Struggling with Vista/Voting/Lotus Notes ...

...managed somehow to download pix onto Vista laptop from babycam - fiddled with them but not sure how to compress like you could with Windows XP Picture & Thingummy wotsit (PS elements does a bit but ..) ... check out ... tonight's crazy-size voting slip - we turned up at about 2000 (with two hours to go) and the two pathetic-sized ballot boxes were "brimming" - we were told by the "electoral staff" that people had been "folding incorrectly" - what cr*p - obviously Tameside were expecting a p*ss poor turn-out and had left two tiny bins accordingly - and neither of the electoral staff actually asked me "are you Michael Smith of ...... etc" like I was taught to do when I did elections back in the early 80s - seems people can't even do this task properly these days .... here goes ... oops please ignore the X !!!



After the voting experience (and using a bloody teaspoon to squeeze my paper in - I kid you not !) ... a walk down the Stockport Road towards a pub - windy weather decreed the "Church" i.e. first one ... but on the way we got an interesting view of the building works for the "new Mossley Hollins" skool - looks more like a quarry, but then again Mossley is in a valley so you're either up/down one side or down/up t'other (our house on the hill .. two storeys at the front , three at the back - with a secret fourth storey in the loft mind !!) ... I digress .. see the new "Mossley Quarry" ...



.. and on .. they were selling Thwaites "Wainwright" in the "Church" (PRICE CHECK TIME .... £2-57 in the Church .... £2-50 at Saddleworth CC on Saturday !) ....I had a couple !!!

Home - to find out that little James Purnell has decided to call it a day - a clever resignation AFTER the Euros (unlike that twonk Blears) - however little Jimmy, it still doesn't hide the fact that you used to claim - on a REGULAR basis - £400 per month for food - and you're only 4 foot 9 inches ! Actually you end up looking no cleverer than "Motorbike Blears", or "No relation Jacqui" - you have all still cheated us - I'm looking to put together list of essential phrases that we the real people can use - you know what I mean .. "inadvertant administrative error", "accidental claim", "mucky moat" and other such bullsh*t - it seems to work if your name is suffixed by the letters "MP" - wonder what happens for us........

We won't know the Euro-results until Sunday - may give Gordon Brown time to construct a "sensible exit" - may give me time to wangle around in Vista and find a way to compress pix to the 25-50k "web" size ! Got a new toy off EBay as well today.. a usb Compact Flash Card Reader - looks cute and may well assist me in getting pix off "bigcam" onto this 'ere laptop - to be tested later (not tonight tho !)).

Tomorrow is Whit Friday up here ... Whit Walks in Mossley in the morning (everywhere else had their walks last Sunday - Mossley has always had this "special" - cus we're "special" !), and Brass Band Contests throughout the area in the evening. When the kids were small I always had Whit Friday off as a holiday (cus the skools were off so ...) - these days it's just another day .. until the evening. Since the "New Bridge" option died a death - no contest last year or this ....w eather permitting, our option is up the canal to the Friezland venue (they have an outside beer trestle table - with Millstone Brewery stuff on the handpump !) and then probably up to Greenfield - the "Railway" and then through the village - checking out the bands - to the "Clarence", and then bridle path back to Mossley. But it's all WEATHER PERMITTING - it's been great all week - fingers crossed for tomorrow...

Oh and Lotus Notes ?? Today I gave the "Singapore Server" a thorough "tidy" - tomorrow we p*ss about with the "Geordie Server" (OK it's in Wilton/Teesside but hey ....) I'll get this stuff sorted ... eventually !
.