Today was my last real work day. Tomorrow is my last official day but we're having our end-of-project day, which means going to the National Gallery then boozy lunch and more drinks. Nice that work are paying for my farewell!
That means no more work until, well, next year really! We're off travelling on 10th April, and won't be back in Oz until December. Can't wait!
This interweb thing is great! I've been translating a bunch of strings in our software at work from English into French. We used a translation company for most of it, but these are the little bits that got left out. Not sure my translations will be perfect, but they'll get what they get. Anyway, I've been relying heavily on a few fantastic web sites.
WordReference.com is your standard dictionarytool, but it's quite comprehensive and fast.
The government of Quebec provides the fantastic Grand dictionnaire terminologique which has an exhaustive range of technical term translations in just about every technical field you could imagine from aeronautics to zoology. You have to be careful though, because Quebec French isn't always the same as French French. For example, the standard translation of email in French French is "courriel" while in Quebec they say "courrier electronique".
Finally, and probably more useful for someone who's a bit rusty in French these days, is Verbix which conjugates verbs into the 15 main tenses. Incredibly handy, particularly when you don't have your red book to hand.
We had a rather abrupt start to the day this morning: the ceiling in our kitchen collapsed! There's now a 2m diameter hole in our ceiling.
A few months ago upstairs had a leaky bath. The ceiling started to crack and our useless not-very-handyman missed two appointments to come and repair it. After this collapse, we got him to come around and do the majority of the cleanup, though we've spent much of this evening cleaning still.
Well it's historic dust at least, last seen when George V had his royal buttocks on the throne.
Today we bought three DVDs with free newspapers attached. I love these newspaper wars! Daily Express went straight in the recycling, but we'll enjoy the Cary Grant film.
We just got home from Xmas at Scott and Katie's place. Fabulous day had by all. An appropriate level of gluttony and exuberence was had by all.
Recipe for me curried cashews and cinammon almonds will be forthcoming.
You can tell it's getting cold when I have to start wearing my sexy brain warmer on the bike. Keeps the ears warm. Holly bought it for me for Christmas last year, and it makes a real difference. Pity it makes me look like I'm in dodgy Euro porn.
In other news, I just had the satisfaction of slamming the door in a Tory's face. All she got out was "Simon Rumble? Hello I'm whatever from the Conservative Party" before the door went closed again. I'm not normally so rude, but everything about those fuckers offends me. Not to mention that our Tory fuckwit MP opposes the Congestion Charge.
Australia won and we've qualified for the World Cup finals for the first time in 32 years! How fucking great is that?
Had something amusing, though annoying too, happen yesterday. I broke my glasses frame last week and the new ones aren't ready yet, so I'm walking around like a dork with tape holding them together.
Last night, as I was leaving work, I managed to drop one of the lenses out of the frame in the car lift at work. Down it went through the grill and onto the (inaccessible) concrete floor about 50cm down. Ack!
I was ready to give up until I suddenly thought maybe I could get them back. Handy tape to the rescue again: I went back up to the office, got some tape and went back downstairs. Using a piece of metal with a blob of exposed tape on the end to poke through the grate and lift the lens. Took me a few attempts, and I got a nasty scratch across the lens, but it worked!
Now I just hope the new glasses arrive soon and I can stop looking like a dork.
Been a busy few weeks and I've got a buttload of photos.
Well in case you're wondering, Holly and I are fine after today's bombings. I rode my bike into work. Tavistock and Russell Squares are a few blocks from my work. Everyone at work (old and new) is fine too, it seems.