Pound sign

I can now type a "£" symbol. It was surprisingly difficult to achieve.

I had to add the US English (International) keyboard, in addition to the Australian English (US) keyboard. I can switch between keyboard layouts with shift-leftAlt. One would thing that having an international keyboard would be the best option, but because there are so many accents and weird characters, it's a bit odd. For example, when I'm in international mode, and I press the ", nothing shows up until I type the next character. It waits to see if I type a special sequence that might mean, for example, ö or ü. So I'll spend most of my time in good-old Australian mode, until I find myself needing to use these special characters.

Thanks to Penn State University for providing the advice.

And why do people call # a "pound sign"? And why is the £ that shape? Is it anything to do with the abbreviation for pound (weight) being "lb"? More on these questions some other time.

School starts

The half-term holiday for the Autumn term is over, and the girls are back at school. They still seem to be enjoying things! Stephanie is going to be a munchkin in The Wizard of Oz play, and will join the choir and string ensemble. Being in year 2 at the moment, it seems there aren't too many additional opportunities for Helen at the moment - they mostly seem to start when children enter the "Main School" in year 3. I'm spending time in my office-in-lieu, the Malvern Public Libary, where I can get internet connectivity and power for my laptop, familiarising myself with organisational structures and catching up on work stuff.

Joanna and Berenice are spending time acquiring school uniforms, exploring hills, and looking after Christopher. He's convinced at least one grandparent of his superior abilities in the vocabulary department. The cardinality is currently approximately 6, with parent-discernable (on a good day with a little imagination) words including Dadda, Bubba, Broom (the sound a car makes, not a cleaning implement), Car, Tractor, and Bird. He is happy to stand himself up without holding onto anything. He's been able to get up the stairs ever since we've been here, but now he can crawl/slide backwards down them as well, although not without supervision. He also enjoys playing "Ring a Ring of Roses". Here he is playing with a birthday present train (thanks Aunty Adria!).

Cathedrals

Today (Sun 28 Oct) we split up. I went on a Cathedral crawl, while the others stayed at home in the 'orrible weather (wind and drizzle), before going to the Malvern Museum and the plague round. Eucharist and Matins were at Hereford. The regular choir was on its half-term holiday, but Laus Deo (a visiting choir) rendered Scarlatti Mass for 4 voices, plus Vierne Tantum Ergo for the Communion, and then Wood Te Deum and Benedicamus for Matins. It was quite nice to get a double-dose of choralisms. After a little walk around Hereford, although not going to see the Mappa Mundi and chained library (until the rest can join in), it was time to drive to Gloucester. Not before I bought a box of fireworks, though! It seems it's legal for an adult to let them off at any time of year, although not after 11pm, and at least 5m (25m for the bigger ones) from the audience. We'll save them for Saturday night, when every man and his dog is putting on a Guy Fawkes show.


I didn't have a map of Gloucester itself, but managed to find somewhere to park within walking distance of the Cathedral. I'm learning that parking on Sundays isn't too much of a problem. The evensong was Tallis and Victoria, by the Gentlemen of the choir. The performance was mostly very good, but two verses of the Nunc Dimittis were surprisingly 20th century - in two keys at once. I guess it happens to the best of them, and they'd just put on an a capella concert the previous evening, so perhaps it was under-rehearsed.

Navigation out of Gloucester was rather sub-optimal, but I did end up at home within 4 minutes of the promised time. If I'd been keen enough, I could have made evensong at the Priory as well. We cooked steak tonight - probably won't happen too often, given the price, but we have to try it occasionally!

I've managed to import email from my old computer's Thunderbird to the same program on the new computer. That sounds like it should be very simple, doesn't it. But the directory structures appeared to have absolutely nothing in common. One had a hierarchy of folders, and the other only had two files, neither of which existed on the first. But MozBackup saved me.

The girls start school tomorrow after their half-term break. I'm not sure how long they're going to stay in years 2 and 4. The kids only start "hobbies" (on Saturday mornings) once they're in year 3, so Helen is keen to be moved up a.s.a.p. Although they've both been making friends, so it's probably not a trivial decision. Speaking of making friends, they discovered Izzy at the plague round this afternoon, and have arranged to meet up again same time next week - so that's a good sign.

The work people are all away Monday-Wednesday, and they're not going to be ready for me to start until Thursday. So that gives me time to make a few more admin arrangements for furniture delivery, but also to spend some time going through emails (including CryptoGram) and work wikis. I'll also try to get myself acquainted with organisational structures as much as I can from the web.

Daylight saving ("Summer Time") finished here early this morning, so we had an extra hour available for sleep. I tried not to use it all up in one go, hoping that we could use some of it to be ready to get the kids to school on time tomorrow. Who knows how it will turn out.

Iron Bridge and Boscabel House

First thing on our agenda this morning was to start an industrial revolution. It was either Legend or Lonely Planet that indicates that the Derby family started some iron smelting operations, and made some of the largest pieces that had ever been made. Someone designed them a bridge, and they built it. I'm not sure that it's implicitly fantastic, but the fact that it was the first iron bridge in the whole world, and that every one said it couldn't be done does add some interest. There are ten museums within about 5 miles, all devoted to some aspect of the iron industry. After looking at the bridge, walking over it, walking under it, photographing it, touching it, and walking over it again, we (Steph, Helen, and I) went to the "Enginuity" hands on engineering museum. (Berenice, Christopher, and Joanna walked around the valley for a while.) Inside, we played with some virtual x-rays, gravel mining operations, hydroelectricity systems, pneumatic robots, and some internal combustion engines. It seems the gravel mining scored highest for the girls.

Afterwards, we went on (by a surprisingly direct route) to Boscobel House and the "original" Royal Oak. My historical interest neurons failed to fire sufficiently on this occasion. The only reason that people pay money to see this particular house is that some scallywag recently-ex-king hid there for a day or two, some of it up a tree, while avoiding soldiers of the revolution, on his way to relative freedom in that place where French Fries come from. This must be why the Americans decided to call them Freedom Fries. We were shown some various bedrooms, sitting rooms, priest-holes where the dodgy catholic monsignors could hide. Christopher slept through most of the guided tour, but really enjoyed chasing the chickens and geese. The visit turned out to be a good excuse to make another Keynesian attempt to revive the UK Hot Chocolate industry.

Now at this point, I want to talk about fuel economy. We found a cheapish diesel place (97.9p/L) and filled up with 32L after travelling 341 miles (546 km). That's 5.8 L/100km, which is better than my little Mazda 121, and about half what the Magna gets, and the Zafira's been carrying 6 people & stuff for much of that time! Admittedly there's been a good proportion of motorway driving, but I'm still very pleased. It makes me think that maybe we should try to bring the Zafira home with us. I don't know whether there are any diesel ones available in Australia. Not sure what the servicing implications are, although it only requires one service each year or 20,000 miles.


I've discovered an entertaining show on Classic FM called "Tony Robinson's Friendly Guide to Music" - a humerous introduction to classical music. It's definitely not highbrow (like BBC Radio 3, which I do also listen to), but it's lots of fun. We've heard about Chopin, Liszt, and Bizet tonight. It was interesting to hear his characterisation of Baroque, Classical, and Romantic. Baroque is about rules, and who can be the biggest control freak; Classical is pushing rules to their limits; and Romantic is proving that you know the rules so well that you can break them for effect. It's times like this that I wish I'd studied such things more academically.

Tomorrow's plan is to visit Gloucester and Hereford for Communion and Evensong (although not necessarily respectively). The music lists will help me make that decision.

Lincoln

I remember my boss once explaining that when one is as well-travelled and world-weary as he was, convenience (during travel in this case, ie. sitting towards the front of the plane and not checking luggage underneath) was worth any price. I rejoiced in some convenience of my own in the Lincoln White Hart hotel. Back from locating an elusive dessert, it was so civilised to pull out the laptop and start Internetting without having to drive off to an Internet-Cafe or to queue up for a computer at the library. Being a northern locality, I had the delights not of the relatively common 3G connection, but of HSDPA. (If I had connectivity as I write, you can be sure there'd be links to each to help you (and me) understand the technical implications. Maybe they'll appear later.)
Lateness prevented getting a decent fix, I have to admit. And Thursday morning I crammed in some photo-compression and posting before breakfast. But once we were on our way, touring the castle, cathedral, and Medieval Bishop's Palace, there wasn't any opportunity to update things. But a day or so late isn't really a problem, is it?
The castle was interesting. We walked along the top of the walls, and climbed up some of the towers, including the Observatory tower that you could see in the night-time photo. This photo is taken from that tower, looking back to the Cathedral. You can even see our hotel room windows (a group of 4 in the floor under the 4-window grey attic). We looked at the Magna Carta exhibition, and tried to present the key points to the girls. I'm not sure that I really understood what happened after the document was adopted (in 1215). Seems that once King John departed the scene, the next King (Henry the somethingth) was either good or bad, the barons were either loyal or disloyal, a seige either continued or ended, and that was the last time that Lincoln Castle was involved in military activity. Perhaps the highlight of the tour, from the girls point of view, was the cookie and muffin from the cafe.
After that, we visited Lincoln Cathedral. We weren't in time to participate in a service, and it was clear that we weren't all going to be well-enough behaved to tour properly, so we managed with a brief view from the West End of the Nave, having checked out the plethora of Gargoyles on the outside. There was a big screen separating the Nave from the Choir and Sanctuary, with the organ on top of the screen.
But that's the only glimpse we have of the inside, because we tramped off to the Medieval Bishop's Palace, which was much more amenable to baby-change and uncontrolled childrens' antics. I think the girls grasped a little of the history as described by the signs and their parents, as they caught their breaths every now and then.
On our way back to the hotel, we walked around the Cathedral, and saw the interesting chapter house with its flying butresses. We also saw some official Roman Ruins - some foundations of a wall. It was hard to pass on any enthusiasm about those.
The trip home was uneventful, but a little slow given the indirect route and the traffic. We had the option of cooking a dinner, but too easily fell victim to the girls' now familiar refrain: "Can we go to the pub tonight?". We were the first customers there, and as another couple and another fellow came in, we had a sociable time. I tasted some Guiness, which was nicer than the Ludlow Gold from last time. Trevor hoped that I'd try some more authentic beers - being part of CAMRA, the Campaign for Real Ale - they have a number of genuine hand drawn beers available, although they do make a concession for those who want some of the "standard" (should I say "common"?) beers too.
But before anyone gets any ideas that my drinking habits have changed, I should explain that I had (at home) finished what remained of the Calvet Reserve (Bordeaux) 2005 (Merlot & Cabernet Sauvignon), which has been the best French wine of all, so far. It was so well balanced, chewy, and flavoursome (for a French wine, anyway), that while shopping this morning, I decided that I should try another, the 2003. It was cheaper (6.99 rather than 8.99), and perhaps more full-bodied, but not as balanced, and the oak flavours weren't as good. That reminds me that I haven't documented the previous one: a Saint-Emilion (Bordeaux) Union de Producteurs 2005 (Merlot & Cabernet Franc). It was ok, but with not as much flavour as the 2005 Calvet.
Back home, on more domestic and administrative issues, we've decided that trying to arrange to move into Moorlands Rd on 3 November was too trying. We were given the option of staying in Wayfarers for an extra week, but at our own expense. That didn't seem to make financial sense, so we managed to locate another, Cloud's End ("on the Malvern Hills with Spectacular Views") where we'll stay for a week on the other side of the Hills until the house is ready for us. We will then have enough certainty to arrange our freight and hired-furniture to be delivered on 9th November. It will be interesting to compare waking up at the same altitude but on the Eastern side, at least for a week. Then we'll descend to the depths of Moorlands Rd.

I've been chatting with people from my new work. I was invited to attend a meeting at Shrivenham (perhaps a cross between the ADFWC and Australian Defence College) on Wednesday 31st, and then a 3-day meeting at Farnborough on 5-7 Nov. It then turned out that administrative inertia (lack of paperwork being in place in time) would preclude the Shrivenham visit. Although I had enough clothes to cater for the odd business engagement prior to our freight being delivered, it now seems that this would not be adequate. While the others went for a walk on the Hill, I went for a walk on the Moor. I mean Mall. It seems that clothes may be just about the only sector where things are cheaper here than at home. Or maybe it was just the shop I was in. Once I got to the checkout, loaded with jackets and jumpers for the girls, and shirts, ties, and singlets for me, they explained that because this was a discount shop, I could only buy if I were a member, and I needed to join and get a membership card. I also bought shoes, boots, and (given the relativistic effects of retail inertia), car mats, a bluetooth hands free phone thingy, and some more groceries - even steak. I also managed to collect chequebooks from the bank, and to order a new battery for my phone.
Tomorrow's plan is to visit "Boscobel House and the Royal Oak" (Staffordshire) and "Iron Bridge" (Shropshire), in an effort to make use of our shiny new English Heritage membership.
But now the complete cycle of Brandenburg concerti nears completion, so that's the end of the computing for tonight. Just think, on the Eastern side, I'll be on the net at home, and these ramblings will be posted as they're composed! Maybe they'll be shorter.

Best laid plans

Well it was decided that Yorkwards we should go, so Yorkwards we went. After some minor admin in Great Malvern with the agents of estate, we motored towards and on the motorway. We tripped down the A449, onto the A444, the M5, the M42, and the M1. We made toilet stops at "Services" a couple of times, but all was going well. The YHA had some 4-bed dormitories for a not-too-unreasonable price, and we'd reserved one.

It was just around lunchtime that the car slowed down. It suddenly seemed to have less power. And then we noticed the little orange light on the dash - you know the picture of the spanner that means some trouble with the "engine and transmission electronics". The book said that we should try turning the engine off and on to see if the light would go away - if it only came on once, this was not relevant. But if it continued to come on, we would need a qualified repair person. Well it just so happened that we were in Nottingham, and there were tourist sign directions to Sherwood Forest and Newstead Abbey. It seemed that these would be an interesting place for lunch, and a place to give the engine a rest. We came across Newstead Abbey first, and had a nice walk. There were lovely gardens, a lake, a pond, a big old house, a mostly dissolved abbey, formal Spanish gardens (almost maze-like where the girls went bananas with some similarly aged others), geese, peacocks, squirrels and rabbits, as well as Christopher's favourite: the tractors (that the gardeners were using). We came across some people who spent a few months in Australia as a trial emigration, but decided to go back to Nottinghamshire. They can't have liked wine or must have found some other problem with Muswellbrook.

After some playing around, we got back to the car, and found that the light had gone off. That was lucky! We got down the driveway, and onto the main road again, when the light came on. We started looking for a service station, but the symptoms were getting worse. We could barely drive at 20mph (30km/h), and it took ages to get moving from the front of the traffic light queue. But we eventually found a garage. A little playing around with the computer scanner analyser thing indicated that the "EGR Valve" (Exhaust Gas Recirculation) was faulty. Apparently, exhaust is recirculated through the engine air intake to warm things up. In fact the whole engine is controlled by the computer, and when the light comes on, the computer switches to a "limp home" mode. Even the accelerator pedal has no mechanical linkage to the engine.

The mechanic didn't like doing warranty work - it never seemed to be profitable for him. We called the RAC - we had just confirmed our insurance and breakdown cover with them this morning. But they explained that the full breakdown service only comes into effect after 24h, so that people don't join up when they break down. Anyway, the mechanic took pity on us, and offered to explore and ordered a new EGR valve. We decided to explore the decidedly unscenic town of Kirkby in Ashfield. After a brief stop in an Internet cafe to change a nappy and arrange international funds transfer, we decided it was time for hot chocolate. (Helen seems to have decided that any time from the end of lunch is Fish and Chips time.) We explored the Half Term Half Price sale in a shoe shop, and while buying some boots discovered that the car was all fixed, under warranty and everything. We bought a fourpack of Fosters export beer for the workshop, and were on our way again.

But it was now 4pm, and we wouldn't make it to York in time for Evensong (5:15pm) at the minster. So after a quick check of the atlas, it was decided that the new destination would be Lincoln. I wonder if the York YHA people believe the "car broke down" story. The car got us to Lincoln perfectly (although there was quite some traffic in the inner city part), and we ended up at the closed Tourist office, phoning different people to try to get accommodation for the night. We didn't find anywhere that came close to the YHA price, and had to settle for a rather pricey White Hart Hotel room, right in the middle of the Cathedral and Castle precinct. We rushed to get some dinner in time to take the Ghost Walk tour at 7pm. The Magna Carta pub only just managed to serve our (very good value) meals in time (we were still eating some in our fingers on the walk).

The Ghost Tour didn't quite live up to the standard that had been set for us in York 13 years ago. This one was was purely stories, with no action. But it was sort of interesting and sort of informative.

The girls and I managed to locate a restaurant that would serve a reasonably economical dessert. After a few tears when the wrong flavoured ice-cream was delivered to the table, and an eventual toffee replacement duly downed, we were back in the bedroom, where Christopher was just about asleep. This meant it was time to try the wireless broadband! And it was beautiful. Up here in the north, it's not only the 3G, but HSDPA which was giving download speeds just about as fast as we were used to from ADSL. The only problem now is that I'll be tired in the morning!

Tomorrow, we plan to explore the Castle, the Cathedral, and the Bishop's Palace at least, then possibly inspect some of the many "Roman Ruins" that show up on the tourist map, and maybe the riverside area. Not sure which direction we'll head back to Malvern - we had planned to go home from York via the Peak District. It's not exactly on our way now, but it's not too far away. We'll see.

It will be fun to visit York next time...

At last

I suppose that readers may consider achieving Internet access to be a rather trivial activity. But for someone who's been so frustrated over the last week, today's success is an enormous relief. I can't say it's entirely perfect, though. The coverage on our western side of the Malvern Hills is "2G", which is theoretically good enough for Internet, but not with the 3 network. But if I drive over to the east side, I can get satisfactory coverage, enough to post this blog, for example.

So here I am, sitting in the dark in the little Matiz, typing away with the dim screen glow lighting up my face. I'm parked just outside the Moorlands Rd house, to check the coverage here. I seem to have full strength of some signal, although I'm not sure that it shows the 3G strength - perhaps just the GPRS strength. Who knows.

It was interesting to see that there were two West Mercia Constabulary vehicles parked just behind me. Lucky I'm not paranoid, isn't it! And now a family of 4 walks past with a torch - must be going for an almost full-moon lit stroll on the common. I wonder if they're connected with the police presence.

So let me summarise the biggest lesson I learnt from the 3 experience. If it's a credit check problem, ask to speak with the credit checking department, ask for a review, and provide lots of information about how good a customer you are.

The second biggest lesson I learnt is: When you arrive in the UK, work out what your address will be, and make sure your bank account reflects that address - not sure if the correspondence address is relevant, but I made both the residential and correspondence addresses reflect the Wayfarers house. It seems that so many systems interact, and they all have to agree. Even trhough Wayfarers won't be our long-term place, it's been important to have a verifiable address.

Well tomorrow, we're going to have a weekend (since the last couple have been full-on with real estate agents, banks, etc). The plan is to drive to York for the night. We should be able to catch evensong in the minster, some sightseeing, and even do a Ghost Tour (but don't tell the girls that yet!). We'll try staying in the YHA hostel, where it's pretty cheap, and there's parking. It's partly to calibrate how far it's feasible to go for a weekend, and also what the different reactions of the different age groups will be to such touring. We're mostly waiting for reference checking and real estate processes to take their course, and there seems to be no requirement to remain local at the moment - we'll probably have better internet connectivity up north, as that's where 3 has rolled out their HSDPA "Turbo" network first. Perhaps that makes it an employment-related trip, for tax purposes!

Anyway, it's time to go back home to read a bedtime story - the Phoenix and the Carpet for the girls, and the Feynman "What do you care what other people think?" for myself. Goodnight from Moorlands Rd Malvern (if not 60a Moorlands Rd!).

Chapter Three Sequel

It's been over a week now. I got the quote on Friday, and tried to sign up Monday morning last week. But at least there is discernable progress. Where did we leave things last episode? I received a phone call from 3, saying that all I had to do was visit a 3 Shop. They gave me a toll-free (from a landline) number to call, to find out where the nearest 3 shop is. So I stopped off at the local phone booth to make the call. They didn't really know anything about my case, but gave me the address of the Worcester shop. That was Saturday. On Sunday, it was determined that we should be tourists, and Worcester was the designated destination. We chose to go by train for novelty, and because any other means would have been too cheap. Over twelve pounds fare plus 3 pounds car parking saw us travel one stop (8 minutes) from Malvern Link to Worcester. A nice Cathedral service, where the Birmingham University Singers rendered Dvorak in D and a Derring motet quite nicely. The children (Stephanie, Helen, and Joanna) went to "Junior Church" before communion, and seemed to cope. I passed on greetings from St John's and David Thomas (a recent Precentor at Worcester), and received some to take back. But I'm digressing, aren't I. After the service, I found the 3 Shop. The sitation was remarkably similar to the first experience in the Malvern phone shop - credit check declined, even after they debited 50p from my account just to check it out! Honestly, there's nothing that can be done, they assured me - it's impossible. It became apparent to me at this point that a higher being in this country was challenging me with a quest. This was no longer about having internet access; it was, yet again, time to disprove the label "impossible". I called the customer service line (from the 3 shop), and tried to find an empowered person to talk to - one who could provide more than the standard policy. Eventually I struck gold and was put through to the credit checking department. They suggested that all I had to do was write them a letter (and yes, they'd accept email) explaining the situation, and they'd review my case. Great - I'll do that from the library when back in Malvern. Oh, wait. The library's shut on Sunday. The Internet Cafe in Ledbury is shut on Sunday. Oh well, had an interesting time wandering around the Priory - a key Malvern landmark. When I heard the organist practising Howells' Paean, I decided I had to go to Evensong too. That was quite nice - and I was invited to sing with them which I'd like to do sometimes (although it'd be good to try to touch every Cathedral in the country). Yes yes, but what about the Internet? Well ok, it's Monday as I type. This morning, I called in at the library first thing, and wrote a long and detailed letter to credit.checking@three.co.uk, outlining my extensive credit history in Australia, and how they were missing out on a good customer, and that I'd be willing to pay the contract amount or a deposit up front, etc. After lunch, I went to Ledbury to do some blog updating, skyping, checking of work emails etc. And behold, a message back from three! In less than an hour, they had "conducted a full review of my application" and decided to reverse their decision. I had only to go to my phone shop, show them the letter, and pay a 150 pound refundable deposit. Hurrah! At last someone is talking sense! Print out the letter, and take it to the Malvern phone shop for my fifth visit in a week. Craig, the shop keeper, was very amiable. I knew that he had as little power as anyone else, but armed with the letter showing the magic Reference Number, I was prepared for previously insurmountable obstacles to vanish from my path. Craig was showing hints of frustration as his phone call was passed from person to person inside 3, eventually speaking with someone who understood what the reference number was for. It took a lot of cross-checking between the credit checking people and the account opening people to get anywhere, but I sat there happily waiting, because it would all go through. At several stages while he was on hold, he had to suggest to customers that he would be quite a while, and that they might be better off coming back tomorrow! At last he announced that we were through, and they were going to activate my USB modem SIM card. Oh, we have to take the deposit first. Would you like to pay that out of your HSBC account? Sure! He was transferred to the deposits department, where name, rank, serial number, date-of-birth, address, postcode, bank sort code, account number, marital status, and other details were taken again. The 3 person then had to speak to me personally, to confirm that I was aware that this was a refundable deposit, to explain that the refund would be via cheque to the mailing address at the end of 12 months, and to again confirm my name, date-of-birth, address, and postcode. "Pass me back to Craig now please", and Craig is asked to read out all the bank account details. "And the address on the account is the same as the residential address given by the customer?" I shrugged - for all I knew, the bank account's address was my Australian home. But maybe it was all correct, since we'd recently made credit card applications. Oh. The deposit hasn't gone through, and the system explains that the address on the account doesn't match the address I supplied. Ok, I'll give my Australian address. Sorry, can't take that. Ok, well I'll pay by credit card? Is it registered with the current address? No. Sorry. Craig asked 3 whether he could use the store card to pay the deposit, if I were to pay the store by cash. No, sorry. A quick review of all the options seems to be that the address on the bank account has to be changed. Off to the bank. Is my car going to be clamped, or get a parking ticket? Concentrate on the main issue! After waiting for the hyper-friendly bank manager to finish one appointment, I eventually get to see him, and explain that I need to register my current address. "Ah, so you've found a place to live now?" "No, it's still temporary" and we go through the situation again. But he happily makes the changes on his system, for both the residential and correspondence addresses, and in answer to my query, confirms that the change is instantaneous - doesn't take any time to "filter through the system". Back to the phone shop, where it's my turn to wait in a queue. When it's my turn, we magically get to talk to the right person at 3 straight away, and explain the situation briefly. "You've only just changed the address with the bank? It will take 24 hours to register." "Can't you just try it?" "No point." Craig explains it all to me. He convinces the 3-man to try again, but again the payment is declined because of the address. "We have a lot of identity fraud in this country, and it's important to be able to match a person to an address." The only advice is to come back in 24 hours. So, with a deft change of tense, I trudged back to the car, which wasn't clamped or ticketed, and drove back over the Wyche to West Malvern, to the strains of Schubert on BBC Radio 3. That's where we leave this episode of "Chapter Three". I make have a chance to post this tomorrow, since I won't risk the 3 deposit until 24h after the address change. What is in store (apart from a USB modem) for our hero (deftly changing to 3rd person) in the next exciting episode? Will the software fail? Will there be no coverage in West Malvern (like the on-line map indicates)? Will he be arrested for the attempted assassination of Benazir Bhutto, the Great Train Robbery, or even driving while under the influence of a call centre conversation? Stay tuned!

But how misleading this all it - it sounds like the day has been a disaster. Well no it hasn't. That representative of the most worthy profession of Real Estate Agents has informed us that their recommendation to our prospective Moorlands Rd Landlord to reduce the rent Has Been Accepted. There's a small amount of correspondence to check with the High Commission, and we should be right to sign up and move in very soon. That news is at least as good as hearing that my credit check declination (??) had been reversed.

We managed to make an economic recovery of some rather depreciated furniture. Joanna and Berenice had discovered a skip outside a house that is being gutted for renovation, that contained a collection of rather grotty furniture and other rubbish. But that depression-era thrift assured that a bit of spit & polish would see it as good as new, so the prize was carried home. The exercise doubled as an experiment to calibrate the cargo carrying capacity of the Matiz, and an exercise in hill starts with an unusually sensitive clutch. But our net assets have now just been incremented by one office chair, and since the furniture budget for Moorlands Rd will have to be lower than originally thought, this could be a good thing.

Looking for a house

We're relatively optimistic that we'll end up at Moorlands Road. The house looks like this from the front, and there's a view across the common towards the Malvern Link railway station. There's some haggling to do over the price, but we'll see.

There's a couple of other places which we have toured through, which would be feasible, but they really aren't as suitable.

Two cars

Picked up the little Matiz this morning. It was a little complex driving around Worcester, but we made it there and back with no u-turns, so it can't have been too hard. Here's a Zafira pic for reference.

Neurosis

October 18th's wine (well the 18th is its third day, actually, although that's not to be taken as a measure of its quality) is a Les Vieilles Vignes de Chateau Maris 2005 from the Minervois la Liviniere "commune" in the Languedoc region. Now the bottle says "Appellation Minervois la Liviniere Controlee", but Hugh Johnson's 1971 World Atlas of Wine (coutesy of the Wayfarers library) suggests that some areas are Appellations Controlee, and second rank wines are VDQS (Vin Dilimite de Qualite Superieure), and names Minervois la Liviniere as a VDQS. Hmmm. I chose it because it was described as "full bodied", and one that would make people forget about the food and consider the wine a highlight. It was certainly more full bodied than the other French wines I've tried, and probably the best French red overall. It claims to have been "partly aged in oak barrels", which possibly explains why it doesn't have the tannins that I'd expect from a Rockford Basket Press, Turkey Flat Shiraz, Leasingham Classic Clare Shiraz, or Wolf Blass Grey Label Shiraz - probably my favourite wines from my cellar. I will give the wine due credit for the complexity and smoothness, but these French wines seem to be a little shy, not like the "blockbuster" Barossa ones. Oh well, more to learn I'm sure. Must be time to talk to Geraldine.

Now some w(h)ining of a different kind. The friendly Avis people came to collect our rental car today. This was fine - we were ready for both rental cars to be collected. But perhaps the Avis system can't cope with people renting two vehicles, as the second car is still here. The two people who came to collect the car said they'd ask about the second car. A lady from Avis rang to say that Avis would accept responsibility for their parking ticket (issued when the car was being delivered to us in London), and I mentioned that we had been expecting the second car to be picked up. She couldn't find any reference to the second car without a rental agreement number, which I didn't have on me at the time. When I got home again, in a spirit of altruism, I tried calling Avis to remind them. I called the main reservations number, but they couldn't cope with people who already had a car. They gave me what they claimed was the phone number for the Worcester office, which I tried to call, but which appears to be an invalid phone number. (And no, Glennn, it's not the phone number for a disabled person!) I knew it wasn't the right area code, but the friendly Avis reservations person assured me it was. I suppose that we're obliged to be standing at the front door with car keys in hand, ready to smile at the friendly Avis people whenever they choose to come and collect the car. I hope I can still smile at them.

The next saga relates to cooking. The microwave worked last night. We cooked some vegetables with it. But then, it was time to warm the baby food, and it came out cold. We tried all sorts of things. The turntable turned. The timer timed. The power adjuster adjusted the power. But the food still came out cold. Readers will be shocked to hear that I even consulted the troubleshooting guide in the manual! Of course this guide was not written by an engineer, and contained very little of value. After much trial and just as much error, we could only conclude that there were no microwaves left in this oven. We tried it again at breakfast, but we obviously weren't three bears, because the porridge was cold. Even at lunch time, it was broken. So I gave in, and left a message for the owner. He came around this evening, just after Berenice informed me that the oven was working again. Now if there's anything more embarassing than having to resort to the manual, it's telling someone that the thing is broken when it clearly isn't. But there you go, it heated a few different things for us - even some potatoes for dinner. But wait! This story doesn't merely relate minor embarassment on the way to a happy ending. It seems that the oven is following the Royal Mail's example, and going on another unofficial strike! At least an intermittent fault is more is more interesting, and more worthy of an engineer's attention.

The third saga for today is from Internet, chapter Three. Readers may be familiar with the fact that I came close to acquiring a modem for mobile broadband, but that credit history was my undoing. Not a bad history, of course, but a non-existent one. It was rather disheartening to have the hopes built up only to be suddenly dashed. But I thought that maybe I could call Three central, rather than going through a local dealer who had no discretion. So, I looked for the Three number. Maybe on the Three brochure? Nope. Maybe in the white pages? Nope. Called the local dealer, who gave me customer service. After various menu options, I reached a person who said I needed to talk to someone in sales, not customer service. The sales person said that if I had an issue with credit, I should contact the credit reporting agency, Experian. Well, I'd lost confidence that I was getting anywhere useful at this stage, but there was still a positive balance on the phone, so I tried one last time. Well of course the Experian number was purely an automated voice response system, and the only option really open to me was to order a credit report, so that I could see what there might be to complain about. Maybe I'll get back to the Three people tomorrow. Perhaps I need to start asking for supervisors.

Should I go on about the Bank for a while now? We were in a hurry, but Mr Bank Manager kept insisting he'd keep us only a few more minutes. It was interesting that the bank ended up giving us nearly three thousand pounds credit (can you tell I'm not typing this on a UK keyboard?) with very little evidence of ability to pay it back. But it took several trips to the printer, which ran out of paper at least once, and a couple of other little interruptions. But we were able to finalise credit card applications, which we had earlier been told would not be available until we'd been in the country for at least six months. After all the rest, that should have been a successful, relaxing, and even rewarding time. Maybe if we hadn't been running late to pick Helen up from school it would have been. But it's all ok in retrospect, isn't it. We can look back and laugh...

Perhaps that's the end of such sagas, and I can get back to normal - listen to a bit of music. Hmmm - I know that tune. Oh yes, Tchaikovsky VI. No wonder I'm feeling neurotic (pathetic?). I guess it's all excusable in the context of such powerful music. Definitely my favourite Tchaikovsky. I love the way there's always applause at the end of the upbeat 3rd movement, but then things just fade away from dramatic despair into lonely misery in the 4th. It seems very symbolically autobiographical for the composer.

I'm sure you're lucky to see such a long blog entry. If I had decent Internet access, there'd be so much else to get on with: making multitudes of minor modifications to blog formatting and line breaks, looking for better mobile plans, searching for more properties to let, or even indulging in dreamy surfing for logical curiosities and interesting tidbits about music, religion, mathematics, or even security. But at the moment, there's not much else to do. Make the most of it!

Sunny

Well yesterday and today it's been sunny! This morning was a little chilly, but no frost - at least not where we are. Here's a couple of pictures from our yard (looking West).

The girls have gone to school again today, and we're trying to do more to find some accommodation.Here's a picture of the girls at the school door yesterday.

The miracle of the wheels

It seems that today's accomplishment counts as a miracle - actually successfully buying a car - a Vauxhall (Holden) Zafira (2.0 turbo diesel, 7 seats), just like the one in this picture. I suppose that it's miraculosity is similar to that of successfully opening a bank account. But it's apparently somewhat easier to buy a car than to get a contract with a mobile phone company.

The Internet access started looking miraculous too. After telling me last Friday that there'd be a two week wait for modems, (a) some modems arrived at the shop this morning, and (b) the shopkeeper called me to tell me so. When I turned up to buy one, on a 12-month plan at £15 per month, they had to do a credit check, and due to lack of credit history in the country, this was declined. Having direct debit from a bank account and/or credit card wasn't good enough. The fact that they could cancel my access at a moments notice if I didn't pay wasn't good enough. I wonder if there is any hope. Hmmm.

We looked at another possible rental place, relatively accurately described as a Barn. It was way too small, and the wall of the Barn was about one metre from the main road through Colwall. We'll have to keep looking, but it's proving to be difficult to find a big enough place. One agency that does only lettings (ie. no sales) has only 2 properties, and they're both 1-bedroom apartments!

The girls spent half a day at school today. Stephanie quite enjoyed it, and Helen was extremely happy, and couldn't wait to go back tomorrow. Although they had some loan-uniforms today, we offloaded over £220 for new uniforms (first tranche) this afternoon. It does seem to be a very well-equipped school, with lots of music practice rooms, a recording studio, music technology room, its own steam railway system, extensive art and design studios, brand new science labs, etc. I guess you expect a lot, given the fees. Helen's trying out in year 2 (only 7 children in her class, including Helen), but will probably move into year 3. Similarly, Stephanie is trying out year 4, but may be better off in year 5. More news about the school next time.

Malvern

Here we are outside our Wayfarers Cottage in West Malvern. It's a wonderful place to be, even though we're still busy trying to set things up - especially Internet access! I found an Internet Cafe at Ledbury where I can take my laptop to connect wirelessly (if that's not oxymoronic). So I can finally provide a sample of photos from the last week. (These pictures have been compressed for email/blog. You could try making prints of them, but if it may be better waiting until I can send you the originals.)




Speaking of Ledbury, here's a picture of most of us in a little cobbled lane just in front of the church.












Cars are now locked in (Zafira and Matiz) although insurance isn't, phones are done. Main problem now is a house. Although lots of people who aren't in real estate tell us that there's a glut of property available (lots of people have been buying investment properties), we're not seeing much evidence of it. We've found 3 feasible properties, but none particularly strike a chord. I'm going to try to ask the owners of this place (Wayfarer's Cottage) if they'd be interested in letting it to us for a year - although it would have to be at a lower rate than they normally attract.

The picture shows Joanna and Christopher in the kitchen where we eat our meals - we haven't made proper use of the dining room yet. The extremely friendly landlord is trying to arrange Internet connectivity here for us, which would be marvellous. Things just work so much slower when we can't do all the research on insurance companies, estate agents, etc after hours, to say nothing of how out-of-date the blog is getting...

We had some sun today, which was nice - almost needed sunglasses - but I get the impression there's going to be rain soon. I think that's the second time in a week that we've seen shadows. But still, whenever we look into the distance, the horizon is quite a vague concept. Hills or fields seem to disappear into cloud or fog - or is it smoke from fireplaces? - rather than meeting the sky. Yesterday afternoon, we walked from our house up the Worcestershire Beacon - the highest of the Malvern Hills, at 1300 feet. It wasn't very hard, and took about 30 minutes, but the view was very worthwhile. A few steps from the top, we saw an amazing race, where people had all sorts of go-carts and kids toys that they were going to ride downhill. The rules prohibited any sort of pneumatic tires, so bikes were out, and people had to ensure that the wheels remained in contact with the ground (no picking it up and running!). Can't tell you who won, but it was quite amusing. I think that the bigger buildings in the race picture might be DSTL, where I will soon be working.

I should mention that I tried my first French wine while in London. It was a Bordeaux (from memory, the last half-bottle was left in the apartment in the car-rental-packing-kerfuffle!) "M" de Plain. All fruit, with no tannin substance.

In Malvern, I bought a Chateauneuf-du-Pape, Les Gemarelles, Excellence, 2005 (GSM) Jerome Quiot. Allegedly "majestic ruby colour with red fruits and spice on the nose and palate, rich and full-bodied, with great complexity and subtlety." Probably some complexity, but no body compared with big Barossa shiraz. Still planning to understand more about French wines soon.

We've visited the Brewer's Arms pub a few times, including a meal on the first night in Malvern. We discovered there's a back gate from our place that takes us directly there! The girls seem to enjoy it, although maybe it's because I buy them soft drinks. The pub also has a community newsletter, and they have inter-pub cricket, debating, explosives parties for the kids for Guy Fawkes, Halloween parties, and a Gardening club. In an effort to convince people that I really am an Australian, and to get out of my comfort zone, I decided that it was necessary to get into the English spirit and taste some beer. This weekend they've had a beer festival, with about 20 beers from regional micro-breweries and some bigger ones. I tried the Ludlow Gold. Although I wouldn't say I liked the overall experience, I could taste the interesting hops flavours. Maybe I need to taste more.

Wayfarers Cottage has an enormous collection of books - there must be something like 100m of book shelving. The major topics are history and boating, with minors in poetry and geophysics. I've managed to select the following for varying levels of study:

• Admiralty weather manual
• Beers of the World
• The Malvern Hills - a hundred years of conservation
• The Stripping of the Altars - Traditional religion in England 1400-1580
• World of Wines
• An Engineer in Wonderland
• What do you care what other people think (Feynman)
• Mr Tomkins in Paperback
• Assumption and Myth in Physical Theory
• Extracts from Popper (on philosophy of science)
  
  Here are some random photos from the last week or so.

Overload

Too much has happened, with too little internet connectivity. We left the house entirely empty. A couple of problems with non-matching paint and discovering broken light fittings, but too late to worry now. Packed too much tax paperwork for e-tax submission, so printed & posted it. Nice dinner with Mum & Dad at Cha Cha Char, with the Romulus again. Now in Singapore, stunned at the quality behaviour from all three kids. Free internet session about to terminate...

Empty

Yes, the house is empty. All the paperwork is done. One car has gone to its new home, and the handover of the other's been arranged. There are 3 more lunch & dinner parties to go, and then a final repack shuffle. Lots of (unpackable) cleaning stuff etc. taken to Mum & Dad's place for use/storage/disposal. Finances mostly arranged, although we may need to live on the credit card a bit for a week or two. Not much Internet access.

Chaos

We thought we were sort of almost ready for them. But it quickly became apparent that we weren't. The prepackers turned up around 8:30 yesterday in their minivan with a pile of cartons, butcher's paper, and tape, and got to work. Berenice's impression was "they're not efficient, they're ruthless". And it was as much as we could do to stop them from packing the shoes of our feet and the car keys out of our pockets. We tried to rush around in front of them to grab things that weren't to be packed, and to tidy up the girls room so that it was trafficable ("We tidied it, but then Christopher came in!"), etc. After a while, it became apparent that we could only really stand back helplessly and watch it all happen. They finished shortly after 3pm, having packed and labelled about 340 boxes, pieces of furniture, and other items.

We managed to have Helen spend some time with her school-friend Phoebe, and Nanna took Stephanie off to have a haircut. And Grandma had taken them and Christopher for a walk (or sleep, as the case may be) in the Gap Creek Reserve. The girls are going to stay with Nanna and Pop most of the next four nights.

After a few logistical complexities, and stopping off at Nanna and Pop's place, we found ourselves at Mt Ommaney Hotel and Apartments for the evening. We indulged in the Pepperjack Shiraz that Glenn had given Christopher for his birthday. It was definitely on the spicy side of the shiraz spectrum, and it had a nice relaxing effect. Two of us indulged in Wagyu steak and Rabbit and Pistachio entrees, and a Valhrona Chocolate Ravioli dessert in a pool of Anglaise with vanilla Bean ice-cream. A Black Books episode with England vs Sri Lanka in the background rounded things off nicely. The combination of traffic noise and poorly-adjusted air conditioning made it a bit difficult for Joanna to sleep, but she should be able to try earplugs tonight.

The removalists have almost finished loading all the stuff onto the truck now. Berenice is amusing herself with a brush and dustpan before the cleaner comes, and Joanna and Christopher have gone back to the hotel for a snooze. I've discovered that after we finish in London, we'll be staying in the Wayfarer's Cottage in Malvern for a couple of weeks while we look for a house to live in. I suppose that we'll be able to put up with it for that long. Take a look at their brochure if you have time.

I think all the paperwork is done now, apart from one insurance fax/post, finalising my last Canberra trip (which I'll do shortly), and collecting a cabcharge from work. We might even to a quick whiz-around with the vacuum cleaner here later on this afternoon. So the stress-o-meter is nicely back down into the brooks-babbling-through-the-village territory. We'll probably end up lazing around in the botanical gardens or Southbank over the weekend now...

Packing by numbers

The first lot is done! We had our international removalists here this morning. We were told to leave all the clothes laid out on the bed, so that we weren't hiding anything dastardly in the boxes. The two lads packed up 17 tea-chest boxes, and sundry other non-boxable items (bikes, microwave, printer/scanner/fax - argh!), and in less than three hours it was all on its way to the airport. With any luck we'll see most of it again, in approximately the same number of pieces, in two or three weeks.

Stage two (tomorrow) will be the pre-pack of all the rest that stays in storage in Brisbane. We have to pack our clothes into boxes, but "they" do the rest. And then tomorrow night we'll have to sleep at a hotel - not overseas yet, but much further along the stage of "beginning of adventure"-ness.

Tonight we have to cook without the microwave. It's a little challenging, but I guess we'll cope.

Hip hip, hooray!

Happy Birthday to Christopher, the "one" boy. We had a nice lunch today to celebrate, with cousins, siblings, and a Godfather. The hero of the moment was very well behaved, despite a shortage of sleep, and a runny nose. He didn't really have a clue about the candle, and when the cake was put in front of him for inspection, he left a beautiful hand-print in the icing - no doubt for posterity.

Packing is much more advanced today, as are several of the other administrative details. There's still trampoline disassembly and various other pastimes to keep us amused tomorrow, while the first lot of packers are here. Tomorrow will be difficult, with the microwave, highchair, and other chattels winging their way westwards (and north, a little, too). But we'll cope somehow, I'm sure. I wonder how it will compare with the flights.

Today's random link is to the Spooky Men's Chorale. I first heard their "Don't stand between a man and his tool" (it's G-rated) on ABC Classic FM a year or two ago, and decided that this was the sort of CD I needed. The last track on their Tooled Up CD could be quite relevant to current affairs.

We're off to play with sparklers now, just before Christopher's bath & bed. Ha! that sounds like a sign off. But I don't stop that easily, do I... No, having the camera out meant it was time for some time exposure experiments. I think we could claim partial success with this one, at least as a learning experience.

Dinner

We've just had a lovely dinner with our neighbours (Sof, Adrianna, Irene, Georgia, Evie, and Ianni) at the Kenmore Tavern. There may not be too many more opportunities to catch up with them, as they will probably have moved to their new house at Parkwood when we get back from Europe. But we now have some handy tourist tips for visiting Greece - Plaka, Hydra, and Santorini in particular.

Dinner was accompanied by a Peter Lehmann 2005 Barossa Shiraz - a good wine to have available on standby. Quite drinkable, with reasonable complexity and smooth finish. The beginning lacks some subtlety.

We've now identified all the things that we're going to take overseas. The only issue now is to decide exactly what to take in our suitcases, and what to send by freight. There's still insurance to organise, e-tax to navigate and placate, and of course a singularly significant birthday tomorrow.

Since today's been nice and sunny, with a maximum of about 30, it's worth contemplating the 10-day forecast for London: Showers, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, showers, with maxima ranging between 15 and 21. Sounds a bit like Adelaide, I suppose. It helps us think about what to pack, too.