The Hampster Cage

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Match Report 11th October 2009

2009-10-15T06:19:00.000-07:00

U 14's New Windsor Herons Heroes vs Manor Colts at Bentley Recreation Ground.

In wet and slippery conditions, New Windsor Herons Heroes played their first away match of the season against Manor Colts at Bentley Recreation Ground and ran out 0-9 winners with a sparkling display of team play and blistering attacking football. Hat-tricks from Harry Buckley & Andrew Lane and goals from Josh Dunn, Liam Pascoe & Matthew Mouncey saw the Heroes maintain their perfect start to the season.

Windsor started the stronger and forced a corner in the first minute. Manor picked up the ball to play upfield but a strong Windsor defence was too strong and forced the ball out of play. A powerful goal kick from Jakob Hampton saw the ball fly upfield and knocked out by the homeside for a Windsor throw. Great linking play from Ben Southgate and Josh Dunn saw Windsor make their first strike on goal. The Colts replied and struck a lofted ball wide past the Windsor goal. The game was looking like it would be a fairly even match. But the visitors were determined to continue their 100% record so far this season and pressed on.

Another strong goal kick was picked up by an ever improving Ben Rank who went for goal but saw the ball drift past. More swift play from Windsor forced the homeside into heading out for a Windsor corner. Windsor kept up the pressure with great pay from Matthew Mouncey and Andrew Lane forcing another corner. Ben Southgate couldn't quite keep the lofted ball in play. The subsequent goal kick saw Windsor pick up again and force yet another corner. This time Harry Buckley was too quick for the Colts' defence and scored his first headed goal. 0-1 to Windsor

Windsor were the strongest from the restart with great play from Ben Southgate and Liam Pascoe. A throw from Matthew Mouncey saw Harry Buckley cross. But Andrew Lane just couldn't quite make the right contact with the ball. Excellent interplay from Harry Buckley, Ben rank and Matthew Mouncey saw the ball back upfield from a Windsor throw. Harry Buckley picked up the lose ball and drove a wonder strike into to Manor goal. 0-2 to Windsor

Windsor were really getting into their stride and a fantastic move from keeper thru to Ben Rank who's perfect cross was just missed by Andrew Lane. Really class play in very difficult weather conditions.

Then in quick succession Josh Dunn increased the score to 0-3 from a through ball from Matt Mouncey and a cheeky ball from Andrew Lane just drifted past a hapless Manor keeper and over the line to take the score to 0-4. Windsor by this stage were well in control.

Simon Moore and Ben Rank played some great passing football with a Ben Rank strike again just going wide. Manor made a quick return but stout defending by Liam Pascoe saw the ball made safe. Manor did try to reply but their pace was just not there and they're strikes were ineffective. Connor Watt played his full part with some excellent moves down the flanks, Windsor always looking the stronger all over the park. A free kick to Windsor from a foul on Ben Rank saw Liam Pascoe strike just wide of the upright.

Another corner for Windsor, Matthew Mouncey lofted the ball forcing the Manor keeper to push the ball out for another Windsor corner. Matthew Mouncey glided the ball into the box but it went just out of play for a homeside goalkick. The goal kick was then picked up by Windsor and Matthew Mouncey struck just wide.

A miss kick from Josh Dunn saw the loose ball picked up by the home side but Conor Watt was way too fast, forcing the ball out, then a homeside throw was picked up but was played offside. A goal kick from Jakob Hampton upfield, and Windsor got a penalty. which Harry Buckley won after being fouled in the box. Unfortunately, he couldn't convert and the scored stayed at 0-4. But Harry Buckley atoned straight afterwards buy winning a corner which Josh Dunn only just struck wide of the homeside goal mouth.

More strong pressure from Windsor saw Connor Watt feeding through. That was the last move of the half as the ref blew his whistle.

The 2nd half saw Windsor start in the same way, a strike from Josh Dunn saved and Ben Rank shooting wide from the rebound.

Windsor won another corner but again the ball drifted wide. Josh struck again and the manor return was quick, which forced Jakob Hampton into his first real save of the game A strong goal kick was picked up by the homeside and a Manor free kick saw them pick up their game with some more even play. A Manor goal kick was picked up by Windsor, and a lightning fast Harry Buckley, picking up the ball lose from the keeper to score an easy goal. 0-5 to Windsor

Good defending by Jasbal & Liam from the restart saw the ball back up in the homeside's half. With Liam Pascoe striking from 30 yards just over the bar. The ball even made it out of the ground and onto the road adjoining the recreation ground.

Manor won a corner. But could make contact. Matthew Mouncey picked up the lose ball and struck upfield. Powerful cross Manor responded but Windsor were there equal, Liam p and new player Hamsa Mir defending well.

Ben Llewellyn played a great move through the centre forcing a Manor save. Harry Buckley with yet another strike on goal. The boy really had his striking boots on during this match. Windsor working as a unit with fluid passing to Andrew Lane who knocked in for another goal. 0-6 to Windsor

The game was halted for a few minutes when a strong kick saw the ball end up in a tree. The resulting play saw Harry Buckley hit the upright and Hamsa Mir forced a save and won a corner. Matthew Mouncey with the corner but was saved by the Manor keeper.

The pressure from Windsor was relentless and Manor were to consider themselves fortunate that they were not further behind by this stage in the match. But the visitors were not finished yet. A powerful cross from Matthew Mouncey missed open goal.

The Windsor manager, Barry Dunn decided to make some substitutions and the Heroes substitute goalkeeper, David Winkworth was given the gloves for the remainder of the game.

With only 10 minutes on the clock, Windsor went for glory and 2 more goals from Matthew Mouncey and Andrew Lane saw the score finish on 0-9 to the Heroes.

Windsor showed why they are the class act of the league and not only maintain their 100% record but send a strong message out to the rest of the teams that New Windsor Herons Heroes are the team to beat this season.

Come on the Mighty Windsor

Match Report 4th October 2009

2009-10-06T02:31:00.000-07:00

New Windsor Herons Heroes vs Mytchett Athletic Falcons U14's League Cup match at Hanover Way, Windsor.

In a re-run of last weeks game, New Windsor Herons Heroes played Mytchett Athletic Falcons again, only this time it was for the League Cup. Mytchett were last seasons League Cup Winners so Windsor knew they were going to be in for a tough match and after last weeks close scoreline, both teams were up for the challenge.

Mytchett started with the first move of the game, the ball swiftly cleared by Connor Watt. Liam Pascoe started like he meant to play for the whole match with a forceful and determined defence. His first move was a strong header to clear. Mytchett had their throw taken upfield by Windsor. Mytchett won the lose ball and immediately brought the ball back to the Home sides 18yd box, but Simon Moore was up for the challenge and with a good defending block forced the ball back out and up through the middle. Harry Buckley was quick upfield from a Josh Dunn ball. He fed through to Connor Watt who was dispossessed with a great tackle from Mytchett who ran the ball back to the Windsor end, but Liam Pascoe was there to clear for a Mytchett corner.

Matt Mouncey cleared and Mytchett won another corner but Andrew Lane was there, pounced from the 2nd corner and got the ball upfield again. Good teamwork between Jakob Hampton and Liam Pascoe kept the Mytchett attack at bay. A strong goal kick saw the ball picked up by Matthew Mouncey who with swift footwork
nutmeged the Mytchett number 7 to get the ball up field with the first Windsor play on goal.

The game was very even with most of the play in the middle of the park. Windsor won a throw from deep in visitors half. But the shot came to nothing. But Windsor kept up the pressure and a great strike from Josh Dunn put the ball into the net. 1-0 to Windsor

Mytchett kept their heads up and immediately pushed upfield and a shot went just past the outstretched Jakob Hampton and wide past the goal. From the subsequent goal kick, Windsor took a 2 goal lead through Andrew Lane with some great team work with Josh Dunn and Harry Buckley. 2-0 to Windsor

The restart saw Mytchett again win possession and a run against the home side goal saw a quick Connor Watt clear. Jakob Hampton did another great goal kick, taking the ball two thirds up the pitch and Andrew Lane was there to snatch the ball and with a cheeky lob on 20 yds the ball drifted over the visitors keeper and just over the bar.

Determined to play an attacking game, Windsor left themselves a little exposed at the back but Liam Pascoe was the difference, never letting the visitors take advantage and even taking a strike on goal from near the halfway line, such was his confidence.

Harry Buckley then had a strike on goal cleared by a Mytchett defender and Ben Llewellyn had a strike saved with a fast moving Harry Buckley ready to pounce.

More midfield back 'n forth and a swift Mytchett move was cleverly cleared by Simon, but the Mytchett pressure continued as the visitors were determined not to let the game get away from them. But yet again Liam Pascoe and Simon Moore were up to the job, stoutly defending the Windsor goal. Mytchett tried again and again,
this time they did get a great goal scoring chance but was expertly cleared by Jakob Hampton.

Then the inevitable happened, Mytchett scored with swift move and a clever lofted the ball over the keeper, 2-1

This inspired Mytchett who had another fast run, this time seeing the ball go wide. But Windsor responded with a run seeing Josh Dunn feed the ball in front of the
Mytchett goal but the were no blue shirts to convert. More even play with great passing from Ben Rank, playing in his first match back after a viral infection that saw him miss the first two matches of the season. Good heading from Connor Watt and Andrew Lane and a powerful Liam Pascoe throw worked the ball upfield leading ( to what this reporter swore was a goal ;-) to Matt Mouncey kicking just wide.

A Mytchett corner from a great move on goal, was the last move of the half and the homeside went in 2-1 in front on the whistle.

The 2nd half started briskly with Ben Rank flying down the wing to just miss the visitors goal. Liam Pascoe and Jakob Hampton worked well together feeding the ball upfield. A strike from Andrew Lane and the follow up from Ben Rank showed the intent of the homeside. Mytchett battled returning the ball downfield but Jakob Hampton was quick off his line and the goal kick upfield saw Ben Llewellyn scoring from lose ball. 3-1 to Windsor

More fast play from the restart saw Mytchett keep battling to get back into the game but it was Windsor that took further advantage after more midfield action, with Harry Buckley scoring a fantastic strike. 4-1 to Windsor

Great inter-play from Connor Watt, Andrew Lane and Harry Buckley saw the ball move swiftly upfield again and forcing the ball wide past the goal. Windsor playing like areal team, with their heads high. A wonder save from Jakob Hampton, pure reflex stopping a determined Mytchett side typified the homeside's commitment to the game.

The action moved back and forth again, Windsor pounced this time but the pace on the ball was just too much for Harry Buckley to get to and was saved by
the Mytchett keeper.

As a result of his previous action, the Windsor keeper Jakob Hampton was subbed but this didn't stop Windsor from extending their lead with a great strike from Matthew Mouncey to take the homeside to e 5-1 lead.

Simon Moore made a fast move on the wing. Ben Llewellyn laid on a pass thru to Harry Buckley, Matt Mouncey passing onto Josh Dunn who tickled ( courtesy of Mr Lane ) the ball in past the Mytchett keeper. 6-1 to Windsor

As the game drew to a close, Ben Rank worked well with Ben Llewellyn to get the ball threaded past the Mytchett defence and Matthew Mouncey struck the ball inches past the upright. Connor Watt & Jasbal Dhesi kept the Windsor pressure on the visitors to the final whistle. Windsor were worthy winners and proceed to the second round of the cup unbeaten so far this season.

Final Score: 6-1 to Windsor Herons Heroes.

Simon Moore won a well deserved Man of the Match

Match Report 27th September 2009

2009-09-29T01:24:00.000-07:00

Sunday 27^th September 2009.

North East Hants U14's. New Windsor Herons Heroes vs Mytchett Athletic Falcons at Hanover Way, Windsor

A beautifully blue & clear sky with warm temperatures greeted the teams for Herons Heroes' first home match of the season at Hanover Way, Windsor. The match started in lively fashion with Heroes defending well with Simon Moore clearing the lines. Connor Watt with a great upfield pass through to Harry Buckley who shot into to visitors side netting on 4 mins.

Heroes continued their early pressure and gained a corner with a goal mouth scramble forcing a throw which the visitors managed to clear . A great clearance from Matthew Mouncey saw Heroes move upfield again and a throw from Andrew Lane saw Josh Dunn striking just wide on 6 mins.

More back & forth action saw a clearance from the Mytchett number 14 forcing a Heroes corner and a slightly lucky bounce gave Josh Dunn and the Heroes their first goal on 9 minutes. Score. 1-0

Mytchett were quick from the restart & forced the play to the home goal

area but were caught offside. Heroes fed back upfield and only the referee spotting an incident stopped the play. A free kick forced the ball back upfield with Mytchett winning a corner and after strong defending from Liam Pascoe, the ball whistled across the Heroes goal. The homeside capitalised on the miss and swiftly got the ball upfield and Harry Buckley pounced to score on 11 minutes. 2-0. The Heroes seemed to have the making of their opposition and the were quicker from the restart with Liam Pascoe only being denied by a strong Mytchett keeper, saving low to the ground. Heroes kept up the pressure and Mytchett responded bravely but were caught offside again on 14 mins.

Heroes conceded a freekick on 16 minutes deep in the Mytchett half the referee played a drop ball, Mytchett were strong but Windsor cleared upfield but were themselves caught offside, this quickly becoming a theme of the game with both sides playing the offside to good effect. A freekick followed and Mytchett managed their first real attack on goal forcing a quick Jakob Hampton off his line to save low and fast. But the visitors stepped up their game and following a strong throw from Connor Watt the visitors played a great move through the middle and the Mytchett number 5 drove a powerful ball past the stranded Heroes keeper.

2-1 on 19 minutes

Mytchett then started to step up their game and forced a corner and although Heroes got the ball upfield they were offside again. Some quick footwork from Jasbal and a powerful cross from Ben Southgate saw the ball just wide. From the goalkick, Heroes were quickly back in it and Harry Buckley was unlucky as he saw his strike hit the upright. Powerful attacking & great tackling from Andrew Lane saw the visitors lucky not conceding a third on 27 minutes

A homeside throw-in was taken by Liam Pascoe who's strong throw was pounced upon by Mytchett and a great strike was turned outside the goal from an outstretched Jakob Hampton. The subsequent goal kick was picked up by Andrew Lane and a pass through to Josh Dunn saw a superb kick on goal taking Heroes into an 3-1 lead on 29 minutes. Mytchett kept their heads up and again responded and only a brave save by the Heroes keeper at the feet of the attacking Mytchett centre forward kept the scores at 3-1. The following few minutes saw some back and forth play in the midfield and the scores remained at 3-1 as the referee blew for halftime.

The restart saw Mytchett run the early play. Heroes responded but the visitors struck first into the safe hands off Jakob Hampton. Another powerful goal kick from an improving keeper was sent onwards by Harry Buckley and Josh Dunn drove the ball into the goal. 4-1. Mytchett showed their class and why they had won their first 2 games of the season with a cheeky move seeing the ball dribbled past the homeside keeper taking the score to 4-2

Matthew Mouncey was strong in midfield and fed the ball through to Ben Llewellyn who had his great strike saved. Another strong run by Andrew Lane and pass saw Ben Southgate hit go wide. The second half was proving to be more open and even than the first and Mytchett took the initiative again, scoring on 12 minutes to take the score to 4-3

Heroes earned a corner and played a clever short corner move that saw the ball sail in front of an open Mytchett goal. The visitors picked up the lose ball and lofted the ball over the Heroes defence to equalise at 4-4

The play was very close and Harry Buckley jinked past 2 Mytchett defenders to take Heroes back into the lead again at 5-4, but Mytchett would not lie down and almost immediately equalised again from a great move that saw their Number 8 take the ball through a chasing Heroes defence. 5-5.

The restart saw Andrew Lane back in the thick of the action, passing through to Harry Buckley who had another shot saved. Heroes saved their best move till last with a swift pass through to Josh Dunn who scored a volleyed wonderstrike, with the ball passing through 2 defenders and sneaking between the goalie and the upright to give Heroes a 6-5 Win.

Heroes won a very close fought game. 2 wins in 2 games, giving them the dream start to the season.

Match Report 20th September 2009

2009-09-26T03:10:00.000-07:00

WAB FC vs New Windsor Herons Heroes

A sunny Sunday afternoon saw the start of the Windsor Heroes season against WAB FC away at Jocks Lane Recreation Ground Bracknell. The game started energetically with WAB FC making most of the early play. Only good defending from Simon Moore & Andrew Lane & a save low to his right by keeper Jakob Hampton kept the scores even. The pressure mounted and WAB FC took the lead after 7 minutes with a clear shot on goal. The pace continued and after some end to end moves & more goal mouth action Heroes managed to get the ball upfield and Liam Pascoe scored a powerful equaliser with a brilliant strike on 15 minutes to draw the score level at 1-1

After a fast paced start the first half settled down until Matthew Mouncey the took Heroes in to a 2-1 lead from the spot after an incident in the WAB FC box. The home side got straight back on the offensive with more pressure on the Heroes. Almost immediately Andrew Lane got the ball upfield and with a sparkler of a cross to the left from Josh Dunn , Matthew Mouncey pounced to slot home for Heroes' 3rd

The action continued and on 20 minutes a firecracker of a freekick from 30 yards by the WAB FC number 2 brought them up to 3-2. The home-side continued to fight their way back into the game and the number 14 managed to get the ball home past the outstretched Heroes keeper. As the clouds gathered over Bracknell so did the pressure on Windsor. Great defending from James White & Liam Pascoe saw the lines being cleared but WAB forced another corner leading to a deserved equaliser. 3-3 at half-time.

The second half started at the same tempo with a good move sending Matthew Mouncey upfield but the pace of the ball saw it run out to safety. Continued Heroes pressure led to Josh Dunn scoring a great strike to take Heroes into a 4-3 lead. The pace continued and a powerful goal kick sent Josh Dunn through to take the score to 5-3, 2 goals in 2 minutes. The restart saw Ben Southgate cross to Harry Buckley who's shot was saved and Matthew Mouncey saw another shot go wide.

A spirited homeside fought back but Heroes countered and had a goal from Liam Pascoe was disallowed for offside. More back & forth action made for an exiting 2nd half with a great freekick being saved by the Heroes keeper. Heroes were making the most of the play by this time. A corner was the driven by Matthew Mouncey at the home goal but the WAB FC keeper was up to the task. The pressure finally told and Josh Dunn scored Heroes' 6th goal from a lofted Ben Southgate cross.

The action continued with the home-side getting another goal back from a well placed corner taking the score to 6-4. This seemed to inspire the home-side team as they added 2 more goals to their tally in quick succession and the visitors looked like they might go away with nothing. But with 2 minutes showing on the clock, a fantastic goal from Josh Dunn sealed the win for Windsor at the end of an enthralling game. WAB FC were great hosts and played a full part in a worthy opener to, by todays evidence should be an exciting season ahead.

Electric Cars - A Fundemental Mistake of the Highest Order

2009-09-16T09:59:00.000-07:00

With the Frankfurt Motor show currently in full flow, there seem to be a raft of electric vehicles being shown by all the major manufacturers, from the VW E-Up to the Citroen Revolte, even Audi with the e-tron Electric R8.

To quote a certain Mr McEnroe, "You cannot be serious". I really don't want to drive around inside Steven Hawkins' computer but this sort of misses the point. ALL battery powered electric vehicles are doomed to abject failure for one obvious reason, obvious that is to all apart from the motor industry and their government sponsors. They're rubbish!

Hang on, bear with me and I'll explain my thinking. Today, you drive around in a car, more than likely powered by either petrol or diesel. You drive for 300 miles or so and when the old tank gets a bit low you pay a painless, if costly, trip to your local filling station and within a couple of minutes your good to go again. Think about it. Try that in an electric car. How long would it take to drive from London to Edinburgh. Given that the best electric cars take 6 hrs to recharge on a range of about 100 miles, your journey would take about 36hrs on the basis you hadn't fallen asleep at the wheel and killed everyone in the car. And dont give me all that rubbish about battery tech getting better. I work in the IT industry and we have been promised better battery tech for, well ever and it still hasn't happened. The best we have are Lithium Polymer and they give an average laptop about 4 hrs. No, I'll tell you what Electric cars are, they are a cynical ploy by the car manufactures to lower the average CO2 across their range to comply with new EU reg's on pollution.

But before you all start running around, wildly thrashing your arms in the air shouting " What's the point of living any longer", there is a viable alternative, already being produced and if your lucky enough to live in California you could potentially be one of the lucky people leasing a Honda FCX Clarity. This looks just like a normal car but is powered by a Hydrogen fuel cell. This all sounds a bit Tomorrows World, but it is pretty simply technology ( in theory ) and it works in the real world & that is the point. Taking only a couple of minutes to fill up and with a range of about 275 miles that same journey from London to Edinburgh would take 9 hours which is about the same as in your conventionally powered car today. The only real difference is that rather than emitting about 140Kg of CO2 for that journey, it would produce zero CO2. The only thing that is emitted is water.

So what about the Hydrogen used to power the car? True, there is quite a lot of electricity used in the manufacture of Hydrogen fuel, but this could quite easily be done in dedicated plants that use 100% renewable energy sources. Solar in the Middle East, Wind in Scotland etc etc. We have the distribution channels already, they're called Petrol Stations and the biggest win is that unlike the time when Concorde was withdrawn from service, we will not have to take a giant step back to move forward very slowly.

So the next time you see Jonnie Car Maker shouting about how green they are and how great they're new Battery powered car is, think about waiting in the services on the M1 for 8 hrs while your greenychops GWiz is consuming coal generated electricity.

Change Over to BT Total Broadband - Fingers Crossed

2009-09-05T03:46:00.000-07:00

So my company paid-for home broadband has come to an end and the switchover to BT Total Broadband has just taken place and I have to say, so far so good. Contrary to the experiences of a number of IBM colleges, I got a call back from BT within 24hrs and the account setup, although rather long winded was fairly painless and straightforward. I received a few reminder SMS messages reminding me of the switch over date and then on time the switchover occurred.

Today is the first time I have had the opportunity to set up the BT Home Hub equipment that was sent as part of the deal and again, pretty easy to set up and so far, all working well.

So overall, a thumbs up to BT for providing a pretty good service. I'll keep you posted as to how well they perform.

Laters

P.S. Just did a line speed check and it even appears to be a little quicker than before. I'm now getting close to 4Mbps which is not bad considering how far we are from the exchange.

Camping - Is it worth it?

2009-07-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

So we spent the weekend preparing for our impending camping trip to Somerset on Friday for a 4 day camping odyssey with the clan's Hampton & Dixon.

All I can say is that it is a heck of a lot of effort to save a few quid on hotel's, sanitation and general good mental health. For a start off, there's the tent. Ours is £400 quids worth of Khyam's finest integrated framed camping magnificence yet manages to frustrate the hell out of me everytime we get it out of the slightly too small bag. The last time we used it, one of the very fragile pole locking pins broke so we had to get that replaced. After repairing the rips in the material which seem to appear if you happen to look at it in a funny way, we fought for 30 mins to get the bloody thing put up in the back garden to make sure that all was well for next weekend. Hot, sweaty, angry and fed up...and that was just the dog!

Then there is the rest of the paraphernalia that campists seem not to be able to live without including inflatable beds that seem to deflate a just the right rate that you end up sleeping directly on the ground by 3am, Enormous gas cookers that take 20 minutes to boil a cup of water only to then run out of gas and camping fridges/coolbox's that manage to be cold yet turn milk to cheese within 12 hours.

So bring on next weekend, hey...if I drink enough beer I'll forget about the monsoon that'll sure to be going on outside.

And now Sharon wants to get a caravan....good grief!

Officially Starting New Job Today

2009-07-01T01:57:00.000-07:00

So the day has finally arrived. As of today, 1st July 2009, I take over the role of Messaging & Collaboration Leader for Lotus Software in UK & Ireland, taking over from Darren Adams. So where am I on the first day of a new chapter in my life at Lotus. I'm on a stand at the Guardian News Activate '09 event in their new offices in London. Expecting sore feet and a hot & sweaty journey home.

Off to Ireland tomorrow for 2 days in Adare & Cork for demonstrations of Lotus Foundations which I am looking forward to. Let's just hope Aer Lingus don't lose the server ....

Laters

New Job

2009-06-06T07:10:00.000-07:00

So that's it, the official announcement went out last week. I have a new job and for the first time for 4 years, I'll be the new kid in class. You may or may not know that I have been a Lotus Technical Specialist working in the UK & Ireland Lotus tech sales team, specializing in competitive engagements against Microsoft, Google and others. I've been thinking for a while now that I would welcome a new challenge and it so happened that I was sounded out for this new role a short time ago and as soon as I heard about it, I knew straight away that this was the right opportunity for me to go for.

After the usual management discussions, I was told last week that I was the successful candidate and starting from the first of July, I'll be taking over from Darren Adams as the Messaging & Collaboration Business Unit Leader for UK & Ireland...snappy title heh :-)

I have to say a few thanks at this point. Firstly to Jamie Goodhead, the General Manager for Lotus UK & Ireland for entrusting this role to me, I'll always be very grateful to him for this chance. To my current manager Malcolm McQuade for allowing me the opportunity to go for it and lastly to the afore mentioned Darren Adams who has some exceptionally big shoes to fill in this role. I only hope that I live up to the hype.

Right, that's it, enough of the Gwynneth Paltrow's. Stay tuned for a lot more Lotus news and views in the coming months. There will be a load of announcements and activity within Lotus and the IBM software group coming up this year and into 2010 and I'm really looking forward to being part of it.

Laters

What Exchange 2007 can't do...quite alot by the look's of it

2009-05-27T08:31:00.000-07:00

Great article in El Reg today linking to some white paper's that detail just what Exchange 2007 is bad at, and the list is much longer than you'd think.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/05/27/exchange_2007_white_paper/

The first one, interestingly from Dell who you would think would have a vested interest in customers migrating to Exchange 2007 seems to say proceed with caution as it is very expensive. It also says that things like, site resiliency, business continuance, compliance support, remote access, anti-virus and anti-spam, and legal discovery support are poor. Also, during an outage or failure, Exchange 2007 provides minimal continuity functionality.

Funny, that all of these thing's are Domino strengths.

Open University extol the virtues of Domino

2009-05-22T09:07:00.001-07:00

David Clover of the Open University has recently written a great article on his blog on how the OU use Domino and how it stacks up in the real world. Could'nt have put it better myself David :-)

Read it here: http://mct.open.ac.uk/IT-Dev-Blog.nsf/dx/one-vs-four.htm?opendocument&comments#anc1

Hope springs eternal

2009-05-22T08:24:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to a story about an ex Microsoft developer who believes Open Source will bring about the downfall of Microsoft. Whilst I fear that this will not be the case, hope springs eternal: http://www.osnews.com/story/21543/Ex-Microsoft_Employee_Free_Software_Will_Kill_Microsoft/

10 Things to consider before migrating to Linux

2009-05-22T08:15:00.000-07:00

Here is a great article on thing's to consider before taking the plunge and moving to Linux on the desktop: http://www.builderau.com.au/program/linux/soa/10-questions-to-ask-before-migrating-to-Linux/0,339028299,339293327,00.htm

It's been a while

2009-03-17T13:03:00.000-07:00

Easy all. Sorry, it's been a while getting back to writing on my blog. I've discovered the addiction that is Twitter. I was nagged into getting a Facebook page, but I really couldn't be bothered with all that old toot. But Twitter, it's really great, I get to see what all my friends & family are up to, it even automatically updates my Facebook page. I just need it to update the old blog and I'll be sorted.

On a more profound note, a new member of the Hampton family has arrived. 24"s of wholesome Apple iMac goodness to replace the ageing IBM A51p Thinkcenter. Wow!!....what a machine. Apart from the tiny keyboard which is taking me a while to get used to with my fat 40 year old fingers, it is utterly fantastic. Beautiful glossy screen, totally silent ( compared to the old PC which sounded like a demented Dyson ) and a joy to use. The OS is sooooo much more intuative than Windows...and I'm sorry to report, even Linux.

Now I have the new machine taking pride of place on the office desk, I'll be certain to make any excuse to update the old blog...if only I can get used to this bloody keyboard.

Over & Out

P

Trip to Nigeria

2008-11-21T08:28:00.000-08:00

So here I am, sitting at a desk in IBM Nigeria after spending the last 3 days on Victoria Island in Lagos, Nigeria. Great journey from London, courtesy of BA. But nothing could have prepared me for the attack on my senses when I stepped of the plane. Now, I have been to a number of African countries before including South Africa, Botswana and Kenya, but Nigeria is like another world. Noise, Smell, Chaos..it is a real assault after the relative peace of a 6hr flight. The roads are an absolute mess. the main road from the airport to the bridge that straddles the water that separates Victoria Island from the mainland is like nothing I have ever seen. Car's, Bikes, Lorries, swerving all over the place to avoid the huge and many pot-holes and each other. Total bedlam. It's not much better when you get to Victoria Island. Thousands of motorbikes that swarm around your car like 2 stroke locusts. Amasingly, through all this chaos, I never witnessed any crashes which is quite amazing considering the shear quantity of traffic. On a rather scary note, sitting in the office this morning, a colleague comes in to say that he has been shot at at a local bank by robbers holding the place up. They hit is car puncturing a tyre and the fuel tank. Later in the day we hear gunshots from outside the office window as the police are chasing what we discover is the same gang. It really is the wild west of Africa.

Good customer meetings so the trip was defiantly worthwhile, but I am full of cold at the moment so I am really looking forward to getting home and away from the 30C+ temperature and high humidity.

The Power of Human Recovery

2008-10-13T06:22:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago, Sharon and I received some very sad news about a friend of ours that had had a stroke. The shocking part is that he is only 37 and as it has transpired, he actually had quite a severe stroke. He is being treated at the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford and we went up just after he was admitted to visit him and I have to say I was quite taken aback as to just how much it had affected him. I realised that a stroke is a severe and debilitating condition..my father had 2 strokes and they had a devistating effect on his health, but I was not prepared to witness just how much our friend had been affected. There were the obvious physical impairments, the paralysis down his left side etc, but there were the other affects. Although his speech was only degraded slightly, his short term memory was terrible and he kept forgetting things from only a few seconds previously, like not remembering where his book was, even though it was lying on his chest. He seemed very distracted and agitated...trying to make mobile phone calls in the middle of speaking with us and this was a real personality change from the friend we knew. We left the hospital after being with him for an hour and I have to say I was really depressed. Not just for him, but for his wife as well who was having to cope, not only with their 4 kids but with the possibility of having to look after a 5th "kid" as well.

Well, all I can say is, what a difference 10 days makes. As you may know we were in Finland last weekend so couldn't visit him, so we went up to Oxford last night and the change in him is quite remarkable. Firstly, he has started to get some feeling and movement back into his left side. He is able to stand up and shuffle across the room, even to help his fellow patients. He's lost the glazed expression on his face...he no longer looks like he's just snorted 3 lines of charlie. But even more remarkable, he seems to be regaining his personality. He's not there yet, not by a long way, and I know he has a long road in front of him, but I couldn't help thinking just how amazing the human body is at repairing itself and in such a short timeframe. The problem he now faces, apart from the obvious one of recovery, is that he falls into the 15 to 30 % of stroke victims for which the cause of their stroke is unknown. There was no bleed into the brain and neither was their a clot, simply a constriction of the blood vessels that supply the brain with blood and the medical staff looking after him are clueless as to what the cause of this might be. They have put him on some basic medication and he is carrying out physiotherapy and occupational therapy but there will always be the not knowing what caused his stroke. The prognosis is a good one however and we just hope that this was a one off and that he makes as close to a full recovery as is possible. Chin up Toby...we're rooting for ya mate.

Max Gives The Game Away...

2008-10-08T06:06:00.000-07:00

Not sure if anyone else caught this yesterday, but Max Mosley...he of both questionable political history and sexual practices and also happens to be president of the FIA gave an interview to the BBC for the first time since being caught with his pants down by the News of the Screws a few months ago. He whittled on for 20 mins or so about how the press should not intrude on his dalliances with Nazi sex whores and how he is going to be taking them and the whole world to the European court. He also happened to talk a bit about racing and how teams are going to have to cut costs in the face of fat bankers screwing up the entire world economy. But what really caught my eye was what was sitting on a shelf just above his right shoulder. That wouldn't happen to be a scale model of a Ferrari F1 car would it? We all know that the FIA is just the Ferrari press office, but this seems to have confirmed it.

If you want to see the interview, follow this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/motorsport/7657604.stm

Laters

Safely Back In Blighty

2008-10-06T02:23:00.000-07:00

Got back late last night from our 3 day long weeekend in Helsinki and I came away from the place very impressed indeed. The centre of the city is reletivly small and can mostly been seen on foot. We took the 3A tram which run a circular route round the city so we could get to see as much as possible. The trip out to Suomenlinna Island was really relaxing. A short 20 min ferry ride which only cost 7 euro's and we had the whole island basically to ourseleves...apart from the 200 people going over for a wedding at the islands church...:-)

Food is unbelievably expensive...how about £20 for a burger and chips...£8 for a beer...I can only assume that the Finns are the best paid workers in the world to be able to affors to live there.

I would recommend the Helsinki Ice Bar, a bit of a bargain ( comparitivly ) at 10 euro entrance and this includes a drink. I had never been in an Ice Bar before and it was a real experience.

Sharon really liked the Fazer cafe, directly opposite our hotel. The Sibelius park and monument were a really pleasent way to spend a quite sunday afternoon, we we really lucky with the weather...clear skies almost all weekend.

Flight back on Finnair was as good as the flight out, on-time and good service. The weekend was a great success, right up until the point we landed at Deathrow. Firstly, the Skywalk at the gate broke and we had to be bused from the plane to the terminal. Then a fire alarm went off whilst we were waiting in the passport hall and we had to be evacuated. Well, when I say evacuated, what I actually mean is 1 BAA person trying in vain to direct hundreds of people out of the passport hall, families being split up as some had gone through passport control and some had'nt. We were only 3 away from the desk when the alarm went off! All I can say is that if there had been a fire ( this was a false alarm apparently ) we would all be dead as the BAA staff...what there were of them were utterly incompetent and wern't able to direct traffic, let alone an emergency evacuation at a major international airport. It really was like landing in the 3rd world. No wonder Deathrow is the worlds most hated airport. Anyway, I'm not going to let BAA's best attempts detract from the great time we had in Finland.

Laters

We've Arrived in Helsinki

2008-10-03T10:12:00.000-07:00

Easy all,

Greetings from Helsinki. We had to get up at OMG it's early this morning to get the early morning flight from LHR to Vaanta and arrived at the Hotel Glo at about 1pm. Very chic place. Great location, right in the centre of town. We took a walk around the town and down by the harbour and I have to say, I am very impressed with this city. It's a very cool place, and I am not just talking about the weather.

Were gonna take a ferry out to Suomenlinna Island tomorrow as this has been recommended as one of the best things to do whilst visiting Helsinki. I'll let you know how it goes
.

Laters

2008-10-02T05:17:00.000-07:00

Well, it's finally arrived and I am now officially old :-( 40 today. A landmark birthday I never thought I would see...read into that what you will.

Getting ready for work this morning Jakob said " Dad?", Yes I replied expecting him to say Happy Birthday. "Your Old! " he pipes up...cheeky little sod. Still, I got some excellent pressies from the boys, some cool t-shirts from Jakob and the new Verve album from Max. Then Sharon told me where she was taking me away to for our weekend away. I had guessed either Budapest or Stockholm...I was completely wrong, it's Helsinki. . Were staying at the Hotel Glo ( picture ) in the centre of Helsinki, directly offosite the famous Faser Coffee Shop apparently which has some very good reviews, I'll let you know how it goes when we get back. Finland is a country I have been to a number of times before whilst doing a previous role at Lotus and I really liked the place. Will be interesting to see how it has changed.

Right, I'm off to read though the travel guide and learn how to put 4 K's and 3 J's into every word.

Kippis & Heippa

2008-10-01T03:30:00.000-07:00

Easy folks...yes, I have finally arrived in the 21st century and given up my anti-social ways by starting this blog. And I thought I kick it off by relating what happened to me last Saturday. I receive a call from a mate of mine who works for the BBC and he asks if I am free that evening to see a recording that is taking place at Television Centre in London. I ask who is being recorded and when he says Paul Weller, it takes me all of 1 second to say ...Yes!!

So we pitch up at TVC in Wood Lane a bit early and head off for a cuppa and sarnie in the central open area and I can't believe the number of Celebs I see walking past. First off, Lee Dixon & Ray Stubbs who had just finished Final Score. Then, Keisha Buchanan from the Sugarbabes strolls past then a Tess Daly who had just done "Strictly". Then, when I think I'm max'd out on celeb's, Graham Coxon from Blur sits down next to us with his kids, just as I am talking to my mate about the Harry & Paul " Nelson Mandela " sketch where he sneezes to the sound of Blur's Song 2. Achoo...I say a bit too loud...Paul nudges me as if to say, shut up you pillock, I look to my left and Graham Coxon just smiles....hehe. I joke with Paul that I would be star struck all the time if I worked for the beeb. He casually says that he doesn't think about it anymore...

Anyway, we make our way to Studio 8 just as Paul Weller and the band are completing their final rehearsal and we catch them blasting out " Wild Wild Wood"...wow...it sounded good. We make our way over the studio floor to a platform seat directly in front of the stage and wait for the gig to start. And when it does, it was absolutely fantastic. 2 hours they played for, with loads of numbers from the 22 Dreams and previous solo albums and he has a number of guests who joined him on stage including Graham Coxon and Gem Archer. And then really special, Eton Rifles. A real tick in the life box, I never thought I would ever hear Weller singing a Jam song live. It was magic and sounded fantastic.

This gig will live long in the memory and I can't wait to see it broadcast. I'll update this post when I find out the date. I can't thank Paul enough for getting me into see this. He's a real pal. Cheers Paul :-)

Right, that's it for now, I look forward to keeping the 'Cage regularly updated, feel free to drop by and add your comments.

Laters...

Test Entry

2008-09-29T07:01:00.000-07:00

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