I do hope that I shan't miss you, your bombs, your polar politics or your vernacular.

Adieu!

What occurs now can shape the rest of my life. Come September, I’ll be living it up in Belgium (if the current political situation sustains itself that long) and the Autonomous Community of Galicia in Spain. It’ll certainly be an interesting experience: not only in terms of way of life in a different country, but also in the effects that it will have (hopefully for the better) on my studies and prospects for the world of work.

With this Année intercalaire, one cannot be left in any sense of doubt as its bureaucratic nature: there are currently dozens of forms awaiting completion, from both Ulster and the Universities of Mons and Vigo, ranging from timetables, travel and health insurance, money, to notifications of departure.

While this cannot obviously be avoided, it should be the case that bureaucracy takes the high road, while I’ll take the low road, to quote that song, in order to effect an improvement in my written and spoken French and Spanish through the various modules in which I am either currently or to be enrolled. On reflection, I’m not sure it was such a good idea to enrol in one in the Faculté de Traduction et d’Interprétation - Ecole d'Interprètes Internationnaux ("Faculty of Translation and Interpretation -  School of International Interpreters") concerning Judicial and Administrative Translation (at Post Graduate level). :S

Oh well, bring on the challenge!

Given the joint nature of my degree - BA Hons French and Spanish (Applied Languages) – it was necessary to choose two locations where both languages are the de facto/ de jure ones of the Countries in question. I have hence chosen the towns/cities of:

• September – January: Université de Mons (Belgium, Province of Hainaut)

• January/February – June: Universidade de Vigo (Spain, Autonomous Community of Galicia)

Both choices are subject to University approval, so we shall wait and see if I am to be placed there...

While I have not denied in the past that I have had some apprehension about the Year Abroad, I think I'm starting to be at ease  with it all, so fingers crossed I'll get to go where I want and that it will be an enjoyable experience!

UPDATE: I've been provisionally granted a place at the Université de Mons, so it just remains to see whether I get a place in the Universidade de Vigo!

I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2010, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make our country great (not to imply that it is necessarily greater than any other country) and without regard to the race, creed, colour, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference.

Please note that this greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal.  It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting.  It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher.  This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.

Wishers should be aware that no trees were harmed in the sending of this message; however, a significant number of electrons were slightly inconvenienced.

A bit of background: I boarded the 1710GMT Garvagh 116 service from the Station in Coleraine, and presented my Translink Student Discount Card and gave the driver the regular fare for the journey.  I was then handed my ticket and change.  After a few seconds I went back to the front  and queried it with the driver.  He looked at the ticket again and admitted that he had made a mistake and undercharged me (the student fare should have been £2.70, but I was charged £1.65).  He then said to keep the surplus £1.05, which I offered to add to make up the proper cost, seeing as it was nearly Christmas and sent me on my way.  This time happened to be the complete opposite of my last dealings with Ulsterbus where I was grossly overcharged for the reverse journey.

It isn't often that when someone makes a mistake they let it pass - some in the same organisation would have acted in a completely different manner.

To the Ulsterbus driver, the name of whom I do not know, I tip my hat.

It all began yesterday morning, when I was waiting on the platform in Coleraine to get the 1015BST train from Londonderry/Derry to Great Victoria Street. It seemed that everyone had heeded Translink’s call to leave the car behind and use public transport to get to Belfast. The 1015 departure time came and went – people were still piling on to the train. Eventually someone decided that they were going to sacrifice the other 3000 Class DMU that was due to operate the Portrush Branch Line service, so we were all ordered off the train to allow them to couple the two together. Then the platform staff decided they weren’t going to do that so we were all ordered back onto the train, which lead to frustration as some were physically unable to board as it was already crush laden.

1030 came and eventually after much shouting and running up and down the platform by the Conductor we were on our way, having found a space in the vestibule area, along with about 13 other people who couldn’t get a space in the aisles –it was the same in the other carriages. Severely annoyed I decided to phone NI Railways Customer Services and gave them stink; about half an hour later they phoned back to say that “all available trains were in service” (which, when in Belfast transpired to be a bit of a lie, as two class 3000 DMUs were sitting at their Fortwilliam Servicing Depot and at least another one or two were at Yorkgate Yard). At the subsequent stops of Ballymoney, Cullybackey, Ballymena, Antrim, and Mossley West there were crowds waiting. They were all told to wait for the bus substitution which would be with them sometime.

Eventually we arrived at Central, and I got off, and went through Central and made my way along Oxford Street and over the Lagan Weir to Queen’s Quay. An hour and a half, some photos and a whole lot of walking, I decided to return to Central, where I waited for the 1425 train back to Coleraine. Honestly, I was glad to sit down! The train home was much a much more pleasant experience.

Lessons to be learnt:
1. After years of Planning, there should have been a 2nd train coupled on the Londonderry-Gt Victoria Street 1015 Service – what did they expect?! The usual half-full Belfast bound train? I do acknowledge, however, that rolling stock is limited in number, but surely it would have been better to get every train on the lines, rather than having them sitting at Fortwilliam, Yorkgate and probably Adelaide?
2. There should have been a greater appearance of a co-ordinated approach by all Translink (NI Railways) staff as this lead in part to customer frustration – I heard 3 different stories being circulated by 3 different Translink employees in Coleraine.
3. The people left stranded, while veritably annoyed, should have been more understanding and less hostile to the Conductor – policies for crush laden trains are there for everyone’s safety.

You can view my photos of the day here.

A few things have happened since then, most notably that the summer holidays are nearly 2 months old (well for me, at least!) and there’s 69 days left until the start of Semester I of Year 2 – can you tell that I’ve been counting the days?!

I haven’t been very active on HF or VHF of late, I don’t know why though as I have been known to say “I’m bored” a tad too often.  I finally got HRD installed onto the laptop and it makes a pleasant change from one of the very early v3.4 builds I used until fairly recently on a desktop and got a USB to dual RS232 9 pin serial converter so I can plug in the ZLP interface and have CAT control for the FT-857 on the go at the same time

I’ve also been footering with MS Train Simulator with the Irish Enterprise Route pack and designing a very simplistic NI route, in no way related to the MakingTracks Irish Enterprise Belfast-Dublin route, for my own amusement, the only difficulty is trying to lay the track graphically as close to the actual coordinates of the Larne, Londonderry/Derry, Bangor, Knockmore-Antrim, and Newry lines.

And in future I must remember to update here and my YouTube vLogs more often as I have yet to publish my 2^nd vLog after publishing the first in January past, whoops!

I'm sure some of you saw a story on Lidmag about some interesting new inventions to be conceived in Northern Ireland. For those of you that haven't:

Unconfirmed reports have reached the LidMag Newsdesk of an undisclosed number of new inventions, conceived in Northern Ireland, which, if true, could revolutionise Amateur Radio.

Northern Ireland is no stranger to inventors or producing new fangled gadgets – the first pneumatic tyre, developed by John Boyd Dunlop arrived onto the streets of Belfast in the late 19th Century. Perhaps you may be familiar with the portable defibrillators carried in Ambulances – yet another Northern Irish invention, by the late Professor Frank Partridge [...] .

Few details are known at this time, though, our source did let it slip of a product referred to as ‘SWR Grease’, claiming this product could revolutionise antenna installations in so much that it could effectively permit any random piece of wire to be 100% efficient as a radiator of RF energy. It remains to be seen how such a product will work in theory, and in practice is another matter entirely.

Either way [...]. Such a product could save valuable time in emergency communications or simply field day contests. It appears, in this early stage, that ‘SWR Grease’ [...]. Early indications also show that it should be available for sale by the beginning of January 2009, once the Health & Safety Executive has conducted tests to ensure it is safe for consumer usage.

Well, a little later than expected, I received word from HSENI, after asking if there were any developements, that they have given the go-ahead for this revolutionary product to be mass produced. They said that a number of tests were used to determine the structure and subsequent risk of the product. Thus, as it contains a large amount of Calcium hypoclorite - Ca.2Cl-H-O - they have designated it with the Hazardous Substances Databank Number: 914. Extreme caution should be used and protective clothing is required.

Let's see how well it performs...

It may look quite demanding but it really is just common sense and will make life so much easier and enjoyable if it is followed.  Please feel free to get in touch if you have any comments.

73, Jon MIØJVI