Cities, in Milgrim's experience, had a way of revealing themselves in the faces of their inhabitants, and particularly on their way to work in the morning. There was a sort of basic fuckedness index to be read, then, in faces that hadn't yet encountered the reality of whatever they were on their way to do.

-- Spook Country by William Gibson

First Direct has sadly got a horrible security hole in place, that is easily open to scamming: They call you up and ask you to answer security questions.

I complained, but had to explain and justify it to every single person I spoke to. It is disturbing that they do not understand security and continue to do this.

"Why would this be an issue? We don't give out your password." No... We just open up the possibility that a fraudster could obtain your personal details. "But they don't know First Direct procedure." Neither do most of your customers. If they wanted to, they could open up an account to learn your procedures.

You get the idea. They appear to be clueless about security.

They recommend that you don't respond to emails asking for personal details. Why should the phone be any different?

Anyone know a bank that doesn't do this?

Since I scanned the some recent wedding photos, I have not stopped. I'm going through all my old negs that I developed, but never did anything with. The good stuff should end up on my flickr stream.

The plan was to get up at 4am. The reality was arriving there at 8am.

After a few hours of queueing, we managed to get in. Went straight to the ticket booth for court no 2 and were told that we needed the magic armbands to buy the tickets. Oh well.

Breakfast was a couple of coffees and some fish and chips. I also purchased a cap and a rain cape.

On to court 13 to watch Ivanovic beat the not quite so athletic opponent. Then off to try to get in to court 18 for the Hewitt game. No go.

Grab a random court. Watch for a while before the rain kicks in again heavily. Gf now wants part of my rain cape. So we go and get another.

Decide to head back to court 13 to watch the people take the covers on and off. Finally, we get some tennis and it Davydenko and Monfils. The crowd is fully supporting the underdog: Monfils.

The press appear fast as they hear about Monfils' fun. I especially like the Japanese lady using the film camera with a wicked motor drive. The rest of them were using Canons with the expensive white lenses.

At around 6pm, it started raining again. We called it a day, and headed home. I had a really good time despite the rain. I think I will try to go again next year.

I obtained a Nike+ a few weeks ago, and started the Couch-to-5K running plan. Sadly, they assume that I know too much about running. Where they say walk, I was walking like I walk around town. Where they say jog, I was running full pelt.

Old shoes, and being out of shape also contributed to my shin pain on my third run. Followed by my shin lump 1 mile into my fourth run. The doctor recommended an ultrasound to make sure it wasn't a hernia. Yes, a hernia.

So I rested up for a few weeks. I picked up the Runner's Handbook(us) and Chi Running(us). After reading the Runner's Handbook, I decided to go and get new shoes from Runners Need.

They made me run on a treadmill and filmed my feet. Apparently, I was overpronating my left leg. So I went for some stable shoes. Brooks - never heard of them, but apparently they sponsor the Chilean football team.

Tonight, I went for a run, using Chi Running techniques. Best run so far, and I didn't stop. :)