Derren Brown’s “How To Win The Lottery” thing was obviously* a camera trick.  The lack of perspective change during the fake ‘camera shake’ was the big giveaway to me.  I didn’t actually spot the ball moving.

And now I sound like one of those conspiracy theory nutters.  Oh well.  I do believe the Moon landings happened though, ok?

A few people seem to agree with this theory – here’s one of them.

* Almost, kinda, mostly obvious.  I think.

…apparently – look, my desktop says so, so it must be true!

Oh no!  Panic!  What should I do?  I know, I’ll click this handy ‘System Security 2009′ shortcut which just happens to have appeared on my desktop at the same time as my wallpaper changed – that sounds like a good idea, doesn’t it?

Sigh.

How hard – really – can it be, to at least make your poxy ‘shock horror’ fake warnings look like they were written by someone who speaks English?  “Your’re in danger”?  These things could “break” my life?

Sigh.

Anyway, on with life.  That diagram, by the way, was just part of an explanation of how different versions of data will relate to each other in a system which is just about to go live.  Alternatively, it was a way of saying I had nothing to blog about…  Boxes A, B and C represent 3 versions of one set of data, and boxes X, Y and Z represent 3 versions of another set of data.  Thrilling, and just a little bit obtuse.  Sorry about that.

(I didn’t really expect anyone to answer…)

Sometimes I come back to diagrams I’ve drawn as part of the day job, and they’re just a bunch of boxes and lines…

What’s this all about then?

In August 2006 I was a witness to a car accident on the way to work. From my point of view it was clearly one driver’s fault, as she simply drove into the back of the other car on a straight road in good conditions. Shortly before the accident, I’d backed out of overtaking her as she was drifting across lanes, and shortly after the accident she mentioned getting tired and being on tablets.

At the scene there was no doubt about the cause, but there were no recriminations as everyone was just glad that despite one decidedly bent car with a missing wheel, and another lodged in a hedge, everybody was more or less ok.

In the following weeks I was asked to submit an independent witness statement, and I found out that the at-fault driver had subsequently decided it wasn’t her fault, and that the car which had been driving straight down the inside lane was to blame for her driving into it. Tellingly, I wasn’t asked for a witness statement to support her version of events…

Anyway… to cut a long story short, I got a letter from the other driver the other day saying that, finally, the case had been settled in his favour, and that he had been cleared of any blame. It’s nice to see that justice has been done. It’s very nice to know that the other driver took the trouble to find our address (we moved earlier this year) to let me know how things turned out, and to offer his thanks.

Here’s a picture of the victim’s car taken shortly after the crash:

Merry Christmas everyone!

With the speed and agility of a (sick, almost dead) puma, one of the insurance companies involved in the aftermath of the accident I wrote about a couple of weeks ago has contacted me in my capacity as a WITNESS. (That’s the way they phrased the letter, complete with capitals. Is that so I don’t get scared by the rather official looking letter?)

Anyway, just in case, I’ve removed my entry about the incident. It’ll be back when I’ve said my bit to the companies involved. Judging by their speedy response so far that’ll be just after our sun burns out, then…

Due to a kind of automated in-built aversion to admitting I might have got something wrong, I’ve kind of kept my tales of Audi woe away from this blog.  After about 6 months of continual ‘little quirks’, though, the saga is finally over.  I swapped my 2002 A4 2.0 FSI SE for a 2002 A4 2.0 Sport 2 weeks ago and, touch wood, things seem to be going OK.  The fabled warning light flashes on during the ignition self-test (so no, they haven’t disconnected it…) but hasn’t made any further appearances.  I’ve driven about 600 miles since I got it, and haven’t been stranded at the side of road once, so that’s an improvement too.

For those of you that like pretty pictures, I’ve gone from something that looked very much like this:

…to something that looks very much like this:

(different wheels, lower suspension)

Now for the review-type bit.  The different engine (non-FSI) is supposed to be less powerful, but I don’t really notice – obviously both engines are capable of way more than the national speed limit, so it’s hard to tell (officer).  I do notice that you don’t get the lump of power at about 3,500rpm in the non-FSI, but I always thought that was the FSI holding back on the lower revs rather than giving more power later.  The ‘sports’ suspension is a big plus – steering feels much more direct, although I think I am getting to know all of Kent’s shoddy roads…  All in all, I’m happy with the new car, and I’m glad I went through all the hassle of getting it changed.  Let’s hope it lasts