nick: Well done Tina!

I think the other museum was Brooklands which is not so far away - they've got cars and Concorde I believe.


 

 Tim: They've got a bicycle collection too, probably much like Steve's garage.
 

 nick: probably much like Steve's garage
ahem.. garages
 

 Tim: I've just had an email from Amazon because Orange Light Years by Edgar Froese is available to buy. I got a copy in 2015 so this must have been lurking in their database for 5 years. I hope they won't be disappointed if I don't buy it.
 

 Steve: Certainly a poor cover, seemingly from the period when they were pumping out endless albums.
Expensive so get yours on eBay!
 

 nick: Saw the film 1917 yesterday at the IMAX. Not quite as blown away by it as I'd been hoping to be, but was a pretty worthwhile watch. It is filmed as if the whole thing is done in a single take which was quite effective but at the same time a bit distracting -at least to start - with because it's hard to stop yourself from trying to spot the joins (in fact there were only a two or three places where I could definitely say there was one). Unless the special effects are astonishingly good, they must have dug up a heck of a lot of fields to reproduce the trenches and shell holes.

Prices at IMAX were quite high - we went to Pizza Express afterwards, and they had a deal on (does anyone ever pay full price there?) meaning that drink+starter+main+dessert+coffee was £25 which only £2 more than the IMAX ticket
 

 Steve: I have seen the trailer and some of the CGI looked really bad and put me off. Not that it takes much to put me off, I'm not far ahead of Tim on the film-going front.

For a minute there I thought you got the film and food for £25. Problem with meal deals is you wouldn't have had all the courses without it.

My old Dawes was pedalling funny one side - remember that Tim? Loose bolt seen at home so I tighten it up. Hmm seems to keep going, oh the crank arm had a crack in it!

BTW Tim, did you get a new gearbox?
 

 Tim: Yes, got the new gearbox in free of charge. Lucky escape there.
 

 nick: Brand X tickets booked; I sent you copies of the e-tickets
 

 Steve: Well done, paid thanks.
Looks like you convinced Tony to come.
 

 nick: Looks like you convinced Tony to come. - yes: he didn't need much persuasion (it is quite near where he lives for one thing). He said when he, as a teenager, heard Percy Jones playing a Wal fretless bass, he promised he'd buy one for himself. And he eventually did buy one, taking out a loan to do so. "That bass has just turned 30 years old and both the craftsmen that made them in the original Wal company are dead, so it turns out to be extremely rare and worth quite a bit."
 

 Steve: I notice that the 1865 has a fair bit of prog, such as David Cross - lucky Tim.
And that Nick Mason is on in Southampton the day after Brand X - but pricey and almost sold out at the Mayflower.
 

 nick: Soft Machine are on at 1865 as well. And Gong. The guy at work here raved about Nick Mason but can't say I was convinced.
 

 Steve: We saw them (Legacy version?) somewhere in London didn't we and it was excellent. With Theo Travis on sax and flute.
Thursday though so I can always catch them up my way if I want.

BTW this guy is doing sterling work on TD tracks. 5.5M hits for this one, so it must be enough to make a living: Love on a Real Train. I've played it a few times. Don't have that TD album and it seems hard to get. His others are stonking as well.
 

 Tim: Seeing as we're looking at dates in June now, it's probably worth me listing myself as unavailable from about 13th, to 1st July, for Euro 2020.
 

 Tim: By the way, which TD album? I'm assuming it's only on compilations incl the original soundtrack (various artists), no?
 

 Steve: Ah I meant Risky Business, hadn't occurred to me that the soundtrack would contain other artists. Maybe not then!

Don't forget to maybe keep Feb 22nd w/e free as D is away. I could pop down.
 

 nick: Don't forget to maybe keep Feb 22nd w/e free as D is away. I could pop down. Have it marked in my calendar. Can't see any concerts on around here that weekend
 

 Steve: Thank flip for that.
 

 Tim: All clear for 22nd.
 

 Steve: Just spotted this, not sure I'm that bothered. I have the album and it always seemed a bit too close to KS to make a huge impression. https://www.barbican.org.uk/whats-on/2020/event/manuel-gottsching-new-age-of-earth-live

Robert Henke is on tonight as well for an interesting-looking hour of Commodore computer madness.
 

 Tim: Both of those sound missable but maybe wouldn't mind hearing the NAOE next time we're up yours for a game night...
 

 Steve: You might have it from the disk dump I did.

Finally getting around to the 3(!) TD albums you lent me Tim. I have piles of disks sitting around not files so they were buried.

Melrose - sounds a bit familiar. Hmm, saxophone but only early on...
 

 Tim: Never thought of that!

Here's a new and very different version of Love on a Real Train.
 

 Steve: I like the way he finishes, laptop bag over the shoulder and off.
BTW there is a short bit of the Robert Henke on Youtube and it did sound like terrible 8-bit computer sound so a luck escape.

More disk issues with the Volumio again so I have powered up the NAS to use that - of course then the disk is seen. So I have two choices of version to play for each album. And yes Nick they will sound exactly the same.
 

 nick: I just remembered there is an event on around 22-feb: I'm going to Roots of Jazz on Friday evening with Tony. I didn't have this in my calendar for some reason. So that means I'll be busy Friday evening - if either of you want to come I can get more tickets I think
 

 nick: ..and another chance for Tim to get out on a Thursday evening: this week it's Mythinformation: AI, media and trust about fake news
 

 Tim: I'm already out Thursday sorry. But that jazz thing looks right up Steve's street.
 

 Steve: Hmm I was thinking not actually.
 

 nick: At the Skeptics meeting last night I saw a poster for Wolfgang Flür concert on Sat 4th April. I did a quick search to see if he's got a web page with other tour dates but I just come across bathroom blogs
 

 Steve: Interesting, from 2015: https://electronicsound.co.uk/news/review-wolfgang-flur-london/
Not sure you would like the "hardness of the set" Nick.

His Facebook page has the dates.
 

 nick: Well you know me, I'm generally willing to risk stuff. The Winchester Discovery Centre hall is fairly small (200max) so you'd get a good view
 

 Steve: OK count me in thanks, D has a hen do of sorts. Still 67 tickets left.
Does anyone want to do something before the Barbican on the 17th Feb?
I'll probably book the day off and faff about at Fopp etc.
There's the TD exhibition but I guess that's doable in the evening.
 

 Tim: Ok I'll have a ticket please. And I'll try and get 17th off.
 

 Tim: Btw do you chaps have Pat Metheny Group's The Way Up? I had a strange nostalgic urge to hear some "real music" and got it in. Pretty good.
 

 nick: Don't have "The Way Up" - don't think I'd heard of it before actually! So you're getting into tunes in your old age?
Do you want to go to this Wôlfgãng Flūr thing?
 

 Tim: Yes please (per earlier post).

I think the tunes will soon cure me and I'll be back to normal. I'll lend you it.
 

 nick: Sorry, missed the earlier post (the mail from the blog doesn't seem always to arrive in the right order, if at all).
I saw a headline in the paper and thought "£307/mile of track doesn't actually sound too bad for HS2". Then I looked more closely
 

 Steve: Don't have that album either.
Are you saying you actually bought it, additional to those you already have?

I got First Circle fairly recently, and listen to that and American Garage (the last one I got before that).
 

 nick: Wolfgang Flür tickets bought and sent to you both
 

 Tim: Cheers!

Yes I actually just bought it the other day. One reason is because I saw that it is a single piece of music (or maybe a suite). Some of it is a little bit jazz but it's mostly all go.
 

 Steve: Here's my years old 3/5 rating for Flür's book "Kraftwerk": I Was a Robot:
"Very nicely written sporadic anecdotes but no info on the court case he won against Kraftwerk!"

And there's a 10-CD box set coming out by Trevor Rabin, bet you can't wait.
I got one of his on LP cheap a while back but can't see much merit in it.
 

 Tim: OK I've booked the 17th off. Probably make it to London about 1pm, don't mind what we do.
 

 Steve: I've gone for the PM off as I found a colleague is off that week!
Still means I can get up there before 2.

Finally opened the DiN d'Voxx album you lent me Tim. Very good. Limited to just 300 it seems, but I guess people download more nowadays.
I notice there have been a couple of releases by or with Nigel Mullaney so maybe I had better get those in.
And I found the page for the photographer of recent covers: Wendy Carrol
 

 Tim: When we meet I can bring "31 Days" if you haven't already got it, and Neil should probably have a go with the d'Voxx.
 

 Steve: Got that - I don't have the 31 album so decent swap, although you can try this stuff on Bandcamp.

Anyone want my Boris book on Churchill before I charity it?
It's very good.
 

 Tim: I don't think I could read a book by Boris thanks.
 

 Tim: By the way, did I foist a Supersilent CD on one of you two? I think I'm missing one (hard to tell, they all look alike) and it just occurred to me that may be why.
 

 Steve: It looks familiar, when I was down there did you get it from under the TV?
But did I take it away?
I will have a look...
 

 Tim: Yes, under the TV is where it isn't. I think I tried the two of you out on Supersilent 14 (orange) which is there and 13 (grey) which isn't. But I could easily have had it back and it's somewhere else, or never lent it out at all.
 

 Tim: Found it!

Oops.
 

 Tim: Have either of you (or anyone) got a use for a 100Gb SSD?

I upgraded my PC to 1Gb NVMe. If I leave the old SATA in too I get 25% CPU wastage on system interrupts. Can't be arsed to troubleshoot it any more because i don't really need it in there anyway!



 

 Steve: Phew as I didn't think I had it.

Think I'm OK disk-wise thanks, unless I borrow it to debug my USB Pi issue.
Or you could use it on yours?
I was thinking of getting a 1TB one as they are now around £100.

BTW early plans for the 21st. I am train-ing and can't bring a bike. I'm in the office that day and even if I rode in I'd have to put it on the street.
So could I train to you Tim while nick grins and bears it at the lecture?
If there is a spare bike I could bring clothes of course. Or boots for walking.
 

 nick: 100GB SSD - no thanks. My next hardware faff is replacing the battery in my 11-year-old macbook, I just noticed that the trackpad has started to rise from the chassis which is a tell-tale sign of battery swelling apparently. There are some pretty dire warnings about the danger of mucking about with the batteries which can spontaneously ignite apparently so it should be exciting.

On the subject of out-of-date hardware, I eventually managed to get SonicStage running on Windows10, so that I am able to rip MDs. I am going through my collection and pulling some stuff off that I wanted (mostly MDs I recorded myself, books or university lectures). Given how fiddly it was to get hold of drivers etc. I am not sure how much longer I'll be able to do this, so if either of you has any MDs they want turned into WAV files them let me know

BTW early plans for the 21st. I am train-ing and can't bring a bike. I'm in the office that day and even if I rode in I'd have to put it on the street.
So could I train to you Tim while nick grins and bears it at the lecture?
It's a concert with some narration I think, rather than a lecture

If there is a spare bike I could bring clothes of course. Or boots for walking.
I can supply a bike if you want. Or walking sounds good so long as it's not as far as that underground church. I need to source some vegan walking boots though

Can probably take afternoon off on 17th but not booked yet. Pretty busy at work. The "Time magazine man of the year" started on Friday. Still got another slot to fill.
 

 Tim: 10/10 for advanced planning. Yes to down here on Fri 21st. The plan for a ride/walk might be convoluted so let's get on it. Can you get two bikes in your car Nick? Or walking, I get my boots from Shoezone so obv they are cheap and nasty but ok for amateur use.
 

 Steve: Keep using existing boots until they wear out?
That's what I'm doing even though I have taken the "pledge".
D is being very good about it, luckily one of my favourite cakes she makes (boiled fruit cake) is already animal-free. And Birds custard powder.
 

 nick: Keep using existing boots until they wear out? I don't have any existing boots! I'm not planning on buying any more although I do have a couple of pairs of leather shoes I occasionally use (handy for recent funeral)
 

 nick: Can you get two bikes in your car Nick?
I think I can get my Whyte and my Specialized in the car at once if I take the wheels off. So bikes would be OK. Do you have any walking/cycling routes in mind around Hedge End?
 

 Tim: No but I'll have a think. Initially though I was thinking we could meet up at MIC.
Both seem possible.
 

 Steve: What happened to the Felt?
Maybe if I had a spare ahem, I could leave one at yours.
But road bikes I have 3 - one for crap muddy lanes, a good one and the Felt which occasionally goes on the turbo trainer.
My spare MTB is due to go to Matt.
 

 nick: I still have the Felt, but was assuming the road conditions might not be ideal for that.
Actually though, I've not been out on the Felt for so long that I guess it's likely that it'll have flat tyres
 

 Steve: Just listening to a Steve Davis radio show on Soundcloud. Crikey - it's all interesting stuff. Maybe I need to get Tim Hecker's Radio Amor, and several other things.
 

 Tim: Sad coincidence: Lyle Mays has died.
 

 nick: That does seem especially sad about Lyle Mays.
bluest 2020 lineup revealed tomorrow - I get quite a lot of mail from them and they've been trying to get people to buy festival tickets for some time, with no knowledge of who's playing
 

 nick: Bluedot lineup includes Tangerine Dream and ... err... not a huge number of other people I've heard of

We had a works evening out last night at Library Pot which is a cafe that has tons of games you can borrow and play. We had an evening playing Dobble, Forbidden Desert and some domino kind of game whose name I can't remember. I think it probably works best if someone on the table knows the game first, not sure if it would work so well if you just picked some random game that no-one knew. They all liked Forbidden Desert and some of them were getting rather serious about strategy/winning (we didn't win)
I hadn't realised that the "storm rising" meter has different scales that you're meant to use depending on how many people are playing, have we honoured that?
 

 nick: Also - send a tweet to bbcmicrobot and it will execute it for you on a BBC micro and show you the result. If you click on any of the tweets it does, you can see what the tweet is a reply to, which will be the program that's being run
 

 Tim: Now we know why they wanted to sign people up early.
 

 Tim: The storm meter rule sounds familiar but who knows if it ever got forgotten.

We gave Pandemic a play the other day, as a bit of preparation.
 

 Steve: TD is watering down its mystery with constant appearances isn't it?
Like they tainted their legacy with 100s of albums.
Squarepusher is the only one of interest and he was too hardcore for me at Bestival!

And yeah really sad about Lyle Mays. Although I tried classical last night instead of some of his work.
 

 Tim: Quick update for Monday, my ETA Waterloo is 14:08. I'll be driving to Eastleigh and training from there. (Probably wasn't on the national news that a freight train slowly derailed there a while back and mushed some of the points. Still not fixed and my already-not-very-late last service to Hedge End doesn't exist at the moment.)

 

 Steve: I did hear that there were no trains to Southampton for some days.
We had a trampoline on the track and Paul suffered being dumped at St Albans in the early hours of the morning.

Timing good with me.
Can't think of anything specific to visit except art galleries or a* music shop.

* - don't want to bore Nick
 

 Tim: So here's a strange gig: Thorsten Quaeschning + Paul Frick (the extra bloke at the Barbican) + Steve Hillage at Werkhaus.
 

 Steve: Seems to be free but when you try to book, can't reach the site.
Agreed, very odd.
 

 Tim: €29 from Eastgate (TD label/shop), link at bottom of the page.

But mostly: odd.
 

 nick: Steve, They've made it into a play.
 

 Steve: Interesting.
Did don't forget the film version (Netflix). Very good with Emma Thompson and Brendan Gleeson.
 

 nick: I understand that this must be possible but can’t really believe that these faces are completely computer generated
 

 Tim: I've seen that before but no I still can't believe it.

Just had an email update about Monday's concert, timings are:
7:30 Doors
8:00 Infra - Rhod lent me a CD of this, pretty good
8:40 Interval
9:00 Voices premiere
10:00-ish finish
 

 Tim: And before anyone asks: I've got the tickets.
 

 Steve: So where/when are we meeting then?
 

 Tim: Maybe 14:08 at Waterloo, or a bit later at a shopping zone?

If we're (not necessarily) doing the TD exhibition it's a bit awkward because the Library shuts at 5:30 on a Monday.
 

 Tim: So perhaps a plan is start at the Barbican Library, then shops, tucker, then back to Barbican.
 

 Steve: Yeah fine, got that. So it's looking like 2:30 onwards.
 

 nick: OK I'll get a train in from BSK around 1.30 (saves me training back to Hampton and then driving home later), will update ETA via text
 

 Steve: Great day yesterday thanks. Didn't open the LP yet, was pretty tired after walking up the hill.
Grabbed a paper on the way in.
And the answer was (oh dear): LOVE INTEREST

They don't always make complete sense.
 

 Tim: I was just going to ask you about that. What was the clue again?
 

 Tim: 30 quid saved?
 

 nick: This week's vegetable was asparagus. They had it in an omelette, and didn't like it much. I have re-suggested corn-on-the-cob and mushy peas.
 

 Steve: Yikes, well done Tim! I managed to buy a bootleg live Mahavishnu LP in Fopp once. They had some dubious-looking Metheny live album as well that I avoided.
It's a nightmare.

And I don't have the Metro, something like an accountant might have this but not see it in his accounts?
 

 Tim: Some intense googling gets me:
A moneylender may, but it won't appear in his books!
 

 Steve: Damn, it does sort of fit the clue then...
 

 Steve: D has been to a sari shop today. She warned me it would be expensive so I checked the card, all of £21 for a sari and Punjabi suit!
Can't wait to see them.
 

 Tim: We've got replacement buses this weekend while they try and fix Eastleigh, and connections to IoW are hideous. Might be worth trying that on another slot soon?
 

 Steve: Yes fine with me thanks. Weather probably not great.

Just found this on Tom Middleton's FB page:

"We will be releasing an official remastered box set featuring The Pentamerous Metamorphosis, 76:14 and a collection of singles with unreleased material in early summer on Evolution Records via @warprecords"

Sounds reassuringly expensive :)

Also clips of the new band, but I'll save that.
 

 Tim: In the absence of trains an outline plan might be:

Steve comes here Friday night
Nick drives down Sat a.m.
Head out for a walk here or something
Crap music and crossowrd in the afternoon
Pies I've just bought from Waitrose
Steve cadges a lift back with Nick Saturday eve
Train to Luton from Bstoke Sunday

Any good?
 

 Steve: This comment has been removed by the author.
 

 Steve: Marvellous thanks.

As is the Steely Dan LP. Seems the usual price is £19.
I keep looking at a European site jpc.de that has a lot of the 2017 KS LPs for E10. And postage looks reasonable. No stop it!
I just wish download codes (in general) would be lossless, not MP3.
 

 Tim: Nick, does that work for you or not? (I'm off to do more shopping shortly).
 

 nick: I just got a mail with the "does that work for you", but hadn't received one with the actual plan, sorry. I'll try and remember to check the page in a browser

All sounds fine with me thanks
 

 Tim: OK great.
 

 nick: I only just saw this:
We've got replacement buses this weekend while they try and fix Eastleigh, and connections to IoW are hideous.

(makes sense now why "Head out for a walk here or something" didn't specifically name IoW)

We could always drive to the ferry on this side, rather than training from HE, since I'll be driving to yours and have the car (ETA 9am)
 

 Steve: I did bring cycling gear in the end FWIW.

Assume the 19:09 from Waterloo tonight. HE - 20:36
 

 Tim: OK to all of those. There's a park and ride at Portsmouth which would help our green credentials.


 

 Tim: Day return Portsmouth Harbour to Shanklin with Network card is 17.80 cf 20.60 for just the ferry. :15 departure connects with Island Line. P&R £4 up to 5 people.
 

 Tim: OTOH could be pretty windy on the island tomorrow!
 

 nick: It'll be exciting on the boat then...

I just realised I've not worn my new "walking shoes" at all yet. Still I'm sure they'll wear in fine tomorrow
 

 Steve: Thanks very much lads for the weekend. Got fast trains both times pretty quick.
I don't think the used CD shops we remember are there any more in Camden so you are off the hook.
 

 Tim: We'll have to go to a different shop then. Or any other ideas?
 

 Steve: Wellcome looks dull, Tate Modern?
Berwick St or Fopp is all I have.
 

 Steve: BTW I looked at the gig summary, it's not 76:14 in its entirety (necessarily) but "performing classics from the GC catalogue, such as 76:14, Incidental Harmony, The Way, The Deep plus brand new forthcoming material under the GC moniker."

So you'll be relieved Nick - not liking complete albums live, which is fair enough, and possibly a new album...

BTW I watched Rush in Rio DVD last night with Matt as a tribute to their good old drummer. Will re-do the documentary Beyond the Lighted Stage at some point.
 

 Tim: Seems there's still a Music and Video exchange at Notting Hill Gate, we could give it a (maybe final) go?
 

 Steve: Yeah, good with me. I saw that. Bit surprised as they were always busy.
 

 nick: Another talk for you to come to Tim, tomorrow at Winchester: Chernobyl: Science, Myths and the Media
 

 Tim: Could be interesting but I don't want to catch radiation off him. Maybe next month.
 

 Steve: Top your lecture of with this: Inside Chernobyl's Mega Tomb

Interesting court defeat for Heathrow runway 3 - is this the turning point? Can we stick it to the Luton expansion as well I wonder?
 

 Steve: **NEWSFLASH** concert postponed until Saturday 19th of September.
Assume we won't be trogging up to London then. Handy as D comes home that night.
 

 nick: Ok got that thanks Steve.
 

 nick: Chernobyl talk last night was very good (loads of people there too, seems to be getting more popular). Main points
* very little radioactivity left now in "exclusion zone" except for right in the middle. After 1 year, the amount of radiation was only 1% of what it had been just after the event
* he quite often travels there (and takes students). There are also tours you can do of exclusion zone. He said you'd get about as much radiation from visiting it as you would on the airplane journey there
* lots of studies done on effects of wildlife. Basically, didn't seem to be any adverse long term effects: wildlife population has hugely increased since event: i.e. any -ve effects of radiation are undetectable, and overwhelmed by +ve effects of no farming/hunting
* amount of radiation we (in UK) got after event was very small, less than you'd get from living in Cornwall
* Very unlikely you'd get an accident like this again: at the time there were lots of errors made leading to the event, reactor design was bad, they were doing experiments, didn't have good safety procedures etc. And Russian response was very bad; society was undergoing lots of stress at the time so this didn't help. Fukishima was much better managed.
* nuclear reactors being built now have safety much more built in, and huge emphasis on safety procedures.
* nuclear power isn't ideal but is (in his opinion - he is someone who used to be anti-nuclear) worth having as power source because downsides (decommissioning, possible radiation hazard) are far less bad than those for e.g. coal/gass (CO2) and even renewables (nasty stuff used to build solar panels; solar/wind farms take up loads of land).
* Emphasis was on how much risk we want to put up with. Nuclear is not actually that risky but public perception doesn't reflect reality (number of people who had lives shortened as a result of Chernobyl/Fukishima is possibly in 1000's; for fossil fuel power stations, comparable numbers are in millions from air pollution never mind climate change)
* The "Chernobyl" HBO TV series is a good intro to the story, but had some facts wrong (there was never any risk that the core would go thermonuclear, which apparently they made a big thing of in the TV programme)

 

 Tim: I just came here to find out what time to head off tomorrow. Oh dear!


 

 Tim: Could be wrong, but I think there was "no chance of Chernobyl going thermonuclear" because the reactor had already exploded. But at the time, nobody on site knew what had actually happened. (And isn't the TV thing a drama anyway??)
 

 nick: the reactor had already exploded yes it did, although it was not a nuclear explosion, it was just the result of stuff getting too hot and steam pressure etc. blowing the top off.
And isn't the TV thing a drama anyway??)

Yes, what he was saying is that he supposed that many people in the room may have seen the drama and assumed it was factual, but that there were some things it got wrong, including that (apparently) a lot of focus was on the possibility of thermonuclear explosion, so he wanted to correct that misapprehension.
I think in the TV program they made a big deal of the elephant's foot, suggesting that the radiactive core might sink down through the basement into the reservoir of cooling water at the bottom, and cause TN explosion.

He spent some time describing what a TN explosion is, and how they make TN bombs, as a way of explaining why you simply couldn't have had those conditions in the reactor
 

 Tim: Ah right, I was missing the significance of thermo and just thinking nuclear.
 

 Steve: I would've texted you Tim if you didn't ack.

The guy was pretty pro-nuclear then!
 

 nick: The guy was pretty pro-nuclear then!
Yes - I think really he was trying to correct what he saw as the public misapprehension that nuclear is really risky and dangerous. He said it's not without risk, but nothing is, and we need to try and be aware of what risk is there, and decide how much risk we're prepared to take. But he acknowledged that it's not easy to be rational

He gave an example of one of his students who was due to go on one of his field trip to Chernobyl: she was pregnant and she asked "is this safe for my baby?" He said that from his point of view, there was minimal risk (wouldn't say "none") but that it had to be her decision: how would she feel if, when it's born, the baby is somehow ill? Whether or not that had been to do with the field trip (and you probably wouldn't be able to know), it's likely she'd have thought "it must be my fault for going to Chernobyl". She didn't go, in the end.
 

 Tim: That's one of those situations where doing something out of the ordinary can be hard to justify:
Is there a risk? Yes.
Is there a benefit? Well, nothing concrete, tbh.

But the risk may be no greater than day-to-day stuff. The difference is that you're making a conscious decision.

 

 nick: Is there a benefit? Well, nothing concrete, tbh.
In the case of the pregnant student, I suppose the benefit is the experience of visiting Chernobyl and doing field experiments etc that are relevant to the course she's on. I think the point is, that even though, from all that we can tell, the benefits might outweigh the risks, we find it hard (and understandably so) to act purely rationally

It was jolly interesting, you should have come!
 

 nick: Roger's vegetable of the week was... butternut squash. They had it as a soup, and mostly didn't like it
 

 Steve: I can see his children eating chicken nuggets and chips for the rest of their naturals.
If they didn't like sweetcorn, time to abandon it.

And you are in the clear Nick, I renewed Plusnet after some haggling. Ridiculous isn't it?

Need to replace a fence post which rotted after about 10 years and blew down. I was so careful with waterproofing etc. So the green thing is to get another wooden one right? I can't do it as it's such a pain to hack out the old concrete and replace each time. This has to be a permanent solution.
So concrete post it will be, but I can recycle one I already have elsewhere so some carbon saving. Let's hope it doesn't fall on me when I hack it off at ground level. You cannot imagine how heavy they are.
 

 nick: He's still not had sweetcorn yet.
Are there alternatives, such as plastic, to concrete/wooden fence posts?

Roads have been exceedingly quiet the last couple of days. Maybe it's people pre-emptively self-quarantining, and you only need 5% or something to be working from home for the traffic to drop substantially.

Our contingency plan here includes distributing tissues and hand-gel to every desk. Or we would have given everyone hand-gel if the order had come, but there's too many idiots panic-buying, so there wasn't enough for us in stock

 

 Tim: Some bods called Genesis are going on tour in November, apparently.
 

 nick: Oh yes! someone else here just pointed this out Genesis tickets & Tour. And I am not in the least interested in going
 

 Tim: And now I keep singing terrible Genesis songs. Strictly the worst ones, it's horrible.
 

 Tim: Have you had Pandemic sessions at home yet?
 

 Steve: Not yet, she's been busy.
BTW I am completing ripping of my classical albums and it is a slow process. But anything that makes it easier to play them has to be worthwhile. And I can do it in the background to other activities, a nice project.
I found the receipt for your Naxos Shostakovich you gave me from 2002! £28.
I see there are shorter symphonies so will have another go.
I also have made a start with Martinu's 1st which seems very promising.
And digging out the The Rest is Noise (book) I realise why I bought some of these box sets!
 

 Tim: Short Shostas, especially mid period, get my vote... ISTR.
 

 Steve: Struck me that the price is the same now, almost 20 years later.
And where would you go now to physically buy classical box sets???
Downstairs in HMV used to be amazing.
 

 nick: We've got flights to Spain in a couple of weeks. And then back again ten days later. Be interesting to see whether any of them get cancelled
 

 Steve: You'll not be crossing our quarantine line with your car keys!
 

 Tim: Don't forget if your airline goes bust while you're away you can train it to Santander/Bilbao and get a ferry back. Only 48 hours and 5x the cost.
 

 nick: Anyone interested in Penguin Cafe in Southampton (a mere two minute walk from Tim's house I think)?
 

 Steve: I'll pass thanks.

We are all WFH officially now. How sad :)
Wish the wind would drop a bit, yesterday's lunchtime ride was a killer. Looks the same today.
 

 nick: We're doing a "everyone work from home" day as a test next week, but I guess that could easily progress to "work from home all the time".
 

 nick: I'm sure it's psychosomatic, but I'm feeling a bit rough with sore throat, tired etc.. Should I self-quarantine?
Spain looking less likely I think: they've just declared a state of emergency, so even though the Costa del Sol isn't one of the places with lockdown, it could well be affected in the next week or so, and I'm not sure I fancy being quarantined over there when all the shops are shut
 

 Tim: Have your flights been cancelled yet?

I can't see Euro2020 going ahead, and I've forked out quite a lot for flights and accommodation. Not sure if I'll get much of that back, we'll see. Match tickets presumably will be refunded or valid for whenever it gets staged.
 

 nick: I think it's looking increasingly unlikely we'll go although Lesley still keen. We had Easyjet flights and they are offering the option of changing flights without charging fee, so maybe that would be an option for you. I have travel insurance which so far as I can tell would pay in the event of CV issues, so long as FO is saying "you shouldn't go".

Flights still showing as going ahead; current FO advice is no travel to certain bits of Spain but that doesn't (yet) include Malaga. If the advice changes this week then that would definitely stop us going, and presumably kick in travel insurance but I don't know how much I could claim for (Easyjet flights were cheap and holiday accommodation was a group booking for about 8 people)

No idea what's going to happen, basically
 

 nick:  they are offering the option of changing flights without charging fee, so maybe that would be an option for you - well...if Euro2020 was rescheduled, or you wanted to go somewhere else on holiday, I suppose
 

 Tim: Good point, I've got travel insurance too, no idea how it works. If you booked for all 8 people (I don't know whether you did) can you claim the whole lot? Alternatively, Neil booked our accommodation in Budapest, can I claim half? Both sound plausible but presumably only one (max) is likely to be right.
 

 nick:  The FCO advises against all travel to Spain due to restrictions put in place by the Spanish government. Looks like we’re not going then
 

 nick: I expect we might be investigating insurance options this week so I’ll keep you updated!
I believe travel restrictions to Italy are in place until start of April, which sort of could be read as meaning that they think things will be better after that. But I imagine they just might keep extending them
 

 Tim: Well that was quick.
 

 Steve: Paul bought a flight for tonight to come home - bit of a panic. Since they have banned cycling amongst other things, pointless being there and could get stranded.
Plenty of cyclists out this morning, I think I'm getting used to the wind!

Airport nice and quiet today.
Asda not so much, well the queue to the entrance was a good 300m long.
 

 nick: I can't really see what the point is of banning cycling - seems like that's going to keep you healthy, and it's not like you're often within 2m of other people. Hope they don't do that here.
Hope Paul is OK
 

 nick: Had mail from one of my team who's staying home because they've got a cough. I said "you should refer to NHS111 website, which is recommending you self-isolate if you have a continuous cough"
He replied "what's the definition of a continuous cough?"
Apparently I am a qualified medic now. (I said "you should read the website", which says "a new continuous cough - this means you've started coughing repeatedly")
 

 Steve: I think we have to assume the Randonee and Brand X will be off. They have just postponed their US tour until the autumn.
 

 Steve: I imagine you can't get through on 111.

He got home at 2:30AM so we're a bit tired today.
With the cycling thing, I think it comes under any sort of leisure activity maybe where you move about, and a slight chance you hurt yourself and need medical assistance?
We will be looking at more deaths from side-effects of this like less exercise causes people to suffer strokes etc. You defer that doctor's appointment etc etc
 

 nick: I imagine you can't get through on 111. no, but the website has a step-by-step guide telling you what to do

BrandX website says "With the additional travel ban just issued by the U.S. Government, plus all of the elements involved with the Corona Outbreak, we have no choice but to POSTPONE all of our U.K., Netherlands and Germany shows, as well as our current US shows. We're in the process of dealing with the numerous venues and aiming to RESCHEDULE UK TOUR to APRIL - MAY of 2021. "

I suppose missing that and the Randonnee is a small problem in the scheme of things but it's pretty annoying
 

 nick: per latest announcement from Johnson, I've told all my team to work from home starting from tomorrow. This will be a good test of the video-conferencing software we've just bought.
 

 Steve: You'll be getting questions about whether their home setup is suitable.

What do we think, are we not to cycle? Paul says no it's unnecessary travel, but I think it counts as exercise. On your own in the fresh air?
 

 nick: What do we think, are we not to cycle? Paul says no it's unnecessary travel, but I think it counts as exercise. On your own in the fresh air?
I'd definitely taken the latest comments to mean that cycling is OK. Current advice on the NHS website says
If you live with others and you or one of them have symptoms that may be caused by coronavirus, then household members must stay at home and not leave your house for 14 days (see ending self-isolation below). If possible, you should not go out even to buy food or other essentials, other than exercise, and in that case at a safe distance from others. The 14-day period starts from the day when the first person in your house became ill.

I.e. even if you're "self-isolating", exercise is OK. And I think cycling counts as exercise

In other news, Bluedot mail says they're expecting to go ahead, although will review situation
 

 Steve: Finally, a statement from Cycling UK since the previous on on Friday says no group activities but "However, people should not avoid cycling altogether as it remains a great way to keep fit and active and is a good way to boost immunity."
 

 Tim: I think I'll have to shelve our weekly 5-a-side. Might have to take up cycling instead. And buy some running shoes, if the shops haven't suddenly sold out.
 

 Steve: Just went out, and of course windy but nice and dry. Saw a group of about 10 cyclists - naughty naughty.
Roads were slightly busier than usual I'd say.
 

 nick: Having a bit of trouble making phone calls today which I think from the news is because the mobile networks are struggling a bit with all the extra working-from-home that's going on.
I see Euro2020 has been put off for a year - time to start putting in your compensation claims Tim
 

 Steve: Except travel insurance has a get-out clause of it being a "Known Event" - I just had an email on this subject.
 

 nick: I thought the "known event" stuff was for cases where you booked the holiday after the issue was known about. I.e. from now on if you booked insurance you wouldn't be able to claim for cancellation due to CV. But if you booked before CV had been invented (which was Nov/Dec last year) then it wouldn't count as a "known event" I think
 

 nick: I had a ticket to see My Fair Lady at the Haymarket tomorrow night, which needless to say has been cancelled. Geoff, who I think Steve met on one of the church bike rides (he's the one that saw Brand X/Bruford) is even more upset than me: his daughter was playing the leading role in the production. Must feel dreadful for them after months of rehearsals etc. to have this happen on literally the evening before the first performance.
 

 Tim: Even more upset than you? Blimey.

We can get a refund on match tickets. Neil booked an apartment in Budapest and he's looking into his options. I booked some flights, the airlines may yet cancel them or failing that we might be able to switch them for some other route/purpose. Or if, when the time comes, the FO advises against travel or something else makes it impossible, that might trigger a credit card refund or insurance claim. It's all going to be up in the air for a while.
 

 nick: Nothing posted on the website, but I am assuming that Wolfgang Flür won't be going ahead on 4-April.
Steve Hackett's postponed a load of shows (including a "Cruise to the Edge" one he was on) but that doesn't (yet) include the ones I'm going to see in November
Our church has said they won't be doing services for the foreseeable future
Have been awake most of the night worrying about it, it's getting on top of me a bit


 

 Steve: This end: Guides off, church services off. D is still going in to work - more important now than ever, but she walks there and is in a small office on her own.
Paul WFH here and Matt still WFH at his flat.
D's niece is due to get married in May (no way).

Heard a couple of stories direct where people can't WFH as their VPN is limited in numbers or speed, 10,000 in one case of 40,000 employees. I hadn't considered that.

Thinking about stepping up and putting flyers through doors to offer help, we have front and side older neignbours on our radar already!

It'll surely be over in a couple of months then the years of penury paying for it :)

I'm looking on the temporary bright side, no more of this hugging culture which I can't bear.
 

 nick: We had one of those flyers through the door with someone offering to help get shopping etc. for anyone self-isolating. Think Lesley might help with that although she's waiting to see what's going on at the homeless shelter (she's due to be doing a shift there tonight).

Our company bought a ton more VPN licenses and everyone's working from home today - all seems ok so far. I have two systems both VPN-ing in, so you need more than one license per person.

It'll surely be over in a couple of months oh I do hope so; the more pessimistic predictions are talking about Spring 2021 before it's over

Tim - what's going on at your end, you working from home?
 

 Tim: The general thing at the council is to work at home if poss. We two don't really have the facilities (office/desks/chairs) or equipment (work laptop) to do it properly, so we're not yet, but probably will have to mung it at some point. As it stands that will be home laptops on the kitchen table, to Citrix desktops, and then (for me) remoting onto my ancient work PC with the necessary software. Almost unworkable.

It's fairly quiet in the office now though.
 

 nick: "Bank of England cuts interest rates to 0.1%" good news for us mortgage payers! oh wait...
 

 Steve: I saw an interesting comment on a BBC story to wait until the US asks for reparation from China for this!

As far as I can see people are not taking it seriously, apparently our town centre is very busy.
Although with nothing else to do I can see why people go shopping, well for food at least.
 

 nick: Ken and Julie have been going out for lunch/shopping the last few days. They say the govt hasn't specifically said they mustn't, so they're not going to stay home until they have to. In contrast, I've been holed up at home since Monday, just been out for walks at lunchtime, staying as far as possible away from any other pedestrians I see.

 

 Steve: It's just 'flu people think.
I have also been home apart from solitary bike rides and walks.
I delivered something to someone and rang the bell and stepped well back.
But we are not set a good example. Rooms of journalists in the Boris conference, news correspondents pointlessly travelling to show us an empty school or closed tube station.
We also need some shaming examples where crowds of people are messing things up.
 

 nick: I think they're not being explicit enough in their advice. E.g. they say "businesses and workplaces should encourage their employees to work at home, wherever possible". I think that leaves room for interpretation (which has caused a bit of an issue for my company). And then advising people not to go to pubs/theatres, but not saying pubs/theatres must shut, so people end up going to them

Dunno about the shaming thing, feels like we should be trying to encourage good behaviour rather than making examples of people who don't, even though that might feel good
 

 nick: We've been using Zoom to video conference at work. We've got subscriptions, but you can use it for free without paying. Maybe we three could do a zoom session to attack tomorrow's Guardian crossword and chat and have music on? (Other video conferencing things are available I guess)
 

 Tim: Also, we've all got Pandemic so I expect we could easily coordinate a distributed game of that. I don't forsee any problems.
 

 nick: 
I guess you just need someone with a camera pointing at the board/pieces which everyone can see or comment on

Or there's Pandemic on Steam but I suspect it might lose a bit of the fun if the computer is interpreting the rules for you
 

 Tim: I'm sure we could make it more complicated than that.
 

 nick: I know Richard Herring is not to everyone's taste but he's always been pretty good about raising money for worthy causes: he has buckets for people to donate to Scope at every gig, and for the last few years he's spent all day on "International Women's Day" raising money for women's refuge charities by looking for people who tweet "when's international men's day then?" and answering them "it's on november 19th".
He's been tweeting about the loss of income for comics in the wake of covid19 and has been pointing people at this crowdfunded. He gave £10,000 to it himself. Later on, there's a donation of £10,001 with the comment "We just wanted to make Herring look like a cheapskate"

Stewart Lee also mentions this website, and says "Incidentally, someone claiming to be me has donated £20 to this. It isn’t me, as any donations I make to things are done anonymously to avoid looking charitable. I wouldn’t donate that much."
 

 Tim: I found the "cheapskate" donation, it was from Lee Mack. And it was only £10,000.01
 

 Steve: Sorry I had my tab closed for a screenshare.
I'm available this afternoon onwards for crossword etc.
Need to use up my cement this morning!
 

 nick: I'll email you an invite for a meeting that starts at 2pm
 

 Steve: Got that thanks.
 

 nick: Just had this:
I am writing to you to confirm that we have postponed Wolfgang Flür (Ex-Kraftwerk): 'Musik-Soldat' on Saturday 4th April 2020 to Saturday 3rd October 2020 at 7.30pm, at Winchester Discovery Centre. If you would like to attend the new date, you do not need to do anything. All tickets for the original date will be valid for the rearranged date.

I think I can apply for a refund if anyone wants one
 

 Tim: Thanks. No idea whether I'll be able to make that, might as well risk it I suppose. Any idea if I owe you for the ticket or was it offset against something else? (Sorry).

On the Kraftwerk Wikipedia page there's a timeline of band members. Three of the four longest-serving of them are currently in the band.
 

 Steve: I'm happy to go with that future date.
At the moment, getting back to normal seems unlikely.
I can't bring myself to go out on the bike, feels wrong despite Boris specifically saying it's OK.
 

 nick: I went out for an 8 mile loop at lunchtime yesterday and had been planning to go again today, but you're right it feels wrong somehow. But it is doing my head in a bit being stuck inside (or more accurately, I suppose, knowing that I'm not free to go wherever I want).
What about we zoom tonight - if not for Pandemic then just for a chat?
 

 Steve: Yes tonight good, 7?
 

 Tim: I'm working from home too now (which is a nightmare) so typically will be available from about 4pm.
Can do 7 tonight, and if everyone is really keen should be able to fit in a game of Pan before dinner (especially with a bit of setup beforehand). Or next time.


 

 nick: ok I'll schedule a meeting for 7pm and send you links

 

 Steve: Will aim to setup the game. Will be just me I think.
 

 Tim: OK, in which case we'll just use the standard 5 events.

I'm going to deal us some Roles:

Nick.... Dispatcher
Steve.... Medic
Me.... Operations Expert
 

 Tim: I've dealt our starting hands and prepared the Player Deck. Remember, you need to sort your player cards (cities and events, not so much the epidemics (5 of 6)) so you can whip them out quickly.

Nick: Istanbul (Black), Montreal (Blue), St Petersburg (Blue)
Steve: Riyadh (Black), Moscow (Black), New York (Blue)
Me: Algiers (Black), Atlanta (Blue), Madrid (Blue)

Weird.

I've sorted my Infection Deck, ready for Nick to draw the 9 cities that start infected.
 

 Tim: Cracking game last night, although I expect we could have won if you'd played a bit better.

When are we up for more ents of any kind? I still seem to be free.
 

 Tim: Also, anyone got a pic for a new post?
 

 Steve: I'll do one.