Today I have a button on my radio I won't need to press any more.

Many years ago, I had a book. I used to write down the names of records, the obscure labels and just about every detail I could glean about the records John Peel played. Later, when I discovered Neil at Bubblegum, and then made direct contact with labels in the US I managed to finally track down most of them. I spent huge amounts of money on many obscure records, and I still own quite a collection of strange and wonderful music.

Occasionally, even now I will stumble across something from the book which I didn't managed to find back then. The record is eleven years to finally find an Ed's Redeeming Qualities cassette called 'More Bad Things'. Nowadays, in this remarkable internet age, I've even got a recording of the very night John Peel played the track, back in 1991. Times change. I probably wouldn't have a book nowadays, just a good connection and file sharing software...

And so farewell then John Peel, groundbreaking DJ, consummate family man and antidote to banal radio. The news arrived in the office late this afternoon. Didn't quite believe it at first - he is one of those people who has always been around, and seemed like he always would be. The few of us still around later talked a bit about his shows and the music he played. We're a diverse bunch, and perhaps the most remarkable thing was that everyone from 18-50 had a memory, an opinion, or some music which somehow was related to him. Some mentioned his unashamed pride and love for his family, which he expressed so strongly and frankly during his 'Home Truths' programmes, an unusual trait in these cynically detached days.

Thanks John, for opening my ears to lots of things I'd never have otherwise heard, and for one brief mention of a certain tape label a long time ago.

Yesterday evening I finally decided it was time to move my main machine to Ubuntu. I've hung on to an old Fedora Core 1 installation on this machine for far too long, wondering if my hardware would work with a 2.6 kernel. Things were beginning to get a bit flaky, and I knew I had to do something soon. I've not been convinced by recent developments in the Fedora camp, so the recent successful experiment with Ubuntu on the other machine was a relief.

The process wasn't entirely painless for me - but the install was, of course, completely simple and refreshingly straightforward. I struggled with getting my DSL modem working - all down to hotplug trying too hard, and then set about grabbing lots of updates. Finally, this morning I started restoring services - IMAP was much easier than before, the webserver confounded me for a while. Eventually, I'm almost back to where I started, but with a clean, quick and updated system. Best of all is the work put in on the Project Utopia stuff - just plug in the camera and I get the picture, things just work. Which is great.

Hard work, but worth it.

A damp, dark morning. Since my itinerary for last week had not included Wales at all, I decided to repeat my trip of almost a year ago, and head for Rhymney. I could, at least, be assured of some Class 37 haulage up the valley and the chance to wander around Cardiff Central for a bit.

Quick change at Bristol, onto a rather busy Cardiff-bound 158. Bang on time, and rather loudly, 37402 arrived. I'd wanted a ride behind 'Bont Y Bermo' for a while, so I settled in for a very wet climb up to Rhymney.

Braved the rain on arrival and hopped out for a photograph of the locomotive as it ran around. As expected, the journey back to Cardiff was much busier. Passed by 37422 and 37425 on the way down. A rather extended stop at Queen Street for a unexpected attempt at changing crew, and back to an ever wetter Cardiff.

Onto the 1300 back as far as Bristol. This also hung around for a while at Cardiff - seemingly down to fitters attention to a jammed window in the drivers cab. On arriving at Bristol, wandered around a little. Very gloomy and quiet. Watched the Weymouth 31's leave, and chatted to a fellow enthusiast for a while.

Not sure if it was the after effects of last week, or the wet weather, but a rather quiet and subdued day.

The Birthday. I have to confess that this October has seen none of the strange badness which normally plagues the month for me. I've actually managed a successful holiday, made some reasonable work progress, and generally stayed positive in a reclusive sense.

Today however was a little tough. Woke late, feeling appalling - considering most of the UK population I met on my travels had either a severe cold or a stomach bug, I'm amazed I lasted so long before succumbing. Struggled into work, and through six rather tricky appeal hearings, which were none too successful.

Some positives - had my attendance at a conference organised by our software suppliers approved, which means a couple of days of intensive networking and hopefully sharing experiences with other authorities struggling with the same problems. Also arrived home to find my ticket for the LAMAS Local History Conference at the Museum of London. Booked the train ride. Should be an interesting day, just a week after my visit for the Lord Mayor's Show.

On the birthday front, things were quiet - which was what I prefer. Being out of the office for much of the day prevented any ceremony there! A call from my parents and a couple of text messages from important people.