Archives » Modern Life Is Rubbish

Blog Crossover Problem

Earlier this week my blog got moved across to a new hosting service. (Don’t ask me the details, I’m not that computer savvy. My blog administrator, however, is. So thank you, Duncan for the work you have put in here.)

It all seemed to have gone swimmingly.

That was until I checked in this afternoon and discovered there was no video in the post I had scheduled for noon today.

Looking at previous such posts I discovered that all the videos on those no longer show up.*

I quickly worked out that it was due to my use before the changeover of the classic WordPress editor system.

The new hosting I think gives me only a version of the ‘block’ system WordPress introduced some years ago and it doesn’t accept the embed codes for videos which I used to employ.

I have now found a way to put videos on the blog and restored some of the videos on older posts (back to February.)

It’s not an important enough issue to bother Duncan with it (I doubt there’s a quick fix) but there being innumerable old posts with videos embedded in them – far too many for me to go through them all – I fear I must live with those not now being accessible on historic posts.

Ah, well.

*Edited to add: I also haven’t found a way to centre photos on the page.

Happy New Year

This traditional greeting seems increasingly performative these days.

When was the last time the world had a good year?

Nevertheless we have to be cheerful – as Mona Lott kept saying.

Creme Eggs

Today is the 13<sup<th December – yet I saw my first Creme Eggs of the new season in a shop I was in.

Easter is not until the 9<sup<th April, 2023.

Sadly, this sighting is not even a record.

A Catalogue of Uselessness

William Hague

Iain Duncan Smith

Michael Howard

David Cameron

Theresa May

Boris Johnson

Liz Truss

These are the succesive leaders of the Conservative and Unionist Party of the UK since John Major lost the 1997 General Election.

The first three thankfully did not get the chance to inflict mayhem on the country but got progressively more hopeless and right wing. (Though it is a toss-up between Smith and Howard for both those dubious accolades.)

As for the last four, words fail me. Each much worse than his or her predecessor, but all inflicting enormous damage on the country.* An accumulation perhaps unparalleled in its history.

And they say this is the natural party of government?

*In Truss’s case that is yet to be fulfilled but I have no doubt it will be.**

**Note: I composed this post in early September. The damage wrought by Liz Truss has come to pass much sooner than even I expected.

Internet Outage

My internet has down over the past few days, hence the lack of postings.

It seems to be resolved now.

Fingers crossed.

The World Turned Upside Down

We were in the Northeast of England last week. We visited Tynemouth, Durham, Bishop Auckland and Sunderland.

Tynemouth was reasonably prosperous looking, quite a few eateries and with a bustling Saturday market, Durham was busy, as you would expect from a Cathedral city. Sunderland was a typical city – in its centre anyway. (I did pass the Stadium of Light but it was in the dark.)

The attraction of Bishop Auckland was the recently refurbished Auckland Palace/Auckland Castle former home of the Prince Bishops of Durham. As part of the entry ticket we were able also to enter both Auckland Tower centrepiece of the Auckland Project (though the tower itself was closed due to high winds) and the excellent Mining Art Gallery just over the road from the tower.

The town itself though was deserted (well, it was a Sunday in England) and very run-down in appearance, empty shops prominent.

I can therefore see why the locals might want change but how on Earth they think voting Conservative will in any way improve their lot is beyond me.

The Tories’ track record in aiding the working person is poor to say the least. And for a former mining area to vote Conservative is an act either of outstanding forgetfulness – or remarkable forgiveness. This truly is a topsy-turvy age.

If I go back in five years’ time I very much doubt the town’s fortunes will have recovered.

By that time we may also have witnessed the NHS even more in hock to private provision (if not sold totally down the river,) judges neutered, Channel 4 and Ofcom eviscerated, the BBC dismantled, Parliamentary constituency boundaries redrawn to favour the Tories even more and voters without photo ID disenfranchised. Not to mention the rise of the cult of Alexander de Pfeffel.

Is all that really what the inhabitants of Bishop Auckland and its neighbouring towns desire?

There’s also a clash of mandates with respect to Scottish independence to resolve. Or not, as the case may be.

And a one-sided trade deal with the US to endure.

Plus I’ve not even touched on the EU negotiations which might still be going on.

What’s to like?

I’ve Been Away

I’ve had a holiday sans internet for the past fortnight, cruising the Baltic – but I had scheduled various posts in the interim which seem to have gone on alright.

I’m back now, but I’m shattered.

I’ll get round to posting more soon.

Blog Problems

It seems that over the past few days A Son of the Rock has been to some extent inaccessible. Though able to publish new stuff I myself was getting a 404 message when trying to access previous posts.

My administrator has given things a tweak and I hope everything’s all right now.

Blog Problems Again

I’ve been unable to publish my latest book review post – on Proxima by Stephen Baxter. It wouldn’t schedule nor publish directly, all I got was an error mesage when I tried.

The blog wouldn’t accept the whole thing but I have managed to save an incomplete draft by saving it a paragraph, or less, at a time. But there’s still about half a sentence it just won’t accept. I haven’t tried to schedule it or post it direct though, as previously it has thrown me out contact with the server whenever I did so. My blog administrator suggested all sorts of things like clearing my cookies and cache – thank you, Duncan – but it wasn’t having anything to do with saving the whole post. I’m hoping the problem will somehow go away.

I want to see what happens with this one before attempting anything else.

Fingers crossed.

Normal Service

I switched the computer on yesterday for my son to have a look at it and attempt to resolve the problem I’d had with it.

Lo and behold it loaded up no bother at all.

Technology, huh?

At least I can access all my files again – and my internet bookmarks.

Hope it stays fine though.

free hit counter script