StevieM

I'm going to wait for the Hollywood remake - The Imitation of the Imitation Game. Watched Hawaii, Oslo last night. Pretty good.

Mostly Radio 3, but the occasional Radio 4 show too. I used to have R4 on a lot, but I'm finding that the older I get, the less I'm able to handle the perpetually depressing news stories.

Er...ahem...yep! I managed to find a dog friendly B&B nearby and they said it was OK to leave her in the room while I was out on the course. That was great because it meant I didn't have to try to find someone to look after her while I was away for the two nights. So, I drive down to Worcester the night before and check into the B&B. The next morning, as I'm getting ready to leave to start my training, I remember that I need to remind the owner not to bother 'refreshing' the room, as the dog was in there and she may not take kindly to someone she doesn't know coming in. Only then does it hit me... I'd only booked the B&B for 2 nights and I needed to check-out the next morning. What was I going to do with Jess? I sheepishly asked Alan if he'd mind if she came along the next day and he very kindly agreed. Give her her due, she's really well behaved and just sat under the desk all day, but I know she shouldn't have been there. This time, however, I've booked a room in the B&B for the Friday night so she can stay there and I can drive home at my leisure on the Saturday.

I think this is a good point in the proceedings to post this:

Update: I am now a member.

I'm certainly considering signing up as a member (I'm already a member of both FOE and Greenpeace), but putting myself forward as a candidate... I wouldn't want to bring the party into disrepute!

The only party I can vote for with a clean conscience is Green. Unfortunately, they don't appear to be fielding a candidate in my constituency, which just so happens to be one of, if not the safest Labour seat in the country. So, once again, I shall be spoiling my ballot paper.

Excellent!

The Ginger Pig, if I recall. The free lunch provided at The Pheasant when I was down there in January for a W8 course was good though, although I might try the Pig if I fancy a change sometime. I've still got a week of AD/GP training to do at some point. I've also booked an extra night at the B&B so I don't have to take my dog to the training centre on the last day. (I can't believe I was so stupid last time!)

Thanks I've seen them advertised before, but they don't ship to the UK anymore. I'll keep looking for a reseller.

Absolutely! My first check would be to see which, if any, contractors have been to all, or at least several, of the schools involved.

Which one did you buy, where did you buy it from and how much was it? I'm thinking of getting one for our school.

I'm on a 3-day Server 2012 Administration course with NEOS in Worcester during the second week. I'm actually really looking forward to it, even though it's supposed to be a school holiday. I'll also be catching up on school website updates.

Lovefilm is now Amazon Prime - Pretty much the reason I cancelled my subscription.

MUBI (£2.99 per month or £22.99 for the full year) Berliner Philharmoniker Digital Concert Hall - I think I paid about £100 for a year's access to all live concerts and everything in the archive. By the way, if anybody would like a free trial of either, please PM me.

You beat me to it, @sonofsanta. I'm not so much annoyed that Microsoft have stopped giving away something that they have every right to charge for, it's the fact that the didn't tell anyone - even their so called partners - in advance. Suppliers had to jump through all kinds of hoops to be able to take part in the Technology Access Program, only to have it rebranded as the Considerably Reduced Access Program shortly afterwards. Going back to the original topic, it will be interesting to see how many suppliers of cheap yoghurts will suddenly be able to 'absorb' some of the cost of spoons now they have to pay for them again.

I hope Microsoft are going to compensate you for that marketing campaign you've just paid for!

Caveat Emptor! - Not all suppliers offer the same level of service or have the same product knowledge, ergo the cheapest quote may not always be the best quote. That's why we switched to Millgate (who actually matched the previous price anyway!).

Absolutely. We switched to @Millgate at the end of our first year with no problems whatsoever.

I'm just organising a Sponsored Practice-a-thon with kids from school and it reminded me that I never got around to donating to you. All done now! Er... actually, what I meant was I thought I'd leave it for a bit in order to bump the thread again...

It all made sense at the time, but hey, dems da breaks! I don't care now that we've got our lovely Pirate PCs anyway.

Nope. Our separate Office subscription and Server/CALs subscription cover those.

You'd get the standard version of the OS, but you'd have to pay to upgrade to Pro/Enterprise. This could be done either with EES/OVS or Select, depending on which would work out cheaper for you. Going back to my original post, which appeared to court some controversy, I'd say that this system does seem a little fairer. ALL schools get a basic OS for a tiny fraction of the price. Schools who pay for an OS subscription get upgrade rights included. Those who don't can pay for an upgrade licence, which is cheaper than buying the full OS. As for spoons and yoghurts, we're still using Windows 7 and will be until I know Windows 10 is stable. TAP ended up being OK for us when VeryPC became a Microsoft Named Partner. Because they were then able to give us spoons for a tiny fraction of the usual price, we ended up getting a whole suite of these luxury yoghurts (complete with the fabulous custom branding and a 5-year warranty) for the same price we were quoted for generic budget-price yoghurts. The downside is, we still have another 18 months on our Windows OVS agreement and there are now only 2 PCs in the whole school that actually benefit, as we own Pro licences outright for the rest. C'est la vie!

Glad to help. I, too, seem to spend more time asking for assistance rather than giving it.

Take a look at this, @mcoyne - SWGfL E-Safety Boost. I remember seeing @Dos_Box's brother give a presentation about it in Manchester last year. I think it may be just the thing you're looking for.