Politics and opinions

Yet another energy provider

I have lived at my current address for last 6 years and started of using Swalec as my electricity and gas provider. Then found out they were ripping me off so I switched … only after I clawed back the money they owed me. Switched to EDF which had its own little scams. They failed to clearly explain that they will be increasing my bills by switching me to a Standard tariff if I used their smart meter.
No self-service at Oregon petrol stations

No self-service at Oregon petrol stations

I would admit the headline is a little sensational but at the time of driving through Oregon I did think there was something odd about the Beaver state. In my many years of driving round Europe and now the USA I have found that all petrol stations have turned into self-service affairs. You get there, you you fill up your tank, you pay and then you drive off. But in Oregon - oh nooooo.

Experiencing the M25 car park

M25 parking lot on December 18th Photo: TOMMY HINDLEY There were plenty of warnings about possible weather problems before I set off from Haverfordwest in the SW Wales to Stansted airport on December 18th. There was very little snow in Pembrokeshire and the airport was open. There were absolutely no problems up to the M4 exit for Slough. Then it all started to slow down and by the time I got to theM25 exit on the M4 the traffic stopped.

My GMail account hacked by 115.52.213.93

Unfortunately my GMail account martin [dot] mcdowell got somehow hacked today and someone (or something) in China sent a spam message to all my 119 e-mail contacts in my address book at 15.35 this afternoon. The IP address the hack originated from was 115.52.213.93 and is assigned to the Chinese ISP CNC Group CHINA169. It looks like there was a Google-wide attack as their systems crashed. There are several reports of hacked accounts on Google forums.

Tragična zgodba Tommya Jonesa

Gospa Hamer, žena vrtnarja v majhni južno-valežanski vasici, naj bi ponoči sanjala o dečku, ki se je izgubil slab mesec poprej. Ko se je le opogumila in prepričala moža, da ji pomaga, se je 2. septembra leta 1900 skupaj z nekaj sorodniki odpravila na lastno iskalno akcijo. Ko je skupina z gospo Hamer na čelu prispela do grebena nad jezerom Cwm llwch, okoli pol kilometra zahodno od vrha gore Pen-y-fan, je gospa Hammer naenkrat zakričala od groze.

Dedek Mraz inkognito

Secret santa je božična navada, ki sem jo opazil v Veliki Britaniji, kjer podariš poljubno izžrebani osebi darilo omejene vrednosti za Dedka mraza. Seveda ta oseba ne ve od koga je dobila darilo, vrednost pa je ponavadi omejena - v našem podjetju smo omejili na 5 funtov. Za ta Božič sem se odločil, da se pridružim tej navadi in dodal svoj ime na spisek skrivnih božičkov. Slučaj je nanesel, da sem imel zadnji dan službe pred potovanjem v Slovenijo še neke službene obveznosti, moral sem se še dokončno spakirati in se pripraviti na pot.

Zadenite valežansko gostilno za 20 funtov

Danes, 30. septembra 2009, se izteče rok za oddajo vlog za gostilniški netačaj, kjer je glavna in edina nagrada - gostilna sama. Cena za vstop v natečaj je bilo 20 funtov in število sprejetih vlog je omejeno na 30.000. Kot rečeno bo zmagovalec natečaja postal lastnik gostilne The Plash Inn & Brewery Cottage, ki se nahaja v majceni vasici Llanfallteg v Carmarthenshire-ju v Walesu. Skupna vrednost celotnega objekta je 300.

Ubijanje v imenu Faktorja X

V Veliki Britaniji že nekaj Božičev zaporedno prihaja na britanski glasbeni lestvici do nadvlade pocukranih komadov iz tovarne pocukranih komadov Simona Cowell-a in njegovega [X Factor](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_X_Factor_(British_series_6) glasbenega show-a. Tudi za letošnji Božič je kazalo, da bo zopet zmagal njegov protežiranec in zmagovalec Faktorja X - letos je to uspelo Joe McElderry-u. Račune mu je prekrižala zelo odmevna Facebook kampanija Jona in Tracy Morter, imenovana Rage Against The Machine For Christmas No.

The winter fear of December 18 & 19

After all the worries about traveling from Haverfordwest to Stansted the 5 1/2 hour trip went fine. Blue skies in most of the Wales part, the first snow on the M4 spotted about 6 miles west of the exit for Slough . The roads are gritted and the only delay was on the M4 exit for the M25 . It looked like a Smart car caught fire. It was being extinguished on the side of the motorway just as I was passing by.

Nepriznavanje kratice dr.vet.med. v Veliki Britaniji

Verjetno bi se mnogemu zdelo vprašanje manjkajoče kratice strokovnega naziva nepomembno ali pa celo na robu postavljaštva. Meni se je to dolgo zdelo in zato nisem ukrenil kaj dosti, ko sem ugotovil, da mi lokalna ustanova, ki kontrolira veterinarje v Veliki Britaniji, Royal college of Veterinary Surgeons ali krajše RCVS, kratice ni dodala v svoj register članov . Trenutno je navedena le kratica MRCVS, kar pomeni “Member of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons”.