It’s been a quiet year in South Bridlington.
We started the year with 5 hips between the 2 of us, Judy having gained an extra one in October 2012. It has been an unqualified success. However, she will no longer be able to go undetected through security systems at airports. This may not matter too much, as she is maintaining her determination never to go outside Yorkshire again, ever, unless N Yorkshire secedes from the rest, and we need travel permits to go to Scarborough.
As reported in 2011, we keep forgetting things, but since we still can’t remember what they were, it matters even less. Unfortunately, we can neither of us remember who people are. We can manage each other pretty well up to now, but take nothing for granted.
Judy abandoned swimming each morning in 2012, after feeling dizzy getting out of the water. That’s a pity. She continues to receive all kinds of greetings from the die-hard swimmers.
The big Organisational event of the year has been the establishment of Buss Mk2 Ltd. After my dismissal from the Scout Association, we have kept in touch with a lot of families, including the McCalls. David McCall is a plumber and Lesley is a care assistant. Lesley was my Cub Scout Assistant Leader before moving up to become Scout Assistant Leader. Heather (15) was my 1st Cub Scout, and Davey (13) joined as soon as ever he could. David and Lesley have 2 older children, Lottie and Rowan, as well.
Heather and Davey got tablets for Christmas, showed them to us, and I was amazed at the quality of the graphics. Heather and Davey rummaged around for graphing applications, and could not find any that we could work out how to use. A project was born, and H & D have got Saturday (and holiday) jobs.
I learned Java for the first time for the second time. Judy found some Java books in her bookshelves, and I started from scratch. I also came across a Java Applet on my machine demonstrating Judy’s triangulation algorithm that was really well done. I imagined it had been done by Rob. However, looking through the file store I came across the sources, which all had my name in the extensive (of course) documentation. This corresponded to the book marks in the Java technical books Judy had found which also had evidently been mine once. From dates on sources, it was obvious that before I had my funny turn in March 2004, I had become a reasonably competent Java programmer. It had all disappeared, and I really was learning for the first time again. Weird.
Meanwhile, Judy revisited her curve drawing algorithm. We could not find any copy of it in our papers, and had a huge struggle to get our local library to find it and get us a copy. We also came across her M Phil Thesis which alluded to the algorithm, but pre-dated the paper. Having re-read the thesis, she said “I couldn’t have written that better myself”.
By this time, we had taken on Heather and Davey to learn Java, and to start putting together an Android App. I found Android systems programming fearfully difficult, but can manage well enough now.
The graphing was easy, and a pleasure and delight. Heather runs the Company, plans the user interface, and manages the marketing. Davey is the Quality Assurance Department and writes test programs to get the graphing library to crash. He is also doing a series of tutorials. We had put together a runnable app in October 2013, and it is now down-loadable from www.bussmk2.co.uk.
The app claims to be “designed by GCSE students for GCSE students”. Income it generates will get H & D through University. We have started to look around for schools in other countries who will design localized menu contents in their own languages/scripts. Starting, of course, with Arabic.
This project will run and run.
I walked across Dartmoor again with Phil in July. It did me a huge amount of good to revisit places I knew when growing up – little country Methodist Chapels, miles away from anywhere, attended by lovely people with all their inhibitions in full working order, and a horror of “show”.
In August the annual Buss Trip was better than ever. The die-hards – Karol, Phillip, Andy, Robin, and Martin – and their attachments – were augmented by Karyn and all her attachments. I had called in to see them at their home in Brixham when Phil and I went to Totnes, and they had driven up to spend the weekend in the NE, and called in to Bridlington on the way back. It was lovely to see so many ex-Buss people again. They always do us a world of good. The project of the year was to make an amphibious vehicle. The most outstanding entry was Davey’s wheel-powered floating bicycle which he demonstrated by cycling into the sea and making his way towards Schleswig-Holstein.
The 2 big expensive transport items we have committed to this year are a new bike for me, and an electric Smart car for Judy. I went down to Bridgewater and back in a day in February and got measured. The bike arrived in a cardboard box a month later. It is the first bike I have ever owned which has fitted me. Sadly, I forgot to order pedals, so I had to cycle up to the cycle shop on my old bike to buy a pair of pedals before trying the new one out.
The electric car is a big success, but the Mercedes sales team are hopeless. They are incompetent and dishonest. Fortunately the car is OK.
David & Judy Butland
1st December 2013
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