Friday 20 August 2010

(Health and) Efficiency

I once had a boss. A PhD from Oxford. You might have guessed from meeting him.

He knew (I didn't ask, you just don't with people like this) that the engine of a car is most efficient at 75% of load.

So, his driving style was
a) get into fifth gear as soon as possible, even if it knocked
b) on a motorway thrash it to 95mph, drop the clutch, put it in underdrive (neutral) then let it slow to 50mph. Repeat. After 300 miles this gets to be REALLY tiresome.

Vertigo

Vertigo: The fear of heights.

I have it. I have it bad. But it's not just heights, it's far more animal than that.
 I can stand on a ladder and muck about with upstairs windows.
I can lean out of 4th floor windows.
I cannot paint the eves of a bungalow.

But the thing that gets me most is a non solid barrier.I can stand at the window of a 40 storey hotel so long as the solid bit comes up to at LEAST waist height.

The Grosvenor Place Hotel, Sydney. Once I had to deliver a package to the 40th floor. The walls are entirely glass. I couldn't stand within 6' of it.

Golden Gate Bridge has only railings. and between the road and the footpath is a gap with NO railings. So I could walk only a very narrow path between the two. No amount of coaxing made that crossing a happy one.



I took this from the top of St Peter's in the Vatican. The railings were stylishly Italian. I've seen thicker wire. So I was spreadeagled against the dome not being able to take another step further forward.

A few years ago I went to Taipei 101. As the name suggests, the one-time tallest building in the world at 101 floors. That's 500m of tallness. the observation platform is 89 floors up. It only takes 45 seconds to get up in the express lift.

However once there, the window ledge is only 6" high. The glass is thick and it's VERY VERY VERY safe. Cue me on my hands and knees crawling to the window from 6' away to get close enough to take photos.

Tuesday 17 August 2010

More windmills

I've been meaning to take a photo of this for such a long time. I pass it most days. Not sure what it is though. But it has a vertical axis and when it spins it's very pretty

Monday 16 August 2010

It's a small world. Beware

Cambridge's high tech world is a mirror of the wider area: incestuous. The degrees of separation must be at worst 3; everyone knows one common person at work. 

So as I started a new job in July 2006 I told my Thurday night DeanyB group who I was working with. I mentioned a name, let's call him "Pete". It's not his name. Why will become apparent later. 

Anyway I'm in a local curry house, i mention a name and the table goes silent. There are stolen glances. No one speaks. It's like the Omertà. Over the next few weeks I try and raise it again. Nothing.  I know when I'm beaten. 

After a period of three months I have another go. "Pete" has worked in a lot of places, contractors do. But he's an arrogant objectionable little man. It's not just me. He gets the job done but he doesn't make friends. 

Gradually as this comes out over Thursdays, stories start coming out of how in previous places, people have gone to huge lengths to avoid socialising with him. I've hit a deep full seam of dislike. The stories come thick and fast. Going back over 10 years, stopping about 4 years ago.  

Then someone leans in. The Omertà is about to be lifted. I am inducted into the inner sanctum. The words are spoken "search for him in the local paper". 

Well, went to bed that night, thought little of it. The next morning at work I hit up the local rag. It's split into Huntingdon and Cambridge. The search pages are awkward. I know it's in there. 

Then, it's there. Two reports. Some comment about fraud whilst in minor local government. But the biggie. He spent three years at Her Majesty's pleasure for "leaving his DNA on a four year old" in a playground whilst his child played inside in the recreation hall. 

So what to do about Paedo Pete? Yes it's not original. Of course it all came out. The Omertà was because my friends wanted me to form my own opinion before giving me this. It had happened after he'd left the last place but news travels fast.  

Fortunately before I knew of his moment of weakness I'd worked it out for myself that he was an unpleasant little man. For that I thsnk my friends.