Neil Hopcroft

There are days I think I’m not very good at my job, then I get a phone call like this:

TS: Hello, I am calling from technical support, we have a report of your computer running slowly
Me: Oh, really, where did you say you were calling from?
TS: Technical support, sir, you have a computer that is running slowly?
Me: How did you get this number?
TS: It comes from Internet Explorer, it has notified us that your computer is running slowly, you do have a computer, sir?
Me: I don’t use Internet Explorer, I think you are mistaken
TS: I can prove it to you, sir
Me: Really?
TS: Yes, go to the start button on your computer
Me: I don’t have a start button, I’ve got a command prompt, it says ‘root@janus4:’
TS: This is your phone number 01440……?
Me: Yes, but you didn’t get that from Internet Explorer
TS: Yes we did, I can prove it to you, sir
Me: I still don’t use Internet Explorer
TS: Would you like to talk to a supervisor?
Me: Yes please
… at which point I lay the handset down out of earshot until the line goes free

Theres something about this kind of social media that feels like obligation – I must write, publish to my audience, entertain you, bewilder, amaze, amuse.

Now, though, I’m looking at the last few years and seeing that maybe my audience here is me, and finding the time to write is not the act of a self-publicist, rather the notes become messages to my future self, a bunch of memories fixed in time, in a way that memories of holidays decay to only be of those things photographed or otherwise memento-ised. The distinction between the experiencing self and the remembering self. The patches in between, the feelings, the smells, the landscapes that just don’t fit in the lens, get lost with the minutia.

Facebook, fun though it is, doesn’t give me the depth of record I’m seeking, its like a conversation down the pub, forgotten by the morning, without leaving any kind of lasting impression. Even with Livejournal I’m handing over the responsibility for the data to another entity, although they seem to have a better idea about continuity.

Historically I’ve not been good at continuing these revivals, maybe thats because I’ve been thinking about the wrong audience, or maybe I’m just a bit useless. Its worth another try.

Born 2011-08-02 19:09, weighing 8lb 6oz

As some of you might know, it is my 40th year and it would seem a shame to let it pass uncelebrated. So I am intending to have a series of activites throughout the year to mark this occassion. Let me know if you would be interested in coming along to any or all of the following. Or if you have an idea for something I have missed.

The whirlwind stops spinning, just for a moment. Long enough for me to write a little about how things have settled here. I’ve started working for Service2Media in Enschede, we have rented a weird house/flat in the centre of the nearby town of Almelo (home town of Wubbo Ockels, the first Dutch astronaut and twinned with Preston). Let me know if you would like to come and visit.

Of course, the complications are that I’m actually working from England part of the time, and Holland for the other part, so I’m commuting between and working from home. Which is something that is going to take a bit of getting used to. This is probably not a long term arrangement, but will continue for a while. But it does mean that there is rather more whirlwind around for the forseeable future.

I am intending to head to the Nokia Development conference in London in a couple of weeks, so let me know if you are going to be there and we’ll see if we can meet up.

When did I turn into the kind of person fellow travellers talk to?

i couldn’t understand the announcement but the sigh from my fellow passengers made it clear. I’ve got as far as almelo with no sign of a train. Oh well.

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Thats my first 2 week stint in Holland over and I’m flying home (if I can call England that these days?) before the football madness takes over the country on Sunday. I’ll be back in England for the next couple of weeks, does anyone know of anything happening in London any evenings next week? Or anyone want to meet up one night?

has anyone seen a stray de lorean yet?

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for some ill explicable reason there is a marching band playing waltzing matilda on their fourth circuit of the block. I guess there’s not much to do in lonneker on a weeknight.

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