I fell out with eBay some time ago, but lately I’ve re-registered to sell a few things.

They still seem to be rubbish.

I’ve had someone fail to pay for an item – I can’t leave negative feedback.

I’ve had someone buy a ‘local collection only’ item, then phone on the morning they’re supposed to collect and say they can’t come, so can I post them? That led to my having to box up and work out the postage price which I messed up and therefore had to send by an inferior service (or pay double to send special delivery)… all of which is why I didn’t offer postage in the first place. I can’t leave neutral/negative feedback.

They insist on paypal, thereby making a listing fee, final value fee, paypal commission, AND then holding onto my money for 21 days after it’s been paid.

Not particularly happy, but it’s pretty much the only way to reach a good audience for a sale these days. Is it not?

Still… life pushes you around – it’s how you deal with it that counts.

Shhh!

For the first time in about eight years, I don’t have a server running in the attic.

The funny thing is, when I first installed it, I bought a super-duper, extra-quiet cooling system. Now, even with the two desktop PCs on, it’s much quieter than with just the super-quiet server. I guess cooling technology moves on like everything else.

And when the computers are off… silence. Apart from two-doors-down’s cock*.

It’s also very nice that when the intermawebs or server are down, I don’t have to panic and work out how to get my business site back up and running. It’s all handled by people who know how to do that sort of thing.

(*They’ve put a few chickens in the back garden in the last couple of days. The cock isn’t very vocal and does a sort of asthmatic lethargic half-crow thing occasionally.)

My server went boom. I have wordpress installed offsite. Now I just need to work out how to get all the old stuff off the backup.

We tried out our new 78-inch ultra-high-definition TV today (aka the spare room window). We got a few beers in* and watched a programme called “resurfacing the road”.

78-inch TV

One of my favourite bits was the chap who, despite plenty of notice, decided that he didn’t really have to move his car in any hurry. There came a point, though where NOW became a good time…

Better Move It, Eh?

But what of the people who didn’t move their cars? Well, they were moved for them. And the stop/go man I chatted to suggested that I wouldn’t want my car moving by them because they’re not overly precious about their clients.

Or have it moved.

Imagine coming home from holiday and discovering your car exactly where you left it, but with the road resurfaced under it. That would probably cause some confusion were it me!

(*breaking news: there’s a company called Green’s who are making deglutinized-barley beer… that’s real beer with real barley with no gluten! woo!)

In the natural habitat:

The Cropredy Gang, Before

After scrubbing up:

The Cropredy Gang, After

All together now… Tomorrow’s World!

The Peace Wall, Belfast

Simple, isn’t it? That’s the Northern Ireland problem, I’m talking about. Before I went to Ireland it was easy. Anyone who wants to be British can move to Britain. Anyone who wants to be Irish can stay put. Then we can give Northern Ireland back to the Republic and everyone is happy.

However, after visiting Belfast it doesn’t seem quite so simple. The 75-foot high Peace Walls with gates that are closed every night to stop unionists and republicans from killing each other. The murals glorifying balaclava-wearing militia. The tributes to hunger strikers. Numerous burnt-out or bullet-hole ridden courts, schools and other buildings. Orange Lodges standing out, proudly sticking their fingers up at the Republicans. And the massive mesh fence around the police station to protect it from rocket attacks. All these factors added up to make it not really the most comfortable place to be.

Sure, the British are an ‘occupying force’ in Ireland. But they’ve been an occupying force for some 400 years (and then some – the process is by no means clear-cut). The Normans preceeded them. The Vikings were there before that.

What did shine through is that despite what you see on the news, Belfast is a wonderful city and the ‘trouble’ areas are relatively small and self-contained. You can tell when you’re entering one due to the number of Irish tricolours flying, or the red, white and blue kerbstones. It’s probably worth watching what you say and/or whistle to yourself when in those areas. Incidentally I had “On The One Road” stuck in my head after hearing it twice on separate nights in Killarney. It’s a very Republican song (very Irish too – “we’re on the road to God-knows-where”). Luckily that was after we’d been in the North.

Go to Belfast. Take the bus tour. Have your eyes opened.

The last four weeks have been a little bit mad. Lots of preparations, and then this little matter of a wedding. After (as neatly put by Steve, my favourite brother and best man) a whirlwhind romance lasting just ten years, H and I tied the knot on the 1st of May. It was a delightful event, so we’ve been told. We didn’t really notice because we were forever being separated from our guests in order to make ‘grand entrances’ (and I don’t mean this sort). When we weren’t being separated from guests, we were attempting to speak to all the guests and when that’s 100 people in 10 hours, that’s 10 people per hour, or 6 minutes per person if you don’t count time spent getting married, coming in, going out, being photographed, eating, cutting cakes, first-dancing and the like. Now I realise why we didn’t quite get to talk to everyone as much as we would have liked!

The Intrepid Micra does the westernmost point of Europe

The honeymoon consisted of 11 nights away, touring Northern Ireland and then the Republic. Wonderful place. Blogs and photos will follow. But in summary, the Intrepid Micra clocked up 1666.3 miles and visited the most westerly point of Europe. We (without the Micra) also reached the highest point of Northern Ireland, Slieve Donard. (Goat Stats: Two real goats, one statue of a goat, and a ‘goat street’ complete with ‘goat street café’)

We’re about to head back into the world of reality, and with volcanoes still doing their thing, H will be busy sorting out people’s travel plans, and with a wedding or three coming up, I’ll be busy getting things ready and improving my brand. So… back to busy, but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I’ve also come to the conclusion that facebook has killed the art of blogging, and will henceforth attempt to avoid writing lazy status updates, and instead store them up for some real writing.

More to come…

The Real Website Worth site reckons that my domain is worth 97 cents per day in advertising revenue. I think that my regular readers wouldn’t click on adverts – but some visiting ones might. I will report in 103 days whether I have made my $100.

UPDATE

And I knew that would happen… if I put adverts on, they’ll detect all the talk of photography and put up adverts for photographers.

So… will I lose more than 97 cents per day by not advertising my own Leicestershire photography business there?

It’s one of those projects that definitely falls under the “Dare to Dream” category.

Amateur Pictures of Earth From Space.

Well done, Mr. Harrison!

Mum offered to do our garden as a wedding present. Unfortunately, due to a really bad winter, it’s quite far behind schedule – but we don’t mind, we’re quite relaxed about it all. But today, spurred by the good weather, while Helen painted the remaining wall (and touched up the frost-damaged bits), I rearranged the rocks and made a little rake for my patch of zen…

Spring is here, and right on cue too! Hurrah!

We had just discussed in the week that the garden can be ignored until after the wedding (running a business, planning a wedding and trying to pass a GCSE in Japanese is starting to become a bit of a burden). But the lovely weather today was too good to pass up.