A (nearly) empty office

Silence.
Ring ring - unanswered phones.
Silence.
Whirr whirr - the monorail.
Silence.

Catching the train

In mathematics, A and B commute if AB=BA. In commuting, the order does matter. The Town Hall train (that's the one via Town Hall, or is it the one with destination Town Hall?) is not the same as the Museum train (the one to Town Hall, or the one to Museum?)

Changing sides of the world makes a difference, too. Now I'm in Sydney, I no longer need a dog to carry on the escalators. However, I'm having trouble satisfying the request to keep hold of children while boarding the train. At least I am not asked to keep a firm grip on a pram unless it is mine and I am travelling with it.

Not gritting my teeth

So the Škoda is now on Australian shores.


I prefer the British version:


Sand doesn't taste that good.

Topics of conversation

I'm not sure I belong in Sydney any more - I talk about the weather more than about house prices.

...and on, and on.

Sunrise: before 5am China Standard Time (2100 GMT), somewhere several hundred km south of Beijing.
Sunset: 21:09, British Summer Time (2009 GMT), Bow, London.

That's what I call a long day!

Beijing was good - I definitely could have spent more time there.

I managed to read my thesis a bit somewhere north of Novosibirsk.

London is still grey, and still a very long way from Sydney.

Do not pass word, do not transfer $200

The problem with being able to do so many things online is that everything needs a password. Now, I think I'm reasonably good with passwords and could remember a few different passwords, pass codes and memorable words, and even which one goes with which account, if I could simply choose a strong password for each account.

But these days, half the accounts require particular versions of password strength. This one needs letters and numbers; that one upper and lower case. This one must be more than 8 characters; the other 6-8 and case doesn't matter.

I end up putting in a 11 character long word, when I was only allowed to use 8 to start, or something equally silly. Then, I start trying other things that I know aren't right, and of course each attempt is like rolling a double - have another go, and after three goes I'm in jail, or rather, locked out. Unfortunately, another double can't get you out again. It might not cost $50, but if it's a serious account, it's at least a phone call, not necessarily to the same country and/or timezone.

I don't know about anyone else, but I'd find it much easier if the login screen told me what restrictions had been placed on the magic word to start with. If I didn't have to stop and think "Was this the one that had to have two digits, or was that so-and-so", I just might get it right.

Never mind the cold

Speaking of the weather, my mum says that winter really started with the first cold snap of the year on the day I was born. It seems to have happened on or very soon after that date many times since, as well. This year was no exception, although thankfully it didn't happen quite as drastically as predicted.

Mind you, after five London winters, I can handle the "cold" temperature. I just wish a similarly named virus hadn't come at the same time. Hopefuly it will go before I have to catch a plane!