Terry Barnes
@terryb72.bsky.social
Dad, fiancé, widow, reader, cyclist, camper. Parent to 3 wonderful teens, one with cerebral palsy and two neurospicy. Terrible synth player. Green. Long history in Telco and ISP. 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️ally & dad. Brighton-ish
Profile pic is middle-aged man head shot.
Profile pic is middle-aged man head shot.
The only advantage I have discovered from being deaf in one ear is the ability to rotate my head or body to eliminate annoyances.
That and the eternal comedy value of mishearing what someone said for something bizarre and just running with it.
That and the eternal comedy value of mishearing what someone said for something bizarre and just running with it.
February 10, 2026 at 9:38 AM
The only advantage I have discovered from being deaf in one ear is the ability to rotate my head or body to eliminate annoyances.
That and the eternal comedy value of mishearing what someone said for something bizarre and just running with it.
That and the eternal comedy value of mishearing what someone said for something bizarre and just running with it.
At the Royal Ballet with Becky watching Woolf Works. Absolutely astonishing. No idea what's going on, but wow.
February 9, 2026 at 9:19 PM
At the Royal Ballet with Becky watching Woolf Works. Absolutely astonishing. No idea what's going on, but wow.
Given their disdain for water I don't know how they ever discovered that they like fish.
February 6, 2026 at 9:17 AM
Given their disdain for water I don't know how they ever discovered that they like fish.
One of his earlier wives left him for their decorator, which is what 'in the air tonight' is about. Somehow the opposite of the question Mrs Merton asked Debbie McGee about what attracted her to the multi millionaire Paul Daniels.
February 6, 2026 at 7:25 AM
One of his earlier wives left him for their decorator, which is what 'in the air tonight' is about. Somehow the opposite of the question Mrs Merton asked Debbie McGee about what attracted her to the multi millionaire Paul Daniels.
There's a tiny bar in Manchester in an ex public toilet underneath the street. It's very cool and doesn't smell!
February 5, 2026 at 7:22 PM
There's a tiny bar in Manchester in an ex public toilet underneath the street. It's very cool and doesn't smell!
I am quite looking forward to being home!
February 4, 2026 at 8:59 PM
I am quite looking forward to being home!
Last half hour of my journey home. It's a long day when you take the train from Brighton-ish to Hull and back.
February 4, 2026 at 8:57 PM
Last half hour of my journey home. It's a long day when you take the train from Brighton-ish to Hull and back.
Whatever you do, don't buy a new order pizza. They won't know what it is due to the lack of title on the packaging and the assistant won't ask you what it is because that breaks some unwritten rule of record shop cool.
Yes, I did have to wait 30m in a record shop once for that very reason.
Yes, I did have to wait 30m in a record shop once for that very reason.
February 4, 2026 at 8:52 PM
Whatever you do, don't buy a new order pizza. They won't know what it is due to the lack of title on the packaging and the assistant won't ask you what it is because that breaks some unwritten rule of record shop cool.
Yes, I did have to wait 30m in a record shop once for that very reason.
Yes, I did have to wait 30m in a record shop once for that very reason.
Acronyms flung around so freely in telco and isp land that we just presume that everyone knows what we mean!
February 4, 2026 at 2:43 PM
Acronyms flung around so freely in telco and isp land that we just presume that everyone knows what we mean!
I'd bloody love that.
February 4, 2026 at 1:47 PM
I'd bloody love that.
Mind you, they kept working when the supported stack stopped working one weekend when security let some men with hi viz and clipboards into a 'very important building' and *helped them* unplug and carry £M's of kit into the back of a rented Luton van. They just drove off with our OSS & BSS
February 4, 2026 at 1:44 PM
Mind you, they kept working when the supported stack stopped working one weekend when security let some men with hi viz and clipboards into a 'very important building' and *helped them* unplug and carry £M's of kit into the back of a rented Luton van. They just drove off with our OSS & BSS
A former boss of mine used his credit card liberally in PC World. We had critical global processes running on servers he had bought from their business dept sitting on a bunch of desks in the corner of the office.
February 4, 2026 at 1:44 PM
A former boss of mine used his credit card liberally in PC World. We had critical global processes running on servers he had bought from their business dept sitting on a bunch of desks in the corner of the office.
Having been there - what you do is destroy the case for buying anything because the prototype you knocked up sort of works. You have to engineer in some bad. A process leak. Make it work 80% of the time. The. You can say 'this, but all proper.'
February 4, 2026 at 1:40 PM
Having been there - what you do is destroy the case for buying anything because the prototype you knocked up sort of works. You have to engineer in some bad. A process leak. Make it work 80% of the time. The. You can say 'this, but all proper.'
Had to get a very early train for it not to cost millions of pounds so am v.slowly eating lunch in zizzi's as I still have 90 minutes to waste...
I could quite go a snooze for an hour but there appears to be no branch of snooze-u-like in this shopping centre.
I could quite go a snooze for an hour but there appears to be no branch of snooze-u-like in this shopping centre.
February 4, 2026 at 1:38 PM
Had to get a very early train for it not to cost millions of pounds so am v.slowly eating lunch in zizzi's as I still have 90 minutes to waste...
I could quite go a snooze for an hour but there appears to be no branch of snooze-u-like in this shopping centre.
I could quite go a snooze for an hour but there appears to be no branch of snooze-u-like in this shopping centre.
Quite tempted to just shout 'shut up' but the journey is nearly over and I suspect he is better at punching than me.
February 4, 2026 at 12:09 PM
Quite tempted to just shout 'shut up' but the journey is nearly over and I suspect he is better at punching than me.
He has gone from annoying to serious red flags and I'm not going to post any more of what he has said for my own shits and giggles because it's suddenly not at all funny. He has though been to prison for the tale he is telling.
February 4, 2026 at 11:08 AM
He has gone from annoying to serious red flags and I'm not going to post any more of what he has said for my own shits and giggles because it's suddenly not at all funny. He has though been to prison for the tale he is telling.
I thought the finch capturing might be genuinely interesting but alas it can mostly be summed up with "fucking big net and an Alsatian."
February 4, 2026 at 10:41 AM
I thought the finch capturing might be genuinely interesting but alas it can mostly be summed up with "fucking big net and an Alsatian."
Turns out he didn't actually want any and has bough a kitkat.
February 4, 2026 at 10:31 AM
Turns out he didn't actually want any and has bough a kitkat.
His much quieter travel partner seems increasingly reluctant to say a word, as each one seemingly prompts another unleashing of wisdom. Banter has been engaged in with the woman with the trolley. 'How many porridge you got love?' "As many as you need." 'I'll have three thousand then darling."
February 4, 2026 at 10:31 AM
His much quieter travel partner seems increasingly reluctant to say a word, as each one seemingly prompts another unleashing of wisdom. Banter has been engaged in with the woman with the trolley. 'How many porridge you got love?' "As many as you need." 'I'll have three thousand then darling."
Goodness me there is a loud & opinionated man on this train. In the hour since leaving London we have had - how heavy things aren't really heavy, what breezeblocks are (and aren't), tarpaulins, how to catch finches, cashpoint installation methodology, the euro. Very little on quiet reflection.
February 4, 2026 at 10:26 AM
Goodness me there is a loud & opinionated man on this train. In the hour since leaving London we have had - how heavy things aren't really heavy, what breezeblocks are (and aren't), tarpaulins, how to catch finches, cashpoint installation methodology, the euro. Very little on quiet reflection.
The train to Hull is moving. Here I go!
February 4, 2026 at 9:35 AM
The train to Hull is moving. Here I go!
I operate a rotation system where newly laundered stuff goes at the bottom and thus I am forced to deal with old or no longer fitting things.
My understanding of these things though is that male underwear is simpler to manage by being just one big pile.
My understanding of these things though is that male underwear is simpler to manage by being just one big pile.
February 3, 2026 at 5:48 PM
I operate a rotation system where newly laundered stuff goes at the bottom and thus I am forced to deal with old or no longer fitting things.
My understanding of these things though is that male underwear is simpler to manage by being just one big pile.
My understanding of these things though is that male underwear is simpler to manage by being just one big pile.
Hah, I was also a mainframe analyst/programmer, for a telco! In the UK the PSTN has been 'up' since 1958. It will go permanently down/down when it is turned off at the end of next year.
February 3, 2026 at 4:47 PM
Hah, I was also a mainframe analyst/programmer, for a telco! In the UK the PSTN has been 'up' since 1958. It will go permanently down/down when it is turned off at the end of next year.
...unbreakable. The PSTN has the resilience the Internet promises but can't actually deliver and it got there by letting cautious nerdy people take plenty of time over their decisions & planning in decade long cycles.
February 3, 2026 at 4:34 PM
...unbreakable. The PSTN has the resilience the Internet promises but can't actually deliver and it got there by letting cautious nerdy people take plenty of time over their decisions & planning in decade long cycles.
When I used to run an ISP I was perpetually astounded at how this thing is simultaneously resilient and fragile. A thousand people can attack from one direction and it's all just fine, whereas one idiot mistyping a config can smash it to bits.
I came from the telco world where it was, by design...
I came from the telco world where it was, by design...
February 3, 2026 at 4:34 PM
When I used to run an ISP I was perpetually astounded at how this thing is simultaneously resilient and fragile. A thousand people can attack from one direction and it's all just fine, whereas one idiot mistyping a config can smash it to bits.
I came from the telco world where it was, by design...
I came from the telco world where it was, by design...