Fresh air on Saturday. Great to get out and about.


Went out with the family to Bushy Park on Saturday afternoon. Perfect tonic after a frenetic end to the week. Self-employment is hard work and it has no natural boundaries. I often work during the evenings or weekends and home and office are a bit of a blur. Finding a bit of space is important. So I found a b****y big park.
02.11.06 @ 02:51 PM PDT [link]

Windows made by Interseal
I was giving a lecture recently to a group of undergraduate students in London and mentioned an ad by a company called Interseal that used to run on LBC Radio about a quarter of a century ago.

A young gentleman in the lecture hall, whom I judged to be too young to have heard the original commercial, put up his hand. He knew that this obscure ad was written to the tune of "When I'm cleaning windows" by George Formby. He could also quote Interseal's phone number: 961 2000.

I have to say that I was a little flabbergasted, as I thought I was probably the only person in the world who could recall this cheerful double-glazing jingle from the late 70s. It turns out, it's available somewhere on the web. And at the end of the lecture, we were treated to a rendition from the student's laptop.

This kind of fun sure beats my own university days. There were no mp3s of Karl Marx and Max Weber.
02.11.06 @ 02:33 PM PDT [link]

Thanks Bor. Vartolomei will be eternally grateful.
Evening Vartolomei,

Just last evening I stumbled upon this e store that was almost giving away several medications at about 52 per-cent off.

I found them at www.fort.respite.gncvkh.org/yg/

This web page will make our life smoother and our headache disappear!

See ya
Bor
02.11.06 @ 01:47 PM PDT [link]

One possible drawback to the idea of creationism
It occurred to me today that if you were an omnipotent being who was creating the world for the first time, you wouldn't make its only source of light and warmth so bright that no one could look at it directly with the naked eye.

I'm no theologian though, so I'm happy to be proved wrong.
02.09.06 @ 04:23 PM PDT [link]

Stylish spam received today
Afternoon Kestar,

Sorry to bug you at work, but I had to inform you about what I discovered today!

It's this fantastic internet shop that has classy timepieces and since you're my adorable amigo, I wanted to tell you first. at www.aarp.gva.u7IR.nbzxd.org/laq/

I know that you're a lot of the time worried about money and don't ever grab anything for yourself, but these products are smartly priced.

You deserve to have a luxury item and it won't set you back much.

I already poked around the store's site and it's very reliable- you can even check your order online!

Anyway, I extremely hope you take pleasure in the site because I already saw a few styles that are going to look smashing on you!

My response:

I've always wanted a reliable timepiece, but money is a big factor. If I could find a smartly priced item that had a touch of class about it, I'd be off to the relevant website like a shot. Thanks for letting me know.

Your Adorable Amigo, Kestar

02.08.06 @ 03:36 PM PDT [link]

Phil's observations on life 012: bus drivers brake when you ring the bell
I've noticed that there's an involuntary, unconscious braking by bus drivers when you ring the bell, even if you're a long way from the next stop. Well, what I mean is they reduce their speed from 70 mph to 60 mph.
02.08.06 @ 03:33 PM PDT [link]

Websites you'll probably never need to visit 002
Make your own cellphone jewellery at http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2005/07/diy_cellphone_t.html
02.06.06 @ 02:40 PM PDT [link]

Time travelling cop jumps on seventies soapbox
The plot of our favourite time travelling cop show, Life on Mars, managed to take some further far-fetched turns tonight. A football supporter has been murdered in a Man Utd boozer, circa 1973. The police come down and turn the place over and suspicion falls on rival City fans. Two days later, local plod have replaced all the bar staff and are acting as rather unlikely temps from the brewery.

Let's face it. Any punter who knew the difference between a home win and a score draw would have sniffed a very large rat within about two seconds. But disbelief was suspended for a whole boozy evening, as two Inspectors and the love-interest WPC pulled pints into those old beer glasses with handles.

The most laughable bit of the show came when Sam Tyler - the comatose copper who's woken up in a world of football scarves, rattles and Lou Macari - decides to lecture a murderous football hooligan on the error of his ways. This ludicrous piece of preaching takes place on the top floor of an old warehouse. Downstairs, Tyler's macho CID colleagues are left to fend for themselves with planks of wood and baseball bats as local hard cases try to take each other apart.

The punch-up was so exciting that we almost forgot we were time travelling. Until Sam spots his four-year-old former self making his way to the local derby with his dad. I was sure that this would lead to some temporal implosion. But no. Apparently the timeline continued on its own sweet way.

Return to www.philwoodford.com




02.06.06 @ 02:35 PM PDT [link]

Bounce back spam is real slice of life
I get a lot of people spoofing my e-mail address on their spam and, as a result, I get loads of bounceback rubbish from postmasters and system administrators. They tell me that the junk I never sent contravenes their policies etc and sometimes that I need to confirm my identity. I'm like: "I so didn't send you that". But that's neither here nor there because it's all automated. I've complained to my ISP, but it seems there's nothing they can do.

My attitude is to make the most of the returned mail. You can get some fascinating slices of life from it.

Linda Kaiser, for instance, who works for a US university, was out of the office on Thursday and Friday. In the meantime, her colleague, Ann Beauchamp is pleased to help. Linda and Ann, please ignore the spam. I didn't send it. And you won't get rich by buying those stocks.

And what about Italian bounce back? L'indirizzo email utilizzato per inviare il messaggio non risulta essere iscritto al gruppo. You betcha. Ciao. Bella. Lasagne. I'm outta here.


02.05.06 @ 04:01 AM PDT [link]

If it sounds too good to be true...
...it almost certainly is.

Like the news that I've won "one million pounds sterlings" (sic) on the National Lottery run from Zwolle in Holland.

When I received the e-mail, I obviously considered whether I might have bought a ticket on that drunken stag weekend in Rotterdam. Except that I never went on a drunken stag weekend in Rotterdam.

Mrs Maria Rooney (any relation of Wayne?) reveals all:

All 10 winning addresses were randomly selected from a batch of 50,000,000 international emails. Your email address emerged alongside 9 others as a category 2 winner in this year national lotto game draw.

Ah, so I'm a random-selected category 2 winner. At odds of five million to one. And I didn't even need to pay to enter? How generous.

For security reasons, Maria naturally asks me to keep my winnings confidential. Ooops.
02.05.06 @ 03:53 AM PDT [link]