We've had confirmation today that we will exchange contracts on the 3rd May with a completion date of the 10th May. And I'll be finishing work on the 11th May. So much to do, so much to do! Don't panic, don't panic! read more

Originally uploaded by darylhai. I took this picture on the way to my hotel after work today. It was pissing it down while I was dragging my case behind me through puddles after a very long hard day at the office. It was good to see nonetheless. Just as I was thinking how good it was to see that … read more

It's starting to hit home that we're leaving now after a busy weekend inventorying, packing, and selling. We're not actually shipping that much to Oz in terms of furniture, but our personal items alone equate to half a shipment crate (roughly £1500). For a while now, I've been using www.listal.com … read more

I made the mistake of leaving it late to book my hotel for this week, with the result that I have ended up having to take a smoking room. As a non-smoker with a very sensitive nose, this week has not been a pleasant experience to say the least. The room is clean, but there doesn't seem to be any way … read more

We've just started to put a number of items up for sale on ebay - items which we either don't want to ship to Oz or which it wouldn't be economically viable to ship to Oz, like our dining room table. It breaks my heart to let the dining room table and matching lamp table go for such a low starting … read more

We went over to a friend's house in sunny Barnsley yesterday for a BBQ. It was a glorious afternoon sitting out in their ridiculously large garden drinking wine until the sun went down. It's amazing to think that this time last year there was frost on the ground! What a happier place this country is … read more

And another thing.. Is there any need for Manchester Cathedral to have a full hour of bell ringing practice every Wednesday night - it's so bloody loud. It's not as if they play a tune, it's the same constant repeat of what seems like random monotones. It's enough to drive a man crazy. God damn … read more

I've just given up trying to watch the Liverpool v PSV Eindhoven match online via skysports.com using my T-Mobile 3G data card. When I tried the demo earlier to see if my connection speeds would cope it seemed ok, but when I've tried to watch the live match it just keeps stuttering - I reckon I've … read more

Thank god we're not Americans. If it was yank sailors that had been arrested by the Iranians they would have either fired back, in which case they would have all been shot due to being heavily outnumbered, or Bush would have taken a hard line, in which case it could have led to another war and the … read more

The couple who are buying our house came around at the weekend to look at some of the furniture we're offering for sale (heavily discounted). We've been very cautious up to now to not start putting any plans into action until we've exchanged contracts, because we know the house sale could fall … read more

I just thought I'd do a bit of research into the job market in Brisbane, and suddenly it's 3 hours later and I'm even more confused than when I started! Everything I'm reading tells me that Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra are all better for IT Security jobs than Brisbane. That doesn't mean to say … read more

The Prime Minister popped in to see us at work today. It was all very hush hush, no one new anything about it until about 2 hours before the event. The first I new anything was happening was when I saw an ITV film crew turn up this morning - parked in our car park right across from where I sit. No … read more

Last Thursday, while walking down to Tiger Tiger, I was approached by a scruffy looking bloke who asked me if I could spare him 11p. My default reaction was to say 'sorry, I don't have any change'. Now the reason I bring this up is because I've got to the section within the book 'Join Me' where the … read more

After loving 'Yes Man' by Danny Wallace, I've bought his earlier book 'Join Me' the story of how he started a cult, which I'm finding to be equally as funny and entertaining. I think the reason I like his books so much is because like him, I enjoy stupid pointless things, and believe things which … read more

All in all, the project I'm working on at the moment is quite interesting. However, the task I've been working on for the last couple of days nearly made me lose the will to live. I'm providing IT security consultancy for a project that's rolling out over 6000 new PC's across the company, with an … read more

I'm sitting here at the train station waiting for my 17:18 (of course I missed the 16:18 again), with the adreneline still pumping slightly from the scare I had about an hour ago. I was sitting at my desk (on the ground floor of a very tall building) when suddenly there was a really loud explosion … read more

Had an interesting afternoon today. We had a 'Launch Event' for the main project I'm working on. The project team had booked out a room at Tiger Tiger with food laid on and a free bar! I love those words - FREE BAR! It wasn't all play though. We had to do some 'activities' before we could get stuck … read more

I was walking through the Arndale Shopping Centre at about 5:30pm today and noticed a large line of people queueing to get into Virgin Megastores. Turns out they were waiting for the release of the Playstation 3 at midnight tonight: I don't know how long the people at the beginning of the queue had … read more

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It was absolutely freezing walking into work this morning. It would have been cold anyway, but with strong winds the wind chill factor made it feel like minus 10. Just as I thought I was about to go into the first stages of hypothermia, a warm glow suddenly came over me when when I remembered I'll … read more