I am a muppet.
I have been posting by email to my blog everyday of my holiday so far but I have just realised that I have just been posting to my private blog, not my public one so no-one can read about what I'm doing.
I will post the old messages to my public posts now but I can't do anything about the order that the posts will appear in or the blog until I get back home.
Today's walk was 7.5 miles from Malham, up to Malham Cove and the Malham Tarn before returning to the car via a detour into the moors.
We were very lucky with the weather, dispite the cold wind when up higher up in the hills the sun was very warm and you only had to be in a sheltered spot for a while before getting hot.
There were some great views, especialy from the top of Malham Cove and 1 will post some picture's when I get back from the holiday.
First day of my holiday in Yorkshire with my mum.
We have got a 3 bedroom Self Catering cottage in Settle which is beautiful, it looks like a traditional Yorkshire Cottage from the outside but inside been modernised inside.
Out of all the self catering cottages I've stayed in this is the one I can see myself living in. The location isn't perfect, it's surrounded on every side by other houses and I've yet to see a cottage which can match The Coachman's Cottage on Dartmoor for location or views.
Yesterday we went to Skipton to do some shopping, I've been looking for a camping matress but I have not been able to find any locally although i know of where I can find one in Harrogate.
After shopping we went to Brimham Rocks and explored the area.
I have brought my camping stove with me but it ran out of fuel half way through boiling some water so we had some luke warm tea - hmm, tasty
I've just been watching Animal Farm on Channel 4 which was exploring genetic engineering in the food industry and was hosted by 1 pro genetics' presenter and 1 pro organic presenter.
During the program the organic guy made a statement which really made me doubt that the guy brew what he was talking about.
He seemed to be arguing that between cloning and transgenics (where you take one animal and put them in other) it was during that was the most worrying science.
???
Surely cloning is just copying a known state. How good the outcome is determined by the orginal animal plus any error's that might be introduced by the cloning process.
Transgenic's however involves deliberately introducing gene's which you could never breed together, and no matter how well you think you understand the process there will always be that element of risk.
The series continues next week dealing with Pharming (where urinals and plant's are altered to produce medicines)
I overslept this morning and got up too late to be able to get to the Oundle walk in time.
Instead l tried to get the shed alarm working but without success, the only thing left for me to try is to disconnect one of the sensor's end see if it work's then.
Last night was the Peterborough Young Walkers pub meet at the Five Horseshoes in Barholm.
I arrived at the pub at 19:50 for the 20:00 meetup but found that no one else was there yet so I got charge out of my biking gear slowly while I waited.
At about 10 past Roger arrived so we went in to start drinking. We sat there together wait for anyone else to turn up.
In the end it was 20:40 before anyone else turned up and Jo and Barbara finally arrived at about 20:45 after getting lost on the way to the pub.
Gordon was the last to arrive at about 21:00.
It was a nice pub although any more people would have beer a problem given the pub was divided into 4 or 5 small room's.
There was much drinking and talking about who has fallen over on walks, the varying effect's different types of alcohol have on next morning's headache and many bad jokes where the punchline was maragled. Although I can hardly complain given how bad I am at telling jokes.
I've just spoken to Andy Palmer at APi which is the company that I'm going to use for the bike respray.
I've had a quick talk to him on the phone about what I want end I've decided to go for the apricot colour instead of black.
Andy is going to pickup the frame and fork's next Tuesday after which we will discuss the option's in more detail.
I need to give him the combination to the shed lock and give him detail's of the chainset if I want him to fit the bottom bracket.
Just got back from the Pub Quiz in Cambourne with Matt, Chris, Nicola and Matt's brother- Chris.
Once again we came third and and it is Starting to get annoying always being so close but never being first.
Still this week it wasn't that close. We scored 23 out of 30, second place scored 24 but the winners scored 29 - that is some impressive mobile googling.
Today I have been trying to install an alarm in to the shed but it hasn't gone well, the alarm is constantly sounding.
I think it is because of the layout of the door's has forced me to mount the sensors and magnets at a right-angle to each other.
I'm going to have mount a strip of wood along the top of both doors make the mounting position align without having sensor and magnet at right-angles.
Last night I went to the Yim Wah with Matt, Martina, Ginny & Richard.
Since we weren't due to eat until 20:30 I had some time to kill after work so I stopped off at Shepreth Wildlife Park to Pick up a couple of leaflet's and find out the entry price as an idea for the Rambler's.
After the wildlife park I headed into Cambridge to find some security screws for the shed but neither B&Q or Homebase sell them so I'm going to have to order them online.
I still had a load of time to kill so after filling up with petrol I went for a ride making a huge circle around the Chinese.
The food was nice but I think 20:30 was too late and by the time we actually started eating I wasn't hungry anymore.
This evening I hung the shed door back on its hinges.
While I was doing this I noticed that as well as all the screw's which attached the hinge to the shed, two screw's were missing from where the hinge attach's to the door.
At first I thought he had started unscrewing the door side hinges before realising that would involve undoing 12 screws instead of just 9 from the shed attachment.
When I tried to put a few screws into the holes I notice that the shaft of the screw's were still in the door cut off cleanly, it look's like they tried to hacksaw through the 12 screw's behind the metal plate of the hinge.
That's what get's on my nerves so much about the theft, the bastards that took my bikes are probably so stupid that they don't even know what they have got.
This page will be used to as a home page to all my posts related to the bike build. Europa is what the bike will be called once the build is completed.
Last Tuesday (27 Jan 2007) I had my two working bikes stolen from my garden shed, they took my Dawes touring bike (Callisto) and my Fuji mountain bike (Ganymede). The gits did leave 2 frames behind, an aluminum Trek 7000 frame and an unbranded steel frame with a few components on (forks/headset/handlebars/wheels).
I have decide to build the Trek frame into a bike because although the steel frame could be built up quicker and for less money, the components it has are all quite ugly and to make it something I would feel proud off would require stripping the components it already has off anyway.
Note: You can always get to this page via the Project Europa permanent link found at the top of the side bar (over there -> )
| Date | Description | Links | Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 05 Feb 2007 | Trek 7000 Aluminum Frame | £0.00 | |
| 05 Feb 2007 | Generic Rigid MTB Forks | Forks Brought | £8.89 |
| 14 Feb 2007 | APi Discussion | Respray Discussed | £0.00 |
| 31 March 2007 | Frame Respray | Frame Respray | £150.00 |
| Running Total | £158.89 |
The rigid MTB fork's I ordered on eBay have arrived they look reasonably good and should look ever better once they get painted.
These fork's have cost £8.98 including delivery.
Project Total: £8.98
Last night I went camping at Riverside Camping & Caravanning, Littleport.
This camp was mainly to check my equipment and to check that I have everything I need to go further a field.
What I have got all worked well but I really do need to get myself a matress of some sort because the ground was very cold last night.
Actually the air was very cold as well, there was ice on all the car windows this morning.
The campsite dog came over and said hello after I got the tent setup by sticking his head in the door and giving everything a good snif so if got really hungry I wasnt going to have any trouble catching the local wildlife.
The camping stove worked, Saturday night I had one of those meal in a bag things (Beef Stew and Dumplings). In the morning I had scrambled egg.
Everything fits on to bike for travelling but I don't have enough room to store the camping equipment and all my biking clothes on the bike while I'm off walking. Maybe a helmet loch would solve that problem since the helmet takes up 1 side box by itself.
So I just need to get something to lie on and I'll be all set for going further-a-field next fine.
After packing the tent up from the camping last night I went straight to Peterborough for today's walk. Actually straight is misleading because the road from Littleport to Wisbech was flooded halfway along so I had to double back to Littleport and pick up the A10 and the A47 to reach Peterborough - Note to self: investigate inflatable side pontoon's for the bike.
I eventually got to the meeting point with to minutes to spare so thank god that road was shut or l would have arrived about 1.5 hours early.
The walk was 5 miles around a park near to Peterborough so it wasn't exactly challenging, even the constant rain and section's of path which were flooded didn't make it challenging.
I seemed to spend the entire walk catching up with Barbara because we haven't seen each other for a while. Sorry to eveyone on the walk I didn't talk to.
At the end of the walk only a few of us went to the pub, I always go to the pub at the end of the walks which may make me one of the most sociable people - now that's a worrying thought.
You may have noticed that this blog has been quiet for the last couple of weeks, that is because Google have been having trouble accepting posts from emails which meant that the only way to update the blog was via the website which I don't find very convenient.
So what's been happening during the "blackout"
Work is getting on my nerves for reasons that I won't go into on a public blog but the long and short of it is that l don't feel particularly appreciated for the extra effort l have put in in the past, I'm currently working strict office hours and looking for a new job.
l would like to get into technical authoring but l'm finding it hard to get my foot in the door, as a way of giving myself some authoring experience l have volunteered to be the technical author on an open source project.
I have created a first draft of the installation guide but the project owner is not responding to my entails so I can't send him the work or get a prioritised list of feature's he want's documented or essential technical information like version numbers etc.
I have also been robbed, some gits took the shed door off it's hinges and stole my mountain bike and touring bike. They aren't covered by insurance.
The police examined the shed yesterday while I was at work but I haven't heard anything from then since.
The git's did leave the 2 frames so I have decided to build 1 up into a bike.
I won an eBay auction yesterday for a set of ridged mountain bike fork's for £8.89 aid I will now be looking to get the frame end fork's resprayed.
I have decided to document the bike build so I am going to get a cheap digital camera end take lot's of pictures, I have sent off for some argos voucher's from one of my loyality card's to help pay for it.
That just about cover's everything i think.
Categories: Personal_
Last night I finally got around to whittling down a plastic wine cork to use as a replacement rubber bungs for the top boy on the bike.
I took the bike out for a quick test run last night and it has completely eliminated the knocking and viberation.
Now the only question is how long will the bungs will last - I might need a big supply of plastic cork's.
Categories: Biking_
I've just got back from today's PYW walk from Kibworth near Leichester.
It was an 8 mile walk which must hold the record for the most stiles ever, each field seems to have 3 stiles for each enterance and exit. Unfortunately no one counted just how many there were.
The walk was to start from the Tea Shop in the village end we were going to end the walk with cakes, but alas the the Tea Shop is now a Bcity shop which cause a problem when stating aid meant no cakes at the end.
Categories: Walking_
Tonight I went to see Hot Fuzz with Matt, Martina and Nicola.
The film was great, very funny with that familar style and and sense of humour that you find in Shaun of the Dead.
I think tonight's film was as funny as Night at the Museum from a few weeks ago although they were very different types of film so it's hard to tell which one was best.
After the film, we all went for a slap-up meal at KFC :-)
Categories: Personal_
I was involved a conversation on one of the mailing lists I belong to yesterday about MPG that people get from a tank of petrol on a Deauville before having to switch over to the reserve tank.
The most I have ever got is about 200 miles but he claims that doing a constant 50mph he managed to get to 220 miles before switching. Personally I don't quite believe that but I must admit I don't think I have ever done a full tank where I didn't ride on a Motorway at some point which sucks petrols out of my tank like elephant sucks water out of a pool.
So I have decided for the current tank, I won't go above 50 mph and I won't refill until after I have switched over to the reserve tank.
Never let it be said that I turn down a tedious challenge.
Categories: Biking_
I had Friday off work because I have had both the Bike and Gas Boiler being serviced, that meant I had to sit around all day on Friday waiting for the man from British Gas to turn up.
Then despite having the bike since Thursday evening, it wasn't ready to pick up until 15:00 so I had to wait around for most of the day on Saturday as well.
The boiler work hasn't been finished yet so I am going to have to book another day of holiday but the bike is now running well.
The bike has now got a new clutch which means it can accelerate properly again but I have to drive slowly for a few days because I have a new front tyre which needs to be scrubbed in :-(
Categories: Personal_
As most of England knows by now, it's been snowing and it's been quite a while since I last saw a decent quantity of snow so I went a bit crazy.
First I went running up and down the green (actually white now) area outside my house wearing just a towel, I thought about loosing the towel as well but I really was expecting to run into some else. Of course I did forget to take the house keys with me so that could have been silly if the door had shut behind me but it didn't so I didn't freeze to death.
Then I decided to try to ride the bike to work. That was a mistake, I dropped it going out of the drive, the back wheel just slid out and I ended up doing a 180 with the bike ending on it's side.
A sensible person would have taken that as a warning and given up but not me, I continued up A428 where after realising it had taken 30 minutes to travel 8 miles I decided to turn around and go home because by the time I got to work I would have to leave again in order to get home before it got dark.
I had a big queue of cars behind me so I pulled off at a layby to let them past but without the pounding of tyres the snow on the layby hadn't melted and just as I pulled up to a complete stop, the front wheel slid out and the bike was on it's side again :-(
I have decided that before I go out in the snow on the bike again I need
a) Some snow tyres
b) A lighter bike because I can't lift the Deauville in the snow (I would really like an Harley Davison MT350 but they are getting rare these days)
Later on, I have to take the bike out again because I need to get it to the garage for the service tomorrow and I'm hoping the roads will be clear around 4pm.
Categories: Personal_ Biking_
I woke up early again this morning, the sun was out so I had good visibility and it's been warm enough for the last few days to clear up the last few patches of ice that might have been hiding in those shady places and so I left home 40 minutes early and took the fun country lanes into work this morning.
Gliding along the road in the clear air, picking that perfect line around that complex series of bends and accelerating out as the road straightens up - there really is no better feeling. I want to say it's like flying but I'm not sure that's true, maybe it's more like riding a powerboat down a river, there is a sense of speed which I don't think you get when flying because you have tree's and lampposts and road markings zipping past.
Certainly, I've never felt as at-one with a car which seems to do everything it can to isolate you from the environment you're riding through.
Will I ever get another car, or get my car repaired?
Probably, the only thing I miss about the car was the ability to carry my bike to interesting locations so I could go cycling in places I haven't cycled before (a real problem since I have cycled on every road within 50 miles of my house).
I would also like to join that Canoe club in St Neots I looked into once before but couldn't join then because they couldn't store my equipment there and my house is too small but I now have a shed which would take a small canoe but now I have no car so I can't get there with my equipment - grrr.
But even if I did get the car repaired, I couldn't see myself using it on a very regular basis, a motorbike is always likely to be my first choice of transport from now on because I like arriving to work with a grin on my face.
Categories: Biking_
Tonight I went out with Matt, Martina & Nicola for a pizza at Pizza Express where I had my favourite - Fiorentina
After that we went to see Night at the Museum at Cineworld on the recommendation of my sister.
It was brilliant, l was laughing all the way through it and I wasn't the only one.
Favourite Quote: Little plastic cowboy replies to little plastic roman general ''I won't quit you" when told to save himself.
Categories: Personal_
Following on from my early post http://captain-hooks-notes.blogspot.com/2007/01/cycling-court-case.html here.
Daniel's appeal has been heard by Judge R W Onions at Shrewsbury Crown Court and the ruling is "No Case To Answer", the conviction and sentence having been overturned. Of course there is not case to anwser, the original conviction basically said Daniel should not be cycling on a Public Highway.
At last, some sense from the whole system. At first we couldn't believe the police would even send the case to the CPS, then we couldn't believe the CPS actually went ahead with the case and finally the Judge (you know, the one who is supposed to really understand the law and ensure a fair trial) actually convicted Daniel.
Daniel has lived with this sentence over his head for 7 months, I know he and his family have been under a great deal of stress because of it.
Categories: Cycling_ Personal_
Last year, a forum friend of mine was stopped by the police because he was cycling on the road, there have been a couple of versions of the story going around but my understanding from Daniel is that the police pulled him over because he wasn't cycling left of the white line which marks the edge of the road. Now according to the highway code, it's illegal to travel left of that line except in an emergency, in other words the police were telling him to do something illegal.
Daniel, maybe foolishly, wrote a letter to the station these officers were based at to report the incidence and asking why he was stopped for doing exactly what the Highway Code says he had to do. This started a series of events which culminated in Daniel being prosecuted for inconsiderate cycling because although what the police had said at the side of the road was illegal, by the time it got to court the police had told him he should have used a cycle path which to reach required crossing 3 lanes of traffic.
The judge agreed that while he behaviour on the road was within in the law, by choosing to cycle on the road when there was a cycle path available was inconsiderate of the drivers. The road in question was only about 1/2 mile long, between two roundabouts and Daniel was travelling over 30 mph since he was cycling down hill. The judge pretty much ignored the expert witness testimony from John Franklin, the government adviser for cycling in the UK, who said that Daniel did everything correctly.
John Franklin explained how the cycle path was more dangerous for Daniel to reach than the road, more dangerous to use than the road for Daniel and less convenient since he would have to cross 3 lanes of traffic twice (once to join the cycle path and once to get off it in 1/2 a mile where the cycle path ends at the next roundabout).
This outcome was completely unexpected, unbelievable and cyclist the country over immediately donated money to the cyclist defence fund for the appeal. A total of £25,000 has been raised. In addition, The police force in Telford (West Mercia I believe) were inundated with requests from Cyclist for a map on which public roads they are now not allowed to cycle on to avoid prosecution should they ever visit Telford.
Personally I believe those letter writing campaigns only alienate the cyclists from the police but it did effectively show the can of worms that the case open; a cyclist, a rambler, a horse ride, a tractor driver - anyone who can not move at 60 mph could be done with inconsiderate riding/driving if there is an alternative route regardless if the alternate route increases the danger or is less convenient for that user.
The Judge in charge of this case has got a reputation of controversial decisions when on May 19th he decided PC Mark Milton, an advanced police drive had done nothing wrong when he drove his unmarked police car at 159mph on a motorway and 60mph through a 30mph zone - the charge against PC Mark Milton was brought by his own employers after reviewing the onboard video footage from the police car. The decisions was overturned by a different judge at an appeal.http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/England/shropshire/4559173.stm
Today is the date for the Appeal, Daniel is scheduled to appear in court at 11:00 at Shrewsbury Crown Court - Good Luck Daniel
My Del.icio.us Tag for DanielCadden
Categories: Personal_ Cycling_
I've just got back from the cinema with Matt and Martina where we watched The Last King of Scotland.
It was a very good film about Dr Nicholas Garrigan who was a doctor visiting Uganda and after a chance meeting ends up as Idi Amin personal doctor.
Through Dr Garrigan's eyes we see the regime go from the hope of a stable peaceful country to an Internationally condemned genocide state.
A bit of a surprise appearance by Gillian Anderson with a small role who managed a very convincing English accent, a guess those recent years in West End Theaters really paid off.
Categories: Personal_
The ride into work this morning was Snowy and Icy. This is the first time I have ridden in these conditions and I was a little bit scared but it turns out that all the main roads were completely clear of anything slippery which just left my own road and the road leading up to work which needed to be driven over very carefully.
On the way in, I didn't overtake a single car even though the roads were clear enough just in case there might be some ice around. I also made sure I had a jumper on under my coat and a scarf on but when I reached work I realised that I had forgotten my wooly hat and gloves so if I do breakdown or come off it could be a very cold wait for rescue.
I think tonight might be a tougher journey because we are forecast more snow and the roads should be very slushy by then.
Categories: Personal_ Biking_
I've just finished reading my favourite blog - Postsecret.
I have to say that it is becoming a bit darker in the last few month's and I'm surprised at the secrets people are prepared to reveal, even anonymously.
The idea is people make a postcard which shows their secret which they then post to an address in the US.
If you are interested you can find the blog at http://postsecret.blogspot.com but I really recommend not viewing at work, or at least be discreet because the pictures can be quite graphic sometimes.
Categories: Personal_
Today was the PYW ramble from Manton and it was a huge turn out. I guess there were a lot of New Year Resolutions being fulfilled.
The weather was sunny but very cold in the wind.
Since there were so many people walking I elected to be the back marker to make sure no-one was left behind, it also gave me a bit of privacy incase mum phoned with news about grandad.
At end, we all stopped at the Horse and Jockey for drinks and some food.
A very nice walk with some great views.
Categories: Walking_
Last night I went The Cuckoo in Alwalton for the ramblers walk planning meeting, I am going to be leading a walk from Curbar in the Peak District on the 2nd September.
Because Curbar is such a long way away I have suggested that I go up on the saturday and camp over night in the area an maybe do a short walk on the first day and the official walk on the Sunday.
Categories: Personal_
Last night I went into Cambridge for a pub crawl to celebrate Nicola's birthday.
We started off in All-bar-one with a couple of drinks and a meal before moving on to The Eagle which has a great beer garden considering it's stuck in the middle of a city. And that is as far as we got, we just stayed there until 11 when we all started heading home.
Actually I prefer not constantly moving from pub to pub because then you never get a table so I was more than happy at the lack of crawling involved.
It was me, Matt, Martina, Nicola to start with then tom showed up who apparently started working at Citrix 2 weeks before I left, although I don't remember him.
Thinking about it since he worked at Citrix before I left he may have put some money in towards my leaving pressie in which case thanks tom.
Later still Andy turned up, it was great to see him again, he had just been to a fisbee game which reminds me of quote from a movie whose name I forget: "remember , if a dog can play it, it's not a sport" - just kidding Andy.
Another great thing about Andy showing up was that he becomes the butt of all jokes, not me, Andy should come out more often ;-)
Martina has read my Pen-y-ghent entry on this blog and asked me at one of the pubs if that really happened! It's like people just don't get my sense of humour sometimes.
On one of the walks over the new year I made up a story about Attack Snails for diane, a dangerous species of snail which hunts down ramblers who stop for too long for lunch, maybe I should have made the story on pen-y-ghent about them instead to make it clear that it wasn't real :-)
Categories: Personal_
This mornings commute into work was a very windy journey with flooded sections of road and the all the rivers I cross on my way to work were flooded.
I was being blown one way, then the other. The bike was twisting and turning under me, I felt like a twig which had been cast into a river by a kid for some idle entertainment in a game of pooh sticks.
At one point I did find myself wondering whether it was going to be the helmet strap or my neck which was going to break, but I wasn't really worried until I noticed that some of the trucks I was passing were leaning over at a similar angle to me.
Categories: Personal_
Last night I went to Cambridge for a meal with Matt, Martina and Nicola as a post christmas get together. There was much laughing and micky taking, mainly with me being the butt of the jokes :-(
We went to Zizzi which is an italian in Cambridge and it was very good food. I'm going to have to go back there, I had Penna - al - Pineta which was basically pasta with pine nuts in it.
Afterwards, we went The Fountain Inn for some drinks before heading home.
Categories: Personal_
Note: Once again, the swear words have been replaced with ? to protect the innocent.
Following on from T-Mobile Direct Debit Once Again
? T-Mobile, I've just been onto the T-Mobile website to pay the bill. Only I can't pay because of the incompentence of the T-Mobile website designers, how do a company which is supposedly in a technology sector just completely ? up this stuff at every turn? (that one is actually a question mark not a swear word)
If you pay on the website with a credit card, the site remembers the details so you don't have to reenter the numbers again, great, that saves users about 45 seconds everytime they have to pay.
Only trouble is, my credit card has been reissued and so some of the details card details have changed. But there is no way to tell that ? website that the details are no longer valid which means that everytime I click on the approve button, they are submitting my current card number, my old expiry date and my current security code. ? unbelievable.
So I phone customer services and get put into a queue for 10 minutes - honestly, it's like they don't want to take my money or something.
And yet, if I were to collect my payment together in 2p pieces, go to their headoffice and kill everyone I see by battering them to death with an excessive weight of copper, it would be me that would be judged as wrong - the world is topsey turvey I tell ya.
Categories: Plasmon_
NOTE: This post has been edit after writing to remove the profanity that flowed from my innocent fingers all by themselves.
After submitting my direct debit mandiate to T-Mobile last month which followed about 6 months of trying to get a mandate sent to me to fill in, I felt sure the direct debit was setup and I wouldn't have to log in to the website and be charged extra for paying by credit card.
The ? just phoned demanding the payment because it's over due again. It's a ? good job that I don't care about my credit rating because that ? company must be destorying it with all those late payments. ? ? ?
I almost felt sorry for the poor ? call center worker who got a bit of an earful, then I remembered the ? worked for ? T-Mobile and now I just figure that he deserved it.
Categories: Plasmon_
Left Langcliffe Car park. The weather is very poor with rain, strong wind and once I had climbed a bit and got into the cloud layer visibility drops to about 20 meters.
I cant see any landmarks so I am navigating by map and compass only.
As I reached the top of the first hill I heard a dog howling, as if he had caught the scent of something. There is something about that howl which makes my blood run cold but he dog must be a couple of miles away so I don't worry about it.
03 January 2007 09:13
Reached Stainforth, the weather clears slightly allowing one to navigate with landmarks, this increases my speed dramatically.
03 January 2007 10:10
First Sighting of Pen-y-Ghent, I cant see the top because it is covered in cloud. The fog is increasing but I can still make out landmarks.
I think something might be following me but I can't catch sight of it.
03 January 2007 10:39
Reached Churn Milk Hole.
The fog has lifted a little. I am definitely being stalked by a dog like creature. It is running parallel to my path about 1000 meters out. I can not get a clear view of the animal from here as it is keeping to the far side of walls and hedgerows.
Churn Milk Hole marks the start of the ascent to the top of Pen-y-Ghent.
There is less cover up here and the animal is definitely following me and has started coming closer, it has a deep barrelled chest and short powerful looking jaws. It's legs appear to be too long and gangly to belong to the rest of the animal, almost like it it is a fusion of two completely separate animals.
I have picked up some rocks which I will throw at the animal if it comes any closer.
As I reach the base of the mount, the ground raises steeply, the wind has increased and the visibility is down to about 20 meters again.
03 January 2007 10:50
The final climb to the top, the wind is deafening me, the cloud is all around blinding me.
There is no sign of the creature.
I climb for another 5 minutes but I need to stop for a quick the rest, the path is made up of loose rock climbing at about 45 degrees, it's very hard going.
I turn to see if the cloud has lifted enough to offer me a view of the that I was in 30 minutes ago. Not more than 10 meters away the creature had closed the gap and looked to be ready itself for an attack.
I throw the rocks which I still hold in my hands but nearly all miss their target, the creature unbalanced by my actions slides down the scree slope 5 meters before starting to climb back towards me.
It does not move like any animal I have seen before. It tries to climb the scree slope on it hind legs but keeps toppling forward. I can see now that the dog is covered is long shaggy grey hair along the top, sides and outsides of it legs but that the belly and the inside of its legs are are hairless.
It has green eyes and short strong longing teeth. For all it's ferocious appearance, the animal looks half starved, I can see it's ribs even through the thick fur covering it's sides.
I turn to run further up the scree slope hoping that it's ungainliness will be all the advantage I need.
A sharp pain runs up my left arm and I turn to see the creature has bitten into my arm and is trying to dragged off my feet and down the scree slope.
A feeling of rage overtakes me, I reach put with my right hand which by chance finds a heavy rock which I swing over my head and bring down on top of the creatures head, it releases my arm but more out of shock at being hit rather than any injury I think I might have caused.
I straight up to my full height and stay the animal in the eyes, bearing my teeth and growling, acting on pure instinct although where this instinct comes from I could not say.
The creature stares back for 30 seconds or more before before turning and fleeing down the slope as fast as it can.
I turn the other way and climb the remaining hill as fast as possible.
03 January 2007 11:11
I have reached the summit of Pen-y-Ghent.
I do not want to stop incase the creature returns but I'm so hungry that I have no choice. I shelter besides the wall near to the trig point at the top of pen-y-ghent eating as quickly and quietly as possible, my ear straining of any noise the creature might give to betray its presence.
No sound is heard.
I decide to head to horton which is the nearest village to my current location.
On the way down I find some clothes which had been torn apart, on closer examination, I find a bite mark which must have gone into the leg of who ever was bitten because the trouser leg is covered in blood.
Although the clothes are torn apart, the only wound seems to have been the leg, I don't know why the owner of the clothes would have torn off his own clothes which appears to be what happened.
03 January 2007 12:45
Reached Horton in Ribblesdale.
There has been no sign of the creature for over an hour, I can only assume that it has given up.
03 January 2007 13:37
Reached Helwith Bridge.
On my way here some strange happened, I heard some noises in the brush off to one side, fearful of another attack my eye instantly lock onto the source of the sound, but there must have been some mistake because the spot I was looking at was over 100 meters away and the sound had seemed much closer
I just found a set of bathroom scales in the the bathroom of my holiday cottage. Why a holiday home needs scales I haven't worked out yet.
It's been about 5 years since I last weighed myself so I gave it a try.
9st 4lb ? There is no weigh (pun intended) that I weigh that little. I think my bones must be filled with Hydrogen.
When the Oil runs out and the world switches over to Hydrogen in going to be very very rich.
Categories: Personal_
Today I have brought a Tent from Cotswold in Harrogate for £160
Categories: Personal_
Today I went to York to look around the shops and York Minster. The cathedral is very impressive.
I then went to Hull to see the Deep, a Ocean Aquarium. That was very good. The main tank had sharks and rays and all sorts of other fishes whose name I have now forgotten.
Personally I would have preferred there to be more tanks and less interactive TV's trying to teach me stuff but I suppose the aquarium is designed for people - a bit younger than me.
Categories: Personal_
Happy New Year Everyone.
Last night I went to the Blues Cafe Bar in Harrogate with the Ramblers to celebrate New Years.
The tickets were brought in advance and included Egyptian which was very nice.
Unfortunately I got so bored that I left after an hour or so and came home.
That's not a reflection on the people I went with, the problem is I can't hear people taking when in noisy places and this bar was very small and far too crowded and with the band playing I was effectively excluded from any conversations the moment we walked through the doors. Smoke free would have been nice as well.
I got back to the bike about half past ten in the middle of a gale and made my way home very slowly and carefully.
As I said, food was good. I might have to see if I can get some recipes.
Categories: Personal_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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 _
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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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Trevor Hook
Blog: http://captain-hooks-notes.blogspot.com
Skype Username: t_k_hook
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All new Yahoo! Mail "The new Interface is stunning in its simplicity and ease of use." - PC Magazine
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_
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_
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_
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
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_.
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
I bid £14.99 including postage for the lids, now I just have to find some matching red paint.
Categories: Personal_ Biking_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
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_
