Mark Carroll's Journal

Our couple of small road trips down into England afforded some success though plans were a little derailed by sites having holiday closures that weren't previously obvious. Fortunately, my plans include fallbacks so, among other things, our dog L. had a good time running around on Bamburgh Beach in Northumberland (near the impressive castle) and Roanhead Beach in Cumbria (near Morecambe Bay). He also got to see swans at Annandale Water from as close as I dared let him get. Roanhead Beach turned out to be enormous: by coincidence, we arrived at around low tide when there is an awful lot of walking along the sand that one can do before getting near any sea. I also learned to avoid Windermere: narrow roads full of tourists.

L.'s been suffering some gastrointestinal issue over these holidays; there has been an infection going around. They now seem to be on the mend but it slows us down and distracts us while we focus on making sure they're okay. We actually left Northumberland early to make it to an appointment with our regular vet. With luck, we won't need a second appointment.

After a quiet New Year at home, we'll go to visit family in Dundee then be back at work. R. works tomorrow too, at least from home, helping to fill out the support rota.

I had thought it a good idea to choose glasses with fairly large lenses, figuring that I would have more of my visible field corrected. However, seeing as my distance vision is fine (though worse than it was in my youth), I find that it's not as practical for me to peer over the top of my glasses, I have to take them off or at least slide them down a bit. Well, now I know for next time I choose some. Additionally, another unanticipated effect of my choice is: having opted for rimless, if I put them down then it is harder to find them afterward.

I saw a surprising sight a while ago, commuting to work: travelling from west to east in the morning at a rather northerly latitude, at one point I noticed the sun on the left of the railway carriage. It turns out that, approaching Edinburgh, the more northerly railway line bends rather south for a spell before passing south of the airport instead of north of it.

A joy of commuting by train is seeing the Scottish Gaelic station names. My journey is from Sràid na Banrighinn to Waverley Dhùn Èideann and, along the way, highlights include that Falkirk High becomes Bràighe na h-Eaglaise Brice. Otherwise, I am also exposed to Gaelic via BBC Alba which often makes for a pleasantly relaxing way to kill a bit of time, they have low-budget cookery shows and the like, with subtitling in English.

Late one evening back in July, I boarded a CrossCountry train at Edinburgh Waverley that then failed to proceed further. In the end, my journey was delayed by an hour so, under the Delay Repay scheme, I was supposed to be eligible for a refund.

CrossCountry's claim process wanted a QR code and and a ticket number. Unfortunately, I was using one of their flexi season tickets in their mobile app, which prevents screenshots, and the day's ticket wholly disappears once the day is done. So, I asked their customer service people how I can claim. I asked several times and got no useful response at all.

Eventually, I fell back to an effective last resort: post them a paper letter. This triggered a slow sequence of back and forth by e-mail but, last week, they finally paid me my refund. It's absurd that it took three months, and probably cost them as much to deal with me as the £7.55 they paid me, but I still don't have my answer as to how people with those tickets are supposed to claim.

R. and I sometimes head into Edinburgh on the train for in-office work, sometimes on separate days, sometimes together. Today, R. went in, and I stayed home and helped out with pet care. I hope that I am becoming more productive as I grow more familiar with my employer's codebase. I also look forward to getting around to personal programming projects at home but not quite yet it seems, still I have to figure how and when to fit that in. A task this evening is to schedule our influenza vaccinations. COVID-19 vaccinations are becoming a distant memory, it's a pity our BUPA health insurance doesn't reimburse them.

( Our expensive family visa journey continues. )

I read John Wiswell's Someone You Can Build a Nest In which was gentle and engaging. Whether in science fiction or fantasy, I always enjoy insight into a fairly non-human character. Definitely a nice enough way to pass the time. (Though, R. noted that it is far more gory than I had noticed, somehow that all passed me by.) I might be running out of television to watch, though. There is a bit more Chief of War left but it is far more buttocks than smiles and R. noted arrant ahistoricity in the portrayal of Zamboanga (languages, buildings, clothing). We are giving The Mayfair Witches a try on Netflix, R. read the books long ago.

A local Tesco Express convenience store has opened quite near us so we have a very handy source of heavily discounted food that must be sold before it turns into a pumpkin, assuming it isn't already one. So, among other things, we found ourselves eating sandwiches recently. With luck, the store will soon correct their loud alarm siren that warns whenever somebody outside walked near the customer entrance.

Just on my walk to work this morning, twice I had to dodge tourist groups blocking the entire pavement. I thought that I had avoided this in escaping Cambridge, England, but apparently not. Not being attired for leisure, I occasionally have people ask me for help with local navigation. At least, a no-steps route at the Edinburgh end worked well for me today and took little longer. I don't feel enormously steady on many-steps and can experience some vertigo so it would seem foolish to make a frequent habit of them.

In considering the prospect of moving house a little south, it occurred to me that Glasgow's buses are best avoided and the south-side trains will go up to Central, not Queen Street from where the better Edinburgh trains depart. If I want an easy commute, it behooves me to remain near a subway station from which I can easily transfer at Buchanan to Queen Street. I wonder if there is any prospect of finding a garden flat (so better for L. the dog) in our youngest's school catchment area within easy reach of the subway; it seems a tall order.

At the last part of my way home tonight, I stop to pick up the car from a local car park. I left my parking space clear because the electricians are fixing a light above it. I did so on a previous day when there was word of their arrival, on which they helpfully spent their time partly on other activities that did not require cars to have been moved. So, second time lucky, one hopes. That first was a while ago, their work was interrupted by an unexpected-by-us holiday on their part.

Pensions guys presented to us at work and got me to thinking: I have a mountain of debt at a reasonable APR and I am in a high income tax bracket. I don't have much in pension savings so old-me will be in a low tax bracket. I expect that my debt grows faster than my pension. However, I can pay pre-tax money into my pension. So, better to direct spare post-tax money toward the debt or pre-tax into the pension? I wonder if a cranking of approximate numbers yields an obvious correct answer. It would be nice to not think about secondary factors like less debt means better APRs or that I can deduct paid mortgage interest from my US taxes.

Years ago I implemented a composable simulation language into which, were it handy now, I could easily plug these questions for a year-by-year simulation. Back when working on demonstrating that technology's application to financial planning, I was amused that such inevitably led to the question, when do you plan to die?, so this pensions question is a nice exception in that I can simply optimize for starting far-off retirement in the best position.

It has been some days since I made an entry here. While R. works on making some ube (purple yam) cake, I can write up and share various tidbits. R. is pleased to have found salted duck eggs at a good price earlier today in what passes as the closest area Glasgow might have to a Chinatown.

( I watched some science fiction. )

I found myself in an odd mood for more mellow electronica lately, Alexa managed to play me things like Synergy's Ancestors and Jean-Michel Jarre's Computer Weekend without getting songs mixed up.

eBay irritated me. I bought two of an item, then found ( it difficult to request a refund for one, then the other. )

At work it's interesting to see how I have a pattern of afternoon meetings at the moment, given that I work closely with US-based colleagues, though we do also have engineers in Pune. Back at Zilliqa my meetings tended to be in the mornings, as I worked with people in the Middle East and Asia.

( I found that I have various money, and I read some science fiction. )

( I am still experimenting with commuting for days that I work on-site. )

It is disappointing to be starting my new job by missing out on an infrequent on-site meeting in New York City later this month. Unfortunately, my US passport is being renewed and it would not be legal for me to visit on my UK passport instead. At least this kind of problem comes up only every few years.

When I renewed my US passport, I looked into if I could do it in person at the consulate but the anticipated travel wasn't soon enough to qualify. Now, the by-mail option turns out to be taking a couple of months and expediting the processing at this point still wouldn't be quick enough. So, there seems to be an awkward mid-range duration that the advice could be adjusted to cover rather better. After my application arrived at the US Embassy in London, it still took over a week for it to be received at a processing center so perhaps everything has to go from London to the US and back these days.

I have probably mentioned my disappointment in various British things. We can't manage anything from easily accessed healthcare to reliable rubbish collection. Hearing even the Labour government talk about reducing carer visas, not taking trans rights seriously, etc. really doesn't augur well.

Of course, we nearly ended up living in the US instead, which is even more of a dumpster fire given the lasting damage from the current administration. Both countries' officials seem unwilling to take on the task of responsible governance, instead we see performative policy that harms people without making any real sense.

I got to wondering: after the kids are grown and educated, perhaps we could go somewhere else? I took a look online on where people say is welcoming to immigrants and, ha ha, dismissed any list that includes the UK or the US.

The Scottish summer is currently cool and rainy. R. would be glad not to return to the hot humidity of the tropics. I like to think that we can find some middle ground.

In looking into what the options might be, I discovered that Spain's digital nomad visa could easily allow me and R. to live there someday. Then, we may be on an accelerated path because of the (colonial guilt) agreement that allows R. to qualify for Spanish citizenship more quickly. We would remain within easy reach of our children if they remain in Britain.

I have never been to Spain and know little about it. The language would certainly challenge me: it would be a considerable success if I could come to speak intelligibly, even with a dreadful accent. Nevertheless, as idle fantasies go, it is an interesting one to consider so perhaps I should try to reduce my ignorance in coming years. At a glance, reading about the current protests in Madrid seems an exciting start.

On a recent visit to Edinburgh, R. and I chose Edinburgh Street Food (ESF) for lunch, on our way to the botanic garden. ESF features diverse vendors around an eating area. Initially, I was unimpressed: very much, oh, they reinvented the food court. Admittedly, I am a fan of food courts: they tend to be cheaper than restaurants and allow people their separate choices. Anyhow, it turned out that one can order online from any combination of the vendors in one transaction, providing one's table number, then the food appears in due course, delivered to the table in somewhat random order. So, much nicer than queueing then waiting at multiple counters. The Polish vendor was decent and, across the vendors I noticed, the prices seemed reasonable. R.'s Peruvian food was adequate but they undercooked the rice.