Continuing my discussion about newsreaders (sorry anyone who isn't the slightest bit web-bovvered), I was really pleased to see Google launch a fantastic new interface for Google Reader last night in the wee small hours. To prep you for this, I need to explain that last week after Rojo messed around with it's interface I decided to try out a new feedreader just to compare features and have been running them parallel for a few days.

There were some immediate problems with Google, and I emailed them with my suggestions as it asks you to, and then I got a lovely automated reply where it says post it in the forums, which I was about to do when I realised everyone else posted exactly the same problems, so decided it wasn't really necessary. I wish they had linked straight to the forums rather than to their email address though. Seems like an unrequired step.

Anyway, as I said, the interface, although AJAXy, was a little lacking. The new incarnation however is very nice. Support for placing feeds in (multiple) folders (better than the old labels system), mark all feeds as read options, a really easy subscription management system, and tabs between expanded and list view. The real meat comes in the innovations however. As you scroll down in the new, even more AJAXy pane, it automatically marks feeds that pass as read (this is an optional feature). They have also added a bookmarket for adding new feeds (this was missing before I think) but then another bookmarklet which you can repeatedly click to cycle to all your new news items at their full locations, without going anywhere near Reader. Fantastic idea.

The only wish I have right now is that they would allow you to set the feeder home as being the 'all feeds' page rather than the new Google Reader homepage, although it is interesting content from the developers blog. Also I would like to be able to hide the subscription pane, but this is minor.

I have already deleted the Rojo links from my toolbar and presently forgotten all about it... What was I talking about? No, can't remember.

I just got a text from Swanny that reads

Igwood u chump, I've just gone online and booked a train to lboro tomoro for one nite only! Got footie sat so couldn't stay longer! Do it! See u tomoro!

Despite Swan's poor grasp of the English language, I did understand the underlying message which is "you'd better be in Loughborough tomorrow or else". Having no other plans at this very moment it looks like I'm going to be on a train there tomorrow, which is no bad thing, although I had been expecting to come up at the slightly later date of next weekend. This could mean two trips in as many weeks. Anyone would have thought I was still a student there.

It'll be good to see Broomy, Sean, Mike and Jono. I have a feeling that it maybe hard to see everyone I want however. Lufbra here I come (again)!

The weekend/Sunday was good, Monday was not. Due to the pleasure/pain theory this could only be expected, but it really was annoying that so many things went wrong yesterday. In retrospect things don't seem so bad, but at the time I was in a thoroughly bad mood.

Unexpectedly one of my clients lost a mailbox. The whole thing. I was livid with the host who drew attention to a fantastic little clause which means they hold no responsibility for such an event as a server dying. Thankfully the client was understanding of the situation. Thankfully damage was limited to some extent as my other clients don't use the same service. I however, felt bad all day.

There were also one or two other factors that made me look like I got out of the wrong side of bed, namely that I did actually get out of the wrong side of the bed. This was clearly the first mistake of the day.

Sunday had been a lot chirpier. Sister One had needed to get to Aberystwyth for the start of the new term so The Father and I went down to help move the boxes in. Last year her hall had been a little on the drab side - literally on the drab side - as while everyone else was looking at the sea through their window, my sister could see a wall. Thankfully things have changed for the better this year. She is now right on the sea front (20 metres from her window) and in a big, light room overlooking the beach. Pretty awesome.

On the way back I persuaded The Father to take a break while I took some post-sunset photos in the Elan Valley. I love the Welsh mountains, and I have been hoping to get back to the Elan dams for quite a while now although it never worked out until Sunday evening. Admittedly it was a little late to do much work, and I forgot my tripod which was unfortunate, but I got some shots at the first dam just outside of Ryhader before we had to get back in the car. I am determined to get deeper into the valley next time.

Today is going much better so while it lasts, I need to crack on...

Being that my visits to London tend to be both short and occasional, I tried to pack as much into Friday/Saturday as possible. The train to Marylebone left from Stourbridge (via Birmingham Moor Street) at around 11am, so when I got in at 2pm, there was plenty of time to get soaked in the torrential rain.

The journey down was pretty non-eventful, and after arriving I decided to make a few calls to see if anyone was about (unexpectedly for them). Butts didn't answer his phone as I later found out that he was in Greece, and Brown was on his way to Scotland with his brother to compete in the World Stone Skimming Championships which is an absolutely brilliant way to spend a weekend, although it did leave my afternoon a little freer than I'd expected.

This wasn't a problem though as every boy scout carries contingencies, so I headed over to Bond Street, did a little window shopping and spent some time exploring the vast vaults of the Selfridges building before making a pilgrimage to the Apple Store on Regent's street.
This was two or three fold really; firstly to quench my thirst to see it and the amazing glass staircase, secondly to check my email (a sad but necessary evil) and finally to see the new iPod nanos.

I was incredibly impressed by certain female members of the Apple staff and for this reason alone would consider going again...

Anyway.

Swanny called me and said he wasn't doing any work now (there's a change) and would I like to meet for some food. He was still about 45 minutes away, so I said I'd meet him at the Tate Britain, as despite having seen the Modern a few years ago, I'd not made it to the other gallery until now.

I have to admit, classical painting and sculpture is not my favourite, but I do have a desire to see work of the masters. My personal opinion of what art is is divided into three (standard) sections; classical, modern and post-modern, where all classical and modern is art, and anything post modern must make me smile or think, and not in a pretentious way. A big room with lights going on and off can be considered art, if I like it. If I don't like it then it isn't. I think it's a fair enough system to judge as nobody anymore can decide what is and what isn't, so you have to adopt your own crteria.

Back to the gallery content, I had to fly down the British classic wing and never got to see the modern section before Swan turned up and the thought of food prevailed. We headed into Victoria and picked up some Nandos and Devito soon joined us.

The plan was to meet with Duffy after work in his 'local' so we took the tube to Angel and started in the Wetherspoons. Duffy turned up and we took the bus back to his. He told us it was five minutes away, but after a 15 minute bus journey and a 20 minute walk we realised that he may well have been lying. I didn't think there was anywhere in London that far away from Public Transport, but apparently Stoke Newington is.

We had a few beers at his, played some cards and soaked in the fantastic view from his balcony over the city skyline. Until seeing the view, it could have been any other flat anywhere (albeit quite a nice one for the price he is paying).

We went back to Angel and started again in Walkabout. After a number of hours and a lot of changes of bar, some cocktails, a turboshandy (how old skool) and emptying the collective kitty we all spent our last tenner on a place that was claimed to be open until four when everywhere else was closing. Unfortunately the cost of admission to "Fez" didn't reflect the establishment. For all intents an purposes, somebody had buried a shoebox with a DJ in it and then banned attractive ladies. It was a disappointment. At one point Swan genuinely exclaimed, "Look, there's the other room!". Thinking the place was much larger than we had originally thought, we were all bitterly disappointed to discover that Swan had been tricked by a mirror on the back wall. Devito suggested they should convert the toilet into a new room to double the size of the club. My advice is stay away from Fez.

The next morning we woke up in a clutter of pizza crusts. I have to admit, it wasn't feeling too fresh, but after a bacon butty and some Family Guy we finally awoke properly and left Duffy to his own devices. I headed to King's Cross with Devito and said goodbye for the next few months at least as he heads off to Spain indefinitely this Monday. I then called John Dalton to see whether he wanted to catch some lunch. We met at Paddington and had a pint (I didn't feel like it, but John insisted) and food before I left to meet Crocodile Dundee Pete in Kensington.

Pete still seems to be loving London and enjoying all the perks that Coca-Cola are throwing his way. We discussed as much as we could over one pint (mostly my travels in Oz and usual bloke chat) before he had to head off and so at this point I went back to the Tate Britain to finish of what I'd started and wait for John to meet me again.

John had offered to prepare some salmon for dinner and knowing first hand that he is a good chef, decided this was far more desirable than eating at a Subway again or similar, so took him up on it and went to his halls just off Edgewear Road for some highly appreciated food and a last minute catch up before I had to get back to Marylebone for the train back home.

And that concludes my two day adventure in London. Today I'm on the move again as Sister One goes back to Aber for the new term and I'm coming along to shift boxes. Hoping to do some photography on the way back, time permitting.

And while I'm away I'll leave something to play with. My new portfolio design is now up and running. Admittedly it's not 100% done - I've still got to insert new works in and do a little CSS tweaking but on the whole it's coming together not too badly.

http://andyhiggs.co.uk/folio/

Only one other thing to report yesterday was that I received a phone call from a company on the other side of Birmingham offering me a job in industrial design based on what they saw of my degree work. Headhunted for industrial design...well I didn't see that coming. It's not something I'm considering at all but I did find the offer flattering.

Gotta dash...

Why is there one day a week when the entire world decides to email their web designer/print guy/photographer/3D modeller and ask for some assistance? I don't know and I don't know why it's Wednesday. Needless to say the fallout of it left today and yesterday very busy, but not in a bad way.

I managed to catch a film with Sisters One and Two; Talladega Nights, the Ballad of Ricky Bobby. I wasn't really drawn to see it, but Will Ferrell can be funny and the sisters were very keen so I went along. The movie is nothing spectacular, it's mild and the first half is a gag a minute which is generally very funny. Slightly offbeat humour, not unlike Anchorman and a lot of famous faces in there, although I couldn't put names to them all. The second half wasn't quite as good with seriousness creeping in in places taking the place of the original silly premises, but I still enjoyed it and if you're not looking for anything taxing it's a not too bad a way to spend an evening if you've got nothing better to do.

Sister One is back off to uni this weekend, and after hearing she wanted to 'replace her computer' which is less than six months old, I could only imagine she had managed to load the thing with as many viruses and dodgy pieces of software as she knew how. Bingo. Anyway, I told her to format it. You must not underestimate this rare and significant moment, as until this point I was the only person in my household who has ever reformatted one of the computers, for reasons I have mentioned here before. Thankfully, that's done now, with no problems and a healthier machine.

I've booked my return train tickets to London this weekend at a bargain price of £9.90. I have no idea how they do it so cheap, but a student railcard certainly helps. Due to Devito being back in the country for a short appearance before going back off to Spain, Swan, Duffy and myself are going for a night out somewhere down his way. Should be super. I've also contacted Crocodile Dundee for a catch up and there are a couple of other people I think I'm likely to call, but I can't make promises at the moment as time is going to tight with me coming back on Saturday afternoon and all..

Today I spoke to Mike on the phone. He told me I had to mention that he had "made me the man [I am] today". I have no idea what he is on about, but thank you Mike. I'm sure the nurses will be back to see you soon.

On Sunday Sisters One, Two and myself took Grandma out for lunch while the Parents went down to London to check out the Queen's digs. For those who are unaware, Grandma is 93. She was actually born before WWI, which for those who don't know their history, was quite a while ago. The fantastic thing is she is still going strong. Well, strongish. The past year, especially the last three or four months, have become more difficult as her short term memory has began to deteriorate and holding a conversation requires an almost constant dialogue in order that she maintains her train of thought and won't start all over again. Things can get a little... repetitive.

Usually Grandma comes over for a meal on a Sunday, and without this event her perception of the week gets a little lost (she anchors herself to each day with an event) so we decided that the best solution was to take her to her favourite Sunday lunch spot. It all went well apart from the usual loss of memory. It's very hard to convince Grandma that she has done something, and sometimes she thinks she has done something she hasn't. For instance, she feels incredibly guilty she hasn't paid for the meal, so she gets out her purse while apologising. This gives us enough time to explain (for the third or forth time) that she paid up ten minutes ago, and for her to discover the note in her purse that we had written the second time she asked. Of course, she doesn't remember us writing the note or putting it in her purse so she gets confused. Once she has been reconvinced that she has paid, it's time for another sip of her coffee and the whole process to start over again.

It's unfortunately one of those things that comes with old age, and although decline through senility is something I've witnessed in other relatives, it's a bit more close to home when it's your Gran. There have been other concerns of late though. Her rheumatism is getting worse and her mobility isn't as good as before. It's not she can't go; once she starts it's hard to stop her, but just stability and getting up are a little more tricky, and she hasn't been able to get upstairs for years (which of course half the amount of stuff she can nick when she is doing a burglary).

But yet she manages in her somewhat palatial bungalow (she lives in the same bungalow Father lived in before he left home, and that was a long time ago) managing a house with three bedrooms and a garden. She doesn't cook really anymore, and cataracts are developing. Yet she is amazingly solid and loves to reminisce (an old person's prerogative).

It's a shame that this decline happens. The doctor says her memory may stabilise, it may not. However it's still great that me and my sisters can pack our Grandma into a two-door 'F' reg Volkswagen Golf and wheel her off to the garden centre where she can enjoy her other 'old person prerogatives' such as two sugars in her tea and ice cream after Sunday roast. Most remarkably, her knowledge of Drum'n'Bass is second to none. (Joke. She prefers old skool jungle and electronica).