Nog's Blog - I blog therefore I am

Crossing

2012-01-26T21:04:00.001Z

A glass of something chilled

2012-01-21T21:15:00.001Z

Rolvenden crossing

2012-01-21T16:44:00.001Z

And again

2012-01-20T18:30:00.001Z

Another in my ever popular series of shots of traffic not moving on motorways of the South East. This is the M26 eastbound - not moved much for 40 minutes

There be fruit and cake!

2012-01-17T10:49:00.001Z

Sunlight through the clouds

2012-01-14T14:21:00.001Z

Another beautiful morning

2012-01-13T07:45:00.001Z

Evidence of a good Christmas in the office

2012-01-12T12:12:00.001Z

How scrummy is this?

2012-01-11T07:48:00.001Z

Digiscoping

2012-01-10T09:11:00.001Z

Storm cloudz

2012-01-05T07:45:00.001Z

Cava

2012-01-01T22:42:00.001Z

To wrap up day one

Busy

2011-12-31T22:03:00.001Z

Cadbury's

2011-12-31T16:07:00.001Z

Cal's haircut

2011-12-30T15:20:00.001Z

Cal's laptop has arrived

2011-12-29T11:33:00.001Z

Antipasti Day

2011-12-26T15:33:00.001Z

Morris red in tooth and claw

2011-12-26T13:29:00.001Z

Beer and morris

2011-12-26T13:13:00.001Z

Rowan with new cardy

2011-12-25T14:14:00.001Z

Santa has BEEN!!

2011-12-25T10:10:00.001Z

I'm spending time with a blonde

2011-12-24T20:54:00.001Z

The tree is up!

2011-12-24T14:27:00.001Z

Greater love has no man.....

2011-12-24T13:03:00.001Z

This product is wrong on so many levels but Jemma is a vegetarian

Lunchtime office Christmas nibbles

2011-12-23T19:22:00.001Z

How much???????

2011-12-23T17:29:00.001Z

Trudi's festive earring

2011-12-22T17:54:00.001Z

Lunch time Italian

2011-12-22T14:02:00.003Z

I've seen the future!

2011-12-22T14:02:00.001Z

Cool trees

2011-12-22T11:06:00.001Z

In the common room at work

Hot chocolate

2011-12-20T14:11:00.001Z

It's FEWER!!!!!

2011-12-19T19:00:00.001Z

Manchester again

2011-12-19T08:50:00.001Z

Manchester

2011-12-19T07:54:00.001Z

Mince pie

2011-12-18T17:06:00.001Z

Home made by Jemma

32678

2011-12-17T17:31:00.001Z

A pool of light

2011-12-17T16:14:00.001Z

In Waitrose, Tenterden

2011-12-17T15:12:00.001Z

Krispy Kreme increase production to satisfy my doughnut addiction

2011-12-12T17:18:00.001Z

Isn't this still the greatest Christmas song?

2011-12-09T20:43:00.001Z

Is this a haiku?

2011-12-06T15:34:00.001Z

Interesting!

2011-12-03T15:58:00.001Z

Pink iPhone

2011-12-03T10:56:00.001Z

I wish it could be Christmas every day

2011-12-01T10:37:00.001Z

Morgans

2011-11-27T17:17:00.005Z

The ticket/back stage pasd

2011-11-27T17:17:00.003Z

Car porn

2011-11-27T17:17:00.001Z

Top Gear Live - the show

2011-11-27T17:16:00.001Z

James May

2011-11-27T17:15:00.001Z

And now Olympic boxing!

2011-11-27T17:13:00.001Z

Top Gear Live - the track

2011-11-27T12:54:00.001Z

Untitled

2011-11-27T10:09:00.001Z

One of Schindler's lifts

2011-11-23T12:01:00.001Z

Another about school visits

2011-11-18T06:43:00.001Z

Don't assume that everyone knows how to get round the school - mention that there will be guides for visitors. Comments like "Come and find my office, it's where the old library used to be" don't help at all.

Talk to him not me. He's a young adult and while he might appear to struggle with spoken English he's your customer, not me. I might be an influencer but if you've ignored him and told me what you do in your lessons you've lost him. I won't understand (or care) and he'll think that you are rude - as will I. Perhaps from there you can work out what direction my influence might take?

Allowing teachers to threaten students during visits probably won't help. Last night I heard a teacher ask someone their name and he then told the young man that he'd be "out of the school" if he continued to talk to his friend. I've no idea if this was justified but it was not appropriate in front of that young man's peers or visitors. Teaching isn't about the power trip and publicly humiliating young adults is distasteful.

Physics

2011-11-17T20:46:00.001Z

A 'Wave" pendulum in the physics lab at St Simon Stock school. Another Sixth Form visit.

Across the road in the mist

2011-11-15T22:00:00.001Z

In Memoriam

2011-11-13T18:31:00.001Z

See the full gallery on Posterous

Rememberance Sunday photos at Sessions House, Maidstone

Paulaner

2011-11-12T17:53:00.001Z

Because you never know when you might need it...

2011-11-12T17:49:00.001Z

Yummy!

2011-11-12T16:22:00.001Z

Top tip!

2011-11-10T21:41:00.001Z

As you might have picked up we're trawling round looking at Sixth Forms with Cal. Tonight he and I visited Maidstone Girls Grammar School. Impressive as it stands but if anyone wants to convince 16 year old boys to change schools having 17 year old girls acting as guides will usually work.

Calum is interested in Physics so we went to the physics lab. While Cal was talking to some students the teacher approached me and started chatting. Speaking to him I remembered what physicists use as contraception..........

I hope this is readable

2011-11-10T19:02:00.001Z

It's a broken-down lorry

2011-11-10T09:08:00.001Z

Today on the M26

2011-11-10T08:37:00.001Z

Folkestone in November

2011-11-07T18:59:00.001Z

See the full gallery on Posterous

It was much colder and windier than it appears here

Happy Saturday

2011-11-05T14:25:00.001Z

Cafe des Amis

2011-11-05T13:51:00.001Z

So.............

2011-11-02T22:13:00.001Z

The Greek state, which until the latest bailout wasn't able to pay civil servants because it couldn't borrow any more brass, wants its citizens to vote for tighter fiscal control. Not a bad plan given that they will likely go on strike otherwise and they also seem to have the Euro zone over a barrel - if Greece falls over it could drag down Italy and Spain. At the same time some of our MPs think that this is a good time to ask that we are given preferential treatment by the EU even though we're not chipping in to help maintain the single currency. Funny old world innit?

And summer's lease hath all too short a date

2011-10-30T16:49:00.001Z

See the full gallery on Posterous

Pies

2011-10-29T15:48:00.001+01:00

Autumn sunshine

2011-10-25T21:00:00.001+01:00

See the full gallery on Posterous

Beautiful autumn sunshine on the fields today - and stunning blue skies. Glorious sights.

A bit of Neil Young

2011-10-15T21:56:00.001+01:00

Rolling stock

2011-10-15T20:56:00.001+01:00

When Chuck Norris was born the angels sang this song

2011-10-14T22:43:00.001+01:00

The title is a comment on the YouTube page for this vid. Hard to argue with it really.

Useful, really useful.

2011-10-14T12:50:00.001+01:00

In a town which is on its uppers the council are stepping in because a shopkeeper has tried to buck the trend. How on earth does this make sense?

[Image from BBC web site]

Sun and rain

2011-10-10T22:12:00.001+01:00

Sevens

2011-10-09T19:46:00.001+01:00

Caterham Sevens meeting up at Headcorn airfield - there were seven or eight lined up together.

Wine

2011-10-02T16:38:00.001+01:00

Cal

2011-10-01T17:47:00.001+01:00

No room

2011-10-01T00:19:00.001+01:00

Lots of generous people buy me beer - long may that continue! I've just loaded the fridge and this is the overspill

Misty pink

2011-09-30T06:56:00.001+01:00

Haribo !

2011-09-29T16:24:00.001+01:00

Nice cup of tea

2011-09-27T14:45:00.001+01:00

And relax - it's the only way

A nice way to spend a day...

2011-09-20T00:35:00.001+01:00

With the adults my children have become.

For Schorschi

2011-09-19T00:05:00.000+01:00

This is for George's birthday - I know it's late but I've been away. Rob and Lynne shared it on FB but I think it deserves a wider audience.

Shunting

2011-09-17T21:36:00.001+01:00

Got to Rolvenden in time to see the shunter moving a flat truck out of the station and across the road. The truck was dropped off there and this shot shows the shunter coming back.

Sending this from my phone as a test.

Love Saturdays

2011-09-17T20:28:00.001+01:00

I love Saturdays like this one. Woke at 7 and grabbed a cup of tea. Listened to the radio until it was time for the Australia Vs Ireland game which was tremendous. Then I got up. Tad of pootling and a hearty brunch before heading to Waitrose for some fresh provisions and then collected Cal from Rolvenden and dropping him at his home. Now post-Who with a pizza in the oven and a cold beer to hand.

Another shot of the sparrowhawk

2011-09-12T21:06:00.001+01:00

This time looking over her shoulder

Laughter with a bang

2011-09-11T21:34:00.001+01:00

Phil suggested that I look up Blaster Bates. I've got a couple of his albums somewhere but I realised that a lot of people won't be familiar with him. Here's the Wikipedia entry about Derek Bates, his style of storytelling is terribly funny and he has a smashing way with language. I've not listened to his stuff in more than two decades but bits stick with me. In one he describes how unstable explosives can set of what is called "sympathetic detonation" which, he suggests, isn't that sympathetic to the poor bugger driving the van. He uses industrial language, but not as rude as some, and he's well worth a listen.

I've been checking my Sense

2011-09-11T20:10:00.001+01:00

This is the Sense kit. It's like a grown-up version of Legotechnic which plugs into the PC and interacts with a sweet bit of kit used to create programs for it. The software is based on Scratch from MIT, it's a "drag & drop" way of programming but no less powerful for all that. Anyway my Sense checked out so it's all good so far.

Screenr

2011-09-06T11:32:00.001+01:00

Did a brief Screenr vid yesterday to remind myself how it works - might have a use for it soon.

This is a swift bit of Photoshop editing on an image from a set I took yesterday in Maidstone.

Castle Fields

2011-09-06T11:24:00.001+01:00

Castle Fields, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

For those who might have missed it - I've just had a holiday on the canals with Jemma, Cal and Scott. The lens flare in this shot is genuine - I grabbed some photos very early in the morning and the sun was just peeping over the buildings in the background.

Other photos on Flickr.

New twist!

2011-09-06T11:21:00.000+01:00

I've just received this mail:

Dear Friend,

GREETINGS FROM THE UK HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT (Respond to this email when you
are done reading - hmar*******@yahoo.com.hk )

This might startle you a little as you might have seen or read about me but
really don't know me in person. Well, I am Rt. Hon Margaret Hodge MP.
A British politician and Lab our Party Member of Parliament for Banking.
I was the first Minister for Children appointed in a newly created post with
the Department for Education and Skills and presently Minister of State in
the Department for culture, Media and Sport under Her Majesty, Queen
Elizabeth of the United Kingdom.

I got your contact info via your country's national directory and
intend introducing a project concerning charity in your country
and maybe neighboring countries around you.

A few months ago, I was compelled to make an over estimation during a budget
and set aside the sum of Six Million Three Hundred Thousand Great Britain
Pounds (6, 300,000.00GBP) with the sole intention of channeling it all into
charity which I am delegating you to executed on my behalf with complete
supervision of my Attorney as
he will also be the one in charge of securing these funds into your custody.

This transaction will result to you being paid a commission of 11% of the
investment capital and the balance, distributed to charity organizations of
your choice or reinvested and the net income, used for rehabilitating
charity organization in and around your country through you your agency
annually for the period of five years or a little more.
The last time I orchestrated this sort of Grant, the individual in Australia
succeeded in successfully setting up three standard orphanage homes in less
than a year. I have never been so proud of such a noble individual.

I hope we would have a re-occurrence in your case. If you are willing to
execute this Humanitarian Project, You must understand that I desire
absolute confidentiality and professionalism on
this issue. For security reasons as regards my reputation, I will not be
able to communicate regularly with you; but my Attorney will take up the
processing on my behalf and get these funds processed and released to you
without any delay.

I don't plan on benefiting anything from this project, but will
be absolutely fulfilled, if and only if you remain sincere to me on the
handling of this project with utmost sincerity and confidentiality; and
eventually utilize the funds for the purpose which I have explained to you
above. Kindly respond urgently if you are interested as the fund have been
tied down for too long, so I can equip you with the necessary details,
alongside my Attorney's contact information, so as to commence the
transaction properly; on the other hand, if you are not, please let your
intentions be known or better still, Kindly relent from replying this email.

You could get personal info. on me via my official website, but do not try
contacting me via any personal information you may lay your hands upon on
the internet as almost all my contact info are connected to the British
House of Parliament data base
except the ones I personally sent to you; as I don't want our effort
and my reputation, jeopardized.

Kindly send your response to this E-mail:

hmar********@yahoo.com.hk

Sincerely,

THE RT. HON MARGARET HODGE
DEPARTMENT FOR WORK AND PENSIONS,
RICHMOND HOUSE, 79 WHITEHALL,
HOUSE OF COMMONS, SW1A 0AA
2NSUNITED KINGDOM

Now I know that we all get loads of these but this is the first I've ever had which purports to be from the UK. I'm also surprised that Margaret is using a Yahoo address based on a Hong Kong server.

Margate

2011-08-16T22:27:00.000+01:00

This is Caz's graduation cake!

2011-07-22T23:36:00.001+01:00

This is Caz's graduation cake!, originally uploaded by nogbad the bad.

Caz graduated today and her mum made cakes - how cool is that?

There must be a controlling mind behind all these disasters

2011-07-18T20:49:00.000+01:00

Wrong number

2011-07-16T12:48:00.000+01:00

So I received a phone call about an hour ago.

"Can I speak to Lizzie please?"
"Sorry - you have the wrong number"
"Are you sure?"
"Yes I'm sure"
"She has three children - are you sure she's not there?"
"Yes I'm sure - sorry"
Call ends

45 minutes later

"Sorry to call you again but my mum rang this number last year and spoke to Lizzie. Have you just moved in"
"No"
"Are you in Boughton Monchelsea?"
"No"
"Well something is wrong because my mum spoke to her on this number last year"
"Not sure how because I've lived here for a few years"
"She left her husband because he was too good for her - was that you?"
"I think we'll leave it there - please don't call again"

It's not a sales pitch, it's too unscripted. These two women (and there are assorted children providing further background sounds) are really looking for someone who they believe can be contacted on this telephone number but at the point where they revealed why the woman's marriage had failed I had to bail out. Surreal.

Tyland Barn

2011-07-14T19:54:00.001+01:00

This is for Phil

2011-07-06T17:54:00.001+01:00

I wonder who thought that this combination of colours used in this way might be attractive; particularly when used on attractive buildings such as this one. Whoever it was deserves a stern talking to.

Click on the image to see it more bigger

Sparrow again

2011-06-24T18:47:00.001+01:00