Been a busy two days, today has largely been spent finishing off the work on the Anglia Bus Forum from yesterday's server move.

Last night, we were out for a bit at the first night of a Yogic Breathing course, that was being led by the counsellor that we've both seen recently.

This is going to be a busy week...

As members have been advised, Anglia Bus Forum is moving to a new server - following a very kind offer from a host ran by one of our members, to reduce my costs, as well as being able to resolve a long-running niggle with the database.

So, as advised at the end of last week, today, the Forum will be down for a bit.

The current status is that the work is moving along as planned. The Forum has been closed (to enable an end point for the "old" installation, otherwise we would lose stuff!) temporaily, and the request to change the nameservers (those that tell your browser where to go) has been submitted. (With our current host I am unable to do this myself).

Keep refreshing this blog post, as I will update it over the day, with further news and updates.

UPDATE 1214: Nameservers updated.

UPDATE 1556: Not a lot else to say, most files now copied across. Should not be too long now.

UPDATE 1814: The Forum is now open once more, although some of the images etc. may still be missing. This should be resolved by around 1900.

In this post, I mentioned STV had reused one of my images. Well, I've now had word back from the media company...

Hello

I was forwarded your email regarding the use of your bus picture of our website, thanks for drawing our attention to the matter.

I did not realise that the picture had been taken from another site, as normally we only use our own material. I have had a word with the person responsible, and made clear that we should not do this again, and deleted the image from our picture archive, so it will not be used again in the future.

Thanks again for taking the time to contact us.

I've been having problems with my websites, Forums etc. - tried on both connections, not currently working. Have submitted a ticket, details to follow. Keep refreshing this page for further updates.

ADDED 1105: Hi there, We are currently suffering an outage on the server 'rampage.3v0.net' due to a cPanel and Kernel issue regarding memory, we are currently working on the issue and will be rebooting the server once the cPanel issue has been resolved to fix the memory issue and updates are being provided here: www.twitter.com/evohosting We will update you again once this is resolved.

ADDED 1126: Quota check now finished, a few other things are being fixed now - hopefully we can reboot soon and get things back to norm.

ADDED 1145: Web has been up for about ten minutes now

Now today, I should be arriving at work, but I was off today, with various issues on the Dundee Area Bus Forum, and medical. In the end, I Managed to get the Forum issues resolved, after some emailing and phoning around!, but also, now got a response back re my wait for revision/surgery. Apparently, I'm next in the list for a slot at the Princes Royal Hosp (Haywards Heath)... which is a good way to round off what started as a bad day!

(Did that make sense?)

The newest of my web work – Suzy’s Picture Gallery at http://pics.suzyscott.com will contain all the new pictures taken from mid-September 2009. The idea is for the new Picture Gallery to showcase the new, higher resolution pictures on the new camera, and anything else in the future.

Suzy’s Picture Skip http://suzyscott.fotopic.net continues as an archive, subject to host availability. I may well add a few more of the remaining pictures. This will also lead to a little bit of shuffling around. The pics that used to be on Scotbus.com will now also join the Photo Skip, essentially as that becomes an archive. I’m clearing out some old pieces of stuff from the server, but everything else will remain as is. There may well be some future tweaks to my web stuff, as time and resources permit. While I would have liked to have remained on Fotopic indefinitely, unfortunately it’s not as reliable as it used to be!

Thanks to shullie for passing on a voucher web link earlier on in the week, we've just been out to Toby Carvery at Stevenage for a lovely lunch (and some grocery shopping on the journey home.) Farmfoods FTW, where else would you find authentic Scotch Pies in Stevenage?

Also had a delivery of one or two clothing items, and finally found a few items of underwear that fit - not sure why it's been such a problem recently, maybe I've just been delusional over sizes...

Now working on another web project...

It’s been a busy little while. In a discussion with carolinetoo, I said that we’d not stopped doing things – just I have less time to write them up. Bits appear on Facebook, Fotopic, etc., but the diary remains – as much for my benefit as everyone else!

So, we are now 25 months and 8 days together. I’ve caught up a bit with OU stuff, the TMA03 for T175 went in last night (bit late I know, but already discussed). Intend to have a look at the TMA for M150 tomorrow. LiveJournal caught up with, transport stuff to follow. Deliveries for today, everything from food to timetable books, all delivered, with more for later in the week. We were out briefly last night – on the way home from PB on Sunday, we stopped at Baldock Services on the A1[M] and Caroline liked the look of the mini pizza and unique seasoned fries from Pizza Hut Express – to have another, and get an armful of M&S stuff from the small adjacent food store. We’re in the midst of some changes – reducing a little of what we buy, plus a few other ideas to try and reduce other problems like upset tummies and stuff (stuff like buying smaller milk jugs instead of larger ones). There will be some “fairly ground breaking” stuff in weeks to come (albeit by my standards) so keep an eye out for all that.

One notable snippet – I was very tired on Monday, went to bed for a lie-down about 1900, but just lay on the bed. Energy came back, couldn’t sleep until after 0100. Very productive Tuesday. Turns out that I’d forgotten all my night pills…

It’s been a busy last week and a bit, since my last post. C has been unwell for the last few days, in the meantime I’ve been getting on with web and dead-tree stuff, TMA02 for T175 (my CMA41 for T175 got me 92%!), a visit with work to Cambridge Crown Court yesterday, and preparing to go away for a couple of days (two friends & I) tomorrow.

But, it was a headline that I spotted yesterday while out in Cambridge, that caught my eye - Bailiffs grab wrong home after blunder. Yes, this is something that the Scottish equivalent (sheriff officers) did to me about eight months back, remember? Except this time, it wasn’t the wrong number, but the wrong road!

So, in the meantime, hello to all the newbies who’ve started reading, or made contact for the first time, of late. Yes, this is our 25th month anniversary, but we’ve put that off till Monday (it’s a bank holiday in this part of the world), and having a day out then too.

Looking back on the last seven days, it’s been a busy week. OK, so I lost my phone, and that added a little bit more work to it.

To add to the items since my last diary post, I made my 1000th post on my LiveJournal, got the first draft of my new book arrived for proofing, been out to Cambridge and work a few times, done CMA41 (Computer Marked Assessment 41 – the 1st one) for T175, and I’ve got TMA02 (Tutor Marked Assessment) to have a look through in the next few days.

Further to last Saturday’s developments, I’ve got the plans in place now for the new look BABUS website – an initial one-page design seemed favourable, so it will be a few pages similar to the previous one, plus a Bulletin Board to add once it goes live. (I’m hoping the domain transfers in the coming week). We’ve had the Sky engineer turn up, and they managed to fit it all first time (unlike when they had to get Special Heights Team in for my flat in Dundee). I’ve been keeping busy, having good times. As well as doing a copy of my book, I did Caroline and myself a printed copy of the first two years, and it’s been interesting to see how far I’ve came – and we’ve came – in that time.

Now, plans for the next week and a bit mean I might be quiet, but I will be around. Somewhere. Like today, and I went out briefly to catch up with the new bus in town – but came back soon after dropping off at the post office. You see, it’s been a busy week, and it’s been just nice to relax with Caroline.

It’s been a busy week, dear reader. If you think I’ve been haring about up and down the A14, well, not yet. There will be time to try out the new high specification (it says here) buses on the 15/45/55. Seeing everyone else’s pictures, hopefully they will turn out to be better (or just as good) in the flesh! I’ve already seen several posts via Facebook “trying the WiFi on the 55”… well, it happened when it was new on the X5, Edinburgh routes, 900, etc. so why not!

You see, I’ve very busy this week, working on the 2009 edition of the Dundee Area Bus Fleetbook – the printed list of stuff for the Dundee Area Bus Forum coverage area. It’s going to be almost 50% bigger than last year, as I’ve included a lot of stuff that was asked for. The price has to go up, but not by 50% - jus enough to cover costs, and leave a little towards paying for the Forums for a few months. It doesn’t make me rich, and it is as much a reference for me, as everyone else! It’s almost ready to upload to Lulu, then get one printed off to check, before opening them for sale to the public in the next few weeks.

I’ve got Uni stuff to return to, and two more assessments before the end of this month, before I start dusting off the picture submissions for an Anglia Bus Fleetbook – new for 2009, but already going to be much bigger than everything else!

Speaking of things to do, I was approached a few weeks ago about looking after a website and a forum board, for a group. Going to their committee meetings tomorrow, and if all that is sealed, then I should be able to talk about it. I did notice that their website hadn’t been updated for some time… but they asked, I didn’t even have the chance to offer. Apparently the guy had heard of the work I did on the Anglia Bus Forum, and was rather happy with the way I operate it.

I’m getting a reputation – and a good one! It’s not going to make me rich, but as long as I’m comfortable, in more ways than one…

… and there is something else that I will come back to in due course (hopefully) as something else has caught my eye.

I’m asked often how I got into public transport, and the truth is, I just don’t know for certain. My dad was a conductor with Dundee Corporation Transport, but only for two weeks, before returning to his own trade as a baker. We always used public transport, as no one in our family could drive. I remember vaguely spotting a service change poster or something, and it went from there. Just like the transition thing, it was always the right thing to do – just, like so many other things in life, I was unable to pin it down to one specific incident or moment in my life. With transition, I just knew by the age of six that I could/should/would change. As for everything else that comes with it – well, that comes and goes. I hoped that one day, I would have changed, and be comfortable, enjoying what I was doing, but not necessarily working in transport. Health has been a problem, but we’re now happy and comfortable. Yes, sometimes things get in the way, and I am in no way rich…. But getting along.

Anyway, soon off to work, where I can swap typing about places such as Rottal (a village in the Angus Glens, served by two school buses) for talking about ROTL…

Launched today, Thursday 12th February, is DundeeBuses.info – the newest of Suzy’s web projects.

The concept of a simple, online timetable source has been one that has came and went many times, and was inspired by a similar site of a friend-of-a-friend in NY State. It was designed to be simple schedules and fares and maps only, no JavaScript, no pop-ups, no entering journey details - just simple information, whenever you needed it.

I had the majority of the timetables as PDF’s on my computer, so I thought – why not? I’ve put this site together for information, which I’ve been asked for many times!

The PDF’s or GIF’s on this webpage are from the operators own websites, but are hosted on my server space – meaning, if their site is down, you can come here. You will find all the timetables in PDF or GIF format, which can be opened and easily printed, where possible. In some cases, I have scanned paper timetable leaflets, where no suitable PDF exists. Some timetables may have an amendment added - if this is the case, this will be on the very first page.

Please note – this information is supplied in good faith, but I cannot accept any liability for loss or damage caused by failure of the bus services to operate. While bus operators do everything that they can to ensure services operate as scheduled, circumstances beyond their control mean that they may not always succeed.

If you do not know which service you require, there is a downloadable copy of the Travel Dundee network map there, or you can have a look at the Dundee Journey Planner or Traveline Scotland sites.

No excuse to be lazy... but it's been okay. Time allowed has been fine, and may well balance up later. Had enough time to update the other Forms and stuff today too. As well as lunch, I made a lasgane for dinner, borrowing a few tips from a post from lips_of_tragedy - added some spice to it too, which I thought would have weakened a little. Maybe just a little.

Tonight was the first online tutorial - one of the double booking on Saturday past was postponed to online tonight (the other wasn't), and after everyone was settled, it went well enough.

My webstuff that uses mySQL - Anglia Bus Forum, Anglia Bus Forum Photo Gallery, and Dundee Area Bus Forum, all appear to be down right now. The plain HTML stuff, like scotbus.com/techpark etc. is all still there.

TIcket submitted.

LATER (1906) : Host reply that "We are aware of this issue and working on resolving it, we will keep you updated."

EVEN LATER (2040): Apache (the web server) is pulling 500 errors on all PHP scripts. The host is rebuilding cPanel, hoping (after the Apache rebuild didn't work) that this will resolve matters. Try in about twenty minutes - i.e. just after 2100.

LATER STILL (2054): ALL BACK, BY THE LOOKS OF THINGS! SORRY PEEPS!

Glitches may well continue through the night.

It’s been a busy week, and I slowly feel that I’m getting out of the dark (bad weather this week, gradually getting better in time for the weekend!) In fact, earlier, I had the lyrics “after the rain comes… the sun!” in my head… dug it out on YouTube…


Aside from that, it’s been an intense week or two.

This week has been split into a number of things.

1. Went to the doctor on Wednesday re this constant (intermittent) tiredness. Following letter from Dr Gerber at Sandyford, changed the Amitriptyline and Citalopram for Trazodone Hydrochloride, phasing out the Citalopram though. However, having said that, I’d not been there for a while (and, it was survey week!). Walked through the door, and he said that the lump on my side, that I’d had a ultrasound for, has turned out to be safe. Okay, but I’d not had an ultrasound, and I do not have a lump on my side! He’s got me confused with someone else, he thinks. Anyway, more blood tests, but these weren’t too bad (no bruises this time). Phoned up a few minutes ago, and most of them are back, and are “normal” – but to call back on Monday for the rest. Anyway, sleeping has been a bit impossible – real headache last night!

2. Web stuff has been a pain. Tried another host, who since prove to be not much use (I’d require to have a separate account per domain name, which is a problem if you want to share common web files etc.). Oh well, something sales didn’t point out. I’ve found another that appears to be a bit better, may be a potential replacement for my current. The MySQL tables are stringing out errors that have come from no-where, and it’s not really my best subject. There’s a plan for next week perhaps, as it’s taken up a lot of my time this week (and funds that I had laid aside for this weekend!)

3. As I type this, Tuesday 30th September (the last day of the month) isn’t far away, but it marks 18 months of my relationship with cmmathieson . That’s good, but on Thursday 16th October, it Is also the one-year anniversary since my surgery. Keep watching!

4. More immediate plans for this weekend, out hopefully on Saturday, then at Showbus at IWM Duxford on Sunday.

Hopefully, things will continue to improve!

Now, to fill in the background of this… two weeks before, the server went down for several hours. So, as a result, the (web hosting) company’s policy says I can claim a free month, so I did, and I was told that it was done.

I was surprised, therefore, to be receiving daily reminders, saying it had not been paid!

Yesterday, after the 13th day of such status, I put in a support ticket, alerting them to the fact that on day 14, the server may automatically cut me off. No response, but on checking the members area, this showed the invoice was gone – deleted – no money owing. (I could have just paid it, but I suspected this could happen next month too. Of course, now the invoice is gone, I can’t pay it!)

So, come this morning, everything is down and suspended from 0931 (9.31am, uk time).

OK, I woke up soon after, checked, realised, and submitted a support ticket at 0940. At 1008, my host sent a response, to say that the ticket had been escalated. This meant that it was “recycled” i.e. at 1009, I got an autoresponder, with another case ID on it.

While we were out, at 1144, I got a message back (on the original ticket ID) to state “I have unsuspended your account. I will contact the person responsible for applying the credit to your account. You will be updated shortly.”

Hmm.

At 1456, I got a ticket from the MD instead, on the original ticket ID, stating “This has been rectified…”, which I had already known.

He also said “…I also see the ticket you opened yesterday warning us, which unfortunately we didn't get around to :-( “…

The invoice could have been paid without question, but reading through all that again, would you?

Having said all that, I’m experimenting with another host. I had to look at expanding, because most of the space has been used. Keep watching!

The issue only affected ABF, and has now been kindly resolved by our hosts.


Downtime 17/09/08 - a major apology from your administrator

I apologise for the last hour and a bit of downtime, as well as the fact that we've gone back in time a bit.

I was clearing out old scripts on the server, and the last one to delete was susanna_smf9 - which is the current ABF forum database. I inadvertently deleted it.

The host has now restored it, and things have therefore gone back to this morning, when the last database backup would have been done.

I do therefore apologise for this, as it was down to my own error.

Suzy Scott
Forum Founder & Admin

For the DABF/ABF members reading this, or anyone just wondering where my web stuff has gone, the hosting company have reported server outages.

Updates are here.

I was getting email for a bit, but think it's gone down again!


(EDIT - Resolved, for now, at 7.33pm/1933).