Nick Gibbins

I dislike the sound of my own (recorded) voice. It always sounds deeper and more plummy than I expect. I have been able to pronounce the Welsh place name ‘Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobyllllantysiliogogogoch’ from the age of five. Far from being a useless talent, this once got my family free parking (not once, but twice) in Beaumaris. Such are the benefits of being a precocious child. I was able to type LlanfairPG etc from memory. When I was thirteen, I was broadcast on BBC Radio Essex on Christmas Day, reading from The Wind in the Willows (Chapter 5, the bit about the carol… Read More »25 Facts About Me

Was rubbish and failed to get to Dave and Chris’s birthday bash at Kolebka last night; what with the getting chicken pox and me taking time off to look after him, I was rather behind on a bunch of important jobs (not least preparing for my lecture at 0900 this morning). Finally finished at 1930 last night, just in time to put him to bed. Looked at the weather and decided it was too late and too cold to walk to Bevois Valley and back, especially since I needed to be up with the lark this morning to get in… Read More »Full of fail

First direct impact that the recession has had on us – our friendly, local, family-run bakery is closing shop this Saturday! There is a Greggs over the road from them, but their bread isn’t a patch on that from the Shoebox (and the bread in Waitrose always leaves me feeling rather under-whelmed). On the plus side, they’re keeping the catering and celebration cakes side going, but not from the Portswood shop.

My office overlooks a building site (new biological sciences building). One of the workmen has just sprayed onto the mud the message “LEE the crane driver IS A BATTY BOY” in letters large enough for (presumably) Lee to see from his vantage point in the cab of the tower crane. The message has now been partly erased (another layer of clay and a JCB driving over it will do that), so leaving it as a riddle for future archaeologists.

It’s official – the chickenpox outbreak at the university nursery has finally reached chez Gark. The lad has a crop of blisters on his neck, his back, and under his nappy. I suspect that we’ll be doing some creative Garklet juggling for the next week or so. On the plus side, he’s (currently) being quite cheery, so hopefully things won’t be too bad. For those with children who were at Seren’s birthday party last weekend: he shouldn’t have been infectious at that time, but it’s worth keeping an eye out regardless.

LiveJournal lays off substantial number of employees without severance (various estimates of numbers, but roughly half the thirty staff seems right – summary here). Fortunately, there is a good choice of software for backing up your journal: ljArchive (Windows only, archives entries and comments) ljmigrate (needs python, archives entries, comments and userpics) ljdump (needs python, archives entries and comments) LJBook (produces PDF of your LJ, currently overwhelmed) LiveJournal Backup (Windows only, archives entries and comments) LJSM (needs perl, archives entries, comments, memories, userpics, other images) jbackup (needs perl, archives entries and comments) XJournal (OS X only, GUI-based, archives entries only… Read More »AN ALARMING ITEM TO FIND ON YOUR FRIENDS LIST

Thursday 1st travel to Mapes, then leatherhead London via M&S (pasta) Friday 2nd Walked down to Tower Pier and took boat to Waterloon Bought tickets at London Eye (I+A had hot milk and nasty biscuits) EAT for soup and bread Walked to Tate Modern (A fell asleep) – free galleries, then turbine hall Late lunch in Tate Cafe (mezze and mixed charcuterie – ham frenzy) pudding – cheese + fruitcake, apple crumble Walked across millennium bridge to St Paul’s, and then home via another M+S Lasagna for tea (A didn’t eat, but ate ricepudding) Saturday 3rd Tube to South Ken… Read More »What we did in Copenhagen^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^HLondon