Flops' Friday mini blog

[floppybootstomp]

I don't remember a Philips CDi gaming system, nope.

Royal mail left a leaflet today saying they'd tried to deliver a parcel but I wasn't in. Liars, liars LIARS

I was in when the card was left, I seriously want to injure some ******* postmen, I really do, lazy selfish twats.

I think it is down to the person who delivers for Royal Mail there's a young black postman who always manages to get deliveries through to me, always early, always smiling. That guy should be a role model, unlike his lazy selfish colleague.

The card tells me to collect parcel within 48 hours. Why 48 hours? Doesn't this lazy bastid deliver his undelivered mail back to the sorting office the same day? And anyway, it probably never even left the sorting office.

Whenever I visit the sorting office there's always people there complaing about the same problem - I was in when the post person called and left a card - so it's a common problem. Thinking of starting a campaign or something, or finding out who the guilty post person is and giving them a smack in the mouth. Twice.

Anyhoo, reason I mention it is it may be my undelivered A/D converter I ordered from Amazon. I filed a claim against HD Central (the supplier who functions as a 3rd party company for Amazon) on Friday evening but haven't heard a thing from HD Central or Amazon yet.

I used to ejoy buying online, recent experiences have completely soured the process.

I saw the PC Game Railworks for £20.00 in a GAME store recently so I bought it. It's not much good at all, I'd say don't buy it. The original MS Rail simulator is better and that must be about 7 years old or more.

So I took Railworks and a few other games to CEX and swapped 'em for a few Xbox games.

I saw a local newspaper billboard today that said 'Lewisham: Falling Plaster Hits Mum'. So, local papers are still as bereft of news and inspiration as when I worked for one, lol, nothing much changes. I mean, what kind of a headline is that? Is anybody seriously going to buy a paper to read about plaster falling on some woman who just happens to have produced offspring?

What next? Man accidentally treads on spider and kills it? Rivetting.

Ok, one could wonder whether it was some wall plaster flaked off and struck her elbow or perhaps she walked under some scaffolding and got a big cowpat splat from some wet plaster a builder had dropped. Not exactly hold the front page though is it?

I suppose she could have been walking under a building that sports a number of gargoyles made from plaster of paris and one fell and hit her, either causing serious injury or a fatality. But no, then the headline would read 'Mum killed/injured by falling Monster'. Well, it would if the sub-editor was any good and plainly the sub-editor working for the South London Press isn't very good at all.

Well, it did give me a belly laugh as I expertly steered my French vehicle down the highways and byways between Greenwich and Bromley.

On Sunday I went to Herne Bay and a housewarming party held there by some friends of mine. That was good but it was very cold wet and windy, got a tad moist walking to the pub when we arrived.

Came back and recovered on Monday. Today the sun was shining. Ho hum.

Pip pip!

 

[crazylegs]

There should actually be something on the card Flopp's which actually says something along the lines of if not picked up in certain time they will try redelivery..
That would p*ss the lazy bastid off as he'd have to redeliver your parcel for a second time!

Might just teach him a lesson..

I would be tempted to wait out for that postie and see if he delivers a parcel or not and when he puts a card out grab him and ask wtf his game was!!
Either way if it kept happening I would have to get to the bottom of it, I really would.

 

[Taffycat]

That postie would clearly benefit from a well-aimed toe making contact with his butt! We had a similar experience last year, when there was an early ring at the doorbell. The front door was still locked, but heck, this isn't The Tower of London, so it only took a few moments of key-turning, etc., by which time, the parcel-postie ...(not to be confused with our reliable, helpful, regular-roundsman "Dave") ...was already getting back into his van.

The van was still parked at the top of our driveway, so hubby duly waved and called to the driver, but that postie was determined "not to see" him and drove off! As he came back in, Terry noticed the "you were out" card, sticking out of the letterbox, which, like yours, advised that we should collect the parcel in 48 hours. Oh really!!

A telephone call to the Depot, enlightened the chap who mans the customer area, about what had just happened. We were then invited to collect the parcel, at mid-day (it was a Saturday btw,) after "Shirgar" had finished his round. So that is when we turned-up..... along with a lot of other grumbling, muttering folk. It's probably just co-incidence - or possibly a change of roundsmen - but it hasn't happened since.

Maybe your area is like one of the towns, a few miles away from here, where the posties are a pretty militant lot - they are ready to walk-out on strike at the slightest provocation. Consequently, the "bad-eggs" are tolerated.

Hope you get your parcel soon Flopps

 

[floppybootstomp]

Ok, ze update.

Collected the parcel from the sorting office today, some 26 hours after attempted delivery, and it was the a/d converter I ordered from Amazon.

Nice one, Royal Mail, only took you sixteen days to deliver a parcel that at most should only have taken three days to deliver.

Once I had my parcel in my clammy mitts I said to the postman behind the ramp:

"Whoever was supposed to deliver that parcel is a liar. I was at home when the card was left in my mailbox, nobody attempted to ring my doorbell. This happens frequently. You have a rogue postperson here who's giving all of you a bad name, I suggest you have a word with them."

And that was that. He didn't look very happy and didn't say a word.

I connected the converter to my setup and the Xbox audio via the HDMI cable did not come through my hi-fi.

So I accessed the TV's Audio menu and changed audio type from normal to 'PCM' and it works. It sounds (and this is a word I don't use too often) awesome. Playing Forza Three with windscreen view feels and sounds very realistic. Well, apart from no steering wheel and using a gamepad, lol

Wonder what 'PCM' stands for? 'Pulse Code Modulation' is all I can think of, which I believe is to do with radio signal decoding.

And nice stereo seperation, noticeable a great deal in SAW.

I have to say I'm thoroughly enjoying this Xbox even though I suspect some difficulty levels have been aimed at kids cos some games are seriously easy to play, particularly Final Fantasy VIII.

I now have three small parcels being sent from Ebay sellers via Royal Mail, glutton for punishment eh?

You want to know what the parcels are? Nosey gits.

1) Vinyl record cleaning spray.
2) Fancy-arse carbon fibre cleaning brush for vinyl records.
3) Max Payne 2 for Xbox.

And dat's about it.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Well it's Friday so time for a rabbit.

Tomorrow I'm doing a wedding disco for a regular forum member's Mum.

Finally put the Decca pivot arm onto the Lenco GL75 plinth-mounted turntable DTB (Dave The Bass, infrequent forum member and a fellow I know) gave me. I serviced the motor and platter bearing as per instructions on Lenco forum.

For the moment using a Shure 75C Moving magnet cartridge and it definitely does sound very good, better than the Hitachi Direct Drive turntable I'd ben using previously. Only one problem, the motor's running too slow. The speed control is constantly variable witha sliding lever between 16rpm and 78rpm so that means I can set it ok to 33rpm and 45rpm but the lever doesn't sit in the right speed slots. Worrying but I dare say I'll sort it.

Let's talk Xbox 360 and my new one.

I'm in a bit of a quandary about this, been using it over a month now and have mixed views.

Bottom line is, there don't seem to really be that many decent games available for the Xbox 360.

There's a lot more games available for PS3, especially when you take into account all PS2 games are playable on the PS3.

And I've realised that folks who play games on PC's seem to be spoilt rotten for choice. This, to my mind, is a good thing, lol

I found out that most original Xbox games won't play on the Xbox 360 console the hard way by buying a couple of real cheapies in a GAME store (Shrek Super Slam & Burnout Revenge) and getting a thumbs down from the 360 when I tried to play them.

However, James Bond 007: Nightfire & Max Payne 2 play ok on the 360.

I went for an Xbox, primarily, to play Gears Of War 1 & 2. I am slowly getting used to using a gamepad for fps's but in my opinion GOW1 was unplayable with a gamepad so I've outed it. GOW2 is better, it's playable but still a little awkward.

So, the long and the short of it is, I'm considering trading in or selling the Xbox and buying a PS3.

But not entirely made my mind up, if I done that it means I've lost money, quite a considerable sum of money really, around £80 - £120. Maybe I'll keep Xbox and buy a PS3 at a later date when I'm more flush, I dunno.

I'm still poxed off with Sony for blocking other OS install on the PS3 though, I just thinking out loud here.

As I mentioned earlier, there seem to be very few quality games available for Xbox360 but Lost Planet 2 looks promising. And Maybe Alan Wake.

I have been thoroughly enjoying myself flitting between PC and Xbox360 games, must admit, here's my take on the games I've tried on me Xbox Elite:

Really great, very enjoyable, games:

Forza Motorsport 3
SAW
Fable II
Sonic & Sega All Stars Racing
Onechanbara Samurai Bikini Squad (this one is really bizarre, but good fun and to my mind actually quite difficult. If young scantily clad japanese girls dismembering zombies is your thing, get this game, lol)

Runners up:

Final Fantasy VIII
Halo III
FUEL

Crap:

Gears Of War One (only because the interface is so difficult)
Blue Dragon
Thrillville
GRID

No verdict yet but all are playable:

Gears Of War 2
Call Of Duty THree
Timeshift
Overlord II
Kameo Elements Of Power
Dragon Age: Origins
Flat Out Ultimate Carnage
FUEL
Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion (got this cheap)
Sega Mega Drive Classics
Max Payne 2
James Bond 007 Nightfire
Dark Messiah Of Might & Magic: Elements

The only new game I've bought, incidentally, has bee the Sega Megadrive Classics, which was fifteen quid, all the others either came with the new console or were purchased at very reasonable prices second hand.

So there you go, me blog, mostly concerned with Xbox.

Think I'll play a little CoD4 on PC online, I'm in the mood...

 

[floppybootstomp]

If anyone is still reading this old twaddle...

I have returned from Guys Hospital where I was introduced to a medical team, and met other patients who will undergo the same treatment as myself - acupuncture. I signed a consent form and the course starts in June/July. I'm feeling positive about this though they did point out it works for some people and not others. Positive thinking, perhaps, cos I would kill to be able to eat a Burger again.

My ISP, Zen, just increased my monthly bandwidth allowance from 50Gb to 100Gb Only reason they gave is because they recognise most users are now using more bandwidth in these days of more than one computer in the household, iPlayer, streaming movies and the like.

Better than a kick in the teeth eh?

I have installed battlefield: Bad Company 2 but have yet to try either single or multiplayer cos by the time I installed it yesterday evening and it had auto-updated, I'd consumed several cans of the black stuff and was feeling sozzled/tired.

I tried to part exchange Metro 2033 at a Cex shop yesterday but they wouldn't take it as it had online activation and of course I'd already done that. That means it's now worthless to me.

Time was, you gambled on liking a game, bought it, and if you didn't like it you could sell it. Not any more, in some cases.

So in future I really am going to wait until a game is reduced in price before purchase, can't afford to do otherwise really.

I paid thirty quid for Metro 2033, it now costs twelve pounds at some places. That to me says an awful lot about the quality of the game's play. It would seem many others agree with me that it's tosh as well as there are scores of Xbox copies in the second hand racks.

The game starts off promisingly enough, very atmospheric, but soon degenerates until you feel like you're wandering through a swamp of treacle with your eyelids glued together, quite horrible.

Which makes me think about the whole future of gaming, really. I like Steam, but bandwidth has to be considered if doing a clean install. Yes, I know there's a backup function but it didn't work for me.

I think the future lies in distributors like Steam, where there are many bargain basement games to be had. But of course still the problem remains that if you buy a turkey you're stuck with it, hence no more full price games for me.

Console games, of course, can be traded in but gameplay is not really very good for fps's.

After almost a month with an Xbox Elite I've formed the opinion that there really aren't that many games available for Xbox. There are more available for the PS3 and the used PS3 games are also a lot cheaper. And they say a mouse and keyboard can be used with the PS3.

A used slimline PS3 with one full price game, one controller and a 120Gb HDD is £260.00 from GAME stores. Makes me think.

On the Xbox front, I have three old Xbox (as opposed to Xbox 360) games that all play well: Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind; James Bond 007: Nightfire and Max Payne 2. Gameplay is acceptable on the fps's and good on Morrowind. After starting Morrowind I realised that I had played the game before on the PC but quite some time ago, the game was released in 2002.

Other Xbox games: Really enjoying Overlord II; Oblivion, in my opinion, had lousy gameplay on Xbox so I p-ex'ed it; tried a theme park game called Thrillville, it was rubbish, it went; and I got a used copy of Need For Speed: Shift which I'm looking forward to trying.

Last saturday I done a wedding disco for members of crazylegs' family in Essex. Our esteemed forum member has a fondness for wearing orange afro wigs and gave me some guinness. I would class the evening as a success though it took a while to get going, possibly because of the light evening, sun went down quite late.

I noted that one of the family groups seemed to consist of thin females with incredibly white skin and legs that went on forever. Not an unpleasant distraction at all

If I'm feeling really mean, I may post some pix of Mr Legs

And that's about it from my neck of the woods

 

[muckshifter]

If anyone is still reading this old twaddle...

aye, better than me local rag, not so many adverts, short, sweet, and to the point ...

 

[Urmas]

... not so many adverts, short, sweet, and to the point ...

Plus...

 

[Taffycat]

If anyone is still reading this old twaddle...

You bet! 'Tis being read and enjoyed

I'm particularly looking forward to reading your observations after your first acupuncture session - it will be absolutely great if it works for you Terry's (then) doctor provided a couple of courses back in the 1990s, which helped him enormously. He would go in to the surgery, unable to straighten up and in a lot of pain, but would emerge an hour later, walking normally again, pain much diminished.

Wishing you the very best with your treatment and hoping you will get to enjoy a burger, toast and all the other favourites you have had to miss-out on.

 

[nivrip]

If anyone is still reading this old twaddle...

Yeah, still read.

However, I must complain under the Trades Description Act as most of the blogs do NOT appear on Fridays.

Best of luck with the acupuncture.

 

[captain zed]

I didn't know they did acupuncture in hospitals....though, who cares as long as it works.....good luck.

 

[floppybootstomp]

I didn't know they did acupuncture in hospitals....though, who cares as long as it works.....good luck.

They don't, generally, and until recently conventional medicine practitioners have regarded acupuncture as just another snake oil.

But there appears to be a growing acceptance of attitude change like sort of 'Hey, if it works and gets results, let's do it'.

There is also the possibility that those who condemn alternative medicines and only advocate cure by drugs are shareholders in pharmaceutical companies - who knows?

Incidentally, the NHS isn't funding this program, the money comes from a charity - Cancer Research UK.

The program stemmed from 12 people given the treatment in the USA and this UK program is part of a larger worldwide 'survey'.

The results will be published in a medical journal, maybe The Lancet, in September 2011, which, apparently, is quite a short time away for medical studies to be published.

And Zed, I'm getting on better with the Xbox, thoroughly enjoying it, played NFS Shift tonight for a bit and I also picked up Sega Sonic The Hedgehog Tennis for 3 quid which is the equivalent of those minor games you get bundled with Windows, really, but still good fun.

Only games for the Xbox 360 I really fancy atm that I don't have are Magna Carta 2 and Lost Planet 2, there really don't seem to be that many games available for this console.

Still, the 24 games I have should keep me busy for a while but after they're finished does the Xbox 360 Elite become redundant?

No probs, really, just observations on my part, PC Gamers are actually spoilt for choice.

And my best wishes to your Mum for a speedy and lasting recovery.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Tonight I have a disco booking at the pub I do regular work for in Peckham and I have just driven to my lockup and back to put the equipment in my car. I shall leave here about 7.45pm and play music from 9pm to at least 1am. Right now time to eat, shower & chill.

This weather is glorious but I swear it will be the death of me. The sun is shining, the skies are bright blue and there's a stiff breeze blowing.

This means that the female of the species is wont to wander England's fair avenues in a state of skimpiness and in particular loose fitting skirts. This means the stiff breeze leads to some heart-stopping moments which in some cases could lead this unfortunate soul to cause his vehicle to particpate in an RTA.

I started my journey by traversing through Greenwich town centre where progress is always slow but observing the tourists and grocals always makes it interesting. Right in front of me, the wind blew and this dark haired lady I'd guess to be in her late twenties had her skirt blown from knee to chin.

Such was my shock I nearly collided with the vehicle in front of me for this young lady was, how shall we say? Commando? Sans lower lingerie even. In fact we could bestow upon her the moniker 'Suzie No Nicks'. This is not good for me, it made me suffer palpitations, groan a little and yearn for a cold shower.

And that was just one sight of many. I no making that up, it happened for real and the girlie in question didn't even seem in the least bit bothered.

I then carried on my journey, still a little hot and bothered, through pastures green and red-bricked and on through Chiselhurst which is where I murdered a goose in cold blood some weeks ago.

I drove through leafy lanes and noticed how the sun shone through the tops of trees and made dappled patterns on the roadway. The green canopies of the trees formed a sharp contrast with the bright blue of the cloudless sky and I thought to myself 'This is beautiful'. I am so ******* glad to be alive sometimes, I really am. S'funny, I never really took this stuff in in a lot of the years that have passed beneath my bridge, does it take time passing to form an apreciation? Probably not, it's probably just me, the former philistine.

Loaded the stuff up, made a mental note of repairs: Fit recessed plate/IEC socket to coffin to replace existing bulgin plug setup; light columns need one new ceramic lamp holder; one coffin handle is broken, try and source and replace; and worst of all at last week's gig one loudspeaker cover zip broke, it's either have a new zip fitted or buy a new cover, and they cost about £65.00 each, not cheap.

On the way back as I propelled my conveyance across Blackheath, I noticed two fellas walking holding hands.

Be careful guys, and be safe, there's a lot of hateful people on this planet.

Tomorrow I will probably be hungover and just a little bit more well off financially.

Hope this weather continues.

 

[Anon_F]

Going Commando.

Blimey not heard that saying for a while.
Have a good one Mr Flopps.

 

[crazylegs]

yeah have a good-un Tony!

Sorry one of your speaker covers broke at my mums wedding reception, hope it wasn't one of the guests.

I love dappled sunlight me, can't take full on sun but love sitting under a tree somewhere quiet just listening to all the sounds of nature..Makes you appreciate things and clears your mind too.

 

[nivrip]

does it take time passing to form an apreciation?

Yes, I think it's a huge factor, particularly in non-arty types like me. The arty people do have much more awareness from an earlier age.

When we're younger we often don't have the time to appreciate things but as time passes we become much more aware of our mortality and notice things with MUCH more clarity.

Well, I do anyway.

 

[crazylegs]

If anyone is still reading this old twaddle...
Last saturday I done a wedding disco for members of crazylegs' family in Essex. Our esteemed forum member has a fondness for wearing orange afro wigs and gave me some guinness. I would class the evening as a success though it took a while to get going, possibly because of the light evening, sun went down quite late.

I noted that one of the family groups seemed to consist of thin females with incredibly white skin and legs that went on forever. Not an unpleasant distraction at all

If I'm feeling really mean, I may post some pix of Mr Legs

It was a success Tony you are very modest!
Yes my Aunty Mary's girls, hmmm yes it was a very nice distraction indeed..

You are more than welcome to post pics Tony..I have nothing to be embarrased about.."s**t shouldn't have said that should I"..

 

[captain zed]

I must say Flopp's that your story telling is really coming on....wish i had seen that commandogirl you mentioned,lol.
Glad to hear you're warming to the 360....it will get better. I will power my 360 up to go thru my gaming history and see if i can recomend summat for you to play. Have you considered assassin's creed yet ?

 

[floppybootstomp]

crazylegs: speaker cover zip failing nowt to do with you and your kin, it just happened, they is 3.5 years old now.

I done the Saturday booking, started 9pm, didn't have a pint until 10.30pm, thought I'd finish at 2am. At that time they wanted more. Pub governor said he'd give me another fifty quid if I carried on so I did. til 3.3oam. I don't charge enough, I really don't.

I carried on on auto-pilot, was sozzled. They wanted mostly new stuff which kinda challenged me. With music I am superb at 1955 to 1995 or thereabouts. After that I a little hazy, truth be told.

Still, I think I got away with it but to my mind there is something not quite right about a geezer almost 60 years old playing 'Birthday Sex' and other stuff to a bunch of 21-year-olds of whom the centre of attraction is something of a hottie.

I spoke to my daughter Lucy about this today and she assured me I was worrying unneccessarily cos I knew what stuff to play. Maybe, maybe not.

I got in at 4am, promptly fell asleep in my computer chair. Daughter Faye came in 15 minutes later and tried to wake me saying my head was lolling around like a marionette. Hmm. Embarrassing but I did find my way to bed.

Woke 11.30am, collected gear from pub, stored at lockup.

Zed: I've played Assassin's Creed one on PC and initially I thought it was great but after about five levels realised it was just too repetitive, so uninstalled and sold it. I don't know what AC2 is like.

 

[floppybootstomp]

Haven't posted here for a while and STILL feel uncomforable with this, I think if I'm doing this crap then maybe everybody should.

I've had a good few months with work and bought some new toys but now it's gone quiet on me again. Panic. By now you'd think I'd put money by to cover bills further in advance but I've never done that. I'm ok til end of August but if no work comes in I'm stuffed, frankly.

Do I care? Do I worry? A little, perhaps, but not overly. Whatever will be will be.

I wonder, at my age, what alternative employment could be. I am good at some stuff, I know that, but fiirms don't want to take on an old geezer who's going to reach retirement age in six years. Fact. Other alternatives are go and work for B & Q, they take on mature folks, lol. I'd actually be good at that but I don't think I could swallow a 23 year old telling me what to do.

Then there's cabbing. Hire a black cab and take local knowledge, takes a about a year, guaranteed income. But I honestly don't fancy that.

Today I sent out 100 flyers (2 x blue A5 laminated mini-posters informing what I do plus one dedicated to external horn loudspeakers). I was thinking of targetting churches for induction loop systems which I may or may not have mentioned here before.

Fact is, due to one thing or another, my customer base is dwindling. This due to several things, London's political scenario & new goverment, regular contacts retiring, pressure from the big concerns overcoming modest lil ol me.

I am not in a financial postion to retire, I will probably work until I die. I don't mind that, I actually quite enjoy working. Just give me some work, lol

It sure is a funny old life.

Last night I watched a DVD I bought from a charity shop for a quid, Stanley Kubrick's 'Eyes Wide Shut'. WTF?

It seemed to go on forever, I was tiddled and there was loads of nekkid wimmen. Weird. I bought it mostly cos Stanley Kubrick (RIP) was always a good director, he made A Clockwork Orange and this was his last movie.

But I haven't the first faintest clue what it was all about. Will watch again sometime.

My twin daughters have both now finished Uni, Lucy got a 2.1, not the best but better than she expected. Sophie's results not in yet. Sophie taking extended course another twelve months at Cambridge, Me being their Dad I'm terribly proud of both of them.

Lucy is now at some Festival or other for a week with mostly her Uni friends. Vampire Weekend are playing at this festival, I'm jealous. It is horrible being old in some ways, I probably couldn't go to that festival as it's aimed at students. Fek.

It occurred to me that that is probably the last time Lucy will attend an event with the Uni friends she's known for the last three years. Sad. Maybe.

Today my car passed it's MOT and they replaced the windscreen wipers. Strange, they replaced the windscreen wipers last year, do they only last 12 months? On talking to a friend I am informed new windscreen wipers is the new con by MOT testing stations. Well, fek. Bill was £150.00, cash, no VAT which was ok I guess as this included Oil/oil filter change as well.

Right now playing Pink Floyd's 'Obscured By Clouds' on vinyl and loving it.

When I picked up my car from MOT place popped into pub and Roy was there with his new girlfriend Nicola. She's very nice. I want me one of those, lol

Was also thinking of making a flyer for Disco, money is money I guess.

Ordered some coffin handles from E-Bay for disco console when they came back they were too small. Eleven quid for thirty small fibre glass coffin handles - wasted. Why were they so small? Because they were children's coffin handles. Now, even I felt uncomfortable about this, didn't like that at all. Stupid, I know, they is just plastic items but ugh, horrible thoughts.

My fault, should have used a tape measure.

I think it's Kathy's birthday tommorow, I've known her since 1969. Kathy's first daughter died 10 years ago and her second husband Steve, a friend of mine and a seriously good bloke, died of stomach cancer about six years ago. Kathy rarely answers her mobile but I will phone her tomorrow and hope she answers. If she does I will wish her happy birthday.