Somebody else on an Emergency Job

Out and About on Short Jobs

Photographs of London, Sandton (South Africa), Sheffield, Liverpool and Telford, Winter 2001/2002 by Martin Sullivan (16 pictures, 451 KBytes, approximately 3 minutes download time at typical modem rates, 2.5K/s).

This is Stuff, off-topic and possibly ephemeral.

Index: London * Sandton * Sheffield * Liverpool * Telford

After the contract in Zurich, the world of the contract OLTP/UNIX Technical Architect turned Fruit Shaped as the industry went into a major, major recession. With no new "proper" commissions it was a series of short jobs which took me around some old haunts as well as new ones. As is now the tradition (for all of six months) the digital camera went with me.

London

The first of these jobs was for a major client in the City who were moving an computer from one building to another. In an extreme case of the "Forgotten Box in the Corner" syndrome this was running a well out-of-date version of Encina. I was called into help, as the initial requirement meant that they needed to change IP addresses and sub-net, which is non-trivial on DCE based infrastructure. Anyhow, I'm boring you ...

The City

Tower 42

"Tower 42" was formally known as the "NatWest Tower".

Sandton

"Remember Sandton is the richest square mile in Africa, and Sandton is not Johannesburg, Johannesburg not South Africa and South Africa is not Africa", counciled my Taxi driver on the way in from the Airport. And indeed it wasn't, my immediate impression being of an-out-of-whack suburban America.

Not all the pictures are of Sandton, however, I hired a Taxi on a day off and went to other interesting places.

The Regina Mundi Catholic church, Soweto

Sandton Business District

Sandton Mall (outside)

Sandton Mall (inside)

Sheffield

A return trip to an old haunt. Sheffield was a help-out-with a Tuxedo problem for BEA at one of their customers' sites.

Sheffield City Hall

The City Hall is not an administrative centre, as such, but rather a venue for concerts. These are usually classical in nature.

Sheffield Town Hall

Although a City, Sheffield's administrative centre is based on the so called "Town Hall". This is the clock tower at the northern corner. The elaborate stone work is covered in mesh to stop starlings nesting on it.

Sheffield Town Hall

The Town Hall again, this time the façade on Pinstone Street with all its Victorian civic pride fussy-ness.

Liverpool

Another old customer and another Tuxedo job.

Liverpool sky-line

I was actually in a 15 story building to the north of the city centre, which gave good views. The building with the blue roof in the immediate foreground is what's left of Exchange station (the trains now go underground). The funny looking tower is St. Johns tower, part of a 60's development. It did have a revolving restaurant at the top, but this now home to a radio station. The conical building in the far distance is the Catholic cathedral and the arc-shaped roof before that one of the roofs of Lime Street station.

Mersey and Liver Building, Liverpool

Ship on Mersey

Liver Building, Liverpool

St. Johns Tower, Liverpool

North Western Hotel, Liverpool

Telford

From the sub-Lime Street (geddit!) to the ridiculous, but this time on BEA's Weblogic Server (an EJB container, just to show I can do those as well). The architecture's not that inspiring for this is a "New Town".

Telford