Friday, February 27, 2009
Hacked
In my professional career I have had systems I worked with compromised several times. Unfortunately its much harder to defend than attack. Today I uncovered a rouge program on one of the work servers. Tomorrow I will be doing some analysis of when where and how it happened.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
One Day Like This
I haven't posted for a while, I would like to say these is an earth shatteringly important or interesting reason for my blogs stagnation. The real reason is lack of interesting diversions. There was Fayes birthday last Wednesday, which was a nice evening.
Yesterday was the most interesting day in a long time though. It was the first time in a little while that I have felt really alive. Kasia came up from York, I picked her up from Stockport Station and we headed into Manchester. Our firs destination was the Chinese Arts centre. Kaisa had seen it on a website and was exited to see it. As it turned out it is quiet a small gallery only one exhibition was open. A display of people and their drugs. It was interesting but only too a short time to peruse.
The shop seemed bigger than the actual gallery, but the teas were great and the nik naks lovely. As it only took 30 minutes to go round I suggested we visited Urbis, I had never been there before so it was a new experience for us both. We looked at the Emory Douglas and the art of revolutions. As minister for culture in the Black Panther Party he was involved in the chain reaction the empowered Africa Americans to the point where American now has a black president. It was chilling to see how only just over a generation ago blacks were lynched with impunity.
The other exhibition at Urbis was titled Reality Hack: Hidden Manchester. It was a series of photographs by experimental photographer, Andrew Paul Brooks. He has managed to capture scenes from Urban explorers, and from alternative rooftop views. My favourites were of the eerie underground shelters and the picture from the town composing the Angels with the modern cityscape.
After our art tours we went to see my house. I think she appreciated the progress but was a little shocked at how much there was left to do. We ate fish and chips and cuddled on the sofas. After which then headed out to the Trafford centre.
I wanted to get some new jeans but after trying on a few pairs I realised that I have put on quiet a lot of weight in the last 6 months. Working on the house has meant I haven't been working out at the gym. I am going to have to do a lot of running and exercise once the house is finished. I bought the Elbow album "The Seldom Seen Kid" to listen to on the drive to York. I am really enjoying it, I must admit its a grower the first time Martina played it to me I really did not think it was my kind of thing.
We visited the new bit of the Trafford centre which has home furnishings, but didn't end up buying anything.
I spent the night in York, we were both really tired after the driving and visiting but it was a really great day. I was very glad to do something none work and one house, they are really pretty much dominating my life at the moment.
Yesterday was the most interesting day in a long time though. It was the first time in a little while that I have felt really alive. Kasia came up from York, I picked her up from Stockport Station and we headed into Manchester. Our firs destination was the Chinese Arts centre. Kaisa had seen it on a website and was exited to see it. As it turned out it is quiet a small gallery only one exhibition was open. A display of people and their drugs. It was interesting but only too a short time to peruse.
The shop seemed bigger than the actual gallery, but the teas were great and the nik naks lovely. As it only took 30 minutes to go round I suggested we visited Urbis, I had never been there before so it was a new experience for us both. We looked at the Emory Douglas and the art of revolutions. As minister for culture in the Black Panther Party he was involved in the chain reaction the empowered Africa Americans to the point where American now has a black president. It was chilling to see how only just over a generation ago blacks were lynched with impunity.
The other exhibition at Urbis was titled Reality Hack: Hidden Manchester. It was a series of photographs by experimental photographer, Andrew Paul Brooks. He has managed to capture scenes from Urban explorers, and from alternative rooftop views. My favourites were of the eerie underground shelters and the picture from the town composing the Angels with the modern cityscape.
After our art tours we went to see my house. I think she appreciated the progress but was a little shocked at how much there was left to do. We ate fish and chips and cuddled on the sofas. After which then headed out to the Trafford centre.
I wanted to get some new jeans but after trying on a few pairs I realised that I have put on quiet a lot of weight in the last 6 months. Working on the house has meant I haven't been working out at the gym. I am going to have to do a lot of running and exercise once the house is finished. I bought the Elbow album "The Seldom Seen Kid" to listen to on the drive to York. I am really enjoying it, I must admit its a grower the first time Martina played it to me I really did not think it was my kind of thing.
We visited the new bit of the Trafford centre which has home furnishings, but didn't end up buying anything.
I spent the night in York, we were both really tired after the driving and visiting but it was a really great day. I was very glad to do something none work and one house, they are really pretty much dominating my life at the moment.
Sunday, February 08, 2009
State of the house
Things moved on pretty well this weekend. Bruce helped me tidy up the network cables and I managed to lay the remaining part of the upstairs ring mains. The face plates arn't on but they can wait until the rooms are decorated.
The kitchen is painted, and the lights gone back up.
Martina came round to help on Friday, she put another coat of paint on the kitchen and utility cupboard while I carried on with the wiring. In the evening we went out for a curry and to watch the wrestler. I enjoyed the wrestler though it is a fairly depressing film and it dragged a little at the start.
The upstairs wiring is nearly done, the wiring for the ring, TV, and network are all in place. I still have to do the lights upstairs, replacing the old stranded core with twin and earth. The stranded cables don't currently have an earth.
The lounge is prepared and my dad is soon going to start wallpapering.
The kitchen is painted, and the lights gone back up.
Martina came round to help on Friday, she put another coat of paint on the kitchen and utility cupboard while I carried on with the wiring. In the evening we went out for a curry and to watch the wrestler. I enjoyed the wrestler though it is a fairly depressing film and it dragged a little at the start.
The upstairs wiring is nearly done, the wiring for the ring, TV, and network are all in place. I still have to do the lights upstairs, replacing the old stranded core with twin and earth. The stranded cables don't currently have an earth.
The lounge is prepared and my dad is soon going to start wallpapering.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Eleanor Rigby
I went for lunch at the Cheadle Royal, it was ok but the service was appalling, took forever to get served and when the food arrived they guy asked if we wanted any sauces we did but he disappeared never to return. Walking back there was a single solitary Swam preening herself on an embankment in the middle of the road. It seemed slightly surreal somehow to have this bird there not caring about the traffic or us walking back to the office. Sometimes I wish I had no cares or worries.
Monday, February 02, 2009
We play endlessly
I bearly made it to work this morning, though not for the normal reason of hangover of lakc of sleep. I had to brave the worst snow in 18 years on the way in to work. Normally this would not be a problem, as my daily commute is only a few miles. Yesterday I travelled to York to visit Kasia so this meant I had to scrape 4 inches of snow off the car. Then drive down a rather snowy M1, across the blizzards over the Pennines on the M62, finally braving the M60. I left at 6.30 and arrived at 9.15, it usually takes one and a half hours!
It had been a very nice evening with Kasia. We went for a walk round York, which was very pretty in the winter air and moonlight. Then we eat pizza listening to music, my free Independent Sigur Ros CD and her 80's French pop, it was very relaxing.
Relaxation was something I badly needed having spent the last few days decorating. Specifically repainting my kitchen. It turned out that the stains on the ceilings cannot be stopped! The marks have come through a layer of plaster, a coat of PVA glue, and two coats of kitchen paint! I found a stain blocking paint at B&Q which I applied to the ceiling. Being oil based and full of VOC's it stunk like heck. The stain blocker was also white so in between coats I had to squint to see where I had painted breathing in these fumes I felt pretty high by the time I was finished.
It had been a very nice evening with Kasia. We went for a walk round York, which was very pretty in the winter air and moonlight. Then we eat pizza listening to music, my free Independent Sigur Ros CD and her 80's French pop, it was very relaxing.
Relaxation was something I badly needed having spent the last few days decorating. Specifically repainting my kitchen. It turned out that the stains on the ceilings cannot be stopped! The marks have come through a layer of plaster, a coat of PVA glue, and two coats of kitchen paint! I found a stain blocking paint at B&Q which I applied to the ceiling. Being oil based and full of VOC's it stunk like heck. The stain blocker was also white so in between coats I had to squint to see where I had painted breathing in these fumes I felt pretty high by the time I was finished.
Sunday, February 01, 2009
Warwick Avenue
Painting lots of painting, my hands are covered with the damn stuff despite baths and frequent hand washes. The scary thing is the amount left to do, the kitchen is half finished that leaves, living room, hall stairs and landing, the bedrooms not to mention the bathroom.
Quite apart from the painting I still have wiring to finish, wall paper to hang and all the floor boards lifted for the wiring need to go back; which going to be like a giant jigsaw as I forgot to mark where they came from.
I do start to feel like its coming together though, I shouldn't have to rip anything else major out and things are going back in, perhaps only a few more months and I will be living there.
Last night I met up with Martina, she had a problem with her laptop which I fixed then we started watching the first series of Mad Men. It is a really cool show about 1950s American Advertising men, when men were men and women did what they were told. She made cheese biscuits as compensation for my laptop fixing though actually there wasn't much to fix not like my colleague who had over 28 viruses! I am not normally a fan of cheese biscuits but these were rather tasty.
Quite apart from the painting I still have wiring to finish, wall paper to hang and all the floor boards lifted for the wiring need to go back; which going to be like a giant jigsaw as I forgot to mark where they came from.
I do start to feel like its coming together though, I shouldn't have to rip anything else major out and things are going back in, perhaps only a few more months and I will be living there.
Last night I met up with Martina, she had a problem with her laptop which I fixed then we started watching the first series of Mad Men. It is a really cool show about 1950s American Advertising men, when men were men and women did what they were told. She made cheese biscuits as compensation for my laptop fixing though actually there wasn't much to fix not like my colleague who had over 28 viruses! I am not normally a fan of cheese biscuits but these were rather tasty.
Friday, January 23, 2009
Anysound
I was painting today, my fingers are still partly white in spite of several washings and a bath. I made some quiet good progress today, with help from my Dad and Martina we painted a lot of the kitchen, an alcove where some wiring is going and filled a load of holes.
I started with a trip to Stax. It is trade only but fortunately Nick has an account. They are really cheap for paint and decorating supplies, and other bits.
On the way home I picked up Martina from Bramhall, she had gone into her previous employer B2B to invoice them for some work.
Starting upstairs we used sugar soap to clean out an alcove I need to be painted before installing my comms cabinet. It was filthy I don't think the previous owner knew about cleaning. The doors upstairs have little windows, I thought it was frosted glass but it turned out to be nicotine stain, yuk!
Martina worked really hard painting the kitchen ceiling and helping out, it felt really good to finally see something getting back in.
I started with a trip to Stax. It is trade only but fortunately Nick has an account. They are really cheap for paint and decorating supplies, and other bits.
On the way home I picked up Martina from Bramhall, she had gone into her previous employer B2B to invoice them for some work.
Starting upstairs we used sugar soap to clean out an alcove I need to be painted before installing my comms cabinet. It was filthy I don't think the previous owner knew about cleaning. The doors upstairs have little windows, I thought it was frosted glass but it turned out to be nicotine stain, yuk!
Martina worked really hard painting the kitchen ceiling and helping out, it felt really good to finally see something getting back in.
Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Enable user ftp uploads SELinux
I just had some issues getting vsftpd setup on Centos 5.2 I kept getting 500 OOPS: cannot change directory. Searchign around on the net I finally found
this post which included the command to allow ftp for users through SELinux.
/usr/sbin/setsebool -P ftp_home_dir=1
this post which included the command to allow ftp for users through SELinux.
/usr/sbin/setsebool -P ftp_home_dir=1
Saturday, January 17, 2009
The New Pollution
I started the day by putting in part of the ring mains upstairs, it was a major mission routing a cable from the start of the ring to where the immersion heater used to be. I am going to use the space where the tank used to live to put in a comms cabinet for the wired cabling and the TV points.
Around lunch time I headed out with Nick to pick up a sofa. Martina's housemate Neal had put me in touch with his workmate Paul who had a sofa to dispose of. The only problem was that I had to arrange a lift to near Clitheroe in Lancashire to pick it up. Following the sat nav it took us just under an hour to find it, traveling perilously close to my old stomping ground. It was a pretty nice day sunny and clear as we drove there, changing to a rather overcast one on the drive home. So now I have a sofa, a table and a floor, just need a kitchen and to finished the decoration and I can finally move in.
The only certainty in life is that things will change. When I was younger I loved going to bars, I would get dressed up on a weekend drink and dance listen to loud music.
Tonight Ian Nick and I went to the Unicorn, I wanted to show Ian how far its fallen. We all agreed it needs a refit, badly. Paint is coming off the walls the décor is haphazard and the whole place needs a common theme. Also the previous owners stripped a heck of a lot of bits out of the place leaving very unsightly gaps.
After we got tired of the sad decor we made a move to the Rectory, unfortunately they played very loudly the greatest hits of the 80's which did very little for conversation. That was a shame given Ian was telling me some of his plans for a possible bar venture and it was really interesting to hear his plans. Nick was being sent especially west by the music, and Ian had to pick up Faye so we had an early night.
Around lunch time I headed out with Nick to pick up a sofa. Martina's housemate Neal had put me in touch with his workmate Paul who had a sofa to dispose of. The only problem was that I had to arrange a lift to near Clitheroe in Lancashire to pick it up. Following the sat nav it took us just under an hour to find it, traveling perilously close to my old stomping ground. It was a pretty nice day sunny and clear as we drove there, changing to a rather overcast one on the drive home. So now I have a sofa, a table and a floor, just need a kitchen and to finished the decoration and I can finally move in.
The only certainty in life is that things will change. When I was younger I loved going to bars, I would get dressed up on a weekend drink and dance listen to loud music.
Tonight Ian Nick and I went to the Unicorn, I wanted to show Ian how far its fallen. We all agreed it needs a refit, badly. Paint is coming off the walls the décor is haphazard and the whole place needs a common theme. Also the previous owners stripped a heck of a lot of bits out of the place leaving very unsightly gaps.
After we got tired of the sad decor we made a move to the Rectory, unfortunately they played very loudly the greatest hits of the 80's which did very little for conversation. That was a shame given Ian was telling me some of his plans for a possible bar venture and it was really interesting to hear his plans. Nick was being sent especially west by the music, and Ian had to pick up Faye so we had an early night.
Funny Load
Funny Load
Originally uploaded by j0hncooke
Nick and I were behing this, ahem, gym on the way to pick up a sofa near Clitheroe
Two Seat Sofa
Two Seat Sofa
Originally uploaded by j0hncooke
This is my new sofa, well new to me anyway. Should do for the moment though its in pretty good condition. Thanks to Martina, Neil and Neil's friend Paul
Friday, January 16, 2009
Lacrymosa
Today was a good day, I had a day off to work on the house and managed to get a lot done. Primarily I had to take a day to wait in for the heating repair man. Homeserve rang in the morning to say they would turn up between one and four in the afternoon. So in the morning the plan was to seal the concrete floor. Basically until it is sealed conrete gives off dust and tomorrow I was picking up someone old sofa. I didn't think it was a good idea to put the sofa in this dusty environment.
The floor sealant is a solvent which seals in the floor chemically binding the top layer. It stunk like very strongly of chemicals and I was high as a kite after we finished. It only took a few hours to prepare and paint onto the living room and hall floor.
The heating repair man was early, and quickly fixed the leaking heating. He did however spot a few faults with the installation.
Earlier in the week I had a telephone call from the blood service asking me to go and donate on Friday. After the engineer had departed I traipsed into Wilmslow and made a donation at the Parish Hall. I had never been during the day before, they had milky ways along with the other biscuits I guess they are normally all gone by the time I arrive!
After donating blood it was still early enough to continue a little on the house. I wired in a cable to upstairs and got my first upstairs socket working.
So I have my first working socket upstairs, working heating, a locking garage, and a sealed floor and I gave away a pint of blood, a pretty good day I think.
I went out with Phil for last orders at the reopened unicorn. The place looked rather bedraggled the previous people had taken a lot of things including the nozzle for the Guinness tap so Phil couldn't have a pint of Guinness.
The floor sealant is a solvent which seals in the floor chemically binding the top layer. It stunk like very strongly of chemicals and I was high as a kite after we finished. It only took a few hours to prepare and paint onto the living room and hall floor.
The heating repair man was early, and quickly fixed the leaking heating. He did however spot a few faults with the installation.
Earlier in the week I had a telephone call from the blood service asking me to go and donate on Friday. After the engineer had departed I traipsed into Wilmslow and made a donation at the Parish Hall. I had never been during the day before, they had milky ways along with the other biscuits I guess they are normally all gone by the time I arrive!
After donating blood it was still early enough to continue a little on the house. I wired in a cable to upstairs and got my first upstairs socket working.
So I have my first working socket upstairs, working heating, a locking garage, and a sealed floor and I gave away a pint of blood, a pretty good day I think.
I went out with Phil for last orders at the reopened unicorn. The place looked rather bedraggled the previous people had taken a lot of things including the nozzle for the Guinness tap so Phil couldn't have a pint of Guinness.
Thursday, January 15, 2009
Fat government
Looks like Digby Jones share my views on fat government, it is too big employs too many people and could use half as many.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Free antivirus
I just started using the free Windows Antivirus program Clamav. It has no pesky restrictions on using if you are a company either making it totally free unlike Avira or AVG which are free for personal use.
Seeing Ghosts?
An artical on the BBC, please note the line which read academics say the findings do not prove a "causal link". Basically this appears to be a quasy science study which the BBC has picked as News. To me this is a great example of the junk science as highlighted on the excellent Number Watch
Sunday, January 11, 2009
Up and Down and Back Again
its been a busy week, adjusting to being back at work was tough. There has been a lot to get on top of, plus I have been helping Nick with a few things trying to get a new website up and running. That included meeting a contact of his to discuss some details. We met in a bar in the centre of Altringham on a Thursday night. The whole place was empty apart from ourselves and another couple of guys who came in afterwards. Afterwards as we walked to the car I noted that the restaurants were empty, is it a sign people are cutting back or just an ordinary January slowdown? On another note the giving up beer for January has been going well so far. I managed not to drink that night so it makes three visits to the pub and the strongest thing I have drunken is spicy tomato juice.
Wednesday Night Bruce and myself went to the Legion to book a lan party for the 24th of January. Its been a long while since the last one, with Bruce getting ready for his wedding and me spending time on the house I haven't been able to organise anything. However we decided it was time so we are going to do our best to put something on.
I had the day off on Friday so I went to visit Kasia, we spent the afternoon together in York. I was really nice just being together enjoying each others company, walking along the river. I was cold but felt very alive and happy. She was working Saturday so I drove home early morning and started on the house.
As usual for this time on a Sunday I am tired, covered in dust and my hands are scratched. Once again I have spent the majority of the weekend at my house. As usual it started off as a simple, oh such a simple job. Simply run a length of telephone cable from the Cable box to the living room where the master phone socket will live.
I started on by running the cable into the garage then I had to run it around the the room all the way to the other side. Unfortunately in order to do so I had to dismantle the first bit of wiring I put in as part of the process, then next problem was that the weather sensor wiring was in the way and had to be disconnected and reroute. This meant on a day where the temperature was -1C at 10am I was sat outside asking the sensor apart. I couldn't feel my fingers by the end.
So I spent Saturday taking things apart, and Sunday putting it back together again.
Wednesday Night Bruce and myself went to the Legion to book a lan party for the 24th of January. Its been a long while since the last one, with Bruce getting ready for his wedding and me spending time on the house I haven't been able to organise anything. However we decided it was time so we are going to do our best to put something on.
I had the day off on Friday so I went to visit Kasia, we spent the afternoon together in York. I was really nice just being together enjoying each others company, walking along the river. I was cold but felt very alive and happy. She was working Saturday so I drove home early morning and started on the house.
As usual for this time on a Sunday I am tired, covered in dust and my hands are scratched. Once again I have spent the majority of the weekend at my house. As usual it started off as a simple, oh such a simple job. Simply run a length of telephone cable from the Cable box to the living room where the master phone socket will live.
I started on by running the cable into the garage then I had to run it around the the room all the way to the other side. Unfortunately in order to do so I had to dismantle the first bit of wiring I put in as part of the process, then next problem was that the weather sensor wiring was in the way and had to be disconnected and reroute. This meant on a day where the temperature was -1C at 10am I was sat outside asking the sensor apart. I couldn't feel my fingers by the end.
So I spent Saturday taking things apart, and Sunday putting it back together again.
Lightbulbs
Being an ecologically minded fellow I bought some energy saving lightbulbs. This time the 20 watts variety, the normal ones seem to be about 11watts and just arn't bright enough. The 20's are better but they still take 2-3 minutes to warm up to full brightness, and 20 watts is only one fifth of a standard 100 watt bulb so it costs the same to run for 5 hours that a standard bulb does for one hour. They should therefore save me some electricity and reduce the old carbon footprint.
Friday, January 02, 2009
Flume
Time for blogging has been pretty thin on the ground recently I had a pretty awesome Christmas in the Alps then a wonderful New Years with Andy and Emily in Manchester. I thought I would summarise what I have been up to in the last couple of weeks.
I went skiing to Val D'Isere in France. It was really beautiful there, the snow was near perfect, the week before we arrived nearly 2 meters of fresh power arrived. We arrived and enjoyed had 4 days of glorious sunshine, the pistes were near perfect. I skiied a lot, drank a lot and enjoyed myself for a week.
I had met up with Kasia before Christmas and we have decided to have another try as we still like each other. I went to visit her in York last Monday we had an outing to Ikea I have never seen a place so so busy queues to get in and out so bad the Police were drafted in to direct traffic. We managed to finally get in and wondered around Ikea, then Habitat. I saw a few nice things but nothing that really screamed out. I still have quiet a bit to do too before I get any furniture. It was really enjoyable spending time with her again I hope that we can do so more often.
On Wednesday I took my Mum to B&Q to take advantage of the 10% overs 60s discount and use some vouchers I had received as presents. I bought some wallpaper and decorating sundries to make a start on the lounge. Now Nick has put in the woodwork and boxes in the pipes it looks a lot more houselike. I think I will feel a lot happier when I start to see rooms taking shape.
For New year Phil, Andy, Emily and her friend Laura went to watch the fireworks in Exchange Square. We played Wii for a bit then went to Polar bar. It was a sort of tent set up near to Urbis, they did a really nice range of hot drinks. I had a whisky toddy, the others had hot chocolate with vodka or Cointreau. It was -2 at least outside, I had my ski jacket to keep me warm but amazingly some of the women were walking around without even a coat, and bear legs, crazy!
The fireworks were a little disappointing, Andy was telling me that the council refused to put up any money so they were paid for by the owners of the big wheel.
I looked at myself in the mirror today, I have put on weight, quiet a bit in fact, I have a streaming cold and I felt horrible. I have decided to try and leave off beer for a while I'll try for the whole of January, in fact I might do a Bridget Jones style counter. I also want to get a move on trying to get the house in order so I can move in.
I went skiing to Val D'Isere in France. It was really beautiful there, the snow was near perfect, the week before we arrived nearly 2 meters of fresh power arrived. We arrived and enjoyed had 4 days of glorious sunshine, the pistes were near perfect. I skiied a lot, drank a lot and enjoyed myself for a week.
I had met up with Kasia before Christmas and we have decided to have another try as we still like each other. I went to visit her in York last Monday we had an outing to Ikea I have never seen a place so so busy queues to get in and out so bad the Police were drafted in to direct traffic. We managed to finally get in and wondered around Ikea, then Habitat. I saw a few nice things but nothing that really screamed out. I still have quiet a bit to do too before I get any furniture. It was really enjoyable spending time with her again I hope that we can do so more often.
On Wednesday I took my Mum to B&Q to take advantage of the 10% overs 60s discount and use some vouchers I had received as presents. I bought some wallpaper and decorating sundries to make a start on the lounge. Now Nick has put in the woodwork and boxes in the pipes it looks a lot more houselike. I think I will feel a lot happier when I start to see rooms taking shape.
For New year Phil, Andy, Emily and her friend Laura went to watch the fireworks in Exchange Square. We played Wii for a bit then went to Polar bar. It was a sort of tent set up near to Urbis, they did a really nice range of hot drinks. I had a whisky toddy, the others had hot chocolate with vodka or Cointreau. It was -2 at least outside, I had my ski jacket to keep me warm but amazingly some of the women were walking around without even a coat, and bear legs, crazy!
The fireworks were a little disappointing, Andy was telling me that the council refused to put up any money so they were paid for by the owners of the big wheel.
I looked at myself in the mirror today, I have put on weight, quiet a bit in fact, I have a streaming cold and I felt horrible. I have decided to try and leave off beer for a while I'll try for the whole of January, in fact I might do a Bridget Jones style counter. I also want to get a move on trying to get the house in order so I can move in.
Sunday, December 28, 2008
Val D'isere Arrival
Saturday morning I arrived at the Airport in Phil's Mondeo, my dad drove us borrowing as my Focus is too small for the task. We had to get there early, about 5am. We anticipated that the queues would be as bad as last year with queues round the block.
Despite the spare queues the flight was delayed on the tarmack for an hour as our slot was missed. I barley noticed falling rapidly asleep, waking up somewhere over France to a rather disgusting breakfast I was very glad I ate at the airport, in spite of the ruinous prices. I forgot about the food soon enough though, I had a window seat from which I was able to see the winter wonderland exposed below. I could see the snow was awesome. Not so awesome though was the layer of fog covering the valley in which apparently Chambery airport lived. As the aeroplane dropped into the fog on the landing approach I honestly struggled to see the tip of the wing, no idea what the Pilot could see! The landing was aborted but instead of diverting to another airport the pilot (who sounded quiet pleased to have some diversion to his routine) said we would follow a holding pattern burn off some fuel and therefore weight meaning we could go in lower before needing to about. After another 45-50 minutes circling the fog had lifted a little and we were lighter so in we went. Once we got below a certain level the fog was clear and we were able to land. As the runway approached people started to clap, they stopped pretty quickly as the plane hit the deck and started to slide. We were the only aircraft to land that day so the runway was a little icy and the plain skidded a little. My philosophy is "any one you can walk away from" is a good landing. The airport itself was pretty small and chocking with people trying to get home. Fortunately that didn't bother us :)
It took a couple of hours on a coach some of which we travelled alone in our own private coach, because of the delays. We were the first people in the Chalet Joined later by a many others, in total 14 though not everyone made it on the first day. The evening conversation hardly boded well for the week. Phil and I made friend with a nice couple from Essex though and found that the nearest bar was also one of the cheapest :)
Despite the spare queues the flight was delayed on the tarmack for an hour as our slot was missed. I barley noticed falling rapidly asleep, waking up somewhere over France to a rather disgusting breakfast I was very glad I ate at the airport, in spite of the ruinous prices. I forgot about the food soon enough though, I had a window seat from which I was able to see the winter wonderland exposed below. I could see the snow was awesome. Not so awesome though was the layer of fog covering the valley in which apparently Chambery airport lived. As the aeroplane dropped into the fog on the landing approach I honestly struggled to see the tip of the wing, no idea what the Pilot could see! The landing was aborted but instead of diverting to another airport the pilot (who sounded quiet pleased to have some diversion to his routine) said we would follow a holding pattern burn off some fuel and therefore weight meaning we could go in lower before needing to about. After another 45-50 minutes circling the fog had lifted a little and we were lighter so in we went. Once we got below a certain level the fog was clear and we were able to land. As the runway approached people started to clap, they stopped pretty quickly as the plane hit the deck and started to slide. We were the only aircraft to land that day so the runway was a little icy and the plain skidded a little. My philosophy is "any one you can walk away from" is a good landing. The airport itself was pretty small and chocking with people trying to get home. Fortunately that didn't bother us :)
It took a couple of hours on a coach some of which we travelled alone in our own private coach, because of the delays. We were the first people in the Chalet Joined later by a many others, in total 14 though not everyone made it on the first day. The evening conversation hardly boded well for the week. Phil and I made friend with a nice couple from Essex though and found that the nearest bar was also one of the cheapest :)
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