Maximal Biorythmic Convergence

Comsically speaking, it's been a good week.

1. Our lawnmower has been in need of repair since May when I took it to our local repair centre. One aborted recovery and many, many phonecalls later, it wasn't moving. I stopped trying.

2. We bought a new guest bed in May in readiness for moving home, it arrived and lay unwrapped. We noticed a month ago that a major part of it was broken. I called, arranged to have a replacement part and nothing happened thereafter. "Yeah, what about that faulty part replacement, they never did get back to us, or do what they said they would."

3. We've been trying to progress the sale of our house since early May. At the beginning of this week, the entire legal chain was on its arse, destined to collapse resetting us back to square uno and about £1,500 lighter in pocket due to wasted legal fees. I tried hard to move it along but on Tuesday I gave up and stopped trying. What will be will be.

4. I bought a very cool and ultra-geek spacewatch five years ago, one of the reasons I was attracted to it - apart for it's 90db alarm - was you had the option of a bright red kevlar band for it. The one I bought came with the black band. I then discovered that they stopped making the red band due to production problems, rendering it "no longer available" - I think due to the red dye leaking onto skin, clothing. Now and then I'll check to see if I can get one. Always failed. I stopped looking, stopped trying so hard.

5. Three years ago I was trying to locate a long lost relative and put up a blog post hoping that Google's indexes would save the day, one day. I gave up trying and let chance take control.

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1. I got an unprompted call on Tuesday to say that our lawnmower had been finally located and fixed and was ready to collect.

2. Yesterday I got an unprompted call from the bed company to say that the replacement would be delivered next week.

3. I got an unprompted call today from our lawyer to say that progress has finally been made and rather than collapsing the chain, we'll be exchanging contracts on Monday and should be moving into our new home mid-September.

4. This lunchtime I popped into a shop in town and asked about something else to do with my watch. The assitant opened the catalogue and I caught a glimpse of the red kevlar band version of the X-33. "Hold it, could you go back a couple of pages?" It was a 2004 catalogue and it had the red kevlar band. I said "Whoa, is that now available?" She called Omega and returned with the same answer I always got "No, it's only available in Black." I said, "But, that makes no sense at all". She called and checked again, challenging the age-old advice. "Yes I'll hold, Hmm, OK, Yes, Oh really?, Oh OK." She came back to the counter and said "Well, I managed to find someone who knew something about it and they apologised and said that the red band was now available" Coolio. It arrives next week. Hey Google please index this for the X-33 community : [[ As at Friday 19th August 2005, the Omega X-33 Red Kevlar Band IS definitely available to order new, if they say it isn't and give you the stock "only in black due to production problems" answer then challenge them, it's there. Just ask. Hey, there's even a green one now, too! This is a late model X-33 with the red band. ]]

5. Out of the blue yesterday I received an email from a distant relative in Australia who saw my post - thanks to Google - and who forwarded me the email address I was looking for 3 years ago.


All of which is to say that I'm planning to play the UK national lottery tomorrow.

Kommuter Karma II

On my so-called chilled out journey home this evening, I was overtaken by a party of four motorcyclists. About a mile later I approached a bend and spotted the rear end of one of the trailing party of bikes poking out of a hedge in a ditch off the verge, rider still attached.

One of those moments.

I pulled over and approached the stricken rider - his three mates unaware of his predicament had carried on ahead of him - and he appeared motionless, I feared the worst. "Are you OK, mate?" I uttered, shitting myself in case the answer was negative or, worse still, in case there was no answer.

"I was virtually stopped by the time I came off" came from inside the hedge. Relief.

The rider reversed himself slowly off the bike - which looked pretty smashed up at the front - and sat back removing his gloves and loosening his helmet. He was a big bloke, late forties and obviously out for a ride in the country in glorious summer sunshine with his biker friends. He looked a bit shaken up and probably hurting somewhere but actually seemed OK in the circumstances. I detected more evidence of pissed-off-ness with himself than anything requiring of a 'blue light'.

I asked if he was hurt of in need medical help, he said no. I asked if there was anything I could do to help him get the bike out of the hedge or get help. He asked me to head down the road to track down his three other biker mates and to alert them to his predicament.

Once I'd made sure he was OK - as much as a software guy can.. where is Tom Reynolds when you need him? - I jumped back into the car and spirited off down the road hunting for his compadres.

Now, when the four of them overtook me prior to the accident, they weren't exactly hanging about in the speed department, and so it took me about four miles to spot them, sitting by the side of the road and waiting for their fallen party to show up. I stopped and gave them the details and description of where I'd left him - the forty-second hedge on the right next to a left hand bend - and duly alarmed, they jumped into action and headed off back down the road to sort him out.

I might go my back to my normal commuter route tomorrow.