The LambCutlet Disorganisation

It’s the 5th day of the 5th month in the Chinese lunisolar calendar and this means the 端午節 (Dragon boat festival) is once again here.

The history of the festival can be traced back more than 2000 years ago to the banks of the life-sustaining rivers in Southern China such as the 長江 (Long River) née 楊子江 (Yangtze River) and the festival is a rite to awaken the 天龍 (Heavenly Dragon) whom is traditionally believed to be the ruler of rivers and seas that dominates clouds and rains. So, venerating the awakened Dragon was meant; by one legend, to avert misfortune and encourage rainfall which is needed for the fertility of the crops and thus for prosperity in an agricultural way of life.

粽子 (Rice Dumplings) are the traditional food of the festival and this too has it’s own history which can be attributed to the famous Chinese patriotic poet 屈原 (Qu Yuan) who lived from 340 BC to 278 BC, during the 戰國時代 (Warring States Period).

Quoting WikiPedia.org:

Qu Yuan was a minister in the government as well as a poet of the southern state of Chu, a champion of political loyalty and truth eager to maintain the Chu state’s sovereignty. The Chu king, however, fell under the influence of other corrupt, jealous ministers who slandered Qu Yuan as ‘a sting in flesh’, and banished his most royal counselor. In his exile, so the legend goes, Qu Yuan produced some of the greatest poetry in Chinese literature expressing his fervent love for his state and his deepest concern for its future. His body of work is contained in an anthology of poetry known as the Chuci or the Odes of Chu.

In the year 278 B.C., learning of the upcoming devastation of his country from invasion by a neighbouring warring state, he is said to have waded into the Miluo river in today’s Hunan Province holding a great rock in order to commit ritual suicide as a form of protest against the corruption of the era. The common people, learning of his suicide, rushed out in their fishing boats to the middle of the river and tried desperatedly to save him. They beat drums and splashed water with their paddles in order to keep the fish and evil spirits from his body, and later on, they scattered rice into the water to prevent him from suffering hunger.

However, late one night, the spirit of Qu Yuan appeared before his friends and told them that the rice meant for him was being intercepted by a huge river dragon. He asked his friends to wrap their rice into three-cornered silk packages to ward off the dragon. This has been a traditional food ever since known as Zhongzi, although the dumplings are wrapped in bamboo leaves instead of silk. In order to commemorate him, people held Dragon Boat Race every year on the day of his suicide.

The boat racing itself has become quite an International sport in the last 25 years adding another 40 million to the 20 million people who already practice it in China. Though having been reminded of 粽子 (Rice Dumplings) and remembering how yummy they were, I do wish I had some with me now! :D Just a pity I’ll probably have to wait till the 11th of June, 2005… the date of the next Dragon boat festival. :(

It’s been agreed:

On July 18, 2003, the final draft of the constitutional treaty (officially Treaty establishing a constitution for Europe) for the European Union was published by the Praesidium of the Convention on the Future of Europe. Following long negotiations, it was agreed on – with some changes – by the European Council on June 18, 2004 in Brussels and now awaits ratification by all EU member states.

The constitution itself is available as a PDF document in the 20 official languages of the European Union:

• Čeština
• Dansk
• Deutsch
• Ελληνικά
• English
• Español
• Eesti
• Suomeksi
• Français
• Magyar
• Italiano
• Lietuvių
• Latviešu
• bil-Malti
• Nederlands
• Polski
• Português
• Slovenčina
• Slovenščina
• Svenska

BBCi have just published two articles, “Q&A: EU - myths and realities” and “Excerpts: Europe’s draft constitution” for those who’ve brought into Eurospectic FUD or fearful of Legalese.

The last 365 days have gone in what seems like a blink of an eye where the 18th of June, 2003 was another summer’s night just like the one tonight with it’s clear sky and cool, fresh air where the calmness was broken with by a phone call from my father, just gone midnight to tell me that mother had passed away peacefully.

So the mother whom was like an eternal pillar to me; nursing me as an infant, seeing me through my childhood and instilling me with the life skills so that I could grow to be an adult… had to go her separate way. My memories of that night were of it all feeling so unreal as for over 6 months she dealt with her terminal illness as if she was not afflicted at all, though in the last week or so she did require admittance to the Cynthia Spencer Hospice due to her declining condition and was starting to have trouble speaking as the cancer had spread in such a way that it was affecting her vocal tract.

I had visited her with my father earlier the day before, the 17th and she had already slipped into a coma though according to the nurses still lucid enough to hear us both as we sat by her bedside and comforted her in what way we could. The hours passed and as it approached 8 p.m., my father eventually persuaded me that there was little we could do now and that I really should get back home to grab some food and could visit again in the morning, though little did I know that would be the last time I was to see my mother alive.

Waking up some time approaching noon having gone through a rather emotional night, I quickly marked up the memoriam page; double checking it with father for its content, to effectively close this site, before he headed back to the hospice to collect mother’s things.

So much has happened in my life in the last year where I’m sure she’d be thrilled to hear about such as starting a new job which I’m very much enjoying or travelling abroad for the first time since coming to England back in 1990 to visit a dear friend.

Mother’s funeral was held on the 30th of June, 2003 with the eulogy was delivered by father and it was a small, private yet dignified service. A month or so prior her death, she confided to me that she wished to be cremated and have her ashes sent back to Hong Kong so that they could be scattered into the harbour by the Star Ferry Terminus, which we managed to fulfil with assistance of my uncle whom still lives in Hong Kong. Her reason for her wishes was just simply:

I wish to be a free spirit again…

So with my own wish of taking him back to Hong Kong, before father gets too frail to travel, for as a short visit to pay his respects to a wife he loves dearly and to set foot on a little corner of the world which he truly calls his home. I have every intention of making it happen… somehow.

Props to Mark Pilgrim for this one:

Everyone over the age of 25 should stop whatever they’re doing and take this quiz. It’s not for teenagers, and it’s not for LiveJournal, and you won’t get a cute little graphic or a tagline when you’re done. You will however get a score, and a lot to think about.

My score, for the record was 88 and these are the things I’m now pondering:

Physical Environment:

• I have lived in a house/flat I love… houses and flats in fact, but circumstances change and what I have now could be a lot worse. At least I have a roof over my head which some people can’t lay claim to.
• Ditto above for geography.
• I have ample freedom and enough space… though a 72 hour day would make me a little less time stretched. But it’s my choice in doing so since it’s my freedom of choice to persue this busy lifestyle.
• My habit of holding on to things is still alive and well.

Well-Being:

• I do on occasion go for a number of weeks with just 3 to 4 hours sleep per night but rather ironically, I feel more tired and unrested if I get a more normal quota of 7-ish hours.
• I don’t do sunglasses sweety darlin’.

Money:

• Still got a total of about £6 600 in debt due to borrowing from the bank, though it should all be paid off sometime in the middle of 2007.
• I don’t have a will.

Relationships:

• I’d rather achieve results whilst remaining emotively neutral which means both have to be weighted equally as you can’t get results without happy people.

Wednesday the 18th February had dawned though no chance for a lie in as it was to be yet another busy day. Inese and I had both gotten up fairly early some time around 9 a.m. so that we could both get washed, watered and fed. The morning schedule was to allow Inese to do her various errands. The first was from a translation agency whom had given her the opportunity to translate a 100 page technical document and the second was to visit her new employer and finalise various bits of paperwork before her start date of Monday, 23rd of February.

Inese had deliberated for quite some time over the last few days if she should take on another big translation from her lecturer for a 192 page book in addition to doing the translation she’s picking up today, starting her new job and whilst studying for the last semester of her MA. My advice was to take it even if it meant quite liberal burning of the midnight oil over the next few months… It’s good experience for starters and as the old saying goes, the only things worth doing in life are those that are difficult. Plus, the worst thing would be to look back and say “if only I had done such and such…”. :D

Anyway, we had managed to get into Rīga sometime around 10:30 a.m. via our tried and trusted method of straight out of the flat and getting on the first suitable tram! First point of call was to pay a visit to Inese’s agency and get the 100 pages which was to be translated. The offices were only about 10 minutes walk from where we had got off the tram so it wasn’t long till we arrived outside and entered the building though I waited in the lobby whilst Inese met and discussed with the agency whatever they needed to iron out.

So with little drama, Inese re-emerged with work in ruck sack meaning it was now time for us to head to “Moscow suburb” for the second leg of this morning’s errands. Our transportation of choice this time was to be the trolley bus, which though it had just struck me that I’ve now been in Latvia for half a week, I had not yet had the pleasure of travelling upon one. Something I was quite looking forward too as not only they are a little more rapid than the regular trams, they can also dodge the traffic since a large proportion of which seems to be made up of young drivers with their BMW’s and whatnot where any straightish bit of road makes for a suitable drag strip. Bearing in mind it’s just below 0°C and the roads, though gritted are still rather slick with compacted snow and ice! The same driving conditions in good old Blighty would have drivers plodding along with snails racing past and would be quicker for those stuck behind to just get out of their car and bloody walk. :D

“Moscow suburb” is about a 20 minute ride on the trolley bus and is considered to be the poorer side of Rīga, which to be honest every city has. It gets its name not from the fact it’s like Moscow, but simply because it’s in the direction of Moscow which I suppose is fair enough for a nickname if a rather quirky reason. Our destination was Inese’s new work place, The Latvijas Republikas Satiksmes Birojs where she was to start on Monday as a “Green Card and Foreign Claims Specialist” having obviously had successful interviews prior my visit. Hooray! :D

The office complex was rather difficult to miss as it was this huge sprawling thing and Inese led the way, since she was the only one of us whom when where we had to be. After checking at reception and navigating the corridors and stairs, we’d found the exact office of where we needed to be so I again waited patiently outside whilst Inese went through the remaining formalities with her new employer.

On checking my watch and seeing it was now 11:40 a.m. I thought I’d try and give my father at home a call and see how he was doing, assuming he hadn’t gone into town early to do the shopping and avoid the crowds which he really detests. Unfortunately I was proved right as all I got was the BT answering service so I just left a short message that’d I’d call again later that evening. Not long after, Inese appeared with the serious stuff taken care of so we were now able to head back into Rīga, taking a trolley bus allowing us to seek some food and entertainment.

Back in Rīga some time just gone noon, we met up with Michael and all three of us went to a café by the name of Dēli situated on Marijas Iela and sampled some of their lovely cakes… Inese plumbed for something fancy looking, where as Michael and I checked out what they had on offer and picking whatever made us salivate most. :D

After the café stop for some food and drink, it was now time to head back across the Daugava to the western side of Rīga on the tram to Uzvaras Buvāris as we were all to meet up with Kristīne at Zelta Boulinga Centrs for a spot of afternoon bowling. With all four of us together at the bowling centre at around 1:00 p.m. we headed straight inside to get ourselves kitted out with bowling shoes and lane assigned so that we could keep ourselves entertained for the next 2 or 3 hours.

The boys were being their usual competitive selves where as the girls took a more laid back approach and fun was had by all with each of us managing a few strikes as and when required! However, my DigiCam gave me some headaches as it seems the fresh Duracell® batteries were not so super-duper after all since they were not able to power the flash, so all the photographs I had taken of us bowling had shutter times measured in eons and came out extremely blurry… thusly useless.

We managed to get 3 or 4 decent games in before our slot on that lane expired which was pretty good going as there were four of us playing. It was probably for the best anyway as my bowling arm was getting worse for wear by that time. It was now around 4:30 p.m. so all four of us got back on to the trusty old tram and across the Daugava to do a little bit of shopping at Rimi in Universālveikals Centrs. En route, we passed a photographic processing shop so I quickly popped in there to get some Kodak made batteries for the DigiCam to replace the useless duds I was currently encumbered with.

Once in Rimi, Kristīne and Michael split off to get the bits they wanted where as Inese picked up the fresh bread, sausages, pâté and Rīgas Melnais Balzams. So whilst myself and Inese were done with our shopping pretty quickly, Kristīne and Michael took a while longer but we all eventually got through the check outs with goods paid for. We said our goodbyes on the steps outside as each pair of us made our separate ways for the rest of this evening’s events.

Back to just Inese and I, we figured it’d be time to decide where we should go to have dinner. I recalled Inese mentioning in a restaurant which she’d really like to go to and try out, so I asked her what was it called again. Salt & Pepper? she said, so that was that decided…

We walked the short distance to the junction of 13. Janvāra Iela and 11. Novembra Krastmala where Salt & Pepper is located. The restaurant itself is trés chic, very spacious (apparently quite at odds to the fact it’s in Vecrīga which usually means small and cramped), interesting decor such as large Soviet era signs next to things of an American or European feel, plus the fact it’s located on the riverfront overlooking the Daugava and the busy streets.

Even the menu is ingenious and gave Inese much amusement as it was laid out much like a newspaper but interspersed amongst the items of food were funny quotes and jokes! We did manage to get our order in when we weren’t giggling too much however… I decided on having pork chop with various vegetables to munch and a large glass of Aldaris beer to drink. Inese settled for a carbonara with a glass of Coke.

Service was quick and friendly though when my main dish arrived; it caused some surprise to both of us as it arrived in the heavy iron skillet the food was cooked in. Clever touch plus it helps keep the food warm, even if it’s quite a bit against traditional Latvian dining etiquette. Inese’s portion of pasta looked very hearty and gave her some reservation if she’d be able to eat all of it though did concede it tasted fantastic. Ditto my quirkily served porkchop which was succulent and tender.

With the main course over, I looked again at the menu to see what sweets they had on offer and spotted the fact they do a cheesecake which sounded rather nice with its berries and so on. Managed to tempt Inese to go halves on it as couldn’t not try and see what their take on the cheesecake was like given how lovely their cooking had proved so far. Once it had arrived and in just a few mouthfuls, Inese declared that that was probably one of the best cheesecakes she’s had to date so I took a little bit to sample for myself and have to say it was pretty damn good! Considering how much she was enjoying it, I let her polish most of it off for herself.

With tummies very full and the time now 6:30 p.m. or there abouts, I picked up the total bill and with that paid, we both headed back outside and catch the first tram to take us back to the flat. Back in the flat and unpacking the various things we had brought today, it was time again to resume the Salsa lessons! Inese did say in a rather unexpected tone that I had improved overnight, so I guess “sleeping on it” did the trick after all… though all that means is that we could now progress on to the more complex stuff. Still had a slight problem of not relaxing enough and letting things flow but after 2 to 3 hours of instruction, we had both done plenty of exercise to burn of the calories ingested earlier on.

We called it a day for the Salsa and Inese then asked me if I was interested in trying some Rīgas Melnais Balzams with tea as she was going to make one for herself. Alcoholic herbal bitter sounded intriguing, so I couldn’t decline such an offer!

I guess it’s definitely of acquired taste but I found it rather pleasant and apparently just the little bit we had in our tea is enough to make one sleepy and guarantee a good night’s sleep… we’ll see about that. Though in my opinion, it really wasn’t that bitter at all… certainly not when compared to various Chinese medicinal herbal teas I’ve had as a child given to me by my mother. As we sipped our tea with herbal bitter, Inese went through some of her photograph albums, most of which were from the time she was studying in Denmark back in 2003 and some have now been uploaded to her gallery. Indeed, we both spent a good hour through those plus albums detailing other times of her life.

11:00 p.m. arrived taking me by surprise as I hadn’t realised it was quite that late, but as Inese took her shower, I gave a call back home to see how father was and do a bit of catching up on the events of the last few days. But tomorrow was soon approaching so it was time to get ready for bed and see what comes about once the daystar has risen. :D

What a strange journey it’s been…

From the day I was born, I was given both an English name by my father, John Roger Stanley and a 漢字 (Han characters/Chinese) name by my late mother, Sau Wai Stanley (née 林秀惠). Both of these were used whilst I lived in 香港 (Hong Kong), though it was only my English name which appeared on official documentation… from my birth certificate, my identity card, my passport, et cetera.

Ever since being repatriated back to the United Kingdom, I did keep up my usage of spoken Cantonese with my mother. Though reading and writing of it had fallen by the wayside back in Hong Kong, having switched from a Chinese school to an English one between the time I was finishing Kindergarten and starting Primary education. So what basics I had learnt by the age of 6 was to only further atrophy since my mother was unable to teach me Chinese as she left school at about the age of 10 when she fled Communist China.

Though, to this day I still know of its pronunciation and etymology, finding them from amongst the 40 000 to 80 000 characters has taken many months of research and verification on my own. ChineseLanguage.org has proven invaluable as it’s the first site I’ve come across that offered an English-Chinese dictionary that allowed searches using Cantonese Romanisation (粵拼) which I do know and can narrow things down from their meanings, in additional to the more typical Mandarin Romanisation (拼音) which I don’t know which more often than not leads me on a wild goose chase.

In fact, the site is so extensive it also carries Romanisation of the other dialects such as Wu (吳語), Minnan (閩方言) and Hakka (客家). Even more surprising are Sino-Japanese and Sino-Korean pronunciations, where the Chinese characters are known as かんじ in Japanese and 한자 in Korean.

Without further ado, my 漢字 (Han characters/Chinese) name is: 史德遜.

Which was worked out from the etymology of the constituent part plus a hazy recollection of actually writing my name…

史

History (歷史), Chronicle, Annals. Also used as a Chinese family name (and was a suitable Sinification of the “S” in “Stanley”).

德

The Virtue (道德), Morality. 道德經 (The Scripture of the Way and the Virtue), written by 老子 some time in the 4th century BCE is the foundation of 道教 (Daoism).

遜

Humble (謙遜), Modest.

So in all, my given 漢字 (Han characters/Chinese) name 德遜 more or less literally translates to “The Virtue of Morality and Humility”, which my late mother went to great lengths choosing as like most Chinese, she believed that a good name matters.

The etymology of my English name is much simpler as it’s the Anglicised form of the Hebrew name: יהונתן (Yod, He, Vav, Nun, Tav, Final Nun), which means “Yahweh (God) has given” or “Gift from Yahweh (God)”.

I personally find the similarity in intention of meaning in both names quite striking, so perhaps it’s just another little reminder than Humanity should look at what we share in common to bind us rather than nit pick at the “differences” which only separates us?

The time was now approaching 3:45 p.m. but still the 17th of February, so with just about an hours worth of daylight left before it was dusk, we left the grounds of The Latvijas Etnogrāfiskais Brīvdabas Muzejs walking back down along Brīvības Gatve to The Tirdzniecības Centrs and then catch the next tram back to Rīga. In all, the walk takes about 30 minutes and the tram journey, excluding whatever waiting time a further 30 minutes, so we were in good stead in getting back by 5:00 p.m..

Arriving back in Rīga, it was now time to exchange ethnographic ponderings for a splash of social entertainment as the plan for this evening was to meet up with Kristīne and Michael to watch a movie at a cinema called “Rīga”; formerly “The Splendid Palace”, located on Elizabetes Iela. With all four of us together, consensus was soon reached that the movie we were to watch was to be “The Hours”. We duly went to the box office and got our tickets and there was about half an hour before the show started.

The girls went off to the ladies’ to freshen up whilst myself and Michael waited nearby. Though we conceded that a quick visit ourselves to the gents’ before sitting down to a two hour long film was actually a pretty good idea. My intuitive guess that they were located on the opposite side about the semi-circular corridor and subsequently proved to be correct on investigation. This was a relief in more sense than one, though the door was notably missing its downward triangle denoting it to be the gents’, where as the ladies’ have an upward triangle.

Anyhow, we all regrouped after our little expeditions and made our way to the hall in which the film was to be shown and made way to our seats near the front. Though I was unaware the cinema was previously called “The Splendid Palace”, I’d have to say it was something that struck me from the moment we came into the body of the building from the box office entrance. The ornate decor gave it a distinct feel that I associate with “The Roaring Twenties”, rightly or wrongly and at the same moment felt rather too down dressed and common. Where’re the shirt, waistcoat, tailcoat, trousers and dress shoes when you need them? :D

So we sat down to the opening trailers and a little bit of conversation between ourselves catching up what we had done so far today. Kristīne declared myself and Inese must have been pretty brave, probably mad to have gone to The Latvijas Etnogrāfiskais Brīvdabas Muzejs in the middle of February, the depths of the Latvian winter. Inese chirped that it’s wasn’t really that bad though her boots and bottoms of her jeans had gotten rather wet from the snow which had gathered and melted upon it, making her feet rather cold and uncomfortable. I, on the other hand managed to stay pretty much bone dry though my feet were just getting cold anyway. Oh well! :D

Without giving out plot spoilers, “The Hours” is a film drama made in 2002 and is a namesake and silver screen adaptation of the book written by Michael Cunningham. The synopsis? Well… it’s about three women of different generations and times whose lives are interconnected by the novel “Mrs. Dalloway”, written by Virginia Woolf. Nicole Kidman, Julianne Moore and Meryl Streep are the lead ladies as the British writer Virginia Woolf, a frustrated housewife named Laura Brown who loves the work of Woolf and a lector whose nickname is Mrs. Dalloway respectively. Miranda Richardson plays Virginia’s sister, Vanessa Bell. Toni Collette, Claire Danes, Ed Harris, and John C. Reilly also star. The screenplay was written by David Hare and direction was under the auspice of Stephen Daldry.

That’s all I’m going to give away, though the film was nominated in nine categories and won an Academy Award for Best Actress, which incidentally was the first Oscar for Nicole Kidman. Something else I noted was the musical score, all with the exception of “Beim Schlafengehen” from “Vier letzte Lieder” by Richard Strauss were by Phillip Glass, whose music is frequently described as minimalist and has been a long time influence on Michael Cunningham, who’s been quoted as saying: I have been reading Woolf and listening to Glass most of my adult life, and have never tired of either of them. I still listen sometimes to Glass’s music, often first thing in the morning, before I start my writing day. His music is, to some degree, part of everything I’ve written..

8:00 p.m. was approximately the time by the movie’s end and the next adventure was to fill up empty bellies. So we all headed out the exit and walked a little bit further up Elizabetes Iela to a Latvian restaurant by the name of Vērmanītis, again owned by the near omnipresent Lido group. There was to be five of us in all dinning that night as in addition to myself, Inese, Kristīne and Michael… a friend of Kristīne had come and joined the our little group. Unfortunately, though I did ask her to clarify her name, I still had trouble making out what it was. Sorry! :(

All five of us sat cosily at a round table for four and tucked into our dinner, though earlier on when browsing and choosing from the buffet, the shear amount of choice proved once again a slight stumbling block since there was a fair bit of indecision on both my and Michael’s part. We got there in the end though! :D

In amongst the dinner conversation were the initial suggestions of going to a Salsa night, following on from Inese and Arta seeing an advert for a night at a venue on Skārņu Iela opposite Pēterbaznīca when we were touring Vecrīga yesterday afternoon. I certainly quite enjoyed the idea of going, despite having never been to a Salsa night before… Roll on Friday night!

With dinner finished and other things needing to be done tomorrow, Kristīne’s friend went off on her own whilst Michael and Kristīne made their way back to Kristīne’s house. Yours truly and Inese also started making our way back to Inese’s place, but prior that we did a spot of shopping. One of the places we went to was Jāņa Rozes and it is one of the largest chains of bookstores in Latvia. In here, we picked up the February/March 2004 “In Your Pocket” guide for Rīga which would later prove to be extremely handy.

Once we got in back at Inese’s and having a bit of a rest, she asked if I actually knew how to Salsa to which I replied with an honest “no”. Generally, I do pick up things pretty quickly and “shake my thang” with ease yet tonight my body refused to move where I wanted it to move, leaving me with a rather bad case of “two left feet”. I guess it was probably because I was thinking too much about what I was trying to learn.

Dancing is much like running down a large flight of stairs, in that when you do it right it all flows very nicely. However, try it again thinking about exactly where you have to place your feet and so on. If you’re very lucky and don’t find yourself falling flat on your face breaking a few limbs, you would find your progress rather slower had you not thought so intensively about what you are doing. Still, after an hour or so some progress was being made but I suggested that I should “sleep on it” and carry on another day; as believe it or not, as far as the body is concerned for “muscle memory” can be gained through either actually doing a task, or just simply visualising yourself doing the task. It’s something gymnasts do quite often apparently. Anyhow, bed called and the plans for the next day are to be quite different… Stay tuned and find out about the next edition of shenanigans!

Eeek, it’s exactly 9 months ago since I last added phpBB progress screenshots for the next version of the software, to be designated 2.2.x.

The developmental code now would unofficially be version 2.1.3-pre as progress is well along the way to Milestone 3 and there is also ground work for features to be implimented at Milestone 4, such as “Private Messaging”.

Anyway, feast your eyes on the new set of screenshots. You can see a live demo at 2.2 @ Area51.phpBB.com and there is also a less freqently updated phpBB 2.1/2.2 forum @ Area51.LambCutlet.org.

It was literally only yesterday lunchtime when I ordered from Dabs some shiny new bits for my aging, yet trusty work horse of a computer as I finally caught up with my other fellow pimp geeks in getting a DVD+RW ATAPI drive and an A4 scanner. The bits I plumbed for were a Lite On SOHW-812S and a Canon CanoScan LiDE 30 respectively. Also got a box of 10 blank DVD+RW media plus an InnoVision EIO Combo IEEE 1394 + USB 2.0 PCI Adapter, the latter replacing my Belkin PoS card.

So later that evening around 8 o’clock, I get my order confirmation from Dabs saying that everything had been dispatched and I should expect it in “1 to 3 working days”, so I thought it’ll probably be Thursday if I’m lucky and more likely to be delivered Saturday. We are dealing with Royal Mail after all… whom after the fire at their Northampton sorting office in September last year, are still suffering as performance results recently published show Northampton has the worst service levels for all of Great Britain. Yaay!

You can imagine my surprise when I arrived home from work to find the parcel had already been delivered, packed with the goodies I ordered about 24 hours ago at the time of arrival. Certainly a heck of a lot faster than a certain 1st class letter my father received in about October 2003 sent just 3 miles from where we live but had taken over a month before it finally arrived… Now that’s Snail Mail™!

Can’t let exception work be gone unnoticed, so well done Dabs & Royal Mail, you’ve got one happy customer!

Anyhow, the new toys are installed and all seems to be working well. Certainly feeling rather smug with how good the kit is, so I can certainly recommend them to anyone who’s looking for such parts of that price category. :D