Not shoplifting

 

The Phone

Before I begin, a warning to all of you who care not for technology and all its trappings – this post is pretty much only about that.

It is a well known fact amongst my friends that I suffer from serious gadget envy. Yes, I love things with screens that make beeping noises and distract one from the world at large. This is a love that has followed me through my life, from my parents’ purchase of the highly desirable Amstrad personal computer when I was very young, to my own modern devices such as the laptop on which I am now writing, and the PS3 which sits under our television, staring at me and inviting me to give up on writing and play Batman instead. Full disclosure: there’s no guarantee I’ll get through this post in one sitting – Batman may just be that tempting. There are of course two device categories right now that are at the peak of gadget spectrum in terms of desirability: Tablets (such as the iPad) and Smartphones. The one I have personally been craving for the past… probably almost 2 years now, is the Smartphone. I had in fact wanted one so much, that we had to impose an embargo on my discussing them with people, so that I would not be quite so annoying.

The problem, you see, is that they’re so expensive. Sure, sure – the networks put out ads which claim the phones are free or cheap, but the truth is that these are just ways to get you to sign up to paying extravagant subscription fees for 2 years thereby subsidising your initial purchase of the phone. As such, as much as I had wanted a smartphone, I simply couldn’t justify the purchase. Then (in the midyear), however, something terrible happened. My venerable MP3 player (purchased from Trademe about 5 years ago for the princely sum of NZ$30 or so) began to seriously give up. To be honest, aside from how well its lasted, it’s probably one of the worst pieces of technology I’ve ever owned. Its buttons didn’t work half the time, the UI was appallingly bad, the screen was only usable from directly front on, and then (the inevitable straw that broke the back of the situation) the headphone jack started to not work properly, removing its usefulness as a media player at all. The time had come for me to upgrade to something… smarter.

In the immediate term however the money for unnecessary purchases was not available, and Fran kindly lent me her iPod Nano. This worked extremely well for me – it’s a great device, and despite my hatred for iTunes, it was all worth it. The iPod worked so well in fact, that I was reluctant to give it up when, come the month of Christmas, Fran claimed it back so that she could have her own music to play in the store in which she works. In any case, by this time the cashflow was back at a level such that a smartphone purchase was back on the cards. This actually happened in November, a time when all 3 major smartphone players had nice, up to date, handsets in the market. So, the time had come for me to make a choice, and it really amounted to this: which smartphone platform would I go with?

1. iOS and Apple: The most mature of the smartphone operating systems; it sports fantastic quality devices and an incredible ecosystem of applications.
2. Android and Google: Already the dominant player in terms of market-share, Android is not as polished as iOS, but offers unparalleled integration with Google’s services.
3. Windows Phone and Microsoft: Not even in the same league as the other two in terms of market-share at this stage, but offers the incredibly stylish (in this man’s view) Metro UI, and some nice inbuilt software.

The first requirement for my imminent purchase (a price of under 400 pounds for the handset alone) meant that iOS was crossed off the list early in the piece – the iPhone 4S is simply too expensive, and I wasn’t willing to buy into a device with any less than 16GB of built in storage. Not only that, iPhones hold their value disturbingly well, meaning that even a second hand iPhone 4 doesn’t fall into the required price range. Ultimately, after way too much time reading articles about phones, looking at the phones my workmates sported, and much debating about my own brand loyalty I came down to two handsets: The Nokia Lumia 800 and the Samsung Galaxy S II.

The Nokia had an early lead – as I’ve already alluded to, I love the UI of Windows Phones, and the physical design of that phone is fantastic. It’s really the only smartphone I’ve seen that gives the iPhone 4 a run for its money in terms of its look and feel as an object. I also have a fair amount of brand loyalty to Nokia. Of the 3 cellphones I had owned until this point, 2 were Nokias and both lasted extremely well. The other one I’d had (a Sony Ericsson) was terrible. With that said, there were other reasons to consider the Samsung – an incredible screen, an excellent camera, that great Google service integration, and superb under the hood specs.

Basically, I was torn – both had things that I wanted and things that I didn’t, however ultimately my decision was made by some user reviews I saw for the Nokia. There were quite a few reports of it getting appallingly bad battery life, even for a smartphone (5 hours and such). After a bit of research I found that while this seemed fairly random (some had it, some didn’t), Nokia had acknowledged the problem and said that they did not yet know from where the problem stemmed. Unwilling to gamble with so much money, and risk having to send the phone back etc… I placed an order on Amazon for the Samsung. Now, I have the phone, and it is fantastic. It’s not perfect – the UI has inconsistencies in it which bother me, and fragmentation is a real problem for Android – just yesterday I was thinking of buying SimCity Deluxe, but then found I couldn’t because it isn’t supported on my handset.

That said, the good definitely outweighs the bad. Photos are crisp and clear, the UI is wonderfully snappy, and there are all sorts of nice touches to help with dealing with contacts. Essentially, I’m very happy with my purchase. A couple of photos taken with the phone camera shown below, for flavour.

 

Edinburgh and the NORTH

Edinburgh was beautiful. Cold but beautiful. I bought new shoes. As with so many holidays shopping was the non-agreed priority that I sprung on Jeremy once we got to the location. In Carlisle I bought a tea cozy while Jeremy wasn’t looking, but in Edinburgh he had no choice but to visit ‘John Lewis’ with me in search of new boots. This was a panoramic view of the city with the castle on the hill on the other side of the valley that I snapped ostensibly on the way to look for boots. We did go to Edinburgh Castle earlier in the day and I will now tell you about it…

It was a top notch castle. Though not a medieval castle like some of the other castles we have been to and though the location had been used for a castle since the 12th century there is an interesting story as to why the oldest building on the grounds, St Margaret’s Chapel, is the only building to date back to that time.

The Scottish army tore the castle down in 1314.

During the war of Scottish independence in the early 1300’s the English had been in possession of Edinburgh Castle and the Scottish army, (who had been using guerrilla warfare in order to even the odds of numbers and supplies) sent a small party of men over the back wall in the night to slit the throats of the English and chuck them over the battlements. Unfortunately the last thing you do while fighting a guerrilla war is establish a big and obvious base and so the order was given to take the castle apart so that the English could not retake it.

Among other things the castle contains very lovely newer buildings as well as (pictured below) the stone of destiny and the Scottish Crown Jewels. You can look these up if you want to know more.

Back in England now, more updates on exciting holiday to follow.

 

Shopping!

There is a reason why Jeremy and I shop for nice things at John Lewis, it’s because when you by a nice fry pan (Tefal: made in France), get it home and discover that under its paper wrapping it has a dent in it that could only be caused by being run over by the Chiltern Railway train. You are allowed to take it back and a helpful store clerk will swap it for a nice round one, sans dent, no questions asked, and no accusatory glare – I realise any store would be obliged to do so, but much like Kirks in Wellington, John Lewis makes it pleasant. I have found that the ‘House of Fraser’ customer service while ok is made more difficult because every time we go there the sales counter has moved (and oddly John Lewis has better value cookware).

We went to Solihull (where John Lewis is) on Saturday. It’s a nice shopping area. I had to drag Jeremy out of the apple store (even though we have one in Leamington Spa), as well as a baking and homeware store, where Jeremy gazed lustfully at baking trays (re-enforced and insulated).

We also added to our household this weekend: a vacuum cleaner, a microwave, and a 3rd  pot (an excellent medium size), which is now fast friends with our milk-pan and stock-pot.

I liked the image of my new fry pan sitting next to a stack of ‘Regency’ Mills & Boon. We don’t have enough cupboards or shelves so these unlikely shelf-companions have to share.

This (above) is also a symptom of not quite enough surface area in our house. We are still looking for a little breakfast table, or a collapsible table that would fit in the flat. Also – more shelves.

 

A Cool Break

It’s been a nice week off work during which Fran and I haven’t really done much. Well, we’ve done a few things. We’ve made our (so far) monthly pilgrimage to IKEA, this time sans car. We finally made it to London. We walked to Sainsbury’s, got a TV, and returned with it on the bus.

The trip to IKEA was a bit different this time – as I say, we didn’t have a car. As it was the Christmas break week, the fast convenient buses had decided to give up the ghost, leaving us with the option of a slow suburban bus that took an hour to get to Coventry, or a ten minute train ride which we opted for instead. The task this time was to look into desks for Fran’s computer (coming soon), and preferably to find some more closed storage so that we could finally put the suitcases away. We also visited the Coventry Debenham’s as they provided a few other things we couldn’t reliably get at IKEA – primarily reasonable quality cutlery.

All in all, it was moderately successful – we managed to get a chest of drawers alternative affectionately named BODO (pictured below), and a few other things we were looking for, such as a free standing lamp (“KVART”), and some cushions and coat-hangers. The biggest challenge of this trip was walking back to the train station from IKEA, and then back to our flat from the railway station carrying BODO. I’d like to say that he weren’t heavy (being my brother), but it only seemed that way initially, and soon my impressions of him were changed. Nevertheless, he does mean that we can now put away the last suitcase, though we still haven’t actually gotten around to doing that.

The second ‘buying things’ expedition of the week was to Sainsbury’s to pick up our new and exciting television. The TV is fantastic – definitely a step up from the (at the time more expensive) model we had back in NZ, but there’s really only so much you can say about a TV before it becomes boring for everyone else. Feature to call out though is the “Internet TV” thing, which is crazy. The TV has a pretty good interface to Youtube and a bunch of other internet services (including the local LoveFilm and the fantastic BBC iPlayer) which totally changes the way you can use the TV. It becomes less of a purely broadcast device and more of a general content consumption device, which is nice. Freeview also opens up the ability to get the Radio directly through it, which is a plus as we don’t have a Radio.

Finally, we made it to London (YAY!). The day began early with us rolling out of bed, down to the Leamington Station and getting the 8:45 Chiltern Railways direct to London Marylebone service. Although this currently takes an hour and a half, there were signs up proudly announcing that service would be significantly disrupted for the first third of 2011 whilst the line is being improved. Apparently by the end of it we should be able to get direct to London in a mere 67 minutes (which, it must be said, is pretty cool). Once in London we met a friend of Fran’s who, despite his nasty cold, had kindly agreed to be our tour guide for the day.

We first attempted to go to the British Natural History Museum, but our lack of patience and an incredibly long line (which I assume is due to the holidays) foiled us, and we instead opted to just walk around some of the multitude of sights around the city. First we saw the Albert Hall (from the outside), and a pretty spectacular golden statue of Albert. He was surrounded by crazy colonial statues depicting goods and culture from the various corners of the British Empire.

From there we took the tube to Knightsbridge, where we entered the madhouse that is Harrods when a sale is going on. That store is crazy. We visited much of 2 of the 5 floors, and it must have taken us the better part of an hour. The areas of most interest were the Food Hall, the Toy Kingdom, and the Pet Kingdom. The food hall is pretty much what it sounds like – it has a pretty great selection of food, but more interestingly a pretty great selection of very expensive authentic prepared food. We saw sushi there that was prepared exactly like what we had had in Japan – the big difference being the cost (3 pounds for a single piece!) Toy Kingdom is the very wealthy equivalent of a regular toy store – you can actually find soft toys there that are hand made in Germany. Very nice indeed. Of more interest was their “Easy Snow” (perhaps in contrast to “Difficult Snow” – i.e., real snow, with which no kind of transport in the UK can cope), which turned from random powdery stuff into something that really did look and feel quite a lot like snow with the application of water. The Pet Kingdom finally was basically what you would expect, except with the addition of the most extravagant pet pampering I’ve ever seen. They had a “Pet Spa” where you could take your lucky cat or dog to be massaged by candlelight. Scented Candlelight I’ll bet. Sheesh! Crazy.

The next stop was a bunch of things named after Wellington (Duke, not city), and Buckingham Palace. Then, Trafalgar Square, New Zealand House, the New Zealand Store (we’ll be back when it’s open!) and we ended the day with Piccadilly Circus. There’s not too much to say about these sights – they were very cool to see, and visually nice and interesting.

Anyhow, that’s it from me for now – I hope all and sundry had a wonderful Christmas break and New Year celebrations – ours were pretty quiet and consisted of eating too much ham. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

 

“THINGS ARE BEING DONE”

…according to the Winter Resilience Review:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11897825

According to this article (which asks) is the UK ‘unique’ in its inability to deal with snow – the resounding answer is… maybe. Scandinavia sometimes has problems dealing with snow, as does France and Germany. In any case we braved the elements the elements yesterday and today in our awesome snow-kit. We felt a bit like explorers in a frozen wasteland as we walked to and from Sainsbury’s on Saturday in what the BBC would describe as ‘inclement weather.’ The buses stopped working as well as the trains, the snow proving too much for them – but we did not give up so easily, reasonably priced groceries awaited us and so off we went.

We saw many other such brave Leamingtonians shrugging off the defeatist attitude of the local bus and train companies and getting on with the day, (below).

And although the local lines had still given up the ghost on Sunday, the Cross Country Railways had recovered enough to offer one service and hour through Leamington on its Manchester line, so Jeremy and I went to the Frankfurt Christmas Market – in Birmingham.

There was much revelry, frankfurters and bratwurst in buns, various stalls selling the same tea-light holders, hats, and wooden frog whistles in different configurations, but also delicious locally made mulled cider and spiced warm apple juice with your choice of vodka, rum or brandy in it.

A nice day out – and in the (very cold) sunshine we admired all the pretty things and then wandered around the trendy shopping areas, got on the train and went home again in time for tea. Weekend success!

 

Getting into a routine

As you can tell from the lack of updates, we’re beginning to get by without too many new discoveries. Although every day is, of course, an adventure, most days are the kind of adventure that involves (for me) getting up, going to work, coming home, having dinner, and then watching a DVD on our laptop. I’m not sure what happens for Fran while I’m out and about, but I’m certain it’s similarly exciting.

Last night we went to see the new Narnia movie – the latest in our run of movies that may not be age appropriate. They have been a relaxing break from adult decisions and spending money. So far in the UK we have seen The Legend of the Guardians, Despicable Me, Harry Potter Part 7 Part 1, and now, The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. Of those, only Harry Potter was not in 3D, and to be honest, it also had the most adult themes. Let me tell you, you can learn a lot about the state of government by seeing how Voldemort managed the Ministry of Magic (indirectly)!

Many of our trips out of the house here that have not consisted of me going to work have been to do with trying to acquire warmer clothes. As I have certainly mentioned, England has been hit by a “Cold Snap” (supposedly from Scandanavia – I guess we all need someone to blame), and at –8 at night it seemed like it was definitely time to get a bit better kitted out. While most of the time I’m indoors, waiting for the bus or walking to the supermarket make us feel like arctic explorers, and we felt like we simply didn’t look the part. Also, my shoes were not totally watertight, which is a problem in the snow (a problem that not even two pairs of socks at once can completely fix). We’re still on the hunt for some more winter gear for me (and quite a lot for Fran!), but my list of acquisitions so far is as follows:

1. “Thinsulate” gloves.
2. Woolly socks.
3. Thermal tops from Marks and Spencers.
4. One pair of Longjohns (for extra cold days).
5. New, awesome, made of Goretex, shoes!

Incidentally, shoes are much cheaper here than in New Zealand, and impressively, I was able to find a pair that actually fit me in the first store we looked in (Fran had scouted ahead to be fair). This pair is made by Timberland (not the rapper, though that would be pretty sweet), and cost an affordable £69. They have tiny rubber spikes on the bottom as well. As you can no doubt tell, I’m pretty excited about the shoes.

We do have more to report, regarding our most recent furniture purchases (we’re the most exciting people in our building I’m sure!), but so that we have something else to say later on, I’ll sign off here.

 

New flat–The UK.

Obviously we own no furniture over here. So today we bought a whole lot from IKEA – the home of flat-pack furniture at frighteningly cheep prices. It meant (on one hand) that we could fit a table for 4, two chairs and 3 bookshelves in our car. (On the other hand) it meant also that we had to assemble the furniture ourselves. This was frightening generally. The chair worked fine, we will get back to you about the other stuff.

Above: The view of our boot full of flat-packed furniture, the chair in a box, and our kitchen. Below: Jeremy assembling stuff, and the chair after assembly.

Today was another early rise. We arrived in Leamington Spa at 9.30am after driving up from Bristol. Picked up our keys and dumped out suitcases in the middle of the living room. Then we took off to IKEA , Sainsbury’s and John Lewis. We still do not have a bed. We have half a table. We need to buy a hammer and a crescent wrench. But in the meantime here are some more photos of our new place. Jeremy and I are phoning our new utility providers. Today we figured our the power and the gas, tomorrow we need to call the water (you pay for it here), and the council rates (you pay for that too outside of the rent). And the internet/phone (obviously).