Quit your day job. Go on. I dare you.

So in the last few days that I’ve been in London, there I’ve been noticing some things I miss, some things I’ve forgotten, and some thing’s I’m glad not to have in my life. Here’s a short list of the most obvious things.




Good things about London


The papers (guardian in particular)


Speaking English


Fantastic food (was at Tas in London Bridge last night & had Vietnamese noodles for lunch today)


Blessed anonymity


Taxis


Knowing exactly where to get what you want, whatever and whenever that might be.




Bad things about London


Fatness


Driving on the left. It’s just wierd.


Not using the Euro


Lack of eye contact with anyone you don’t already know


Consumerism


The expense

I’ve got to go back to England tommorrow. Well, actually I’m going to the opera in Geneva on tommorrow night, staying with a friend, then taking an early morning flight to Gatwick on Thursday morning. I’ll be in the office in Angel on Thursday and Friday.




I’m not excited about it to be honest. I feel like it’s going to be several days of stress and turmoil I could probably do without. Maybe I’m just nervous about how I’m going to feel about London. And how London will feel about me.

Technorati : england, geneva, london, opera

To spooge ; verb, english.




To take two separate pieces of technology and combine them to produce a new technology whose value is greater than the sum of the individual parts. Generally done with a large hammer, spooging often results in an unstable and unreliable piece of software.




The longer you code for a living, the more your ability to spooge gracefully becomes your real, day-to-day job.

Technorati : software development, spooging

Ever wondered why people say Bob’s your uncle to indicate that something’s been taken care of?




It goes back to the war in Afghanistan in the late 1800’s when the power of the British Raj was strong. The most feared, brave and brutal soldier in the whole British Empire forced his way through the Khyber Pass and took Kabul. That man was Lord Frederick Roberts. He imposed a ruthless martial law there. On one day, 87 Afghan soldiers were hanged in the public square. Buildings, markets and villages were destroyed and hundreds of Afghan people were killed.




This man, this murderous bastard, was so kind to his own soldiers that they called him uncle Bobs. It was said that if he was in charge, then everything would be well.

Technorati : Afghanistan, British empire, Kyber Pass, Lord Frederick Roberts, bobs your uncle