Nick Jordan

Yesterday I went with friends to the Original Reenactors Market, where I had a good look at all the shiny things, drooled over some exquisite but very expensive crossbows and bought myself the pocket watch that I saw last year but didn’t have the cash for at the time. Not really anything to do with re-enactment but it’s a nice thing and I’m very glad I bought it.

Afterwards we had a trip to a cool fabric store in Finchley, followed by a nice meal in good company, a cab ride home and much-needed sleep. All in all, a very successful and enjoyable day.

The first week in my new job (which has, overall, been pretty good) has had an unexpected side effect. For some reason, probably the change of routine and the stress of starting again somewhere new, I haven’t been sleeping very well. As a result I’ve cancelled the plans I had for this weekend and I’m spending it quietly at home, just resting and catching up on my sleep. It’s a bit of a shame not to be away and doing fun stuff with my friends but I really don’t think I’d have been good company anyway.

Today was my first day in my new job. I’ve spent the day trying to remember people’s names, re-familiarising myself with Windows (I haven’t used it for three years), doing some induction stuff and reading documentation. A pretty typical first day in a new company, basically, which has left my head going round and round.

The fun really started when I left the office. Some friends of mine were meeting in a pub nearby but I decided I’d rather just head home and crash, so I made my way to Liverpool Street station only to find that there was some sort of points problem just outside, which meant most of the trains were delayed. When my train finally deigned to put in an appearance so many people surged towards it that it was obvious I wasn’t likely to get on. Instead, I got home by tube and bus, which was pretty unpleasant on a drizzly November night.

So here I am, home rather later than usual and about to collapse in a heap in front of the TV. A good plan, I reckon.

I was just on my way out to a job interview this afternoon when my mobile rang and I received some great news. The long and short of it is that I have just accepted an excellent job offer, starting on Monday, 3rd November. I’m very pleased and excited, since the company concerned was my favourite of all the ones I interviewed with. The people, the place and the work all seem top-notch and I’m really looking forward to getting started.

I now have a week off to look forward to, with no interviews or other pressures, which’ll be great. The relief is just joyful.

I know it’s not uncommon for other people to share one’s name but I thought it might be fun to list a few that I’ve been aware of for a while, both real and fictional.

• A US Republican Senator (Kansas)
• An English guy living in Canada who also rides motorbikes
• An artist from Manchester, UK
• A surgeon in the BBC dramas Casualty and Holby City
• A French comic-book secret agent (how cool is that?)

I know there are others, but these are my favourites. Does anyone interesting share your name?

I had a fairly enjoyable job interview this afternoon with a company who do music downloads, but I’ve already heard that I didn’t get it. Fortunately I’m not too worried - I had a really good interview with a small web agency yesterday that I think I’d be a much better fit for. Not only that, but the people seemed nice, the work looked interesting and I liked the environment, so fingers crossed.

Anyway, in order to provide myself with the small amount of consolation that I need I’ve ordered myself a pizza and I intend to curl up on the sofa in front of Holby City (yes, I know!) later on with a beer. Tomorrow I have a day off from interviewing as I’m paying my Dad a visit while he’s over from the Isle of Man, which’ll provide me with a welcome break.

Along with most of the people I know I’m very keen on protecting our environment. Apart from the obvious element of self-interest, there’s the fact that the Earth and all the things, living and non-living, that make it up are beautiful and wonderful treasures. However, there is one thing that I consider to be more important, one thing in the pursuit of which I would, if it proved necessary, destroy the entire planet. Space travel.

It’s a matter of pure survival. Our planet, this wonderful home of ours, is doomed. Nothing lasts forever, and that includes the Earth, our solar system and, indeed, the entire galaxy. Even if it isn’t destroyed completely, there’s a chance of some sort of natural disaster wiping us all out, whether it’s a large meteor strike or something completely unforeseen. It could happen tomorrow. And that’s why space travel is the most important thing we can do. We currently have all our eggs in one basket by having all our people on one planet. We need the capability to leave, to spread ourselves out as much as possible. That way lies the best chance for the survival of our children and our children’s children.

If I had my way, as much of our resources, financial, mental, physical, whatever, would be devoted to this most important of causes. Feed the hungry by all means (it wouldn’t actually cost that much), heal the sick, all that stuff, but having an eye on the future of the species while we do those things would be rather handy, too.

On Thursday evening I finally got the chance to go and see the London Skeletons exhibition at the Wellcome Trust on the Euston Road, that I mentioned a while back. All I can say is that if you get the chance, go along. Not only was it truly fascinating, but the sight of so many lives blighted by conditions for which there was little or no treatment available at the time made me appreciate modern medicine and improvements in living conditions anew.

While you’re there, pop upstairs and have a look at the items on display from Henry Wellcome’s private collection of, and there’s no other way to describe it, weird stuff. A Chinese torture chair, ritual objects from around the world, sex aids, artificial limbs and all manner of oddments. Not a bad way to spend some time if you’re passing.

Last weekend I had a thoroughly enjoyable visit to Bruges. Getting there via the Channel Tunnel was no problem, since we travelled just before the fire, but getting home was a bit more complex. We had to cancel our Eurostar tickets and catch a train to Antwerp, another to Schipol Airport and then a plane to London City airport. Still, it was an adventure if nothing else.

Bruges itself is beautiful and full of cool museums and churches, together with friendly restaurants and bars where everyone speaks English. Just as well, as my Flemish is non-existent, to my shame. We English in general, and me in particular, are really rather bad at learning other people’s languages.

Anyway, a jolly good, if exhausting, time was had. I’d definitely go back again.

What a great weekend! I won’t bore you with all the details; suffice to say that it included chatting with great people in the pub, a fantastic guided walk, good food and the chance to meet a friend I’ve known on-line for many years.

It was pretty hard getting up for work this morning, though. Still, the good news is that I have a short working week before zooming off for a long weekend away. It’s much needed - I feel mentally and physically exhausted and I’m therefore hoping that getting away for a break will do me good.

Yesterday afternoon we spent a very enjoyable time in London’s Docklands. At least we did once we managed to actually get there. First there was trouble on the bus to Stratford when a group of people decided they didn’t want to pay. Eventually they got off and we were on our way again. On our arrival at Stratford we found that the DLR wasn’t running. There had been no notice of this; in fact, it wasn’t included in the station announcements along with the other lines that were closed. We found our way to the rail replacement bus, after a bit of grumbling, and soon we were on our way.

Once we arrived at Canary Wharf we located a handy pub where we had a drink while awaiting the rest of our party’s arrival. Having had a bit of a chinwag we spent a very enjoyable time in the Museum in Docklands, which currently has a very good Jack the Ripper exhibition on. Not so much about the murders as about the time in which they happened.

After that it was back to the pub for a meal before wandering over the road to the cinema to see Hellboy II, which was great fun. Not only does it look fantastic but there’s bags of humour. If you like that kind of special effects extravaganza, go and see it.

An uneventful couple of bus rides brought us home again at a not-too-unreasonable hour, but I’m still very glad it’s a bank holiday Monday today.

It’s all very well to be bashed repeatedly over the head by adverts about copyright infringement relating to music and movies, but it seems that the Prime Minister’s new website apparently does a fine job of ignoring copyright and, specifically, the Creative Commons license on the Wordpress theme it uses. Why am I not surprised that the government feels it can ignore the law when it suits it to?

Update: More on this, and other stuff relating to the site, from the Register.

The Thamesreach SCA revel held yesterday was a complete success. Even after losing a couple of people after the mammoth rapier session, we still had nineteen people left for a proper feast, complete with live music courtesy of Lord Robert. One or two people brought their friends with them and we had some visitors from across the pond who are in the country for a week’s holiday. All in all, a thoroughly enjoyable evening.

A quick apology to anyone who’s tried to get in touch with me via the contact form on this site recently and hasn’t had a reply. I’ve just discovered that the usual emails haven’t been sent to me, so I won’t have got your message. If that’s the case for you, please try again. It’s all fixed now.

Thomas Hawk thrown out of SF MOMA. This poor guy was ejected from San Francisco’s Museum of Modern Art for taking a photograph of the atrium, despite this being specifically allowed by the museum. I’ve been to this particular museum and really enjoyed it, so it saddens me to see them treating people this way. I certainly won’t ever be going back and I would encourage others to avoid the place like the plague as well.

After work yesterday I went to the Great British Beer Festival at Earl’s Court. I’d pre-booked my ticket but I needn’t have bothered as the usual massive queue was conspicuous by its absence. I bought a book at the CAMRA stall, met up with friends, listened to a rather crappy band, talked bollocks and (surprise, surprise) drank plenty of different beers.

It was a very enjoyable way to spend the evening although I can’t help thinking that simply going to the pub with the same group of friends would have been equally pleasurable. Still, I’m not compaining. A good time is a good time.

I work from home most of the time. There are many advantages to this, of course, such as not having to travel every day, but there are also some disadvantages. In particular, it can be quite lonely sitting at my desk all day with nothing but a computer for company. And that’s why I love my constant companion, Radio 4.

Not only does it provide a soothing background voice when I’m concentrating particularly hard but, in the moments when I’m able to actually listen to what’s going on, it entertains, amuses and informs. I often find myself beginning a conversation with, “There was a great programme on Radio 4 the other day…” As a result of hearing about them on the radio I’ve read some great books recently, too. I’m currently working my way through The Drunkard’s Walk by Leonard Mlodinow, for example, which is a very readable work on randomness and probability and to which my attention was drawn by Radio 4.

I know it’s a bit of a cliché but it’s true that Radio 4 is worth the licence fee on it’s own.

If a man has no tea in him, he is incapable of understanding truth and beauty.
Japanese Proverb

I came across the above proverb and it made me wonder about other tea-related sayings. A quick search turned up Tea Quotes and Sayings. Tea is a wonderful thing, and it seems that lots of other people agree with me.

I won’t bore you with too many details of my weekend, but I will say that I had a fantastic time doing mediaeval re-enactment in Winchester, despite the cold, on Friday night and Saturday, before heading to Portsmouth to see the Mary Rose, which was very worthwhile. While there I was lucky enough to see the Sea Stallion, a replica Viking longship, and chat with a member of the crew.

I got home last night feeling absolutely knackered, but very happy. I’m still very very tired today. I’ve learnt my lesson; if I’m going to have a very busy weekend in the future I shall take the following Monday off.

Yesterday I met up with some friends at Goldsmiths’ Hall to see the Treasures of the English Church exhibition. We were expecting to see a great deal of Victorian silver and just a little mediaeval stuff (our main interest), but actually there was a great deal of beautiful and fascinating mediaeval church silver on display. I did pick up a very cool fact, though. Apparently the Victorians built so many new churches that specialist suppliers started to sell their wares through catalogues, from which you could buy everything for your new church, from gold and silverware through pews to general fixtures and fittings. The Victoria and Albert Museum has some of these catalogues, which I’d love to see.

Once we’d finished at the exhibition we repaired to the Cittie of Yorke for a spot of lunch and then made our way via a couple of other pubs (we wanted to check them out for possible hire for an event) to Clerkenwell where we had a quick look at the well before heading to St. John’s Gate and the museum of the Order of St. John there.

I arrived home with very sore feet but I think it was well worth it.