[caption id="attachment_141" align="alignright" width="731" caption="Blog Stats from Google Reader"]
[/caption]
Oh, perhaps if I wrote more my own blog stats on Google Reader would look far more impressive!
Sick.
Sick, sick, sick. I hate being sick. Even when it happens mid-week and you get a day or two off work, it still doesn’t make up for it. All it means is that you mope around the house all day feeling a bit sorry for yourself, and then when you get back to work, you’ve got to catch up on twice as many emails and go from there! If only it were a clean slate.
I have been sick these last couple of days; I left work early on Tuesday and did not make it in today. I’ve been feeling better this evening and I think I’ll probably be alright to go back in tomorrow, with a tickle in my throat and still feeling a bit rubbish, I will put my headphones on when I start and take them off only for lunch and when stepping away from my desk. I’ll try!
Hooray!
After a short break, my blog and most of the rest of my website is back. It didn’t go away due to any kind of failure or anything like that — actually, it was mostly just laziness. But today it is restored and so if there is anybody out there who actually reads it, please post a comment so I know who you are 
I’d like to hear from you.
Thanks!
It appears there is no law governing the use of direct SMS marketing here in the UK, only “regulations.” Well, regulations be damned. Both Lindsay and I received direct marketing messages today from a company called “Utext”. I have never heard of this company and so they should not be texting me.
Regulations are usually very limited in their effectiveness, as they do not break the law and the enforcers of regulations do not have as much power.
Here in the UK you are entitled to opt-out of all unsolicited marketing calls to your mobile phone by putting yourself on the Telephone Preference Service but as far as I know, this only covers calls.
When it comes to text messages, the email below outlines the regulations and it specifically states that a prior relationship must already exist between the business and the recipient. Considering Lindsay and I received our SPAM SMS’s within mere minutes of one another, it is clear the company was using a bulk SMS delivery service to SPAM their unwanted services.
The UK newspapers have recently been discussing a controversial company by the name of 118 800 who claim that you can gain access to their directory of mobile telephone numbers for any purpose and that you can use this service to obtain the name and number of any mobile user for only £1. Apparently all of this information has been obtained from marketing lists and the like. Yes, I have so much trust for these companies and their use of my personal information. Sarcasm mode off.
So with regard to my dealings with Utext, I have sent this email along and I will see whether or not they are willing to respond. I don’t hold out much hope but sometimes companies like this are just unaware that they are doing the wrong thing. (Did I say Sarcasm mode off?) I did not know my rights until I researched this this evening, and I think it pays to make the effort to badger these companies directly who use these kinds of methods, whether they are in the right or the wrong, so that people like them know that people like us won’t stand for it. It’s also a massive time-waster for them having to deal with the likes of us, and as I see it, they’ve already wasted my time enough today so it’s comeuppance!
(Here’s a trick for the willing: Next time a company you don’t like sends you advertising material in the post with a reply-paid envelope, fill it up with junk mail, seal it, and post it back. They have to pay for the postage on the reply and waste their own time and effort processing it. It seems only fair — an eye for an eye.)
My email follows:
To: help@utext.tv
Subject: Unsolicited Commercial SMS
Date: Sat, 11 Jul 2009 23:20:31 +0100
Hello
Today I received a marketing SMS from your company from the number 85066 advertising a product called Utext to my number, (removed).
This method of marketing is in breach of the UK Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications(1), which is effective October 2003. The directive states that such SMS advertising (covered under the title of "electronic mail"(2)) should not be sent to any consumer unless the following three conditions are met (from the consumer's viewpoint):
- The marketer has obtained your contact details via a sale or sale negotiation.
- The text messages concern similar products or services offered by the business.
- You were allowed an opportunity to refuse the SMS marketing when your contact details were obtained and, if you didn't refuse, then you were offered an easy way to opt out in any future communication.
As I do not know your company and have never dealt with you before to my knowledge, could you please explain how each of these three criteria above apply to me and my number and assure me that you are operating within the rules.
I await your reply,
Adam Smith
(1) The Directive on Privacy and Electronic Communications can be found here: http://www.opsi.gov.uk/si/si2003/20032426.htm
(2) SMS is covered under the guise of e-mail as electronic mail (see: http://www.the-dma.org/international/articles/UKElectronicprivacyreg.PDF page 2).
I started writing this blog entry quite a long time ago. Many, many months in fact, but I never fleshed it out. I wanted to publish this one because the Transport Museum was cool, and so are these links that I just wanted to share.
I love the map. Maps are cool.
Cool stuff:
Interactive map of the Tube problems
http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/im/RD-T.html
London Underground Forecast map for 2010:
http://www.tfl.gov.uk/resources/corporate/media/pressimages/rez-high/h-tube-map-2010.jpg
London Underground Forecast for 2016:
http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/transport/docs/transportmap2016.pdf [ This link has disappeared! ]
Lindsay and I visited the London Transport Museum on the weekend. It’s fairly swishy and modern, and has several old trains and buses, but the main drawback for me was that there were too many kids (it was a Sunday) and that there weren’t enough older tube stock that you could explore, which would have been cool. You didn’t get a chance to see any of the current stock up close either, and I would have enjoyed seeing a proper drivers cabin! I thought that the museum would be cooler if it were further out in the ‘burbs, so that they could fit more in.
There was a fair bit of information about the future of the tube and a really interesting map of the tube as it was over a hundred years ago, and it showed how the map changed as the lines grew and rearranged in a slide show. I asked them for a copy of it but they said I couldn’t have it!
The shop offered so many different books about the tube, buses, trains, tracks, rail stock, history and so forth — many more than I ever thought would have been published. This country really, really is full of rail enthusiasts.
So after a year of being away from little old Adelaide, Lindsay and I finally touched down on Friday night! How weird. We dropped off our bags at Mum’s place and headed out for coffee. I forgot my PIN for my ATM card, which finally came back to me. Handling currency was bizarre. Seeing all those little Aussie creatures on the coins again was quite surreal and getting back a big red $20 note and a bright blue $10 note was also really odd. I can see why it might even be weird for the tourists!
Since we’ve been back we have been seeing some friends and family as well as seeing all the Adelaide things we’ve not seen in ages. I’m driving Mum’s car, so that really helps. How easily I am reminded of the things I like and dislike about Adelaide.
My friend Adam, for instance, lives up in Mawson Lakes and while up there we had a couple of beers (yes Mum, light beer) and the pub we were in was a giant modern oaf of a pub with bright lighting and modern fixtures. It was quite unpleasant. Pubs in London are a treat in comparison because they are so cosy and ancient.
Wednesday was a particularly stressful day for us, as Lindsay and I flew to Canberra to process our Work Permits for the UK. While mine is approved on paper, I still have to go through this submission process and what’s worse is that Lindsay and I have to provide proof of our relationship akin to marriage and the likes, so that Lindsay can be approved as a dependent on my permit. This means that while my permit is basically approved and this is a formality only, Lindsay’s dependent permit is a complete grey area until we receive the permits back in the post. This means that if Lindsay’s is denied, then our plans are completely out the window.
Why might his be denied? Well, we have very little paperwork to establish our relationship from a over a year and a half ago, and we are supposed to prove a marriage-like relationship for a minimum of two years. Though we have been together longer than that, we have not lived together that entire time nor have we had combined assets or bank accounts together. We had a tenancy agreement in Adelaide on which we were both named and in the UK we are joint on most things so that’s OK. Hopefully the officer at the British High Commission can see the clues we’ve laid out.
After finishing up there, we walked through Canberra to the Old and New Parliament Houses. What a fascinating place, the old Parliament House is! It was turned into a museum during the Hawke Government and most things of the period were left, including the furniture, fixtures, House of Reps and Senate, etc. You can walk through almost the entire facility, even into Bob Hawke’s old office which is left pretty much the way it was when he left. Everything was so retro with big clicky buttons and things.
All of the rooms were much smaller as was the standard of construction for the day, so the only wide open spaces were the Senate/House of Reps and the main reception hall. Everything else was a rabbit warren.
Pictures will be on Flickr as soon as I’m able and I’ll stick some in here, too.
The current Parliament House building is not as interesting, as you can only go into the Senate and House of Reps balconies, main reception halls and on the roof. Everything else is in use for everyday governing and therefore closed!
Lindsay and I have just spent the entire day in the dark. We left London Heathrow bound for Adelaide on Friday night at around 10PM. Once aboard it was dark, and we set off for KL. Heathrow to KL is the long part of the flight. 12 hours! 12 hours and I only got up and walked around twice.
Last time we flew over, Lindsay and I had a seat along a row of three by the window, which is always preferable. Sadly, last time we ended up near the galley and had light thrown in our faces every time they opened the curtain. This time was better, again in a row of three. Unfortunately for us a guy came and sat down in the aisle seat on our row. On a 12 hour flight this isn’t ideal as it really, really doesn’t give you any room to spread out. Here’s our stranger:
I was quite annoyed, as our row was now full but the one in front of us was completely empty, and there was only one guy in the row behind. Oh why can’t they spread things out more nicely. We considered hijacking the row in front of us so we could spread out before anyone else did, but just before we were about to taxi to the runway a lady sat down and got the whole row to herself. Maddening!
But seriously, are those flights ever completely full? I don’t fly internationally all that often but on the two long-haul flights I’ve been on, not every seat is taken. What’s the average seat utilisation on these flights? If it’s 70%, that’s 30% extra room that they could be giving to economy! We want more leg room!
I don’t mind flying and I shouldn’t keep going on about the negative aspects! Oh, but surely I can at least finish on this note. When you are done with your 12 hours of flying you walk towards the front of the plane and you exit through business class and realise that they have all this nice leg room, no strangers sitting next to you and a whole lot more luxury. Then, if not just to rub your economy nose in it even more, you walk further forward and exit through a first class section, which you never really get a chance to see properly because you’re on the move but it’s full of funny looking pods and so much room. About six in an area of space that would usually fit about 30 economy class customers! So sad.
Here’s one of the pods. Compare it to Economy, somewhat illustrated in the picture above!
I am sitting in KL at a Starbucks, re-fueling both myself (with caffeine) and my laptop, with power, and my iPhone, with USB power! It ran out of batteries on the flight over and I need to escape into some music to pass the time!
I am going to go for a walk with Lindsay now… back later!
Tonight is the last night I’ll be in London for a little while, as tomorrow, Lindsay and I fly back to Australia! As I mentioned previously it’s been a reasonably stressful time for both of us and I am hoping that once this has all passed I’ll be back to my bouncing self. We fly out tomorrow evening, land in Adelaide at 7AM or so and then go through 3 days worth of stress flying to Canberra, doing the bioscans, dropping in the forms, then back to Adelaide to just wait it out.
As for the Bye, well, when I’m back in Adelaide I plan to collect nautilus’ hard disk and take it with me, effectively taking my website offline. This will be for at least a few weeks until I get things back online. I went down just recently, too, sorry. But this is just a quick message to let you know why I’ll be down 
Cheerio, until next time!
And wish Lindsay and I luck with the permit…
After the coldest summer I’ve experienced in a long time we are heading in to Winter here in the UK and the last couple of days have just been bloody cold! Warm breath is now condensing, daylight saving is officially over and I’m now leaving work when it’s dark, and it will only get darker earlier!
Ahh, Britain. I have been working for many, many months now, and have established myself quite well in my job although I do work very, very hard and long hours. Work has finally got the paperwork in place to sponsor me — let me give you a bit of background here.
Lindsay started working in Mid December 2007 and I started in April 2008. We’re only allowed to work for 12 months maximum so very soon he will be unable to work. Under my work permit he will be allowed to remain with me as a dependent and in order to have the UK Government accept this we will have to prove that we have been in a relationship for at least two years in a marriage-like capacity. This should be easy enough (I hope.)
During November the requirements for work permits change significantly; so much so that I may not even qualify after that date however, because my work permit is now in progress for acceptance I am hoping that it still qualifies under the old scheme and all goes through nicely. It’s really quite disconcerting having one’s own life in the hands of work or the UK Government. I am (well we both are) feeling reasonably stressed at the moment about the whole thing but I do think I’ll feel better once I know the permit has been accepted.
Lindsay and I will be back in Australia in late November and I’m hoping to catch up with whomever I can. Due to the lateness of my application going through I might even have to come back a second time, as during the work permit process we are both required to go back to Australia and present at the UK Home-Office, and we may even need to remain for up to three weeks. We booked our trip back to Australia some months ago and hoped that it’s timing would match up with the permit but I’m starting to seriously doubt that considering it’s now less than three weeks away. But who knows!
|
