Scargill

We’ve been Sky customers since day one… I never really did forgive the BBC for NOT getting the second generation Star Trek series and I’ve always been even less interested in their boring, politically biased news…  and so as soon as Sky came out, we went for it. Over the years we’ve moved up so we now have the full package (minus the sport) and our latest acquisition is SKY HD.

We bought a box from someone on EBAY and got the subscription to Sky and for a while all was ok – until the box started skipping recordings and showing all manner of other issues.

So a couple of months ago we rang up Sky to see what they could do for a loyal customer. After a little haggling, the guy told Maureen that because they had a special £49 deal on, despite not being new customers – we could have a new box for £49 – magic.

We then received an email from Sky on 28/4/2009 which went as follows:

“Thanks for registering to upgrade to a Sky+HD Box, we’re pleased you’ve chosen to enjoy an even better entertainment experience from Sky.”

Lovely.

Then another….

“We’ve had a fantastic response to our new prices, with a huge number of people registering to upgrade and we’re working through each registration in turn.vAt the moment, we estimate that you’ll be able to complete your order and arrange installation in around 3 months.“

Oh, not so good then! Another email….

“You’re getting closer to enjoying a Sky+HD box and Sky Multiroom. At the moment, we expect it will be 4 to 7 weeks until you can place your order”

“We’re pleased to confirm you can now complete your Sky+HD box and Sky Multiroom order and arrange installation straight away. “

Notice the migration from a simple replacement to the whole 9 yards!

Then this…

“Just to remind you your new Sky box is ready, so you can now complete your order for a Sky+HD box and Sky Multiroom today.”

So – we rang them up – “that’ll be £199 sir” – no matter what we did they would NOT BUDGE. We could have one for £79 if we were adding to another room, otherwise it’s the full whack.

Naturally we told them to SHOVE IT… and off I went on the web to find out what was wrong. I noticed a CD for sale on EBAY, how to fix your SKY BOX – with a list of symptoms pretty much as we’d found. So, for a couple of quid I sent off for the CD. Pretty much all that was in it were explanations of the symptoms and a code to get more control over the Sky box – to enable you for example to defragment the disk….  Well, we followed the instructions and up to now we’ve had no further issues but only time will tell.

Sky is a typical example of Capitalism at it’s worst. Capitalism only works when there is true competition (like for example the computer industry where you can now buy marvellous laptops for next to nothing because of real competition)…at one time BBC had a monopoly and how they share it with SKY – at least in rural areas there are no other options. The BBC licence needs to GO completely to wake this nation up to the need to PAY FOR WHAT WE GET – not what people want to THROW at us. Freeing up that income might encourage someone else to start offering us a decent service.

After that treatment if there was ANY viable alternative to Sky I’d tell them to well and truly stuff their account.

Is it just me….  this morning as is often the case I was travelling up from the “Big Blue” hotel in Blackpool, to Star Gate then up to the business Park. All the way up there is a “cycle lane” – and on the sea front there is a sign that says “Blackpool is a cycling town”.

All of which is nice – but I have never ONCE seen a bicycle in the cycling lane – so all that’s REALLY happening is that the people who pay road tax (except it’s not called that anymore) – i.e. car users are once again disadvantaged.

It’s the same with bus lanes  — Newcastle Central Station – half of the road is now bus lane – yet every time I go past in peak traffic, the right half (with the cars) is chocker full (mainly as there is only one lane now) and the bus lane is empty.

Metro Centre – disabled parking – on the floor nearest the doors half of it is disabled parking – yet I have NEVER seen more than a tiny fraction of these used – while the rest of the car park is full.

Have I missed some major point here or have the planners?

See the grandchildren section in the menu above!

It may not seem that way but this must surely be a happy time for politics – the time when labour are well and truly STUFFED. From the moment they achieved power partly because the Conservatives at the time had lost the will to live and partly because “it’s a Blair-face lie” managed to convince the middle classes that he was their friend – that’s just before he got in and taxed them to death.

FINALLY the British public have had enough and hopefully in a matter of days or weeks the current excuse for a prime minister will be OUT.  The only depressing thing about this whole affair is that a notable percentage of the British public have shown their true racist nature by voting for BNP. 

Still – there’s no doubt who’s going to get in power… so that’s a plus!

I’m putting my blog entries in my main scargill blog/website now so please visit the site now

Just a little update for those considering putting the Windows 7 release candidate onto their computers – and in particular for those using the EEE computers by Asus.

My 904HD is the one that comes with Windows XP and a hard disk, while remaining almost a pocket-sized computer (if you have very large, slack pockets.

First of all, why would you want to install Microsoft Windows 7? After all there’s nothing wrong with Windows XP, right? Well, yes, but eventually we’ll have to move on – Vista has been out for a long time now and Windows 7 is just around the corner – and we all like something new!

Some time ago I tried putting the Windows 7 beta on it and it worked, kind of – except for the video camera, which was a non-starter. A couple of programs crashed and I thought – you know what – XP works just fine.

And so it was that a couple of weeks ago just before heading off on holiday and with the release of Windows 7 RC1 having had some good reviews, I thought I’d give it another try.

Simple enough – download the ISO file – bang it onto a DVD and if you happen to have an external drive for your EEE – install off that – if not, look at solutions involving memory sticks!

So did it work – yes. The installation went through without a hitch – the only issue I had was the screen coming up in the wrong resolution and that was rapidly resolved by looking up windows 7 EEE screen issues on Google – and a few minutes later I was installing the Intel video driver.

Camera works, mic works, screen, sound – all work.  I am sitting here typing this on an external monitor at higher res, with an external keyboard and mouse (because the EEE keyboard is frankly rubbish) and I have already installed Spotify, Windows Live Writer, Audacity, Skype, my Vodafone 3G dongle, MWSnap (a freeware screen-grabber), Firefox and a host of other programs without a single hitch.  I am CONVINCED this is running faster than XP was and am up to now quite happy to leave it running until for licensing reasons it needs replacing with the genuine article.

On Friday gone, Maureen had her first helicopter flying lesson. After several stalls due to bad weather we finally managed to get up to the Newcastle flying club along with grandson Rory yesterday afternoon and after some delay due to the helicopter being late coming in… off she went. The session lasted half an hour during which she learned all about the controls and even had a go at controlling the flight itself.

The helicopter was TINY but Maureen and the instructor had no problem fitting in and taking off. It’s really neat seeing these things take off at close quarters.  Her trip took her from the flying club (a stone’s throw from Newcastle Airport) down to Tynemouth and back – meanwhile in that time Rory and I in the car hardly managed to get past Dinnington and back!!! Amazing what you can do if you travel in a straight line without hindrance!

Anyway, here are the photos and a Video of Maureen’s first helicopter flight. An exciting weekend all in – we dropped Rory off and then set back home to get packed to go to Spain… 3am start, friend Louise came over at 3.30am Sunday and we set off for Spain – all in all a pretty effortless flight sadly dented a little by the complete incompetence of GoldCar who managed to blow an hour or more of good sun tanning weather for us! We arrived in Malaga airport around lunchtime and around teatime arrived in Galera, Andalucia to finish off a cracking weekend. More about our trip at the bedrock site

I have to say I’m quite looking forward to a week in Spain. The weather here in Wark has improved but it’s still only 60F in May for heaven’s sake! As long as you only go out at lunchtime it’s fine but the evenings are COLD. I’m looking forward to sitting outside in the dark with a glass of wine staring at the heavens. Hopefully this afternoon Maureen’s helicopter flight is still on – though the clouds might put the kybosh on that… then in the early hours we’re off. If it goes ahead I’ll put a video in here.

For the first time I’m turning everything off, having just about mastered getting GMAIL to work with MS Outlook properly and as a trial before we go off in the summer for several weeks. Currently downloading the Windows 7 beta to try out on the little EEE laptop (I know – BRAVE).  Updates on our travels at the Spanish blog

It was quite elated this morning as they announced that Britain’s biggest wind-farm with 140 windmills was to be expanded by 30 more… well that was until I discovered a video sitting next to it that said that America’s biggest wind-farm had… wait for it, up to FIFTEEN HUNDRED windmills.  It’s not as if Scotland is short of hills.

I’m sorry but I just don’t buy this apology thing… now we have Gordon Brown saying that a “gentleman’s club” is just not good enough. AND HOW LONG HAS HE KNOWN ABOUT THIS?

Gordon Brown and his predecessor have been part of that old boy’s club since they came into power and knew DAMNED WELL what was going on – does anyone REALLY buy this apologetic stance?

They’re all a BUNCH OF COWBOYS and we’ve found them out. THEN we have David Cameron the opportunist – “we need an election” – well – what ELSE would you expect him to say – something ORIGINAL perhaps? What he means is “we need the Conservatives in” – as if THEY AREN’T ON THE TAKE as well!! Is this kind of blatant opportunism REALLY what we want in the only credible alternative to the corrupt labour party? When I say credible – I don’t REALLY mean credible of course as they’re JUST AS BAD.

If you caught someone stealing from your shop and they promised to pay back after they were caught, would that REALLY MAKE IT OK? Or would you still demand punishment. I WOULD!!!

And this old chestnut about them BREAKING THE RULES… for heaven’s sake THEY MADE THE RULES… rules which are that CORRUPT they are now being changed IN THE EXTREME in the hope we don’t notice that this self-serving bunch we call politicians actually used our money to set up an expenses system so corrupt that there is no commercial organisation in the world that would tolerate anything LIKE IT! Our politicians unless they REALLY ARE living in a total dream-world MUST surely have some idea what expenses are like in OTHER organisations… they surely had to be WELL AWARE that they’d set themselves up a nice LITTLE EARNER!

Of course, it’s all an awfully good wheeze to keep our minds off the fact that between them and the banks they’ve brought this country to the brink of disaster!