Power Time

16 minutes so far.  That's the time I have been listening to music on hold whilst trying to contact my electricity provider. I have no confidence that I will ever get through to anyone, and although they do have an online form I could fill in I'm not sure it will the required result.  They have calculated that I need to increase my monthly payments, whilst calculations recommend a reduction...hence my trying to contact them. I'm sure I will be able to talk to a rational logical customer service person who will be able to help i.e. see my point.

20 minutes now.

Success at 22 mins, but now back on hold as the kindly customer service person goes off to find someone to explain why my 'personal projection' is £200 more than mine.
On hold again as she finds a 'lead advisor' as we did agreed somewhat.

37 minutes total time, that's 15 minute call time.

I wait with bated breath.

Ok, we have a compromise - I stay on the same direct debit and we review when we have to.

That's 58 unnecessary minutes wasted.

Bike Post.

There's an interesting article in The Guardian today about bike hire in some cities.  Evidently they have the 'standard' docked hire bikes where you pick up from a docking station and leave it at another, but they also have 'dockless' bikes with GPS trackers on them so you can find our where your nearest is and go to it, then leave it somewhere for the next customer to find.
It all seems a bit haphazard to me, and they are starting to have problems with piles of bikes lying around, especially if one of the providers goes bust.
..but maybe that's the way it will be in the future.

Casual Dress.

I'm a bit confused about this 'Gig Economy' we're supposed to be living through nowadays (not the capital letters, its that important).  I think it's just another way of describing contract work - short term jobs that come and go as the employer seeks fit.  As an ex IT contractor when you're never sure when your contract will end and the next one will start, it's not a good place to be depending on your current financial situation.
In the good old days, contract work was always better paid than someone with full-time employed status, or permie and as we used to say, but that's not the case nowadays with more and more work taken by contractors, and some even have severe penalties if you fail to show up as in the case of delivery drivers where the one not showing up has to find (and fund) an alternative.  I'm pleased to hear that the government is looking at the employment regulations to restrict these practises, but as usual they are too late for those already hit by it.  Let's hope they do something about it.

Grammar!

I had never heard of an 'Oxford Comma' until I read an article today about how it's absence from some wording in a contract made it ambiguous and therefore some workers won a rights case.  I now what it does (I'm a grammar school lad after all), but never heard it called by that name.  It was just a comma until now.  My life is immeasurably enriched.

As for my running injury - namely the strained hamstring that I have been going on about for the last few weeks, it is definitely improving although not as fast as I thought, and the after effects are giving me some grief, specifically when sitting in my car for more than half an hour.  I get a severe ache in my right buttock, only eased by shifting my weight as much as possible onto my left one which is no mean achievement in a car whilst driving I can tell you.
Anyway, cycling hasn't suffered and I managed a ride to and from work this week as well as 2 lunchtime runs.  I'm having a rest day today (still feeling the commute in my legs) and I'll probably get out tomorrow lunchtime.

What you see is what you get.

There's a celebrated BBC TV interview of a bloke in a suit and his children come into the room in the background.  A few moments later a lady scoots them up in a rather haphazard panicky way and beats a retreat out the room.  The lady in question looks and acts like a nanny, not a parent and an article in the Guardian questions why we think that Asian looking women in such a situation are immediately assumed to be the nanny, not the spouse.
I can only assume that The Guardian have a 'fill as much space as possible' drive by resorting to such class related articles.  'What does it say about you?' it asks in a 'make you feel guilty' sort of way, I mean why did you think that a younger Asian person scurrying about frantically rounding up high spirited children would mean she was a nanny?  I am obviously a bad person.

In other eye-rolling news, Nicola Sturgeon announces she will set up a new independence referendum.  Ho hum, play it again Sam.   An interesting debate but I don't think anyone has the stomach for it really.

I'm almost human

It wasn't long ago that I would scoff at the suggestion that driverless cars would become a reality, but I have to admit that I was way off from reality and now expect these to be on our streets much quicker than I thought.
The technology is relatively simple - plan a route and get there safely.  I think we have cracked the planning part, it's the safely bit that is more tricky.  As well as 'normal' obstacles such as road furniture, roundabouts etc., the vehicle has to watch out for a myriad of potential things that might happen as it traverses our roads.
I don't have any data, so this could be a bold statement; On my daily commute I encounter at least one type of incident for the first time ever every day, and it's only by my built in preservation programs that keep me in one piece.
I guess they have already decided to go with a 'good enough' approach to implementation where they will gradually improve the monitoring and avoidance technology and live with the consequences leading up to a full blown 'almost human' version.

Progressing.

2.8 miles at lunchtime - and no bad after effects on my hammy hamstring.  It was a bit sore whilst running, but it's looking good.  No more comment needed.

Sore Trifles

I feel like I'm on 'the road to recovery' with my hamstring, but it's a bit unclear which way to turn on the road.  The theory is that a level 2 hamstring strain needs around 3 weeks to repair itself.  I gave it 2 weeks before trying it out on a soft, wet field for 2 miles first (Saturday).  This didn't seem to aggravate it, so I then did a very steady 2 mile tarmac run which also did not seem to make it much worse (although it was a trifle sore).  Therefore, I'm torn between steady short runs as it (hopefully) improves, or rest it a bit more and try again.
Psychologically, it's difficult.  I feel much better than last week when I was doing nothing, but because it hasn't miraculously healed itself (shock, horror) and still feels sore, I'm worried it might set me back again.