Walking from Fountain Abbey

31 December 2006 09:54

Today I am walking from Fountain Abbey which is a National Trust propety and deer park near Ripon.

The roads leading to the abbey from my Cottage were fantastic, I've not enjoyed myself on a bike so much fur ages and that is dispite the wet roads.

I arrived at 09:20 for the 10:00 start but when I arrived I found a text message saying that breakfast was running late and that they were aiming to get to the abbey for 10:20 - d'oh

In the end everyone turned up by about 10:45 so we didn't get walking until about 10:50 and the problems didn't end there.

The route we were walking was also the route being used by a charity run which would have been ok if not for the seven stone foot bridges which could only take 1 person at a time.

In order to get across without holding up the runners we had to wait for a gap and then run across the bridge which given most of us had heavy boot's, bags and walking sticks was a very funny sight. Funny but slow, with 15 of us waiting to cross like that I reckon we only covered about 2 miles in the first 1.5 hours.

The poor diane fell over in some very nasty looking mud and got caked in it

It was 1 problem after another for the whole walk but it was alot of fun.

Categories: Personal_

Arrived in Yorkshire

30 December 2006 14:27

I've arrived in Long Marston and I am now unpacked and ready to meet up with the Ramblers in Harrogate.

After unpacking I made myself some Sweet and Sour Noodles which I managed to then drop all over the living room floor. I think I managed to clear up the mess well enough to not be noticed by the owners.

The weather is grey and really really windy, I think that is the forecast for at least the next few days. The walking should be interesting.

Obviously there is no Internet correction here so I am going to keep writing these notes on an almost daily basis but I will only send them out every few days via my mobile.

Categories: Personal_

Meet Up in Harrogate

31 December 2006 07:42

After checking in to my cottage/flat last night I went into Wetherby where I brought Some OS maps of the area and then went on to Harrogate to meet the others.

It took ages to find the hotel, the Aston on Franklin Mount, only to find the hotel closed. Bugger I thought. It turns out the hotel had staffing issues and so all the guests had been moved to a sister hotel just around the corner.

With an example of incredible deductive reasoning that would have put Sherlock Holmes to shame I found the hotel within 10 minutes of realising no one was staying at the Aston. Ok, so I ran into Jane and she told me the hotel name and street, and detailed instruction on how to find it :-)

Once everyone had found the new hotel we went into the town Centre and ate at La Tasca which was very nice and I got a voucher for a free bottle of wine which will be really useful for me - There is actually a La tasca in Cambridge so maybe I'll get to use it with Matt, Nicola, Martina and Ginny.

At the end of the evening I came back to my flat which is on the edge on the Marston Moor battlefield where hundreds if not thousands of people died in 1644. The night was dark and windy and the rain was lashing down and I was kept awake until 3am by a spirit who tried to communicate with words and images with means that I don't fully understand.

It was very spooky but a lot of fun :-)

Categories: Personal_

That's Christmas Done for Another Year

29 December 2006 20:15

I'm back from visiting my parents over the Christmas period.

I got back home yesterday afternoon and since then I have been washing clothes, tidying the house and getting ready for my New year holiday which starts tomorrow.

I got money and so cool pressies for my Birthday and Christmas.

I've just shaved my head because it was getting a bit long and I am about to have a shave so I can pack my shaving kit ready for the morning.

Categories: Personal_

Oh dear, I'm 30

23 December 2006 22:46

Somehow 30 years have managed to sneak past me, I could have used today to reflect on my successes and failures and try to decide where I want my life to go in the next decade or so but that seemed like to much hard work so watch who waits to be a Millionaire instead.

I travelled down to Orpington in the morning to see Nan & Grandad and Mum where we all went to the Garden Center.

Then I followed mum back to her house in Burgess Hill.

Categories: Personal_

hmm, toastie warm & a Meal at Matt's

21 December 2006 09:59

On my way to Matt's house last night as last meal before everyone goes on holiday type of thing, I went into Cambridge and I finally brought myself a scarf.

My neck is now nice and warm although I do find that my visor is misting up a little because I have blocked all the ventilation from the bottom of the helmet, this is really only a problem below 40 mph since above that speed the 2 eye brow ventilation holes can provide enough air to keep me seeing clearly - the solution is obvious, never slow down.

At Matt's we had pizza and watch The Garden State which Nicola brought with her, the film was much better than I was expecting, it was quite funny in places and yet quite a nice little love story as well.

Categories: Plasmon_

Fredwatch, Day 2

20 December 2006 09:12

I found Fred missing this morning and I'm very concerned for his safety, as you all know, the icicles' only natural predator is man and I fear that Fred may have been poached for sale in the far east where icicles are ground for use in soup as an Aphrodisiac.

I will keep monitoring the area that Fred was last seen in the hope that he might find his way back but being away from his home at such a young age is very bad and Fred is probably lost forever.

In a world of Global Warming, Icicles are becoming an endangered species, please donate some money to help me protect this incredible creatures natural environment.

Categories: Plasmon_

Chrimbo Dinner

19 December 2006 18:41

Today was the Plasmon Software Groups Christmas dinner.

We went up to The Pheasant in Great Chishill where I had a Mushroom Lasagne because I'm not a great fan of Turkey. Having looked at other peopleis food I think I made the right decision.

Categories: Personal_ Plasmon_

I've got a small one, but it is growing

19 December 2006 18:48

An Icicle that is, hanging on for dear life from my bike wing mirror.

It's about 3cm long and I have named him Fred.

Fred looks very pretty when illuminated by the brake lights from the car in front, however, tomorrow I am going to pay more attention to the brake lights *looks embarrassed*

If Fred is still there tomorrow I shall take a picture of him and publish it in this blog so that the rest of the world can enjoy his beauty

Categories: Biking_

Use the force Luke

18 December 2006 19:02

I can now add one more weather condition to the list of nasty stuff that I have safely ridden in.

The fog on the way I home was impressive, I didn't so much see where I was going as I felt my way along the road.

At one point the fog was so thick that I couldn't see an oncoming police car with it's blue light's flashing.

So that's baking heat, torrential rain, tree bending wind and blinding fog successfully tackled.

That only leaves the last type of weather which I have to admit I really fear, Snow and Ice. I wonder if I can buy stabilisers for the bike?

Categories: Biking_

Damn, no Cinema this week

18 December 2006 14:05

Unfortunately, me, Matt, Nichola, Martina and Ginny/Richard aren't able to get to the cinema this week so I won't be able to wish them merry christmas and all that seasonal goodwill. It seems Martina has other friends and has already seen it.

Merry christmas guys and gals.

Categories: Plasmon_

Oh no, out of fuel - again

18 December 2006 13:53

I had to go home at lunch time today because I had forgot to bring certain birthday cards to work with me which really need to be posted today.

I got as far as a the St Neots bypass before the familar old kangroo jumps from the bike told me that I was really pushing my luck and should have refilled 10 miles ago.

Anyway, this time I knew I was getting low on fuel so I was waiting for it and at the first jump I managed to reach around under my leg and switch the fuel over to the reservse tank while still moving and more importantly while the engine was still running so that the fuel line didn't dry up which means I didn't need to wait for 2 minutes for the fuel from the reserve to filter through the system and so I was able to continue riding without any delay - yay me.

On the down side, my clutch is starting to slip quite badly, I should have too much trouble getting to sussex for christmas but to/from Yorkshire might a interesting test of my ability to ride very very very smoothly. It certainly isn't going to last until April which is when I had planned on getting the clutch replaced so I guess I am going to have to get the bike booked in for just some time in January and get the short service done at the same time which is a bit of a shame because I was hoping to do the short a service myself to save a bit of money.

Categories: Plasmon_

Walking in Wakerley

17 December 2006 15:31

Today I went walking in Wakerley Wood as part of a reccie for a walk Debbie is leading after the new year.

I some how managed to underestimate how far the meeting point was (dispite the walk last week starting 5 miles down the road) and so l arrived 15 minutes late but luckily I found out where the other walkers were going to be end I was able to ride round and catch them up.

Since this wasn't a full walk there were only 6 walkers, Debbie, Steve, Sarah, Yvonne, Barbara and me - Jonny Comelately.

I'm glad I did this walk, the weather was beautiful, the woods were nice and the smaller group made the walk more intimate and I was able to get to know everyone a bit better.

On the way home I found myself behind a car whose front tyre was smoking so I flashed them and when they pulled over I made sure they were aware of it, when I got closer I saw the tyre actually looked in pretty good shape so maybe the problem was a brake pad rubbing against the disk.

Anyway, once they knew smoke was billowing (nice word) from their wheel arch I left them to it because they looked pretty nervous around me. They didn't even say thank you or offer me a boiled sweet or anything for taking my time to check that they were OK

Categories: Personal_ Walking_

More Christmas Shopping

16 December 2006 14:57

I went into Cambridge today to get the last of my Christmas shopping.

While there I bumped into 2 people from Citrix, the first was Tony and about an hour later I bumped into Jean-luc who was on his way to a wedding where the photographer.

The shops were quite busy but I suppose it could been worse.

The thing I like about Cambridge is that you do get a superior class of busker. There were a number of jazz bands, an extremely good Pianist and a bloke playing a violin while tight rope walking.

Categories: Personal_

Someone put me out of my misery

16 December 2006 10:49

For two days now, i have had 2 songs stuck in my head which I keep humming and whistling to myself.

In particular when I'm riding the Motorbike because the engine tone makes a good back ground noise and the accoustics in my helmet are surprisely good

The songs are:-

* Last Christmas by Wham from about 1990
* The Incredible Hulk TV theme tune from the 70's - You know the one, with the Piano sole which speaks so hauntingly of Dr. Banners' lonelyness as he is once again forced to move on to yet another small Mid-west town.

Sometimes the tunes merge together and it's driving me nuts.

I can't think of where I have heard the songs recently to make me remember then in the first place. I suppose Last Christmas was playing in a store for the annoyingly festive season but the Incredible Hulk theme tune?

Categories: Personal_

Reviewed Past Blog Entries

15 December 2006 10:59

This morning I reread some of my past blog post's and found that there are lot's of incorrect words where the hand writing recognition on my PDA interprets my scawling as the wrong character.

In particular "and" is often recorded as "end" and ''been" is recorded as the ''beer" which for all who know me is not a word I would use very often.

The trouble is because these are real words spell checker is not catching them.

Now I know about the problem I'll watch out for those error's myself but if you see something that reads wrong, replace the incorrect word with a word which look's similar and that is probably what I meant to say.

Categories: Personal _

Pub Meet with the Ramblers

15 December 2006 00:01

Tonight I went to Peterborough for a pub meet with the Peterborough Young Walkers.

It only took about 50 minutes to get there which means that I once again arrived far too early.

We were suppose to be going to The Charter which is a floating bar and restaurant but when we got there we found the bar had been booked for a private party.

In the end we headed to a pub in the town center where we waited for the late comers to catch us up.

It was a nice evening, I was very tempted to get a minted lamb burger but before I realised the time, it was too late to order.

While there I arranged to help Debbie do a recky one of her future walks this Sunday.

Categories: Personal_

Internet Connection Sloooowww....

11 December 2006 17:33

For the last 2 days my internet connection has been really bad, webpages timing out, connections to mail servers getting dropped and horror of horrors I have beer unable to play on-line games.

I've run Plusnet's self-test and according to that the local exchange's contention ratio is very poor.

The self-test program suggested checking back on a weekly basis. If it takes that long to resolve then I'm going to by asking for I a refund because the service is unusable in any practical way.

Categories: Personal_

15000 Miles and counting

11 December 2006 18:05

Today's bike service represent's 15,000 miles since I brought the bike in a April 2006.

My Mileage = 15278
Total Mileage = 33950

Fuel Used = 1192.25 litres
Average MPG = 58.26

Cost Per Mile = 44p/mile (about 1/3 that the Polo used to cost)

Categories: Biking_

Motorbike Service

11 December 2006 17:51

I've got the motorbike back from the garage after it's 12000 mile service.

There weren't any problems with the bike except the the rear tyre which I knew was in need of replacing ony way.

The service report did mention that the clutch was on the way out, the estimate for that repair is £150, I'm hoping the clutch will last until the next medium service in 8000 miles time.

I also brought some Sidi Black Rain Evo when I went back to pick up the bike. These should be warm I and safer than my current boot's.

Categories: Biking_

Apethorpe Walk

10 December 2006 16:38

Today's walk was from Apethorpe, it was quiet a nice walk but it was very muddy and it was very cold.

It was only 6 miles but the pace was about right with only 1 tea stop. The pub at the end of the walk was nice but the food there was expensive.

On the way home I managed to run out of petrol in the main tank. I switched over to the secondary tank rode very smoothly until I could find a petrol station. After the bike stalled I remembered I that I hadn't put a full tank in the last time I filled up - do'h

That is the last walk of the year. The next event I'm going to is the New Year Event in Harrogate.

Categories: Personal_ Walking_

Brrr

08 December 2006 11:31

The ride home last night was very windy and very cold.

I was blown all over the road and I had to lean the bike over to about 20 degree's just to maintain a strailght line.

I'm not getting cold under my clothes but I'm getting really cold on face, I might need to invest in a scarf. A pink stripey one with tassles should improve my macho image.

Categories: Personal_ Biking_

Christmas Dinner with Everyone

02 December 2006 22:24

Tonight I had dinner at the Dukes Head near Crawley with Mum, Jen, Matt, Nan, Granddad, Shirley, Roo, David, Chris, Ian and Sarah.

Kevin ond George didn't turn up.

Ian and Sarah handed out Wedding Invites for April.

It was a nice night and for a Beef Eater the food was vey good.

Categories: Personal_

Blimey, T-Mobile finally manage to send a Direct Debit Mandate

05 December 2006 11:29

After many many many attempts to get T-Mobile to send out a Direct Debit form, I got home Monday to find one sitting on my door step. So that's just 6 requests and about 8 months to get T-Mobile to send out a form to allow me to pay them, maybe they didn't want to be paid?

Categories: Personal_

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Pan's Labyrinth

30 November 2006 23:10

Tonight I went to see Pan's Labyrinth which is a Spanish Fairy Tale set during the Spanish Civil War.

It was very good but in places you could see the film's influences so I was left feeling that it wasn't entirely original. For example a girl was dressed remarkably like Alice in Wonderland just before crawling down a hole in a tree.

The film keeps jumping between a dark and cruel reality to a more wonderus fairy tale world but it's never quiet clear whether the fairies and fawn are real or just figments of the girls imagination.

That said, it was definitely aimed at the older audience which was good because fantasy is a genre I love but I do get fed up with childish focus of a lot of the film's (see the earlier Harry Potter Film for example).

All in all, I really enjoyed the film.

Afterwards, we went for a pizza at Pizza Express before coming home.

Categories: Personal_

Drunk Driver

29 November 2006 20:56

Riding home tonight on the motorbike, I found myself behind a drunk driver. He was swerving all over the road, sometimes driving into the soft shoulder and towards then toward the oncoming traffic.

I really wanted to ring the police but I knew by the I had found a safe place to stop, got my helmet off and rung 999 he would have been long gone and they would have never found him.

I tried to remember his number plate but by the time I got home I couldn't be sure that I had remembered the number right one in the oak I couldn't be sure of the model or colour of the car.

I need an Autocom type system because at least then I could use the phone and continue riding which might have allowed me to guide the police to the driver.

Categories: Biking_ Personal_

Late T-Mobile Payment

29 November 2006 15:48

I've just had T-Mobile on the phone because I have once again not paid the bill on time. The reason I haven't paid the bill on time? because after about 5 attempts in 7-8 months to get a direct debit mandate from them and 5 failures to do so I decided that I would now only pay the bill once the grace period had expired and they have cut me off. This is the second month in a row where I have done this on purpose (although 3 months ago I did miss the payment by mistake).

I have now paid the bill and I have once again requested a Direct Debit mandate.

I'm sure all these late payments at killing my credit rating but to be honest, I never apply for credit cards, I have no intention of moving house so I don't have a new mortgage to worry about and I just do not care what business's think of my credit rating.

I think the problem is that T-Mobile want me to do this via there customer services call center but it's got to the point where I just don't trust them and I want to see the mandate in my hand where I can fill in the details myself and sign the hard copy.

Besides, you never know, they might actually send the damn form out this time.

Categories: Plasmon_

Padded Trousers Replaced

25 November 2006 12:18

Today I rode up to Coallille to get the trousers I brought at the bike show replaced because the zip had broken.

The journey up was very bad, lot's of rain, lots of wind, lots of lightningSend instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

My Padded Trousers Broke

20 November 2006 12:04

This morning, the zip on my padded biking trousers broke, I've phoned
the people I've brought them from (a company stall at the NEC Bike
Show) and they said they will replace the trousers if I bring them to
their office in Leichester.

I've priced it up and it is cheaper for me to ride out there than it
would be to post to them and it looks like a nice ride so I'm going to do that next saturday.

Categories: Personal_ Biking_

PYW AGM

17 November 2006 23:29

I've just got back from thePeteborough Young Walkers held at the Bolthop Arms in Peterborough.

It was about 30 minutes of official business and 3 hours of drinking, eating and games.

The journey there was terrible, heavy traffic in very wet and windy weather but I got there without any trouble.

Categories: Personal_

Shed Arrived

Well, at long last my shed has arrived.

There is plenty of space around the doors so I shouldn't have trouble getting the motorbike in there although the floor will need reinforcing and I will need to build a ramp before that happens.

Categories: Personal_

Walking in Oundle

12 November 2006 15:57

Today, I went walking in Oundle with the ramblers. It was a long walk at 9-10 miles but the area was quite nice.

It was quite a poor turn out however, 12 in total but 4 of those were new people.

Maybe the distance put people off.

Categories: Walking_

Lost in Peterborough

11 November 2006 10:34

I'm going to the Ramblers AGM next week but it is going to be hard getting from work to Peterborough in time so tonight I rode up there to check the route and timing.

And a good job I did because I got lost in Peterborough and spending 1.5 hours riding around in the dark trying to find the right road.

It was raining really hard last night and I think the spray and lights reflecting off the road stopped me seeing road names.

On the plus side, my waterproofs end heated grips do work in torrential rain.

Categories: Personal_ Biking_

Romano Criminal

08 November 2006 23:42

Tonight, I went to see Romano Criminal with Matt, Martina and Nicola. Before the film we went to Pizza Express.

The film was very enjoyable but at 2.5 hours it could have been a bit shorter.

Categories: Personal_

Shake Down Ride

05 November 2006 13:16

Yesterday, I brought surre pedal's for my new mountain bike and this morning I fitted them and took the bike for a 10 Mile shake down ride.

I started off sticking to the roads, then started to do a little off roading.

The bike is very light which will be good when off-road but I run out of gear's before I can get up to a desert speed on-road.

Categories: Personal_ Cycling_

My poor bike got pushed over

04 November 2006 10:46

Last night my motorbike got pushed over, the crash mushroom was cracked but there was surprisingly little damage.

This is the second time the bike has been targetted so I have reported it- to the police.

I'm not expecting them to be able to do anything but at least there is a report in case the kids get crushed unde my bike one night.

Categories: Personal_ Biking_

Chilly start to the day

03 November 2006 09:13

Today was a chilly morning and it looks like I've got the padded trousers
and my heated grips sorted out just in time.

In fact this morning, my bike was covered in ice so I'm really glad I got
the padded trousers at the bike show.

The only part of me that is now getting cold are my feet, I may need to
think about putting 2 pairs of socks on in the morning.

Categories: Personal_ Biking_

NEC Bike Show

01 November 2006 17:23

Today, I went to the NEC Bike Show with Matt and I met dad there.

I had planned to get there quite early but the van rental (I hired a van because I'm buying some bicycles after the show) took much longer than I had intended.

After getting the van I picked up Matt and then got stuck in traffic almost straight away then took the wrong turn twice on the was to Birmingham, we eventually arrived at the NEC at 11:30 instead of the 10:00 I had hoped for.

We found dad without too much trouble and then me aid Matt split up from dad and his mate Jeff aid visited all the stalls.

I had hoped to get a rideout on a Honda Varadero but by the time we found the booking stall, all the places were booked.

I did get myself some padded riding trousers for £80 and dad found me a right angle tyre valve apdater so I can fill my tyres with air at petrol stations.

We finally finished at about 15:OO and headed back to the Van to collect the bicycles from Nottingham.

Categories: Personal_ Biking_.

Hambleton Peninsular Walk

29 October 2006 16:09

I've just got back from a walk around Hambleton Peninsular with the Ramblers.

This was a short slow walk because it was intended as an introduction walk for people who want to join the club.

We had 28 people on the walk compare to a nornal turn out of 10-15 which must have beer helped by absolutely prefect weather which felt more like a July day than a an October one.

I very nice walk although I could have done win it lasting a little longer.

Categories: Walking_

Beautiful Morning

27 October 2006 09:14

What a truly beautiful morning it is today, crisp chilly air, the sun is
shining, the leaves are beginning to turn brown. Gorgeous. Autumn has
always been my favourite time of year.

I really enjoyed the ride into work and I was really tempted to just carry
on going, maybe head out to the coast but I'm too boring to do that and
dutifully turned up and work to sit under the Fluorescent Lights in my Air
Conditioned Box. I've got a feeling I'm going to regret not just riding
past the office this morning and I'm going to spend the day looking out
the window.

Categories: Plasmon_

Work PC Died

24 October 2006 12:48

My work PC has just died. I was trying to load Unreal Tourament but I thinh that was just a coincidense.

To get the machine to run again. I had to open it vip and wiggle all the cables and cards I could find.

It may be time for a new work Machine. Barry has said there is a spare lying around somewhere.

Categories: Personal_ Plasmon_

Walking from Houghton

22 October 2006 11:59

Today, I went walking with mum following a route from Houghton which I have done with the Ramblers.

We completed the walk much faster than the Ramblers did but we didn't stop three times on the way round end of course we wee much quicker crossing the bridges and stiles because we didn't have 20 people all crossing one at a time.

After the walk, we stop for a tea at the cake shop.

Categories: Personal_ Walking_

Jenni's Graduation & Kevin's Birthday

20 October 2006 16:37

Today was Jenni's Graduation and Kevin's Birthday so everyone Card I mean eveyone) went up to Gt Yarmouth to celebrate.

Jenni had to get dressed up in graduation gown's and walk to the center of St Nicholas's Church in Great Yarmouth. She was very nervous.

After the graduation. Dad and Christine left and everyone else including Carly who couldn't make it to the Ceremony went to a pub near Matt's house for a meal.

It was a nice day although it was nerve-racking for everyone involved for different reasons.

Categories: Personal_

Midnight Rider

17 October 2006 00:39

I have just got back from a midnight bike ride, I couldn't sleep so I went for a 30 minute ride.

I do love riding at night, especially nights like tonight where there is a slight mist but the skies are clear so you car see the stars.

I am going to need to buy some padded trousers because the night air is really beginning cut into my thighs.

I had a look for some trousers when I collected my bike from the garage on Friday but as usual the only trousers I could find were in XL and XXL sizesSend instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com

Dentist Again

16 October 2006 19:07

Well, I'm at the dentist again for the second of my two fillings.

This time, I haven't ordered a pizza to collect afterwards since the appointments seem to run late anyway and afte my mouth has beer numbed I Carie really ajoy the pizza anyway.

Categories: Pesonal_

Motorbike Service

13 October 2006 09:03

I've just dropped the bike off for a service.

It-s going to have a 8000 Mile check and they will see if they can fix the Heated Grips.

Categories: Biking_

It's a bit wet around here

I got soaked coming into work this morning and then I got soaked at lunchtime when I went out to get my lizard, Herman, some food.

My jacket and trousers are waterproof but the wato gets in at the cuffs and down ny neck. I might need to get some sort of neck protector.

I also need to get my Floresent strappy thing sorted out, at the moment it's to big and keeps getting tangled up or falls off my shoulders. I either need to shorten the straps or hit the gym but since I've already brought some velcro I guess shortening the Straps is the way to go.

Categories: Personal _ Biking_

Where have my S's gone

09 October 2006 21:20

I went to the dentist tonight for a filling.

After a few numbing injections I can't feel the right side of my face and I have lost the ability to say 's'.

I keep prodding my lips, cheeks and tongue with a fork but I can't feel anything yet.

I've got 1 more filling to have done next week so I will lose my S's again soon

Categories: Personal_

Broke the zip on my Biking Trousers

09 October 2006 08:21

I managed to break the zip at the bottom of my trouser leg this morning, now I am going to have to buy some proper waterproof biking trousers.

Categories: Personal_ Biking_

Ebay auction won

I have won the auction for scratched white pannier lids. These lids are the standard sized snallo lids which should make my bike thinner and so easier to get through traffic.

I bid £14.99 including postage for the lids, now I just have to find some matching red paint.

Categories: Personal_ Biking_

Ran out of petrol

06 October 2006 09:20

Riding into work this morning I managed to run out of petrol.

I switched over to the reserve tank and managed to make it to the Shell garage at Caxton Gibbets but as always, I had to wait for about 2 Minutes before lie bike would start after switching to the second tank.

After filling the tank I put about half of the fuel cleaner I brought last night into the tank.

Categories: Personal_ Biking_

Dust Caps

18:30 05/10/2006

After work I west to Halfords to buy some dust caps to replace the ores that seem to have disappeared from my bike.

They didn't have any of the Cheap plastic ones so I brought some metal ones which have a builtin value extractor.

I also brought some fuel cleaning additive to see if I see on improvement in my mpg.

Categories: Personal_ Biking_

Some git stole my dust caps

I check the tyre pressures on my bike today in an attempt to solve the wobble I'm getting on my bike.

Last weekend when I last checked them the pressure was spot on, today both tyres were at about half normal pressure and both were missing their dust caps.

I'm 95% sure I put them back on last time so I think some git must have thought it would be a great joke to let my tyres down >:( grrr.

Categories: Personal_ Biking_

Wibbly Wobbly

While riding in to work yesterday I found that if I take both hands off the handle bar then the bars start to shake violently. It is the beginning of something called a tank slapper where the bars eventually shake back and forward so much that they hit the fuel tank.

After a bit of experimenting I found a single finger on one of the grips is enough to dampen the wobble out completely so it's not dangerous yet but it is going to need to be looked at.

I think the cause is the headset bearing which the mechanic has warned had some play in a previous service and which seems to be a common failing in the first generation Deauvilles.

Well the bike was due it's next service within a couple of weeks any way.

Categories: Personal Biking_

Wow, that was wet

In the end I decided to go walking with the Ramblers at Braunston-in-Rutland, it started off very nice, I was ever wearing sunglasses for the first hour or so but it soon changed.

We just made it to a rusty old barn before it really started raining with lightning and thunder with the rain being blown through the born so we were still getting wet despite being indoors.

We were stuck in the barn for about an hour so had our lunch there.

Still, even with the rain it was a great walk in some great countryside.

Categories: Personal_ Walking_

Thunder and Lightning

I've just been woken up by a fantastic lightning display along with some very heavy rain.

I was planning on going walking with the ramblers today but I think I'll wait to see What the weather is like a bit closer to the time.

On the plus side, the rain should be enough to wash away the last of the sand left over from the Concreting for the shed base I did at the beginning of the week.

Categories: Personal_

Proper Job

Well the base has been laid, the mixer has been returned and all the tool's have been cleaned.

The shed base is smoother than a Tesco's Car Park.

I asked Hire or Buy for enough supplies for 1 cubic meter's of concrete, first they sent the wrong ballast, then we found that we didn't have any where close to enough cement end way to much ballast.

I don't think I will use them supplies again but I will use them to hire tool's again since there was nothing wrong with the mixer.

And just to fulfill my geeky side, I monitored the power consumption of the electric mixer; when full it drew 2.5 Amps and used 1.19 KWH's to finish the whole base.

Categories: Personal_

Rain,rain go away

Well, the hire place had delivered the wrong stuff, instead of sand they were supposed to leave a sand/gravel mix.

I got that sort out and the sand was taken back.

Me and dad have dug a big hole in the garden and we have built the frame for the concrete but decided that we didn't have time to do the concrete before we lost light so we are going to do that tomorrow morning.

Categories: Personal_

Lots of Sand,not much gravel

I' m on holiday this week and today l'm building a concrete base for a shed in my garden.

I asked Hire Or Buy for enough supplies to make up 1 cu meter of concrete.

The sand has turned up, the cement has turned up, I even have an eletric mixer but not a single bag of gravel, I've never made concrete before but I thought that gravel was 1 of the ingredients.

Categories: Personal_

Oops

I realized yesterday that I hadn't put the new tax disk on the bike which I brought about halfway through last month.

I had a search around at home and eventually found it under a big pile of papers that I was going to throw out.

Still, it's fitted to the bike now.

Categories: Personal_ Biking_

I can see for miles and miles

OK, that's not completely true but I did fit a Xenon 50% brighter bulb to my motorbike last night and I can now see where I am going.

With the old light I could see where the road goes but now I can see what the surface is like, mud on the road and pot holes.

That's got to be the best £14.99 uprgrade you can make for a bike.

Categories: Personal _ Biking_

Resetting the Unread Messages Count in Lotus Notes

I have the misfortune to use Lotus Notes at work and one of the problems I have with this terrible application is that the number of unread messages that a folder says it contains is higher than the actual number of unread messages.

This can be caused by a couple of different things.

1) Deleting large numbers of unread messages at once
2) Lotus Notes Soft Delete Feature

The solution is quite simple but very annoying:

1. Select all messages
2. Menu -> Edit -> Mark all read

This marks everything read and resets the Unread Count- to zero.

Categories: Tech_

Ouch, ouch, son of a .....

Well I can now add Hail Stones to the weather conditions I ridden the bike in, and I can say that they hurt - even at 40mph through textile armoured jacket.

These Hail Stones were about the size of peas but thankfully they were melting as they hit the road so I didn't have to ride on ball bearings.

I think snow and icy roads are now the only weather conditions left for me to experience.

Catgories: Personal_ Biking_

Out of Go-Go Juice

I went to visit my dad this weekend which was nice, we took the dog for a walk up on South Downs which l think might have been a first for Meg (the dog) and it was part of the downs l've never been to before.

I came home Monday night via the M11 and came across a bloke pushing his R1 down the hard shoulder, I pull over and stop about 150 yards ahead of him and wait for him to catch up, when he finally does he says "hello" and carries on pushing.

I ride up to him and ask if he's okay, find out he needs petrol so ask if he wants a lift. I don't think he thought had occurred to him which I guess why he didn't stop.

In end I gave him a lift to the nearest service station where he had a friend waiting.

Hope he got back to the bike OK.

Categories: Personal_ Biking_

Snakes in theatres

In the story from BBC below, two Diamondback Rattle Snakes were released into a Cinema showing Snakes on a Plane.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/5277238.stm

Categories: Personal_

Snakes on a Plane

I went to see Snakes on a Plane last night and it was much better than I expected.

I guess I was expecting a very Bad B-Movie where it was funny because it was so bad, I guess the producers knew it was a B-Movie to because it was played for laughs. All in all, it was a great film which I really enjoyed.

There were snakes biting people left right and center, big snakes, little snakes, brown dull snakes, bright colourful snakes. People being bitten in nasty places, people being bitten funny places.

It did prove however that I an too much of a nature geek because I spent the whole film identifying the snake species, I think recognised about 50% of the snakes but even the ones I didn't know directly, I could identify the basic family and roughly what part of the world you would find them in.

Great film which I recommend unless you are already afraid of snakes because this film tries to play on every fear people might have about snakes.

Categories: Personal_

Keep on riding

I have just worked out that in the 4 months I have owed the motorbike, I have :

* travelled 8000 miles
* used 626 litres of unleaded
* averaged 58.5 mpg

Just for the record, I really am sad enough to keep stats for all of this stuff.

Categories: Personal_ Biking_

Cyclist charged with cycling on the road

I have an online friend who was stopped by the police at the beginning of the year because the police said he was holding up traffic while doing 3OmphThey said he should to the left of the white line marking the edge of the road, something which is illegal for any vehicle except in an emergency.

He made a note of the officers number and then contacted the police station with a description of what had happened and asking that it ode made dear that cyclist should be on road.

In hindsight that might have been a mistake, The police have charged Dan with obstructing the traffic end he had his Court hearing this week.

It didn't go well and Dan lost his case and was charged £300.

The Judge ruled that Dan should have been using the cycle path on the otherside of the road which would have required Dan to get off and cross 3 lanes of traffic to travel less than 0.6 miles to the next roundabout.

John Franklin appeared as an expert witness for the defence and said Dan was doing exactly the right thing for the conditions. For those that don't know who John Franklin is, he writes the governments own guide to cycling on the road called Cyclecraft.

This ruling does not create a legal precedent
since the court is not high enough but in theory an appeal could.

However what this Judge has effectively said is cyclist should not be on the road if there is ony sort of cycle path provision.

I have donated some money to the Cyclist Defense Fund end I urge you to do the same.

Just for the record, this judge (Bruce Morgan) has made some other decisions which have been a bit contraversal and then got over turned. He is the Judge that aqquitted an Police Man for driving an unmarked vechical at 159mph on a motorway and over 60 mph in a 30 zone http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/shropshire/4559173.stm, This decision was overtuned on the 1 Feb 2006 http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/shropshire/4669594.stm.

Categories: Cycling_

Walking in Rutland

I went walking with Peteborough Young Walkers today. We started from Wing in Rutland, walked out to Rutland Water and back to Wing where we had tea and cakes at the village hall.

I've never been to the Rutland area before and l found it very nice, lots of hills and small villages.

My only criticism of the walk was that it was a bit to leisurely but I think that was because the cakes didn't get served until 3 pm.

Categories: Personal_ Walking_

Airport Run

I took Jenni to the airport yesterday morning, it was a 4 am start so I was pretty knackered, especially since I was up late the night before.

About 10 minutes into the drive Jenni tells me she miscalculated the time she had to be at the at the airport and the we are now running 30 minutes late.

I had looked up the route on google Maps and remembered the route but because I'm really busy at work at the moment I didn't check it was a sensible route, unfortunately it wasn't and it took us a while to get to ere airport Luckily it was 4 arr so the traffic was light end we were able to pass what little traffic there was with ease.

I eventually got dropped off at the terninal at 6:15 ready for her 7:30 flight. I then went to find a parking spot because Jen didn't wart me to leave until she was through security.

Afte she had gone I drive home via work to pick up my bikes Jacket which I had left at work end then returned the carto the rental place.

Categories: Personal_

Bike Service

I picked up my bike from the garage after returning the rental car, £190 for a 4000 mile service. Most of that was Labour.

I think far going to have to learn how to do the short service myself because with the number of miles I'm a doing each year the bike will need another service in 3 months time.

Categories: Personal_ Biking_

Rental Mix Up

I popped into Tim Brintons Peugeot today to pick up the rental car ordered couple of weeks ago but they said they had no record of my order.

So had to fill out aload forms and eventually got a 307 Sport. Which to be honest doesn't feel that sporty, although that might be me getting used to the peformcnce of motorbikes and making an unfair comparison.

Anyway, I got work a phone call from the car rental firm wondeing when I was going to pick the car up!

It seems that I booked the car from the Cambridge branch which would explain why the St Neots branch didn't have a booking for me.

Categories: Personal_

Passport Payment

I have been recieving demands for payment for my new passport a which got delievered a few weeks ago. I gave them a ring this morning and after explaining the situation to 4 different people I finally got through to the person who's actually been sending out the demand letters and got her to confirm the number of the credit card that I had tried to pay with when I filled my application.

Looks like I got 2 characters the wrong way round.

Anyway, thats all sorted out and I now legal own my own passport and can travel the world if I so desire, of course it will probably just live out its life in a draw never getting stamped like the old one did.

Categories: Personal_

My PDA arrived

Well my PDA arrived this Friday and I have been playing with it since I got home.

I have got email and MSN Messenger working with the FON wireless router and if all goes well, then this post should have been sent from my PDA.

Categories: Personal_ Tech_

FONBasic 0.6.5

I know I said in my previous post about FON Social WiFi that I wasn't going to upgrade again until I saw a v1.0 but what can I say, I'm a geek and I just had to revisit the firmware on the router again.

So I have now installed FONBasic 0.6.5 and that seems to be stable, although I did see my Instant Messenger client disconnect MSN users with a low level communications error once so it might be that there are issues with disconnection of open ports which aren't active.

I might just go crazy and upgrade to FONBasic 0.6.6 when I have some spare time to see if the problems I had previously were due to a bad flash or something like that. I can always downgrade again.

Categories: Personal_ Tech_

Technorati Tags: FON, Wireless, Router, 0.6.5

eBay Bid Success

I have finally won a bid on eBay for a WiFi Enabled PDA. I paid £155 which seems to be the going rate for secondhand WiFi enabled PDAs regardless of model.

The PDA is a Dell Axim x51.

Hopefully this will turn up within the next few days and then I can start playing with it.

Categories: Personal_ Tech_

Great Western Trains use Terrorism as excuse to remove cycles.

According to thisisexeter.co.uk, staff at the St Davids station in Exeter have been removing bicycles because they represent a bomb threat.

Their strategy to deal with all these bombs? To cut through the locks with bolt croppers and move them inside the station right next to customer services. Also, if they are really concerned about terrorist bombs, what are they doing about all those cars which drop people off at the station everyday.

Why can't train companies just be honest, they hate cyclists and only tolerate them because they are required to by government.

Categories: Personal_ Cycling_

Snobby Women in a Merc

I went to Tesco's last night and parked in the center of a parking bay. As I was coming out a women in a Mercedes SL320 trying to reverse into the parking spot next to me, and a right mess of the job she was making of it too.

The SL320 is a small car, it can't be any bigger than a polo so how can you fail to park it between 2 lines designed to take trucks?

She had 2 go's at parking that I could see and came very close to my bike on the first attempt, she eventually ended up about a foot inside my parking bay and couldn't open the door fully because she was too close to my bike.

We cross paths as I walk back to the bike and she walks into the shop and she says "becareful of my car, I don't what you to drop you bike on it". grrrrr

Maybe she was being sarcastic knowing that I had seen her abissmal attempt at parking but I didn't detect any hint of humour in her voice. I think she was actually worried that I was going to stratch her car when I pull out in a straight line out of my parking bay.

Friends and Family have heard me say it many times and I'm going to say it again here. If you can't drive a car, then don't buy one. If you don't have the skill to manavour a car at 5 mph then you should not be on the road doing 70 mph.

Categories: Personal_ Biking_

Walking in the Peak District

Yesterday I went walking in the Peak District with the Ramblers, I had a great ride up there there was hardly any traffic which meant I was just able to cruise along at the speed limit rather than match what ever speed the traffic happens to be doing which I prefer.

In fact the only traffic I saw was about 100 bikers from a club called the Blue Knights who I tagged along with for about a 1 mile but they were only doing about 65 so in the end I pasted them, they were stretched out for about 1.5 miles, there were bikers from Scotland, England, France and Germany. I later found out that all the Blue Knights currently serving or retired police - hence the Blue I guess.

I arrived far to early so I drove around for a bit then watched went to find the car park and watched some movies on my iPod while I waited for the others to turn up.

I love the landscape of the Peak District, I think it's my favourite National Park in terms of how it looks although I think I prefer Dartmoor for the actually walking it offers.

When the rest of the Ramblers had turned up, we set off on what was suppose to be a 7 mile walk but ended up being 10 miles - although we didn't actually get lost every often and only had to backtrack once so I'm not sure where those extra 3 miles came from. It was very hot, especially on some of the climbs and I think the heat slowed us all down a lot, I think we averaged 2 mph following what was large a flat track.

The ride home was quite as good, lots of traffic and stiffling under by jacket but still enjoyable.

Categories: Personal_ Biking_ Walking_

Hot and Humid Cycle Ride

Today I cycled into Cambridge with Matt, we were both looking for Biking Clothes, me because most of my clothes are really designed for Spring and Autumn use and Matt because he's doing he's CBT in a few weeks time.

The weather was hot with periods of rain which really raised the humidity because the moment the rain hit the roads it's started evaporating off again which made for an uncomfortable ride home.

I also managed to get a puncture just outside Cambridge, isn't it typical that the one trip where I didn't have my tool kit with me was the one I get a puncture on, in last 8 months or so I seem to keep getting punctures because my existing tyres were so worn down.

I keep meaning to get them replaced but kept forgetting to order them on Wiggle, so we walked the last 2 miles or so to Ben Haywards and I brought a set of Marathon Plus with the Kevlar band which should stop most punctures, and a set of Slime filled Inner Tubes so that even if I do get a puncture the inner tube should be self sealing.

I managed to buy myself a set of summer biking gloves with some Carbon Fiber Knuckle Protectors which should be a lot cooler.

Despite the temperature and the rain, it was great ride.

Category: Personal_ Cycling_

Pillion Insurance

I have just sorted out some Pillion Insurance for my bike. Now I'm sure that when I first took out my Insurance a full 4 months ago the Pillion Insurance was something like £80 extra but speaking to the nice lady at Bennetts today, they is no extra premium to pay, just a £20 admin fee.

Where did the extra risk of having a passenger on board go? Have those 4 months of riding so reduced my risk of an accident that they think the extra costs involved is too negliable to count? Not that I'm complaining of course, I'm just really surprised, thats all.

Now, I just need to find someone stupid enough to go on the back of a bike with me.

Categories: Personal_ Biking_

Car Rental and Bike Service

My sister will be making a brief appearance in St Neots on the 4th Aug as she heads through to Standstead Airpot and the Taxi was going to cost her a fortune so I've booked a car rental for the friday she is coming down and booked my bike in for it's 4000 miles service.

Nothing like killing 3 birds with one stone.

Hell, I might go to the pub with some friends and kill 4 birds with one stone.

Categories: Personal_

eBay Bid

Yesterday I made an offer for a iPAQ H5500 PDA on ebay.

I have offered £100.00 but so far the seller hasn't responded to the offer. I think £100.00 is a fair price since I've seen similar kit going for £108 at the end of an auction. The £155 he's asking for is a bit of a joke for a used PDA.

The seller has to make a decision with the next 34 hours so I should know for sure by tomorrow morning. It's all very exciting.

Categories: Personal_

FON Wireless Router

A few weeks ago I signed up with FON to get a cheap wireless router, unlike many on the FON Community Boards, my router turned up altough it did have a 2 pronged european plus I was able to get an adapter quite easily.

Once I had registered the router I was then asked by the FON website to upgrade to FONBasic 0.6.6 which failed and turned the router into a rather ugly paper weight.

I eventually got the router working again by installing OpenWRT and then installing the FONBasic firmware. I then found out that the FONBasic software disabled the private encrypted Wireless port which was enabled when I first got the router. I was also having a lot of difficulties with maintaining connections to the internet long enough to download podcasts or play games.

I have now downgraded the firmware to FONAdvanced 0.6.0 which does not seem to be an officially supported version any more but it is much more stable. I don't intend to upgrade the firmware again until the v1.0 and on condition that v1.0 has got multiple SSIDs reenabled.

It's a shame because the idea of FON is great, but the company behind it got greedy and have tried to do far far far too much with too few employees, FON should have restricted the number of routers that they were sending out, they should have employeed people to work on their Customer Support email address and most of all, they should have tested the firmware before releasing to the general public.

I know there are some people on the FON Community Board who argue that since FON firmware is Beta, we should have expected some problems but a public beta should not be so flakey that most of it's users are downgrading to unsupport versions of the firmware because it's both more stable and has better features.

Categories: Personal_ Tech_

Technorati Tags: Wireless, Router, FON

Speed Dating

I went Speed Dating last night, it was the second time I've been speeding date, both times with the same company but I have to say that I was left a little underwhelmed this time.

There were only 9 ladies there, compared to about 18 last time I went and the ratio of men to women was way off, with about 5 more men than there were ladies which meant that I spent a lot of the time sitting to off to one side talking to other blokes which really wasn't what I had paid for.

I'm not saying I didn't find some of the women at the event interesting, but I didn't find anyone with similar interests to me in terms of hobbies other than the usual "I like going to the cinema" which I think gets used as a general catchall past time to find some sort of common ground between two people.

To try to extend the evening, the event organisers gave us 4 minutes with each person instead of the usual 3 minutes, but even with 4 minutes per table (actually it was more like 6 minutes because some people were very slow to move on) the whole event was finished by 21:30.

I've still got to enter my marks for the event on the website and once the ladies have done the same I will be able to see if I have any matches.

Categories: Personal_

Norwich and Great Yarmouth

Yesterday I went to Norwich to see my sister, Jenni.

Her boyfriend, Matt, is a biker so we went out together and I followed him along the backroads to Great Yarmouth, the sun was shining - a lot - and the roads were twisty. It was a great ride.

The only problem I had was with a little old lady who was in a car behind me as we reach the outskirts of Great Yarmouth. She had great big thick glasses on but I don't think it helped. Matt was stuck behind a car which didn't seem able to maintain it's speed very constantly and everytime we slowed down the batty old dear came very close to ramming me on at least 4 occassions. I was so happy when we pulled in for petrol, let her ram someone else instead.

When we arrived in Great Yarmouth we parked up on the path next to the leisure center alone with just about every other biker in Norfolk (they must be drawn to Great Yarmouth like flies to one of those fly zapping machines) and brought an Ice Cream which we then eat on a pier watching the Chav's jump over the edge and looking at the sand sculptures.

On the way home we travelled a little bit faster, but of course didn't break any speed limits.

In the evening the three of us went to a Thai restaurant called Thailand (not the most original name I'll grant you) which was expensive but very very nice, well worth the price.

All in all, a great visit, although sleeping on the couch was once again a bit of torture, made worst this visit by the heat.

Categories: Peronsal_ Biking_

A new beginning - Again

OK, this is the 3rd time I have setup a blog because what I want to get from the blog keeps changing.

I still want to use it as a way of recording snippets of information which might be interesting to me in the future, but I also want to use it to keep a journal of things I'm doing which friends and family can use to see what I'm doing.

I also found that having a seperate blog for each topic that I'm interested in probably did make it easy for other people to find topics that they are interested in but I found it too difficult to manage but I have found out that you can subscribe to an XML feed of a Google Blog Search which gives me the option of putting the subscribe link of category searching on the blog.

Biggest downside is that I still haven't found a way of adding Technorati Tags from Yahoo Webmail which means that I still need to edit posts after I have emailed them to the blog. I never intended to tag every post I make but there are some which definately deserve to be tagged so other people can find them.

Categories: Notes_