Geek alert

What with the forthcoming weekend being a bank holiday and all - the last before Chrimble (staggers in disbelief at the speedy passage of time), I thought I might avail myself of the opportunity to tunnel into the mess that is my kitchen. There is precious little food stored in there, but far, far too many boxes and bits and pieces.

There is no room to manoeuvre, so some clearing is necessary. I suspect that this will mean sorting out and discarding books - something I hate doing - or at least taking them to a charity shop somewhere. In practice it will be the novels that go. It I am to get rid of books they will not be my history or otherwise factual tomes, it will be the paperbacks novels of dubious quality that go, and not all of them, either.

I really ought to get rid of a whole load of videos, too. I almost never watch them and all in all they were a grand waste of money. I have, and no longer need, a complete run of Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In addition I have season one, and part of season two of Star Trek: Voyager. That is eighteen and a bit seasons of Trek in one form or another.

Add to that, seven seasons of X-Files, four of Babylon 5 and umpteen Dr Who Videos, and it becomes clear why I have no money or space. And the resale value of all these bulky PAL videos in this digital DVD age? Verging on zilch.

There are movies, too. Far too many, and few ever watched.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can dispose of these things? I don't want just to bin them, but I don't see ebay as a viable route as there are too many and the postage would cost more than the return on the items. Not to mention the effort in packing them up. I should have thought that any residual value these tapes have is as a collection of the entire series in each case, rather than as individual tapes with two episodes on each.

Geek alert

What with the forthcoming weekend being a bank holiday and all - the last before Chrimble (staggers in disbelief at the speedy passage of time), I thought I might avail myself of the opportunity to tunnel into the mess that is my kitchen. There is precious little food stored in there, but far, far too many boxes and bits and pieces.

There is no room to manoeuvre, so some clearing is necessary. I suspect that this will mean sorting out and discarding books - something I hate doing - or at least taking them to a charity shop somewhere. In practice it will be the novels that go. It I am to get rid of books they will not be my history or otherwise factual tomes, it will be the paperbacks novels of dubious quality that go, and not all of them, either.

I really ought to get rid of a whole load of videos, too. I almost never watch them and all in all they were a grand waste of money. I have, and no longer need, a complete run of Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. In addition I have season one, and part of season two of Star Trek: Voyager. That is eighteen and a bit seasons of Trek in one form or another.

Add to that, seven seasons of X-Files, four of Babylon 5 and umpteen Dr Who Videos, and it becomes clear why I have no money or space. And the resale value of all these bulky PAL videos in this digital DVD age? Verging on zilch.

There are movies, too. Far too many, and few ever watched.

Does anyone have any ideas on how I can dispose of these things? I don't want just to bin them, but I don't see ebay as a viable route as there are too many and the postage would cost more than the return on the items. Not to mention the effort in packing them up. I should have thought that any residual value these tapes have is as a collection of the entire series in each case, rather than as individual tapes with two episodes on each.

Next year in Jerusalem

Just bloody typical, ain't it?

There I was, looking forward at long last to getting broadband, and...

First of all the number on the flyer sent me to the Teeside office. They gave me a new number, and after a quick redial a very polite gentleman took my details and told me that flier notwithstanding, ntl broadband is not available in my area. In fact it's only available in 30% of ntl's London catchment area. I, of course, live in the other 70%. Bugger. So ntl are rubbish. No change there then.

I asked when it is likely to become available, and he said this "time next year - but the engineers always tell us that."

So, for the foreseeable future, it's 56k all the way.

Again.

Next year in Jerusalem

Just bloody typical, ain't it?

There I was, looking forward at long last to getting broadband, and...

First of all the number on the flyer sent me to the Teeside office. They gave me a new number, and after a quick redial a very polite gentleman took my details and told me that flier notwithstanding, ntl broadband is not available in my area. In fact it's only available in 30% of ntl's London catchment area. I, of course, live in the other 70%. Bugger. So ntl are rubbish. No change there then.

I asked when it is likely to become available, and he said this "time next year - but the engineers always tell us that."

So, for the foreseeable future, it's 56k all the way.

Again.