I cannot believe a company has the cheek to charge you to take your business elsewhere.

I am taking over the running of a website from a colleague and so want to transfer the domain to my registration service. The domain is currently on Freeola and I have just been informed that they charge £12 + VAT just to change the IPS tag. Mine (123-REG - great service by the way) does not charge anything if I want to transfer out and doesn't charge to transfer in either. [Edit: not .co.uk and .org.uk domains at least.]

I checked with Nominet and they do not charge these registration companies to do this so Freeola is purely profit taking out of a customer who is leaving them. I could get Nominet to do it for us but that cost £10+VAT and would probably be considerably more complicated and take longer I suspect. It is tempting just so that Freeola don't get the money.

However, if I was in any doubt about moving the domain, this has convinced me totally.

...about the environment, I guess.

I was in my local pub and I moved up along the bench to let someone else sit down and scalded my hand on the radiator! I wondered why we were so hot inside as there is air conditioning. Crazy. I had had a few by then and when i got out had to rush for the bus but will definitely check next time I am in there and ask them wtf is going on.

My favourite quote from any conference I have ever seen: On the subject of why the teachers got their pay deal backdated in full and Jacqui Smith decided not to:

"Home Secretary, what is it that Mr Balls has but you do not?"

I think we all know the answer to that! The look on the Secretary of State's face said it all.

Plain chocolate Hob Nobs are back! More than that, they are Buy One Get One Free at Morrisons! I never shop there as a rule but happened to be driving past and,conscious of my carbon footprint, decided to give them a go. Thank goodness I did!

Heaven on Earth. Now for a cuppa and a nibble (or six)...

from too many to list...

Borrowed from alex_holden and cuddles_batcave journals:

( Edited to put behind a cut. )
23 and 9. Guess I am not a total telly addict.

Happy Birthday Big Ben!      The bell is 150 years old today!

Now I am quite simply so fed up with it I would cheer if a local cat caught the sodding Blackbird! As it started about 3 days before my first post on this subject - here - that makes it 45 days of bashing itself against my various windows. The bird-of-prey outlines I have stuck to the windows are treated with contempt (it may not actually hit within 30 cm of the image but if that was a hawk, it would swoop and the bird would be no more - and to be honest I wish it were).

I said at the beginning I didn't want any harm to come to the bird, but after all this time of trying everything to get rid of the damn thing, and the constant irritation and distraction from anything I want to do, I really am past caring.

If I could catch it, I don't think I would drive it to the country and release it (just in case it is a homing blackbird) I think I would try Blackbird Pie!

Happy Birthday to the_magician. Have a great day!

Blackbird is back. How much longer caqn it live, spending so much time bashing into my windows?