Even on holiday

Even on holiday the Special Forces missions keep coming in.

BS7 and I were driving home from Devon today when the call came in and the outriders hurtled our way, ready for an airport run and a Hercules take off.

Another country, another mission, another cover story.....

Working in the 21st C

Today I am on the train from Bristol to North Wales, the first of five days on the train that will take in Wales, Lancashire, Cumbria, Yorkshire and back home again in a big old tour.

I am on the cutting edge of technology, working quite efficiently with a 3g connection, an iPad and a bluetooth keyboard.

I can even do work.

And geeky stuff.

New Hub action!

Some teething troubles to start with and we're a bit hit and miss so far, but this is my new wireless hub which was a free upgrade. The old one was five years old and a bit tired, so hopefully this one will blast along at top speed.

Great service from my ISP too. And the colour and the lights are pretty smart.

A tall tale of an espionage Korea.

Just the other day I took a mission on in North Korea to bag some eyes first intel' on the hand over of power in that perilous state. Alas being somewhat taller than the average Korean Army conscript I knew I'd stand out but who'd have thought the Western media would pick me out amongst the million plus 'mourners'?

Back home now after a hasty exfil' and the usual full de brief.

Suffice it to say the new leader is as tricky as the last two.

Oh well.

Actual Mission Action!

A pal who does actually does know some Special Forces dudes gave me this for Christmas. What a cracking gift!

This is an ammo box for 7.62 mm blank rounds. I guess these are for training sessions prior to live missions.

All I need to do now is think of something cool to keep in it and a convincing back story about my time on a deep mission in the middle east gathering intel' and zeroing in on CIA targets.

Thanks to the kind fella who wrapped it up for me.

Get in!

Christmas Merchandiser.

Today I was running an errand for a Christmas shopper here in BS5.

While we were in the city she was browsing and I was just spugging about waiting.

I noticed these personalised coat hooks where you buy one that matches your initial.

Took me a while to clock it but then had to take this picture for Blog BS5.

Even more train drama.

Today I am coming home from Didcot where my brother lives. I am on an unusually quiet service because it's a day off and I am travelling just after lunch.

Plenty of seats in the entertainment carriage where you can pay for movies or hit the free to view screen for a location map that also shows speed.

Heading home at 124mph.

Get in!

The elusive banana.

I haven't blogged in a while but this is a show stopper for BlogBS5

Today after about 30 months travelling in my current role on very many a train indeed, I bagged the Flying Banana.

This is the Network Rail
Measurement Train, an ex-service Class 43 that now runs a 13 week programme covering all the rail track in the UK and measuring its safety or need for repair. There is no published schedule so you never know when you'll see it. There is only one . It's long and bright yellow and you can't get on it unless you work for Network Rail.

Since I moved from regular train geek to the sort who collects numbers ( for class 43 only) I have not clocked 43014 The Flying Banana, but today at London Kings cross there it was in splendid yellowness. I was so excited and I had 22 minutes to my connection to take a gander.

There I was along with a discreet group of about eight other blokes equally thrilled. Harmless fun.

What a cracking Monday and out of the house from such a lovely weekend too.

Cool!

Now this picture made me smile. It was on my geeky Flipboard feed (a great iPad app) , a fairly minority interest in class 43 trains.

Get in!

Total train drama!

On the way from Peterborough to London tonight and logged on to the 15 minute free wifi that standard class affords. Very impressed at the log in screen with a live update of the train's progress. Total geek action.

He is on the way....

My brother is coming to live with me from Monday. He's got this much shit and a firm plan to fill up my house with it.

Cosmic!

No more updates :-(

Beyond my clunky work laptop and its haphazard relationship with smooth operating, all my on line life is via products from this man. Indeed I am writing, posting and editing this on an ipad2.

He was a divisive sort of a chap and I am certainly in the group that liked him, but I was less fond of the control in the ecosystem.

That aside Steve Jobs has checked out and that's a real shame.

Thanks for all the cool products and the fantastic presentations and the branding.

Steve Jobs. Bit of a dude.