As you might remember, we recently had high winds, which blew our satellite dish on the roof off-target again. Luckily, our satellite guys came round this morning, and pointed it back at the Hotbird sats.
I had previously asked Irina if we could maybe concrete the dish into position, as we’ve had these problems before. I found out this morning why that isn’t necessarily a good solution; the guys had just finished replacing a large dish that had been concreted into position. The reason? The dish had actually broken in the high winds – the stresses and strains placed upon it by the wind had no relief available by simply moving the dish, so the whole structure buckled down. Given the choice between buying a new dish after each heavy wind, and simply waiting for the guys to re-point it, I think we know the best solution.
The guys themselves are very friendly, and didn’t even charge us to sort it all out. One part I’m still confused over is the signal amplifier they connected inline with the co-ax cable. Any sort of electronic amplifier must, by definition, be active, not passive, but there is no PSU for this little adapter. I know you can have 12/13.8V DC on a sat co-ax, provided by the decoder, but I checked the menu settings, and the voltage appears to be off right now – 0 volts!
Whatever the reason for it working, I’m glad, the signal quality stats have improved, and one of the channels that previously wasn’t watchable, even when the dish was pointed correctly, now works 🙂 .
May 05 2007
Satellite TV Has Returned
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May 05 2007
International Mail
Almost one month after my Dad sent me a parcel, it has finally arrived here in Astana. (Thank you Dad, the Angel Delight, card & magazines all arrived fine).
Causing me some confusion is the fact that Alex’s birthday card arrived at the same time. She sent hers a week and a half after Dad!
Perhaps they stock pile mail before sending it over here?
Anyway, I have a fresh copy of New Scientist to read now, so I’ll leave you all in peace.
7 weeks until Alex comes over 🙂
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May 04 2007
Smiling Policeman
I’ve just had a friendly, smiling policeman knock on our door. I decided it would be wisest to downplay what little Russian vocab I do possess, and wait until Irina returns home from work to make sure he finds out what he needs to know.
I suspect it is connected to the fact that someone attempted to break into a safe in a block of flats near us. Fortunately, they couldn’t break it open. Unfortunately they decided to take the whole safe back to theirs, and so the apartment owner wasn’t very happy when he got home.
This was a month or so ago now, but they are still investigating the case. They appear to suspect one of the maintenance workers, as they were previously asking leading questions, when Ira was here.
Anyway, I digress, I’m now getting better at not staring at official people’s out-sized caps, or giggling at an inopportune moment.
Ira is going to be late back from work tonight, so I’m hoping the policeman doesn’t come back in 30 minutes, like I asked him. Or come back tomorrow – Ira is in work again Saturday.
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May 04 2007
Dust Storm
Wednesday turned out to be quite windy.
One minor, short term effect was that a lot of dust from the surrounding desert around Astana was blown into the city.
As a comparison, I’ve included a shot from last year…
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This is basically how it looked early Wednesday morning – nice and clear, and the temperature was around the same as your average British summertime.
Two hours later, this was the scene…
There has been no treatment to the second photo, it was that dark and murky, in the space of a few hours!
I wouldn’t have fancied driving about in it, especially as no one seemed to slow down, despite the distinct decrease in visibility.
One slightly longer-term effect is that our satellite dish on the roof appears to have been blown over, so there is no TV to keep me sane during the day.
May 03 2007
Congratulations…
You are the 10,000th visitor.
No this isn’t a badly written flashing advert that tells EVERYONE they are the billionth person to view this site etc.
Once I’ve posted this entry, and checked it is up, the next person to visit this blog really WILL be my 10,000 visitor.
Thank you, whoever you are.
I’m afraid I won’t be offering you a dodgy iPod deal for your visit, but if you ever come to Kazakhstan, I can promise you a few vodkas, whoever you are…
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May 02 2007
Masha’s Birthday
On Monday, Ira and I went over to Masha’s flat to celebrate her birthday. We had a nice meal, a couple of drinks, and I got to meet her son for the first time.
Whilst there, I read my first ever Russian book. So what was it, I hear someone ask?
Perhaps a poem by Aleksandr Pushkin? Perhaps something penned by Leo Tolstoy?
Nope, it was Zimnaya Kolibyelnaya by Irina Gurina
Yep, a nursery school book, I read to Masha’s son.
Well what did you expect? I’m hoping to start my Russian lessons again soon, as my teacher has been away on a training course. Until I’ve progressed a little further, I’m very happy to have got as far as this book 🙂
May 01 2007
Just Found This Photo…
of Dasha from a couple of years ago…
So, what do you think Karra and Muska’s mum is actually doing here – yawning or hissing?
May 01 2007
Jeremy Clarkson’s Motorworld
Jeremy Clarkson’s Motorworld – Jeremy Clarkson
Despite not having seen the original TV series that this book is based upon, I do tend to like Jeremy’s style of presenting and writing. Aware of his own foibles, he still is very happy to talk about his greatest love, which is motoring. For those of you who have seen him in the Top Gear TV series, this isn’t simply a car review show in paper, it is so much more than that.
He travels around the world, to 12 different countries, and observes the different ways people interact with motor vehicles.
I do so wish he’d do an update on this series, and try and fit in a trip to Kazakhstan. (See my previous articles (You Drinking. Other People Driving , Driving Contd. and a few other shorter posts can all be found within the Kazakh Driving category on this blog) on the Kazakh driving style so prevalent over here.)
Enough shameless plugging of my own posts, back to the review :=>
From the khamic beliefs of some Indian drivers (seatbelts? why, if today is my day to die, it will happen anyway!) to the draconian laws in Switzerland, he takes a very light hearted look at the global relationship with cars. Although the book does now show its age in parts, I still believe it to be a worth read.
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Apr 27 2007
Road Safety Procession
At least I’m assuming that is what the police car, 5 car transporters and a mini-bus PA system was about.
The cars were all pretty badly mashed up, and I am guessing the PA system was broadcasting some sort of road safety message.
If I had to guess, it would be stop when the light is red, stay inside your lane, and who knows, maybe they even ventured to suggest seat belts could save your life…
Below we have a zoomed in section showing how one of the cars was smashed up in an accident.
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