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First it was Brighton, now Fareham has a hole in the road...

It's a bit disconcerting when you see a determined-looking police cordon at the end of the road outside the police station, especially when that cordon wasn't there when I walked past 10 minutes ago. Fortunately the cordon wasn't there because of police activity (otherwise they'd likely have locked down the neighbouring Tesco's), but rather because a chunk of the road surface has caved in. For added fun the hole is pretty much right in the middle of the road.

As I type there's currently a highways person peering down at it looking a bit confused, presumably trying to work out just whose underground service is responsible (the hole is next to a manhole cover).

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Today's Windows 7 incompatibility is that Microsoft Office Document Imaging 2003 can no longer see my scanner (an HP psc 1215 all-in-one box). Apparently, and I kid you not, the reason is because msvcp71.dll is missing from C:\Windows\SysWOW64. No, I don't know why this is the case or why MODI doesn't just crash when faced with a missing DLL.

Actually getting hold of this file is quite hard. It's the C++ (not C) runtime library from Visual C++ 2003 and was never released as a separate download because developers were supposed to install a local copy with their program. The internets suggest that you can get it by installing the full .NET 1.1 SDK, but if (like me) you've still got a Windows XP install kicking around then there's a much easier solution - copy the file from the XP's \WINDOWS\system32 folder and MODI will magically once again be able to scan stuff.

To be opened only in the event of my death

It's a rather disconcerting feeling when one writes "to be opened only in the event of my death" on an envelope.

Not that it's a particularly ominous envelope - it's just the one containing work's life assurance nomination form.

Reversing part 1: bay parking

Finally, the driving lesson writeup (which was mostly written at the weekend, so I've not entirely left it until the last moment).

( Theory questions, junctions, roundabouts... and reversing! )

Next week (well, tomorrow now): more reversing! And a new pickup location at a much earlier time, with a whole new collection of overcomplicated roundabouts to deal with. Hence the earlier pickup time, so as to avoid the commuter traffic as otherwise it'd take forever to get across them.