British Programmer living in Andorra

We've just driven the car back; the boy and me that is. I must say that drive is getting to be a bit of slog; much harder on the old body than it used to be say ten years ago....  And to cap it all it's not much cheaper than taking the Britanny Ferries via Bilbao or Stantander. I've totalled the cost for here for reference when considering the next trip back to England. Date Item Amount (£) Amount (€) Converted to GBP (£) Notes 24 Sep 2024 Tesco (Fuel) £109.00 £109.00 Fuel for the car before leaving Surbiton 24 Sep 2024 P&O Ferries Dover-Calais £150.00 £150.00 Ferry cost from Dover to Calais 24 Sep 2024 European Seaway Dover - Food/Drinks £3.65 £3.65 Onboard food and drink 24 Sep 2024 European Seaway Dover - Food/Drinks £29.90 £29.90 Additional onboard purchases 24 Sep 2024 Relais La Dentelle d'Alençon (Fuel) €133.55 £111.29 Fuel stop in France at TotalEnergies (72.82L at €1.834/L) 24 Sep 2024 Mercure Tours Nord, Parcay Meslay (Hotel) £174.71 £174.71 Overnight

I've become a bit of an expert at drop off and pick up at Gatwick Airport over the last couple of years. Gatwick Airport have committed to 52% of journey to and from the airport being made by public transport by 2030.  Very commendable. Seems they intend to do this by raising parking charges to levels that include the loss of arms, legs and even testicles. " The charge will be £5 for 10 minutes, and £1 for each additional minute up to 20 minutes. The maximum charge will be £25 and the maximum length of stay 30 mins." Today it is £6, for both quick drop-off and up to 15 minutes pick-up. It says there "£25" maximum charge.  I don't believe that. What to do We had a double-pickup yesterday - friends leaving, being dropped-off at 13.50 and daughter arriving back by 16.30.  When I entered this into the pre-booking system it says £55!  There are only 30 minute increments available. So what I did this time was drop the friends of, and drop off wife...  £6 for the

I was lucky enough back in the early noughties to spend 13 months in Asia and of that eight months in Malaysia where I had a contract with a company producing SMSC gateways. During my KL stint I lived in a couple of places near the centre:    The last place was in a tower block near the district of Brickfields, which is an Indian quarter.   The office which was at KL Sentral was walking distance to Chinatown. Very often at lunchtime I'd shoot off on a solo mission and head for my favourite restaurants there. Over the years since my time in Malaysia I've yearned for the dishes that I encountered during those days. Luckily for me there are many expat Malaysian Chinese communities around the world one of the biggest being here in London. I wanted to make a note here in my blog as to a couple of my favourite ones, which are: Wat Tan Hor. Back in the day in Malaysia there were not that many obese Chinese, most were quite thin but there was this one guy who had an open air

We went to Austria last October.  We hired a car in Frankfurt, I got to catch up with an old friend there, then we drove to Munich - had some amazing roast pork at the Paulaner restaurant/museum ... Anyway the reason for this post:  You need a 'vignette' to drive on their motorways, and you should stop as soon as possible at a gas station when entering the country and buy one.  However due to a hangover, tiredness and lack of gumption I neglected to do so immediately.  It was some considerable time later that I figured I need to get one - pronto.   However this was after we'd just left a services, so as I was not driving, I started googling. I found these https://i-vignette.com/  and just went ahead and bought the damn thing.  Even paid a few Euro more for the "Express service".   It was emailed to me in a matter of minutes. Probably due to the hangover I still felt it likely that some damn camera had clocked me and some automatic printer was already spitting out

Greetings property development enthusiasts! I'm thrilled to share a project that's close to my heart – Landcycle. It's been 3 years in the making: Blood, sweat and tears have all featured in it's production. As the primary developer and project manager behind this venture, let me walk you through the features that make it a game-changer in the realm of England and Wales property and land projects. Map-based plot exploration: Landcycle starts with a simple yet powerful interface that lets you visually explore land plots based on Land Registry titles. Imagine an interactive map offering insights into potential development sites and ownership details – all within a few clicks. Constraint layers at your fingertips: Understanding the specifics and constraints of a potential development site is paramount. Landcycle simplifies this by layering on information like flood plains, green belts, railways, roads, and more. It can be an amazing too for assessing a plot's viabilit