Games Console?

Scrotnig — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 19:38:16 GMT

I am considering trying to stop being a curmudgeonly luddite and investing in a games console. :o

I have decided that it needs to be either a Wii or an X-Box.

What sort of price am I look at, which should I go for, and what is the �130 "cut down" X Box that is being advertised?

Train Prices

Scrotnig — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 12:55:33 GMT

A lesson in how NOT to encourage use of public transport.

I just decided to check what the train prices would be like for a long journey I'd like to make. After all, we're meant to be encouraging people to leave the car at home, so it should be cheaper, right?

Wrong! For a journey that will cost me around �50 for the entire journey and the return, I would be paying minimum �118 for a return train ticket. I even looked at the cost of two singles, but it's the same.

Complete and utter waste of space! I'll stick to the car thanks.

Boxing Day

Scrotnig — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 23:40:36 GMT

Well waddya know? I didn't do anything today either, apart from get my washing done for the week ahead. How tedious. :coffee:

I've also been drinking a touch of vodka and diet lemonade, though not enough to be pissed. How boring. :head:

Christmas, a time to kick the lefties out

Equinox — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 11:13:48 GMT

It's Christmas Day, an exciting time because we are almost at the point where we can kick the Nu-Lab corruption out of government once and for all.

Some people talk of the idea that brown is not finished. He's more finished than Major was in 1996/1997. A massive Tory landslide is unstoppable, and with it can begin the restoration of this country.

z:1

Christmas Day

Scrotnig — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 10:25:21 GMT

Well....what to do?

The forum's been surprisingly active, the past few Christmases not a great deal has happened.

I have to think of something to do to amuse myself until the Doctor Who Christmas Special at 6pm. I'm not doing a Christmas dinner, not much point doing it for one, and anyway I had one the other day.

Happy X-mas. Good time for cheese.

NiNjiiN — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 00:32:47 GMT

I learned that an epiglotis looks like a wiggly finger, and tonsils don't look like man fruits.

X-mas has provided me with an veritable hillock of different cheeses, including Bowland.

Merry happy joy stuff and things.

Hello George. y:1 xxx

Christmas Eve

Scrotnig — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 22:27:00 GMT

It's Christmas Eve!

Sadly for many, particularly those who live on our own, Christmas can be a difficult time. Christmas is geared towards families, and when you don't have one it can get tough seeing everyone going out and having fun and knowing you can't actually do that.

But then again, sitting in my nice warm house is I suppose preferable to heading out into the freezing cold, getting drunk and then staggering back home to discover the entire evening cost the best part of �100. :irked:

People call us sad. But we're not sad. I can't even say we're victims of circumstance, because I don't consider myself a victim. This is the way life is for me, it's just that, once a year at least, it does feel like I'm a bit of a sad case. :(

So, here I am. Happy Christmas to anyone else in the same boat of me, for whatever reason.

Bad weather at work

Scrotnig — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 23:43:52 GMT

Actually got sent home from work today around lunch time due to the awful weather. It snowed from about 9am through to lunchtime and it was getting a bit dicey, so they started sending us home, but many of us could not get our cars out of the car park!

A bit of help from some nice warehouse people with shovels and grit etc and I managed to get out. The company were not happy about the whole situation and initially insisted they "had a business to run" and would not be letting anyone go early, but I think the HR people put them right on that.

Hard Cats

Scrotnig — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:53:48 GMT

Had to chuckle at this picture of a really hard cat taken by a reader of the BBC News website.

Snow? Pah! I speet on your snow!

That is one hard cat.

My orange cat would probably be like that, but at the moment he is having to lie on my bed, just in case there any gazelles or gnats underneath it that may need dealing with.

Back to work

Scrotnig — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 01:59:36 GMT

Back to work again tomorrow (well, later today), I intend not doing a great deal as it'll be quiet this week in the run up to Christmas. Then after Thursday I have about ten days off. Not before time either.

I am not going anywhere over Christmas so will probably be in the forums!

ASDA

Scrotnig — Sat, 19 Dec 2009 20:18:17 GMT

Fancied a change today and did my shopping in ASDA...there isn't one near me but there is one near my work.

Haven't been in for a while but I was quite pleasantly surprised, some quite good offers at the moment as well.

Work over Christmas

Scrotnig — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:40:15 GMT

Well it's back to work for me tomorrow, sadly....after a nice few days off doing not much of note.

I am back Thursday and Friday, then next week I am in Monday to Thursday (24th Dec). I then don't return until Tuesday 5th January. Although some of my colleagues will be in as they didn't save enough holiday up to cover Christmas. Luckily we only need a skelton staff over Christmas and New Year week, I could never do it as I'm not thin enough to pass for a skeleton.

Lancashire outrage!

NiNjiiN — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 09:32:01 GMT

I normally love my local market cheese stall but they just went too far about three weeks ago.

I'm partial to their extra mature cheese but I thought I'd have a change and go for their Tasty cheddar instead. I was standing about half a pace from the counter when a tiny old woman squeezed in front of me. I was a bit miffed but decided to let her get away with it. As a result I waited a considerable amount of time before being served.

When the cheese wench finally asked me what I wanted she was in a bit of a state. She was sweaty and wearing a fixed plastic smile. I said 'Could I have some of your Tasty cheddar please?' and she walked off. I should've realised the danger I was in when she whirled away half way through my request. She returned with what looked like the cheese I wanted and cut me a piece. I left wondering why it seemed a bit cheaper than normal but I hurried off, glad to be away.

When I returned home I decided to have some of my yummy cheese. Imagine my horror when I cut into it and it was softer than it should be! It was Tasty Lancashire, not Tasty cheddar! THE HORROR! The evil cheese wench hadn't listened beyond the word Tasty. EEEEVIL CHEESE WENCH!

Now don't get me wrong, I like normal Lancashire. It's mild flavour and unusual crumbly nature are things I can appreciate. It cooks well and doesn't go rubbery. Tasty Lancashire is a different creature entirely. It's very popular but I can't stand it. Do you hear me evil cheese wench? I CAN'T STAND IT! The zingy flavour seems awfully artificial and makes me pull a face because my tongue cries. :snivel:

I've calmed down now, but it was a terrible traumatic experience and I shall never forget it. I'm still having nightmares about the evil cheese wench and her scary plastic smile...

So folks, keep a careful eye on your cheese at all times.

Hello George. y:1 xxx

Oldhamcouncil.com

jaspy — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 20:04:10 GMT

Has anyone seen this website? Oldhamcouncil.com

This guy has some really good points, until he starts attacking Saddleworth!!!

So I would like to correct a few of his statements, and before anyone says- typical Saddleworther, I was originally from Shaw!!

Wind farms
Yea wind farms should be built on the moors, but not right on our doorstep as the proposal went! I�m sure if they wanted to build them within spitting distance of your front door you would have an objection,

Building
The objection to building well what can I say!! Its fine building houses, there are plenty of sites that can be cleared for rebuilding in saddleworth, however OMBC seem to prefer selling off areas of greenbelt to preferred developers (no names mentioned but one has its name on the local police cars!!) at a discounted price.
Affordable housing?? No actually, these new builds are ridiculously priced, far out of reach of the majority of locals and Oldhamers. And where does this money from the land sale go? Well that�s what we want to know!! Certainly not back into saddleworth!

Perfect roads
Where!
Saddleworth has �Officially � got the worst Neglected road surfaces in the OMBC! In fact OMBC has failed to maintain the roads in this area to such an extent, it has had to approach the government for a hand out to carry out the necessary repairs to roads and highway retaining walls, �19m of which they have already started to misspend in my view (a certain market for a certain culture in Oldham) lets see how far this money goes!!!

Council Tax
�1000 average!!!!! I wish!!
This is where he really starts to lose the plot!! Actually Saddleworth pays the highest council tax in the area, you can check this on OMBC website!! And the average is �1500 mine is around �1700! And yes Oldham central has more houses, but not more payers, poverty in Oldham means over 50% of Oldham receives CT discounts of some form through no fault of there own, its hard in this day to meet the high taxes this government forces upon us all, however in OMBC case, it takes the money but does not dispatch the good! Which brings me to the next point-

Gritting
We have been told that- quote-if we want a road to be cleared and gritted we have to request it! WTF!!! Sorry but I thought this was included in our council tax / road tax etc.
Lets compare this, how would Oldham feel if roads such as, say- Rochdale road @ Royton, Shaw road @ Higinshaw, Manchester road @ Oldham etc etc, in fact the main roads you need to be clear to get to work! Where left impassable?? Well this is what we got in the last snowfall!! Denshaw- not cleared / gritted, Uppermill- not cleared / gritted, Diggle - not cleared / gritted, etc etc, and I�m not talking about side roads! No these are main roads, infact main routs from Huddersfield and Halifax!! Roads that people from Oldham use!

Tourists and tourist spots
What the hell is he on about here!! There are several attractions here but not to everyone�s taste, yes there are so called attractions that even I find a little, dare I say Boring!! But its not costing Oldham anything, no actually OMBC make a fortune from parking charges at Dovstones, last time I was there, I counted five traffic wardens booking people for not parking correctly! Same around Upermill and Delph.
It�s also popular for that strange breed � Walkers!
Yanks day? Do the people of Oldham stay away? I think not, this has become more and more popular to people from all areas.
Signs that disappear, think you may need to speak to OMBC about that, they maintain the signs, supposedly!
Where the hell did you get that �100m figure? Are you sure you don�t mean �100k? I think that figure may be OMBC excuse to tax Uppermill shopkeepers out of business!! Which they have several times!

Becoming part of Yorkshire
Wrong again!!
Saddleworth is part of Yorkshire! It was grabbed by OMBC in the 70s, but how wrong you are! You really should research things properly!! Saddleworth and several other Ares have requested the formation of a new borough, and to leave OMBC.
Did you realise Saddleworth is the biggest area in the borough? It�s actually around three times the size of Oldham central.

Other points

Schools
Oldham is rebuilding our schools, guess who is last on the list, well that was easy, saddleworth school, this building is � well falling down!!! Rotten door / window frames, leaking roof, falling plaster etc, the school is to be rebuilt on a new sit yet to be found??? But OMBC has only got until 2014 to do this now I have to ask, have OMBC got any intention of doing this? Now before you answer this, let me point something out, Saddleworth school intake is 1317 pupils, a lot of these are from Oldham, current status � full!

Now before this becomes yet another so called saddleworth moan read on-

Now lets take count hill school, intake 1320, and Breeze hill 900 intake = 2220
Both schools are to close!
Where do thee kid now go? Local new school is the academy at Waterhead that�s not yet been built (only got until 2014) intake capacity 1500!!!, erm, now I know some other schools capacity has been increased through revamping etc, but is there something I�m missing? Like � 720 places???

This blog to be continued-

Next subject- the kids say- where�s our lollipop lady gone? I cant cross the road!!

PS- sorry about the crap grammar and spelling!!!