So, I reinstalled Windows XP last night, and, uhhh ... "tested" it with Civ 2. Until 6am. And again for a few hours this afternoon. Wheeee !
And tonight, I figured out how to get XP to allow booting into Linux on the other hard drive, and all is well again.
Now I have the choice of sleep, or a game installation spree (including Baldur's Gate II, Morrowind, Total Annihilation, and many other ways of keeping me up until silly hours of the day).
Our local post office has seen better days. In fact, I think it's seen better decades. The carpet is grotty, dark grey and worn through in many places. The walls are painted in a horrid shade of yellow-green. The workers (errr ... not tellers, but at the moment I can't think of the right term for them) are behind counter-to-ceiling glass, which has posters and notices and things stuck all over it. They do sell a small range of stationary - but you have to ask for it, and the example items are blu-tacked on the glass well above head height, and don't have readable prices on them. The floor space is mostly empty, except for a fire engine children's ride thing, which also sounds rather run-down and pathetic.
The question is this - are post offices typically like this in the UK ? Do they have shiny new post offices with a nice layout and a wide range of stationary and other stuff for sale, or do they all tend to be like the local one ?
I'm thinking of the contrast with the Australian Post Shops, which, in general, are not bad places to visit - the local post office here is rather grim by comparison.