In preparation for our upcoming trip to Tokyo I decided to check with airline KLM to ensure that my booking was complete and seats reserved. I toddled off to the KLM website using Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2 (since the window happened to be open) and was promptly informed that my browser wasn’t supported (click the image to the right).
The stupid thing about the method of detection they’ve employed is that it’s all JavaScript based, since the website loads without problems and then redirects to the error message. Once there, you can simply opt to continue using your current browser anyway and the site works without problems. Amazing!
The problem, of course, extends from using the browser’s UserAgent string to make a guess at compatibility. In this case a newer version of an existing browser, which you would reasonably expect to have the same feature set, has caused problems simply through not being recognised.
The answer is not to do any browser detection and – assuming your site is complex enough to warrant it – simply provide a link to a technical problems help page. Writing your site in a non-browser-specific way should be a no-brainer these days, too.
Amtrak, the big parcel carrier in the UK and not the train company of the same name in the United States, announced on Friday that they had appointed Administrators. A note on the website reads:
I. Best and T. Lukic were appointed as Administrators of Netfold Limited t /as Amtrak on Friday evening 22nd August and the Company has subsequently ceased trading. As a result Netfold Ltd t/as Amtrak cannot meet your future requirements for parcel carriage.
An insider said that staff were paid on Friday as normal, so things have not gone completely down the toilet. With the Credit Crunch in full swing, however, there are going to be a lot of unhappy families out there.
Over on the MoneySavingExpert forums, it appears a number of Kleeneze distributors were given notice about the situation on Saturday morning and there are more than a few parcels stuck at the central hub in Aldridge.
Taking a break out of my usual routine of tootling up to Scotland for a week of unpredictable weather, questionable cooking and general laziness, we decided instead to head South almost as far as we could get without going over a cliff. The first place to spring to mind was Devon, and so it was that we found ourselves at the King’s Down Tail Caravan and Camping Park late on Saturday afternoon.
From the outset, the weather was not promising. I say we arrived late afternoon but it was really sometime around evening when we finally got there – my own fault for setting off on a Saturday morning with thousands of other holidaymakers, all of whom apparently had the same idea that ‘South = Warm’ and headed off the same way. To describe the traffic as bad would be a missed opportunity to use the word ‘atrocious’. Ever the skinflint, I could have reused the same word for the weather and the state of the camp site, which had hosted a wedding reception in the back field and hence was full of churned mud.
But hey, we’ve been to Scotland plenty of times and it always rains there, so after throwing the tent up in record time – during a downpour I might add – we moved in to our temporary home and after a hasty tea of sausages, beans and eggs we settled down for a good night’s sleep, ready to be up and away early the next day.
Sadly, the rain continued on Sunday morning but we were lucky to escape the confines of Base Camp long enough to attend a fair at the Donkey Sanctuary down the road. We entered the dog into a show in the ‘Most Handsome Dog’, ‘Waggiest Tail’ and ‘Best Rescue Dog’ categories, all of which he failed miserably, and had a nice afternoon out looking at Donkeys and watching them do general Donkey things. The ladies raided the gift shop while I took a few photos and all was good. At least until it rained again, but we were back in the car by then.
Monday was still wet but bearable and we visited nearby Exmouth for a walk along the front, as well as a walk along the Exmouth to Lympstone cycleway. Dog impressed a crowd of onlookers with his considerable swimming prowess – quite amazing considering he won’t even get in the bath without a lot of shouting. The rains eventually returned and we retired to the tent, damp but in good spirits.
Bobby, NOT running.
Tuesday was overcast again and we headed off to Torquay for a walk around the marina. We photographed plenty of boats and seagulls, ate sandwiches and just generally strolled around like a bunch of tourists. I needed to get online to keep an eye on things but both of the web cafes we actually found were closed. Dog was not allowed to show off in Torquay, but after visiting the excellent Bygones Victorian Museum we continued on to Babbacombe Beach where he was able to romp in the impossibly clean water to his heart’s content.
Wednesday saw us in Sidmouth where I found a small computer repair shop which also provided Internet Access. 50p later and I was satisfied things had not collapsed in my absense, so we took a look around the main town cantre. Sidmouth is a great little town, and once my Lottery numbers come up I’d genuinely consider moving there. There were no CCTV cameras, none of the infestations of roadsigns that plague our area and the only time we heard a siren was when an ambulance went hurtling by.
After the town we visited the beach where Dog had a good run, rolled in some partially-eaten fish and chased the seagulls while we posed for photos – not without some trepidation – in the tiny caves at the base of the crumbling cliffs.
Thursday dawned clear and dry, and we wasted no time in piling into the car and driving off before it changed its mind. Our initial destination was Canonteign Falls where we climbed the hillside around the 220ft waterfall, right to the top. The view was well worth the climb and we probably took just over an hour altogether. Back at Base Camp, I misjudged the level of mud and almost got the car stuck. Whoops.
After a brief lunch we headed off for Beer where we browsed the shops and walked along the pebbly beach. Like any good tourist, I also took the time to pose alongside the town’s excellent road sign. I may even have bared my impressive belly at some point. Finally we visited Lyme Regis for an hour or so, a seaside town full of narrow, twisty back streets, semi-hidden restaurants and art galleries. Mum tormented a young seagull by stealing it’s toy doll (seriously) and we strolled along the seafront for a last look at the South before heading back to the campsite for our last night.
The good weather on Friday only served to angry up the blood as we crawled through three motorways full of bloody tailbacks. The M5, M42 and even the M1 all suffered from ‘too many cars’, even on a Friday, and it took almost as long to get home as it did to get there. We finally made it home, unpacked the car and put up our feet. I am tempted to say ‘Never Again’ with regards to Devon, but it seems we simply picked the wrong week for weather and the wrong time to travel. Maybe next year.
OK, since my teabagging caper, I’ve been making a mental note of how to save even more cash during this period of skintiness. Not for nothing am I known as a tightarse – at some point or other I’ve done all of the following:
Buy Reduced
Hang around the reduced section of the supermarket for some last minute bargains. This one is difficult to do because – at least where I live – it’s a popular one. Any food on the last day of its shelf life will be marked down by at least a quarter during the day, and by as much as 80% in the last few hours. As long as you don’t mind mixing and matching some bizarre stuff, you can eat quite cheaply this way.
Buy Big, When Cheap
Taking into account the above, don’t be afraid (or embarrassed) to fill your basket with packets of sliced meat, pork pies or anything else that can be bunged into the freezer when you get home. If it’s cheap, fill your boots.
BOGOF, Sometimes.
Buy One, Get One Free only applies when it’s something you would normally buy anyway, otherwise you’re spending money for no reason.
Go Downmarket.
Lesser-known stores like Lidl, Aldi and (our regular haunt) Netto have some cracking bargains for branded and noname goods. £2.09 for 4 tins of Branston Beans? Not on your life, sonny! Netto have these for half that price. Similarly, there’s only so much difference between Princes Tuna Steak and SuperBlue Fish Brand Tuna as far as your tastebuds are concerned.
Go Down t’Market.
Farmer’s Markets or Farm Shops are great ways to get fresh veg direct from the farm, cutting out the middleman and helping farmers earn more than supermarkets would pay them. Make sure, however, that the prices are cheaper and the goods are from their farms – we’ve found people selling cage eggs from 40+ miles away, in a so-called farm shop. While on your travels, be sure to make a mental note of every ‘Eggs for Sale’ sign you see – you can get massive discounts from the guy with a few chickens at the bottom of the yard.
Eat Out Less
Cooking your own food not only ensures you know exactly what’s going into it, but you’re not paying the wages of cooking staff or the rent on the premises either. If you must eat out, pick where you shop carefully – Fish and Chips on Cleethorpes Sea Front can cost £4, whereas in the centre of Grimsby it’s less than half that.
Save 10p a Litre on Fuel
Well kind of. If you adapt your driving you can save a packet. On the flat, drive in the highest gear you can (a modern diesel can go as low as 30mph in 5th gear), use the best midrange for going uphill and accelerate downhill. If you must accelerate on the flat, do it slowly, and always coast where you can. Remove all the unecessary junk from the boot and the roof-rack from the … roof. If you can up your mpg by 10% – from 45 to 50 for example – you’re saving 10% on fuel, and that’s over 10p a litre these days.
Car Share! Car Share! Party Time! Excellent!
Car share to go to work, car share for shopping, car share any time there’s two car owners going to the same place at the same time. Work out with your neighbour when to go shopping and take the car – it’ll most likely be quicker, cheaper and more convenient than public transport. As if that’s not enough, it also helps stave off boredom on longer journeys.
Turn the Lights Off
Not only should you be switching your incandescents to energy savers, but you should be switching off unused lights as well, especially those spots that seem to be all the rage. You know the ones – we have five in the bathroom, four in my office and even a couple in the kitchen and all of them kick out a tremendous amount of heat. Heat in summer? Yeah we’ve got enough of that, thanks.
Use a Laptop
Obviously this only applies if you have the choice between a Laptop and a Desktop computer. Do you need your quad-core, Dual SLI gaming rig sucking down electricity just to check your email? Laptops are efficient by design since they occasionally have to run off batteries, plus you can carry it with you into whatever room you happen to be using, saving money on lighting, heating and so on.
Swap Credit Cards
Move any credit card debt onto a lower rate card – the difference can be huge. Some cards have rates of 19% or more for purchases, but you can transfer them onto (for example) a Barclaycard at 6.5% for the life of the transfer and with no transfer fee. And don’t bother saving more than a couple of month’s ‘Survival Money’ – your interest rate from the bank is unlikely to be higher than the rate on your card, so pay the damned thing off.
Cut your Services
There are roughly 300 Channels in Sky TV’s lineup, and it’s a sure bet you don’t need them all. Will your life really feel incomplete without your weekly dose of ‘Fuji House of Commotion’? Cut back on those channels, or dump Sky entirely and get a Freeview box for the price of a month’s subscription. And unless you’re an Internet Pirate, you can cut your broadband back a little as well.
I’m sure there are many more areas where you can save a few quid – why not let us know via the comments form, below?
The missingMajordomoCf error crops up while trying to add a site if your Base Maillist package is not installed for whatever reason. In our case it was a problematic update which cause it to be removed, but you may also have uninstalled it manually to sidestep MajorDomo spam.
Reinstalling the package is simple, but the files are not signed, so before you start you need to turn off the GPG Check for the BlueQuartz repository. To do this, edit the file /etc/yum.repos.d/BlueQuartz-Base.repo and change gpgcheck=1 to gpgcheck=0.
Now you can perform a yum install base-maillist* and the package will be reinstalled without errors. Once done, change gpgcheck back to 1 as detailed above and all should be well.
Voila! No more missingMajordomoCf error! Hopefully.
