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Vége a világnak
Mar. 23rd, 2020 09:01 pmI wasn't sorry to have left my previous job, but perhaps the timing could have been better. Last Monday I arrived at the new place for the induction and onboarding. As I'm based in a satellite office, and I had to return later in the day to collect a laptop, this turned out to require four trips on the Central Line. I got a seat every time.
Unfortunately, last Monday evening the decision was made to switch to working from home. I have an ID badge that works at HQ, and a temporary pass for the building I'm supposed to be in; there was no time to get my own badge updated on that first day. I've been struggling with the laptop ever since. I assumed the choice between Windows and Mac was genuine; I'm not so sure that was really the case. Having opted for Windows, because it's more familiar and I prefer both the hardware and the software, I discover I was being given Windows 8.1 (already so many years out of date) and that it's locked down. The helpdesk has a ticket to give me local admin privileges, but as I can't install the software to connect to the VPN without those privileges, I'm not sure that's something they will be able to fix remotely.
So, rather unhappily, I backed off to my personal laptop, which installs the VPN client fine and after some confusion on usernames I have access to Git. But then, it turns out that Docker for Windows requires Windows 10 Professional and I have the Home edition.
At the weekend, I go back to the 9-year-old laptop that hasn't quite made it to the tip, and install Ubuntu on it. Of course, as this is Linux I have to edit some weird config file to actually make it boot up without wrecking the display. Docker works fine, but Ubuntu Network Manager won't import the OpenVPN config file I've been given, and I can't make head nor tail of how to apply the equivalent settings in the GUI.
So, back to Windows 10 Home. As the government has nationalised the railways, I decide, after applying for my season ticket refund, to treat myself to the Professional update. This fixes the Docker install, but the builds still fail. I think I spotted one of the dependent containers failing to start, so I will have to look into this tomorrow.
The whole thing has been Kafkaesque. It's nobody's fault, my new colleagues seem friendly and sympathetic, but there's not a lot anyone can do about this at the moment, and possibly not for the foreseeable future either (though, right now, "foreseeable" amounts to at most 24 hours).
At the weekend we went out for a walk in the Hungerford area. Although there were quite a few cars in the car park, there was hardly anyone on the 6-mile walk at all, the few humans we saw kept sensible distance though one dog was rather too keen to make friends.
I followed all the advice about not panic buying, and as a result I am down to my last potato. I'm almost thinking it would be better to plant it than eat it now. We have enough food in, but after a few days the meals may become a bit weird. There are one or two things I would have liked to have had around, but we'll have to wait. Sooner or later we will need more toilet rolls. There are no supermarket delivery slots available here forever, and the apps/websites are regularly going down; the suggestion to use delivery options if available is a bit rich in these conditions. I ventured out late this afternoon to Sainsbury's in Tadley (reckoning it would be less busy than the huge Calcot store; the local Co-op has had a small queue outside it today, and the Tesco Metro is a little ravaged); the Burghfield Common Puddle has returned and traffic is controlled by broken 4-way lights. I think we're going to have some weeks of strange supply problems and it's only going to get worse as delivery drivers end up going off sick or isolating.
Today the garage called to cancel my service and MOT which was due on Wednesday. This could be awkward, as the MOT runs out at the end of the month; I can't renew the tax without an MOT; insurance, etc. Right now DVLA has only waived MOTs for buses and lorries; presumably a wider loosening must be imminent. I'd like to think people have thought this through but to put it mildly I'm doubtful. There was a PC Plus article in 1999 that claimed society was only ever six meals away from apocalypse; that was, of course, in the context of the Y2K bug, but we're putting it to the test now.
Unfortunately, last Monday evening the decision was made to switch to working from home. I have an ID badge that works at HQ, and a temporary pass for the building I'm supposed to be in; there was no time to get my own badge updated on that first day. I've been struggling with the laptop ever since. I assumed the choice between Windows and Mac was genuine; I'm not so sure that was really the case. Having opted for Windows, because it's more familiar and I prefer both the hardware and the software, I discover I was being given Windows 8.1 (already so many years out of date) and that it's locked down. The helpdesk has a ticket to give me local admin privileges, but as I can't install the software to connect to the VPN without those privileges, I'm not sure that's something they will be able to fix remotely.
So, rather unhappily, I backed off to my personal laptop, which installs the VPN client fine and after some confusion on usernames I have access to Git. But then, it turns out that Docker for Windows requires Windows 10 Professional and I have the Home edition.
At the weekend, I go back to the 9-year-old laptop that hasn't quite made it to the tip, and install Ubuntu on it. Of course, as this is Linux I have to edit some weird config file to actually make it boot up without wrecking the display. Docker works fine, but Ubuntu Network Manager won't import the OpenVPN config file I've been given, and I can't make head nor tail of how to apply the equivalent settings in the GUI.
So, back to Windows 10 Home. As the government has nationalised the railways, I decide, after applying for my season ticket refund, to treat myself to the Professional update. This fixes the Docker install, but the builds still fail. I think I spotted one of the dependent containers failing to start, so I will have to look into this tomorrow.
The whole thing has been Kafkaesque. It's nobody's fault, my new colleagues seem friendly and sympathetic, but there's not a lot anyone can do about this at the moment, and possibly not for the foreseeable future either (though, right now, "foreseeable" amounts to at most 24 hours).
At the weekend we went out for a walk in the Hungerford area. Although there were quite a few cars in the car park, there was hardly anyone on the 6-mile walk at all, the few humans we saw kept sensible distance though one dog was rather too keen to make friends.
I followed all the advice about not panic buying, and as a result I am down to my last potato. I'm almost thinking it would be better to plant it than eat it now. We have enough food in, but after a few days the meals may become a bit weird. There are one or two things I would have liked to have had around, but we'll have to wait. Sooner or later we will need more toilet rolls. There are no supermarket delivery slots available here forever, and the apps/websites are regularly going down; the suggestion to use delivery options if available is a bit rich in these conditions. I ventured out late this afternoon to Sainsbury's in Tadley (reckoning it would be less busy than the huge Calcot store; the local Co-op has had a small queue outside it today, and the Tesco Metro is a little ravaged); the Burghfield Common Puddle has returned and traffic is controlled by broken 4-way lights. I think we're going to have some weeks of strange supply problems and it's only going to get worse as delivery drivers end up going off sick or isolating.
Today the garage called to cancel my service and MOT which was due on Wednesday. This could be awkward, as the MOT runs out at the end of the month; I can't renew the tax without an MOT; insurance, etc. Right now DVLA has only waived MOTs for buses and lorries; presumably a wider loosening must be imminent. I'd like to think people have thought this through but to put it mildly I'm doubtful. There was a PC Plus article in 1999 that claimed society was only ever six meals away from apocalypse; that was, of course, in the context of the Y2K bug, but we're putting it to the test now.