A guy up the way has replaced the whole shebang with salvaged Critall in a wood surround 
Now that is criminal 
Whatâs wrong with Critall?
Whatâs right with them? 
Personally I have no experience but IMO inappropriate for this type of building.
As the builder (who we also use) said, ânot what I would have gone forâ.
I found today that yesterday I forgot to switch on my battery charger at the mains.
So it was physically connected to the battery all day and reading 11.5V and zero amps - The screen on the charger was lit up so I though it was on - Nope
I might not need a new battery this week now.
Strong start 
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Usually this is the part of the job the tradies announce they have a much more important job* to go to for the next 3 weeksâŚ
At least itâs summer
.
.
*the holiday they booked last October
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Palantir. Serco. Etc.
No thankyou.
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Palantir in particular. They need to be told to fuck right off from everything, everywhere.
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Donât get me wrong, I have no confidence in any UK government doing this securely or reliably, but still I think a secure reliable system is becoming necessary. I have no idea how these entirely opposing positions can be married up.
Speaking of which, you mustnât share this:
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YeahâŚ
Weâre fucked, arenât we? ⌠
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Being made redundant with two, maybe three months notice. FFS
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Revisiting some auld hauntsâŚ
The Cock & Rabbit, The Lee, Bucks.
Area fucked up by HS2 but still surviving due to the unique character and superb Italian food. Had a great chat with the owner. Charming bloke.
OntoâŚ
The Black Horse, Great Missenden.
Old, rustic, but a bit âoverly polishedâ. Still doing decent trade due to regular balloon flights from the field behind. New staff didnât understand what NoLo meant. I had a half of Neck Oil.
NextâŚ
The Nagâs Head, Grt. Miss.
Previous owner and I used to wile away the hours smoking cigars and drinking cognac (Armagnac in my case).
New owners. Nobody about, so didnât stop.
ThenâŚ
The Red Lion, Little Missenden.
Olde Skool pub with a beer garden split by a pond. Loads of water fowl and ducks. Really lovely, charming establishment, new tenants were trying really hard, but were obviously struggling. Ate a lunch of roast beef sarnies with chips. Simple, well madeâŚ
ThenâŚ
The Crown, Little Missenden.
Hunting pub, often favoured by the local elite. Always seemed very snobbish. Hasnât changed.
A drive through the lanesâŚ
LastlyâŚ
The Full Moon, Little Kingshill.
Beautifully restored pub. It used to be quite cute, ramshackle, and a bit rough around the edges. Now it retains itâs charm but is now worthy of seeking out. Lass in charge was an absolute gem.
NowâŚ
Now I can have a proper drink
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I suppose that the best we can hope for is that whatever comes next will be better than whatever we have at the moment, which is rather a mess.
As seems so often to be true, the implementation has been a mess because the requirements spec is/was a mess. The decision makers hadnât agreed, between them, what they wanted before they had to âcommitâ to building and running it.
I vaguely recollect a process starting, perhaps, in the 1980s for me but really picking up speed in the 90âs, where the IT side of what we did went from being a neat thing which might help us streamline our processes once in a while to âthe air that we breatheâ as my department director put it on one occasion when the office system fell over. That transition wasnât exactly orderly. No-one really had a grip of it. It grew like Topsy and sure enough we ended up with a hotch-potch. Mostly this was A Bad Thing. The system was scrappy and inefficient and took too much resource both to use and to support. But the (slight) upside was that there was some resilience in its âbiodiversityâ. On the occasions that it fell over it might be possible to find a workaround.
And in the end maybe thatâs the trade-off. Your secure reliable system would be the best solution just as long as it really will be really, really reliable. But if it isnât going to be then maybe we need some organic âdiversityâ in it to cover ourselves when the inevitable train wreck hits.
My 5th Parkrun this morning at Black Rocks and my fastest 5k so far 
.
Lovely event, really nicely organised and very friendly, beautiful location too.
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Many happy returns 
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