Random thoughts on life
[It is estimated] that $35 billion is being thrown away, around the world, in the form of poorly chosen Christmas gifts
BBC’s 50 Things That Made The Modern Economy – Santa Claus, December 17th 2018
For a number of years now, I’ve asked people buying me birthday and Christmas gifts to use my online wish list and I’ve converted a lot of them to doing the same.
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Back in 2021 I detailed how I cleaned out the PS4 Pro that I’d bought uses and, seemingly, had nothing more than a damp cloth rubbed over it.
14 months later, in 2023, I had to do it again. It seems that replacing thermal paste and pads only has a limited life.
It’s now 3 years later and, recently, I haven’t been playing it anywhere near as much. But I’ve started again and am playing Call of Duty – a game that really pushes the PS4 Pro’s capabilities and will set the fan spinning quite easily. And, once again, it was sounding like a Harrier Jump Jet.
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When I first got my Commodore 64 in the early 1980s, I was given a succession of cheap, second hand TVs to attach it to, before being bought a more reasonable sized Hitachi TV…
One of the earlier ones that doesn’t leave my memory is the ITT, which is pictured at the top of this post. The one in the picture is the 26″ ITT TV CC782 – I’m not sure if this is the exact one that I had, but it looks to be.
It sat on top of the dining room table, with my C64 perched directly in front. A lovely teak surround made it look much larger than it actually was.
It had 2 distinct features, which is why, even today, I remember it.
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If you’re visiting Center Parcs in the UK anytime soon, here are a few quick tips that may help you out, based on my own experience. My last visit was 2026, so are relevant at that time.
Since 2001, Center Parcs in the UK has been a separate company from the original Center Parcs business. Therefore, I’m not going to assume that anything in the UK model of their holiday village is representative of the wider European model.
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Whilst it’s been 9 years since I worked there, I’d bet good money that Boots The Chemist’s POS (Point of Sale) system hasn’t changed. In which case, every time it changes from GMT to BST or back again, all the staff have me to thank me for the fact they don’t have to manually change the time on their POS server. Or indeed, just have to correct it at any other time too.
Let me explain.
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