Mark's old news

2008.

New year's eve 3x round the village circuit in the muddy slime 23 mins 05.
We went into town for lunch.
More tidying up.
Finished the england level of tomb raider.

New year's day 4x circuit in the misty mud 30 mins 16.
More tidying up.
We went for a walk up the other hill.
Saw the finding neverland film.

Wednesday after about 20x I got fed up with falling off ledges in the ice caves and downloaded a slightly later save game.

Thursday carol took the xmas tree down.

Friday found that there was only a tricky run over collapsing pillars and a difficult fight left in tomb raider legend.

Sunday frosty.

Monday having trouble starting the car, having to jump it with the battery I removed - probably wasn't the battery or starter motor then. The orange light comes on occasionally, so it is probably not charging well, especially with the headlights on all the time. Decided not to go to the mynd.

Tuesday isolated the battery and charged it about 2 hours. Starts ok now.

Wednesday got the rear of the car exhaust replaced. Charged the battery some more.

Thursday put new regular slinky strings on my 2x old guitars.

Friday andy brought his new vintage les paul in and we had a bit of a play with it at lunchtime.

Sunday charged the battery again.
Adrian and jonathan came over for some guitar tuturing. Leant him my old satellite guitar and crate amp.

Back to red background. Swapped to rain logo, as there seems to be very little snow about.

Sunday afternoon 1x round the village circuit 8 mins 29.

Lots of rain this week, and some more rain.

Friday saw the avpr film. Lots of complete unknowns playing fairly standard cut and paste characters, but it also includes some of the best elements of the 2 franchises, and it is suitably dark.

Saturday we attempted to fit a new drive belt to the tumble dryer, only to find the reason it had snapped was the broken rear bearing. Bought a bosch 74103 instead.

Sunday charged the battery again.

Tuesday frosty morning.
Ordered the synology ds207+ nas from amazon and a seagate st3500320as 500G drive to go in in from ebuyer.

Friday the hard drive arrived.

Saturday bright and dry.
Afternoon 1x round the village circuit 8 mins 43 - drive chain squeaking a bit, so put some spray grease on it.
Had an email to say the nas was shipped on friday.

Sunday 1x circuit 8 mins 26 in the cold sunshine.

February.

Monday off to stansted and napoli - flight delayed 1hr. Cool and sunny in italia.

Tuesday the nas arrived.

Thursday flew back to stansted more or less on time, getting home about midnight. Rather windy.

Friday set up the nas - fairly straight forward for a file share. A couple of hours to copy about 40G of music and 30G of photos.
Very cold and sunny, with a bit of snow.

Saturday 1x round the village circuit 8 mins 30.
Relocated the nas and set up the the other pc and firewalls to see it.

Sunday 1x circuit 8 mins 21 in the cold wind.
Charged the car battery again. It seems to be lasting more than a week on a full charge.

Swapped to the snow logo now winter has arrived at last.

Monday decided to postpone the long mynd trip to wednesday for the better forecast.

Tuesday lots of rain on the way home.

Wednesday off to the mynd. 4 in 2 cars, including carol and me in carol's van. Also 2 locals. Bright and cold with a moderate W wind straight onto pole cott. Eventually flew the skorpion for the 2nd time ever - zooming up and down the slope with a jet like noise very nicely. A couple of loops and a rather slow roll. Tried a few landing approaches, switching in the crow braking, which although quite effective in slowing it down, caused a rapid zooming height gain - probably needs some down mixing in, and maybe using it progressively on the throttle stick. Decided to try to get it down without brakes. Eventually got it down safely. Also flew the filip, stiletto, old zagi and nano floh. Later on it warmed up a bit, with the sun low in the sky causing a bit of a problem. Anyway, a great day and we stayed a bit later than usual, hitting the traffic on the way home.

Friday got home in the daylight. 1x round the village circuit 8 mins 09. Put the car on charge.

Saturday 1x circuit in the frosty low sunshine 8 mins 29.
Put some new plugs in carol's kawasaki to try and get it running.

Sunday morning frosty and sunny.
1x circuit in the warm afternoon sunshine 8 mins 12.
Eventually got the kawasaki going after putting some fresh fuel in and using jump leads. It gradually got better, and seemed quite happy once it was running. Carol took it for a ride.
I took the ducati for a ride, meeting up with adrian and dave at dad's for a short ride out. Very cold by the time I got home.

Forgot to mention that I bought the band of horses cd cease to begin on saturday.

Tuesday got home in late afternoon sunshine. 1x round the village circuit 8 mins 20.

Wednesday home in the cooler sunshine. 1x circuit 8 mins 27.

Friday saw the jumper film - some nice sf ideas, but rather full of plot holes.

Saturday we went to oxford. Lunch at the big bang, then up walton street for coffee and cake at the rather wonderful freud and over to port meadow, then back down the canal in the jericho area.

Sunday morning frosty sunshine.
1x circuit in the cool low afternoon sunshine 8 mins 21.

Embedded the ironman trailer in the coming soon section.

Monday extremely cold.
I turned 49.
1x round the village circuit in the cold sunset 8 mins 20.

Tuesday home in the grey daylight. 1x circuit in the bitter cold 8 mins 27.

Wednesday went shopping at tesco and walked past the laptop a few times, before weakening and buying it - a fujitsu-siemens amilo pi 2515 £399.

Got the camera out, and on a tripod and experimented with the manual settings to take a few photos of the moon. Only occasional breaks in the clouds scudding past.
Got up at 02:30 to have a look at the lunar eclipse, but 100% cloud cover.

Thursday and friday got to play with the pi2525 laptop a bit more. The display is 1 of those modern, highly reflective glossy things, and windows vista loses a bit of clarity with all its on screen decorations. I think a 15.4" widescreen is a good compromise beteen portability and visibility. The keyboard is a bit squelchy, but works well. It would have been nice to have bluetooth built in, as well the wifi (untried as yet), but it is easy enough to plug in a usb unit. The headphone level seems a bit low, even turned up to max. It works well generally, and looks gorgeous.

Saturday damp and grey. We cut a path through the jungle to the shed.
Frogs are gathering in the pond.
1x circuit 8 mins 51.

Sunday 1x circuit 8 mins 16.
1st frog spawn has arrived - about 2 weeks earlier than last year, due to the warm weather.

Took the kawasaki for a ride, despite the dark grey sky - light rain by the time I got back.

March.

Tuesday tried to get the old bluetooth adapter working on the laptop, but vista complained about the old software and drivers.
Didn't charge the car this weekend, but it seems to be holding up well, possibly through less use of headlights.

Wednesday about 01:00 woken by the earthquake.
Did some web research on the bluetooth adapter. It seems vista has drivers for the old dongle and it works ok as a link, but the file transfer software itself won't work.

Thursday home in the daylight. 1x round the village circuit 8 mins 04.
Carol saw a fox in the garden and got a few photos.

Friday leap year day.
Checked the intonation on the bass - had to lower the a string a bit.
Windy night.

Saturday fitted the new clutch lever to carol's kawasaki.
I see the skorpion is reviewed in this month's qefi.
1x circuit in the last of the sunshine and cold wind 8 mins 11.

Sunday 2x circuit 15 mins 41.
Went for a test drive of a mitsubishi colt - not impressed.
Tidied the garden a bit.
Took the ducati for a ride.
Updated the skorpion page.

Monday home in the daylight. 2x round the village circuit in the cold wind and dazzling low sunshine 15 mins 40.
Decided not to go to the mynd as the forecast was for a cold N wind.

Tuesday 2x circuit 15 mins 26.

Thursday nice to see mitchell and webb back - the cheesoid robot thing was inspired and the funniest thing we've seen in ages.

Friday home in the cold sunshine. Took the ducati for a ride.

Saturday cut back the jungle a bit more.
Received confirmation that the compensation for being knocked off my bike in august is complete.
Went to leicester for a change, including a look at intasound. Had lunch at loaf.

Sunday 2x circuit in the damp sunshine 15 mins 04.
Took the ducati for a ride down to the allotment. Put a radio watch on it.
More garden tidying.
Charged the car battery again - although not completely down, the starter was getting a bit slow.

Monday tried the laptop with the samsung 225 external monitor - it seemed to automatically detect it and set the full resolution - excellent.

Windy this week.

Thursday warmer and sunny morning - took the ducati to work. Got wet coming home, when the forecast rain arrived a bit early.

Friday home in the daylight. 1x round the village circuit 8 mins 09.
Managed to beat the chess game on the laptop at the lowest level - deliberately swapped off some of the heavier pieces, but accidentally ended up 1 castle down at 1 point, but my remaining pawns were better placed for protection and promotion.

Saturday up early and off to thornhill to go to london. The oxford espress bus diverted round some roadworks and took a lond time, coming in through southall, hanwell, ealing before joining the traditional westway route at acton, arriving quite late after 12:00. Tried and failed to get the free wifi working on the pda, but only saw the sign up screen once and it didn't work. We got off at victoria to be a bit closer to trafalgar square. Even so we were in time for the speeches, and dropped into garfunkels for coffee and cake. Joined the march down whitehall and over westminster bridge, then up the river bank to lambeth bridge. We left at that point and continued along to battersea park. Saw a cormorant on the river repeatedly trying to swallow an eel, only to have it turn round and come out again - watched it about 20x, but didn't wait for the outcome. Had an ice cream in the park. Unable to find london recumbents, tired and wih it starting to rain, we crossed the river again and got on an expensive bus heading in vaguely the right direction for the centre. Walked back up regent street and oxford street in the rain. Waited over 30 mins for the espress bus to arrive, which was almost full anyway. Got on the next oxford tube instead. Got the pda connected to the free wifi relatively easily and checked my gmail. Rather horrible journey home through the heavy rain in the dark, not helped by a diversion through warwick as part of the a46 was closed.

Sunday we caught up on some of the tv we missed using the bbc iplayer.

Monday took my kawasaki to work - a bit cold.
It was only after riding and adjusting the controls on the ducati that I noticed the clutch lever is a bit high on the kawasaki, but any attempt to rotate it lower is blocked by some electrical switch connection clashing with the riser casting.

Tuesday beat the computer at chess again, at the lowest level - managed to stay ahead all the time, and only a couple of mistakes.

Wednesday morning frosty again.

Thursday played the computer again, but increased the level to 3 of 10. It seems I was using 2 before. Anyway still beat it, despite 1 move mistake, staying ahead all the way.

Friday holiday we went to town for lunch through small hail stones. Went to ikea to look at kitchen mixer taps on the top floor. The 1 way system is annoying, with the lifts only to be used to go up. Bought a tap from wickes instead. Cleaned the ducati and car in between showers of rain.

Saturday morning snowing and windy.
Had a new digital tv aerial fitted in weather conditions alternating between sunny afternoon and wintery blizzard. All channels nice and solid now.
Bought a hauppauge wintv usb stick and a belkin bluetooth usb dongle for the laptop.

Sunday morning settling snow covering most of the garden - looks like the frogs got the timing wrong.

Snow melted away quite quickly.
Got the wintv stick working on the laptop.
1x round the village circuit in the afternoon 8 mins 18.
We went for a walk around the circuit later with occasional flakes of snow.
I've been reading a bit more of the fabric of the cosmos.

Sunday pumped up the chess game to level 4 and lost.

Monday holiday morning snow, but not settling.
We went to have a look at kelmarsh hall and gardens. Arriving a little early we had lunch at a pub in arthingworth. Cold and noisy in the garden.

1x round the village circuit 8 mins 19.
Lost again at level 4, but I was ahead for some of the time.

Tuesday managed to stay ahead all the way and beat the computer at level 4.

Wednesday had a look at the toshiba dvd player that came free with the tv after it failed - back to the old sony for now.

Thursday took the ducati to work - a bit cold in the morning, but nice and sunny on the way back. Popped in to see adrian.
Pumped the computer up to level 5 and lost. Tried again and managed to stay ahead for a long time, but a few mistakes meant I lost again.

Friday home in the daylight and 1x round the village circuit 8 mins 33.
Had another go at the computer. A very long game at about 2 hours, including a bit of a stalemate in the middle, where the computer kept sliding its castle up and down, waiting for me to do something stupid. Anyway, lost again eventually.

Saturday 1x circuit 8 mins 26.
Carol off to wales.
I did the village litter pick, before the rain arrived.
Into town for lunch, coffee and cake. Bought the raconteurs cd consolers of the lonely.

Lost at chess again.
Watched the resident evil 3 extinction dvd.

Sunday up early after the clocks changed. Nice and sunny. 2x circuit 16 mins 11.
A bit of garage tidying. Took the kawasaki for a ride in the warm sunshine.

April.

Monday lovely warm sunny weather. Went into town to pick up my repaired tank bag - patched over a couple of minor rips.
Played the computer again and won - at level 5.

Tuesday 1x round the village circuit in the windy warm sunshine 8 mins 37.
The only ones on later live with another girl, another planet.

Wednesday 1x circuit 7 mins 55.

Thursday 1x circuit 8 mins 07.
Forgot to pump up to level 6 and lost again at level 5. But it's at 6 now.

Friday warm with occasional sunshine - took the kawasaki to work - riding home in the warm warwickshire sunshine, felt the desire to be in france.
1x circuit 7 mins 53.
Stupidly lost my queen at level 6. Did a bit better next time, but still lost eventually.

Saturday into town for lunch.
Lost again.

Sunday morning mabe the heaviest snowfall so far this year, but soon melting in the glorious blue sky sunshine.

A bit more garage tidying through alternate warm sunshine and snow showers.

Sunday lost again at chess.

Tuesday mynd cancelled due to lack of wind, not to mention the cold.

Thursday bought a cheap logitech quickcam webcam.

Friday took the ducati to work, dodging the april showers, fuel light flashing on the way home. Visited the allotment on the way home.
1x round the village circuit 8 mins 34. Went out to eat.

Saturday into town for lunch.
Saw the fox cross the front garden. A bit too quick for a photo.
Took the ducati for a refuel.

Sunday 1x circuit 7 mins 56.
Afternoon adrian and family came over and we went to the daffodil sunday around newnham paddox art park. The rain held off for a bit, but eventually came down, turning into big hailstones later.

Monday off to stansted through sunshine, rain and hail to napoli for work.

Unseasonably cool weather in italia.
Saw most of the pink floyd wall live on music box.

Thursday night back late to stansted and home for 01:50 (friday morning).

Friday saw the jay in the garden - not easy to get a good photo.

Saturday 1x round the village circuit in the wind 8 mins 06.

Sunday 1x circuit in the wet 8 mins 13.

Tuesday 1x round the village circuit 7 mins 46.

Wednesday the new bat detector arrived from magenta.

Friday took the kawasaki to work, but it was a bit cold and damp.

Saturday 1x circuit 8 mins 19.
At last, some sunny warm weather.
We went to oxford. Lunch at pierre victoire. Walked past the front of the engineering building and took a few photos, but it is still much too ugly to appear here. Through the park to the river and over the bridge through meadows to east oxford for a change, then back over magdalen bridge.

Bought the book almost like a whale and the cdsthe age of the understatement and the story.

Sunday 1x circuit 8 mins 02.
Another fine sunny morning. A bit more gardening. We took the ducati and kawasaki for a ride in the warm sunshine.
The promised rain eventually turned up with a bit of thunder.

Swapped to stars logo now more snow seems unlikely.

May.

Sunday the last episode of the 2nd series of pulling was rather excellent.

Monday took the kawasaki to work.
1x round the village circuit 7 mins 58.

Tuesday bought the golden compass dvd.

Wednesday played carol at chess on the laptop.

Thursday saw the ironman film. Quite good I thought. No surprises, but a faithful adaptation of the story, slightly updated. The characters just not very interesting.

Went to vote, then sat in the garden at dusk watching the bats and a hedgehog.

Friday 1x circuit 8 mins 00.

Saturday 1x circuit 7 mins 53.
We went to london with the forecast best weather of the holiday weekend. Busy at thornhill, with 1 espress bus going past full. Got the oxford tube instead. Problems on the M40 meant it took 1.5h longer than usual. Got off at victoria and had luch at le signore next to buckingham palace. Walked through st james park, over westminster bridge and up to have a look at the banksy can festival, but the queue was enormous. Back over waterloo bridge, through covent garden, up neal street, finding the other freud bar (and shop), then back down oxford street.

Sunday 1x circuit 8 mins 15. Took the ducati for a ride to the allotment. Into town for lunch.

1w+1d late due to holiday in sardegna.

Monday holiday, excellent weather - did some reading in the garden. Took the ducati fo a ride. Charged up various aircraft.
Over to the cadmac meeting in the evening. Flew the swift.

Tuesday more lovely spring/summer weather. Saw the fox in the garden. Over to the mynd in carol's van. With an E wind and ashes hollow closed for the nesting season, we tried out the alternative ashlet. A long walk round the hills to get to it, but it is actually very good, with views over the town and to the hills beyond. The wind tends to leak around the edge a bit to the left, and there is no nice flat landing area, but generally very good. Even better when the sun moves round later on. Flew the old zagi, stiletto and nano floh. Decided not to risk the skorpion, as I'm not confident about getting it down safely on an unknown slope. Long walk back - you can just about see the vehicles in the distance in the 3rd photo when we were about half way back.

Wednesday took the kawasaki to work. More packing.

Thursday more packing.

Friday evening we headed off down the a14 and m11 to the travelodge at great dunmow.

Saturday just a few hours sleep before getting up at 03:00 and over to stansted for a 06:15 ryanair flight to alghero sardegna.
Not used to being fussed over by the justsardinia rep, but he had some good advice about the return trip and arranged the house keys pickup.
Lancia something or other from europcar - too big, anonymous/dangerous silver/grey colour, vague power steering, appalling blind spot behind the sloping windscreen pillar, lots of reflections from the dashboard, but easy enough to drive and good air conditioning - washer bottle was empty too.
Stopped at the auchan supermercato at sassari to stock up. Interesting to see the french chains moving into italia over the years.
As we headed up to the NE the scenery got better, with lots of twisty mountain roads, taking longer than expected, but still making the tamoil garage at bassacutena for 15:00 with a few mins to spare.
Gianni led us up to the villa l'arco , despite us having the directions already, and showed us everything, when we really wanted to catch up on some sleep. Well equipped with a pool, washing machine, a (rubbish and noisy) dishwasher, induction hob, but no microwave. Surrounded by a large garden, mostly wooded down the hill with long views, including the quarry down the road. On top of our shopping we had a small welcome pack. An interested lizard in the warm sunshine on the rocks by the path. Exploring the garden, carol saw a hare and a large tortoise. We went down to the tavola calda bar at the tamoil garage for something to eat. In the evening we watched the bats from the balcony.

Domenica went down to arzachena for the ld supermercato. Up to the coast at palau where there are ferries to the islands. Had lunch at a pizzeria. Up to capo d'orso for the strangely eroded rocks that look like a bear from out at sea - not from close up it doesn't. Started to rain up there. Again, watched the bats from the balcony.

Lunedi explored the garden some more for the flowers and bugs - saw a tortoise, but probably not the same 1.

Went for a walk towards the quarry. The really heavy rain started as we came back.

Went out to ristorante gli ulivi through the rain in the evening.

Martedi more or less raining all day. After a few false starts we got the wood burning stove going. Spent a lot of time checking the sky meteo24 forecast. In the evening a little chink of brightness appeared under the clouds.

Finished the book fabric of the cosmos. Just almost like a whale left to read.

Mercoledi up early and over to arzachena for the weekly open air market. Nice to see some sunshine again. Had coffee and cake at the fox caffe. Also went to the dettori supermercato.

Back home the lizards and bugs were out enjoying the sunshine. We had a swim in the pool.

Went for a walk down the lane past swiss tony's house, seeing more tortoises.

In the evening we went up to coast at santa theresa di gallura for a look and something to eat.

Giovedi we decided to make the most of the good weather and headed down SE to see the national park. Round the outside of olbia and down a good road through the proper mountains towards nuoro, before turning off for dorgali. Curious to see the clouds just crawling over the mountains to the east. Had lunch at a little pizzeria, then coffee and ice cream at a bar. Went over, or rather through the mountain to see the sea at cala gonone, but didn't stop. Couldn't find the park museum. Headed back up the east coast through orosei - largely spoiled by an enormous quarry on the south side.

Still evening sunshine when we got back, we had a quick look at luogosanto.

Venerdi morning we popped down to the small shop in bassacutena for some more water. Someone rumbled past on a ducati monster as we walked around the side streets.

Went to have a look at tempio di pausania. Lunch at trattoria bisson - espresso fetched in from the bar next door. Had a walk around the memorial park.

Sabato with a late flight, we stayed for an early lunch, before setting out SW. Stopped at the auchan at sassari again for a break and a bottle of water. Arriving at alghero we used the free large sea front car park as recommended, and had a walk around the centro storico. Unable to find anywhere aperto to refuel, we headed back to the aeroporto.

Saturday home about midnight.

Sunday always surprising how much the garden has grown in 1w in spring/summer.
Into town for lunch and some shopping. Lots of tv to catch up with.

Monday holiday 1x circuit 7 mins 59. Took the kawasaki into town for lunch. Bought the long awaited ting tings cd we started nothing.

1d late again due to cragside.

I think we were a little unlucky with the weather in sardegna.

Wednesday took the ducati to work.
1x round the village circuit 7 mins 59.

Thursday took the kawasaki to work.

Saturday 1x circuit 8 mins 03. Into town for lunch. Watched eurovision.

Sunday looking at the weather forecast we decided to go north and have a look at cragside . A long drive, but mostly a clear run, past the angel of the north, arriving about 12:00. We decided to rejoin the national trust, rather than pay the entrance fee. The house is really quite remarkable, feeling quite comfortable inside. The victorian technology is interesting, Sadly, no photos allowed inside. The grounds are enormous, rocky, wooded. Saw a deer in the stream. We went on the 6m drive through the house and estate.

Sunday holiday windy. A few secs of power cut while editing this. We went down the lane to see the fallen tree, but it had already been cut up into sections.

June.

Monday another power cut late afternoon - about 5 mins.

I see monica naranjo has a new tarantula cd out - sounds rather orchestral, but heavy enough in places. Even sounds a little like muse . Seems ridiculously expensive at the moment.

Wednesday dropped the car off for an mot.

Thursday took the kawasaki to work.

Friday took the kawasaki again.

Saturday a bit of sunshine. Into town for lunch. Had a quick look at the covstock music thing, but it is really rather expensive to be in the cathedral ruins, when you can hear the music and see quite well standing outside.

Sunday 1x round the village circuit 7 mins 51.
The network connection on the pc motherboard failed - had to go and buy a pci nic unit.
Had a bit of a play with the skorpion - reducing the down flap travel for air braking to try to reduce the zoom when they are applied, and increasing the aileron travel a little, including a bit more aileron to flap mix.

1d late due to kilworth.

Sunday unable to update the freewire site after fitting the new network card seems to have stopped dial up working - multiple driver changes, removal of files and reboots have failed to fix it so far.

Monday took the ducati over to the cadmac meeting. Got very wet coming back.

Tuesday mynd cancelled due to unpredictable wet weather.

Wednesday took the ducati to work.

Thursday dropped the car off for investigation.
We went out to eat at the old lion on a perfect summer sunshine evening.
Dowloaded and installed filezilla ftp client for the laptop as the old aceftp doesn't seem to work on vista.

Friday took the kawasaki to work - bbq for lunch. Afternoon off.
Used filezilla and dial up on the laptop to update the freewire site. Also used thunderbird to get my dial up email.
Got the car back.

Saturday up early and off to london for flugtag. Got off the espress bus at baker street and headed W to explore the area - seems mostly residential. We emerged on the edgeware road and had some lunch before entering hyde park. Surprisingly fast moving entry security. We settled down on a blanket under a tree on the N bank in time to see the 1st hit the water, although the "take off" runway was behind another tree. Lots of pedestrian traffic and people standing in the way.
About 14:00 it had clouded over and started to rain a little. We decided to give up our spot and have a walk round. Hiring a boat seemed to provide a good view, with no risk of being hit by an aircraft - despite the repeated suggestions that this might happen, but far too expensive. We found the best option for viewing was just to the side of the boat hire building. Sun came out again later.
Quite the funniest moment was when a presenter approached a competitor dressed as batman and asked his name, only to get the reply "batman".
Most of the competitors were just novelty splashes, but a few made serious attempts at distance, in particular the cullinan bird that got the nose down nicely for some airspeed, flared out, and finally stalled nicely into the water, covering 39.5m. Of course the judges were unimpressed, and they only came 5th.
It all ran a bit late after part of the "swan" got stuck on the bottom in the "landing" area.
There was quite a nice millennium falcon, but of course it didn't fly well.
Oxfordshire looking nice in the summer evening setting sun coming back.

Sunday 1x round the village circuit 7 mins 43.
We went to have a look at kilworth organic farm and vineyard - home of the chevelswarde range of wines. A group of 5 gliders circling in the thermals above.

Took the ducati for a ride and refuel.

Monday hot and sunny. Took the kawasaki to work.

Tuesday warm and sunny. Took the kawasaki to work - going very nicely.

Thursday kawasaki again.

Friday off to look at the car.
Bought a ps2 to usb adapter so I can use a ps2 keyboard (and mouse) with the laptop - it's a bit minimalist in its external connectors - quite right too.

Saturday we went to leamington for the peace festival. Had a good french lunch at elevenrestaurant, near to the green men meters. The festival pretty much as it always is, busy in the sunny weather.

Sunday 1x round the village circuit 7 mins 56.
Some reading in the garden.
Took the ducati for a ride in the warm sunshine.
We watched the flugtaghighlights on itv4. I hadn't realised that the eventual winners were model aircraft people - shame they didn't allow for the weight of the pilot, as it folded straight off the tower, not even pulling any g - looked as though it might have set a new record otherwise.

Monday took the kawasaki over to wolston for the cadmac vintage evening - rolling through 60000 miles on the way. The flying field now purchased by the club, with the grass looking much better without the sheep.

Tuesday 1x round the village circuit 7 mins 43.
We went over to earlsdon to see stuart and chris.

Wednesday evening got the car back.

Friday took the ducati to work.

Saturday summer solstice and raining. Adrian and family came over for the village festival, we went up the bell tower.

Sunday 1x round the village circuit 8 mins 18 - slowed down by a squirrel running down the middle of the road witrh some nesting material.
Into town for lunch. Bought the book not even wrong.
Took the ducati for a ride in the wind.

1w late due to glastonbury and computer problems.

July.

Tuesday took the kawasaki to work.

Wednesday we got the van back. We loaded up the trolleys ready for the morning.

Way back in april we joined in the annual mad dash for glastonbury tickets, attacking it with 2 pcs, laptop, dial up and broadband. No success after 2 hrs, and it normally sells out in about an hour. Anyway for some reason I carried on and about 30 mins later managed to buy tickets. Actually it didn't sell out before it started.

Thursday up early and loaded the trolleys into the van, getting away about 06:25. Stopped at the michael wood services for breakfast. Along the a361 we eventually picked up worthy fm only after rounding the tor. We kept expecting to hit the back of the queue, but soon arrived and turned straight in to car park w29. W29 exits onto the old railway line (outside the site), which is at least on the level, if a little bumpy - the trolleys doing a great job, as we progressed past shed wellies and other debris. Headed up the hill and camped near the dairy ground hedge, a few tents back from the metal road. At the gate we were given a pack of 7 biodegradeable tent pegs - the 1st broke almost straight away, but we managed to use 4 of them for the inner. Standard metal for everything else. All sorted by 11:00 - this is unfeasibly easy, and it's not even raining.
We headed over to the park to see our brazier, but it had been replaced by a round wooden seating area - lots of other braziers about though. A sandalism sand sculpture getting started at the bottom of the park. It had been extended even further up the hill, so you can get a great view of the site without ascending the jellyfish tower. Continued over to the "sacred space" with its stone circle - never been there before. The wooden dragon only hinting at the real dragon in the stream behind the trees.
Down the hill through the green crafts area and on to shangri la where all the darkness looks a bit out of place in the daylight. Found a cafe with some appalling spelling on the menu - expressially in the coffee area. Over the railway into trash city where again the metal figures looked as though they would be better after dark.
Into the jazz world field where we had something to eat - an excellent sausage and tartiflette from la grand bouffe. An early highlight of the festival, sitting on a bench while apparently spontaneous waves of cheering swept through the site in the sunshine. A red devil and blue angel stopped in front of us to adjust their stilts. Had to move a bit quickly when a tractor came through spraying water onto the dusty road - yes, it really was that dry.
Headed back to the tent for some sleep, intending to return, but it started raining in the evening, gradually getting heavier. Didn't get much sleep listening to the adjacent new arrivals, the bunch of talkative geordies and students with their nitrous oxide and balloons - woosh. At some point 1 of the now tentless geordies had to explain to each of the others as they returned how he'd left the tent to let water in and float the airbed. The rain seemed to stop quite suddenly, but that's probably just from dozing off and on.

Friday up early with all the noise. We headed over to the park for something to eat, only to find most places still closed, settling for coffee and orange juice. It now had its familiar ice cream sloshy mud on the slopes - combined with lack of sleep - feels like a normal glastonbury. Walked down past the orange chill and charge tent and got something to eat.
Over to the pyramid stage for the subways. 3 years since we saw them on the john peel stage. Excellent apart from the excess smoke and tracks from the difficult 2nd cd.
Went for a bit of a wander. I returned for kt tunstall in the rain, while carol went back to the tent.
We headed over to the john peel stage in plenty of time for the ting tings, but the crush went all the way back over the bridge, so we gave up and went round the other way to see gossip on the main stage. A remarkably good set of songs, over the 1 that usually gets shown on tv.
Went for another little wander round the shops and some chips, meeting dave with his tequila water pistol. Returned for the end of the editors set.
Back up to the park where we saw a remarkable orrery/planetary thing rotating. The sand sculpture having developed claws and a tail. Then back to the tent with the sound of the enemy coming up the hill from the other stage.

Saturday morning we seemed to have had a little more sleep than before. Toilets and washing areas getting increasingly disgusting. But, no sign of rain, and the sun starting to appear between the clouds.
Walked down the railway line to have a look at the green areas before the bands started. The area in front of the other stage doing its usual impression of a sandy beach. Found the garden organic area. The queue for the solar powered showers was closed as the water supply to the whole site had failed - temporarily we hoped. The jazz world field looking a lot less green than thursday.

I went over to the john peel tent to see emmy the great - who was rather good in a quirky/folky sort of way. Back to the pyramid to see martha wainwright while having roast beef lunch sitting on the bench by the ice cream van to the right of the stage. Carol reurned in time to see seasick steve, including the story of the 3 string guitar. Rushed over to the cabaret tent to see some of kevin eldon, not realising he was only on for 15 mins. Had a proper look at the circus area with various creatures wandering about including bugs, mermaids, and a whole flock of sheep - baaaa. Saw a 1 person theatre (1 person in the audience, that is). The sheep gathered around the diy trapeze - carol wanted to have a go, and joined the queue for a while, but it was going to take about an hour.
We went over to the john peel tent to see british sea power - quite popular with people with bits of shrubbery stuck about their person. Excellent waving flags (with lots of flag waving in the audience) and some instrumental to a video of wild birds. Massive flow leaving the tent so we we went up to the cinema field, which was refreshingly empty.
Back to the pyramid for the raconteurs under clear blue sky. The monitor screens in "lack of colour" monochrome in line with the cd artwork. But this is not really about seeing the band - it's about guitar, bass and drums... with added guitar - brilliant - another highlight of the festival - covering most of the 2 cds so far.
I wanted to see the band of horses, but we needed a rest more, so headed back to the tent.

Back to the pyramid, busy for amy winehouse, so we we went up the hill a bit. Some drunken person ploughed into us and knocked us to the floor, but he managed not to spill his beer. Amy appeared barely functional, doing a very variable job of singing, but the backing musicians were excellent as usual. It seemed to overrun a bit.
We didn't hang around for the headliner, heading over to see trash city and shangri la in the dark. A beautiful sight over the valley from the hill, with the illuminated tip of the pyramid and twinkly lights along all the metal roads. Trash city looking not ready yet, so we went over the railway to shangr la. Saw some aerial acts on bungees, hoops and poles in a tent. Saw some people wander past astride giant illuminated green firefly bugs.Had a coffee and cake in the dodgy spelling cafe. Back to trash city which had now got started, with exploding gas flares, and a band on top of a red ship, with a 4 armed robot playing drums and a lobster with flaming claws dancing out front. Also a "jet" car.
We headed back along the railway, against the full flow coming from the now finished main stages. Eventually turned off left up towards the park, where at least most of the flow was going in the right direction - a surreal experience like something from a sci fi dream sequence, with so many people moving slowly on a narrow lit up metal road among a sea of tents. After 01:00 when we got back to the tent and got some sleep.

Sunday so tired that I slept reasonably well, but carol was up at 04:00 with the noise, and wanting to go home. We had had 3 nights away already and didn't see many things on the guide worth staying for. Also feeling a bit off with a cough and too much sun. There's also the problem of trying to leave the site at peak time sunday night/monday morning. A fast and efficient packing away of the tent and loading of the trolleys - a bit easier with no water pack. Even easier pulling the trolleys downhill in the early morning sunshine. We were on the main road by 06:30. Stopped at gordano for breakfast. Home by 10:30. Precious sleep at last.

Glastonbury 2008 - great. Many hours of bbc coverage to catch up with, especially the things we weren't able to get too. Still haven't seen it all.

Here are some links to the good causes associated with glastonbury - showing videos in between the bands, but completely unseen from the bbc coverage.

videos breathe alien invasion

Monday off. 1x round the village circuit 8 mins 10. Lots of washing. Into town for lunch. Bought a small pack to strap on the ducati seat. Bought the subways cd all or nothing. Made a start on the not even wrong book.

Tuesday the main computer completely failed - won't allow complete login any more. It has been getting increasingly unstable for a while. Lost some of the glastonbury edits, but most stuff is backed up on the nas. Time to move to the laptop.

Gradually catching up with the bbc glastonbury coverage. Never knew about elbow before and the excellent 1 day like this. I had seen the rubik cube logo on the other stage, but didn't latch on to the music at the time.

Friday we went to the old lion to eat.

Saturday rain in the morning. Into town for lunch. Saw the carnival preparations between the cathedrals and new art gallery in the sunshine. Then saw the procession entering broadgate. Bought the elbow cd the seldom seen kid. Didn't bother with the godiva festival, partly because of the weather, but also because of the new security fence.

Sunday more rain.

A few things I forgot to mention about glastonbury. We turned down the opportunity to have our tickets checked for a 3rd time as we approached the car park. The black smoke in the distance on thursday turned out to be a fire in a scrap yard off site. The power monkey was useful, keeping the phones charged, although mine would have lasted the 3 days anyway, even when I used it as a torch.

Monday took the ducati to the last cadmac meeting at the old location.

Tuesday long mynd cancelled due to lack of interest/unreliable weather.
Took the ducati to work instead.

Wednesday heavy, continuous rain.
We went over to adrian's to see jonathan's new vintage sg guitar and roland microcube amp.

Thursday took the kawasaki to work.

Friday just a bit too showery for the bike. Finished wading through the bbc coverage of glastonbury. I think we really didn't miss much on the sunday, although the weather looked fairly good.
Saw the wanted film - very good in a dangerous sort of way, with lots of twists, although they are mostly familiar from other films.

Saturday 1x round the village circuit 7 mins 50.
Watched some of the t in the park festival - good to see kt tunstall walking like an egyptian.
Popped over on the kawasaki to collect my undelivered package from amazon - british sea power cd do you like rock music, the book god is not great, modern toss series 2 dvd and thepunk rock movie.

Sunday 1x circuit 7 mins 39. Blue sky and sunshine returns.
Cut the grass and cleaned the bikes a bit.

Tuesday up early at 04:30 and away at 05:30 to stansted ryanair 09:50 to genova for work. Nice view of the snow capped alps, but I've seen it before. It would be nice to be down there on a bike. Nice views as we descended E to W along the coast, the italians clapping as landmarks came into view. Smooth landing, followed by rather alarming heavy braking to avoid running into the sea.
In the evening we picked up a taxi at the aeroporto, past a cat taking a nap under the biplane display, and went to the centro storico, walking around a lot looking for a ristorante we used to use in 1999, but couldn't find it - it was a long time ago.

Wednesday after work we walked down the shops and through the park at sestri. Saw a familiar looking ducati monster, parked on a zebra crossing.

Thursday evening we went to the cinese, which was fairly horrible.

Friday late morning walked back to the sheraton to collect my new wheely case and on to the aeroporto cristoforo colombo . Nice lunch in the self service. 30 mins late departure which should have been 13:20. At the island the m11 north looked stationary. I went south and along the m25 which was initially quite free flowing, but a 1 lane feed onto the m1 was only just about moving at all, and more trouble with the road widening and subsidence at a junction further up - took about 4h, arriving home about 19:15. Tired.

Carol has bought a sony a200 dslr camera.

Sunday 1x round the village circuit 7 mins 56.
Took the ducati for ride briefly before it started to rain.
We went over to kenilworth to see how the new waitrose is coming along, and the festival in abbey fields. Saw the bands lament and roadhogs .

Monday afternoon 1x round the village circuit 7 mins 34.
Took the ducati over to wolston for the cadmac electric evening - nice and sunny, but a bit too cool in the brisk wind.

Tuesday took the ducati to work.

Wednesday ducati again. Hot and humid.

Thursday ducati again. My oxford paddock stands and scott oiler refill arrived from mandp .
Evening we went over to see stuart and chris.

Friday no sign of the forecast rain - just hotter and more humid.
Saw the dark knight film. very good for something from the other side of the comics universe - dark, dark, dark. Exploring similar themes to dirty harry. An interesting idea for batman to become effectively omniscient, against advice. Explores the themes of loss, choice, and even backup vehicles. The bike is rather ludicrous in a bloodrunners sort of way, with its guns wobbling over the bumps, but very cool too. A shame about the lack of continuity of actors from the 1st film.

Saturday hot. Topped up the scott oiler on the ducati.
Took some photos of the bees in the garden.

Evening we took the bikes over to warwick for the free part of the folk festival . Saw the band qp - good, followed by the london philharmonic skiffle orchestra - entertaining. 1st time for the ducati in the dark and on a big dual carriageway, suffering from the lack of mass and a fairing, requiring constant attention. Also very hot from the air cooled engine. Maybe some new tyres would improve it. Headlight reasonable, at least on full beam.

Sunday 1x circuit 7 mins 48. Hot and sunny.
I've updated the links a bit.

August.

Monday extremely hot and humid. 30+ degrees at my desk.
Vertical steady rain at 02:00.

Tuesday morning mostly dried up, but threatening to rain, slightly cooler, but still too hot.
1x round the village circuit in the wind 7 mins 45.
Bought an advent 7x port powered usb hub to expand the 3x available on the laptop.

Wednesday ducati again.
Evening we went over to leamington to eat at the eleven restaurant .

Thursday ducati - a bit wet coming home.

Friday ducati.
Finished watching the itv4 coverage of tour de france.

Saturday 1x circuit in the damp 7 mins 26.
With the best weather forecast for the SE we took the oxford tube to london. For a change we got off at victoria, grabbed something for lunch, and navigated through belgravia to have a look at harrods . An expensive coffee and cake in 1 of the many cafes. Saw some extremely expensive pianos and polished fossils. The cd and dvd section seemed to be standard competitive prices. Bought the batman begins and gotham knight dvds. The eqyptian escalators with a live opera performance was quite spectacular. We wandered down brompton road to the museums, having a quick look at the natural history museum - still remakably good for free with animated raptors and t rex, although they do rush you past a bit when busy. rather hot and humid in there. Up to kensington road and along the park, past the albert hall . Through knightsbridge, along green park, up through mayfair, berkeley square, grosvenor square where we saw a rather more up to date ducati monster. Just missed a bus and had to wait a long time for another, which we only just got on before it filled up - starting to wonder if single rather than return tickets might be more flexible. Saw the probable reason for delay, as the m40 S was blocked behind an accident. Home about 23:00.

Sunday 1x circuit 7 mins 37.

Sunday charged the car.

Monday kawasaki.
1x round the village circuit 7 mins 28.
Evening took the kawasaki over to the cadmac meet at the new location.

Tuesday off anyway, after mynd cancelled due to forecast rain. 1x circuit in the grey 7 mins 25.
5th august and the gpz600r turns 22 years old.

Wednesday went to see dad.
Saw the fox in the drive after dark.

Friday 1x circuit 7 mins 01.
The 106 rolled through 140000 miles.

Saturday 1x circuit 7 mins 00.
Into town for lunch, coffee and cake in the museum, the over to kenilworth to have a look at the new waitrose - bit of an ethical trilemma after checkout when you have to choose 1 or 3 charities to allocate your green tokens to.
Saw the sign for biker's paradise on the scenic way back and accidentally bought a warrior leather jacket.
Took the ducati for a refule in the drizzle.

Sunday 1x circuit in the damp 7 mins 01.
Over to napton for a family lunch.
We went for a walk around the village circuit and got very wet in a heavy shower.

Monday ducati in the morning sunshine. Just starting to rain on the way home.

Tuesday heavy rain - got very wet just walking from the car.
Eveniing adrian and family came over for a guitar session.

Wednesday kawasaki in the morning sunshine.

Thursday kawasaki. Another gratuitous photo of my bike at morrisons.
Sunny day with no rain.
1x round the village circuit 6 mins 59. Under 7 - time for more circuits.

Friday off with forecast no rain again.
Took a couple of photos with the phone, of a fly on the garden bench in the sunshine.

We went to see waddesdon manor . A tiny car park means stopping way back on the curving approach road up the hill. You get to the fountain, then turn right to see a shockingly french building in buckinghamshire. Unfortunately facing N and in shade for most of the day, but impressive, with its twin spiral stairs showing through the windows. A very slow and expensive lunch more than wiped out the benefit of free membership entry. The inside of the house is spectacular (and french), but of course, no photos allowed. Have a look at wiki . The round tower room with poster style scenes from sleeping beauty was a highlight. The grounds less interesting, with no lakes, which would be rather difficult up the hill.

Saturday 2x circuit 14 mins 46.
Charged the car.

Sunday 2x circuit 14 mins 45.
Saw a peacock butterfly in the garden.

We went for a walk round the crcuit in the afternoon.

I see lara is coming back this xmas.

1d late due to shugborough.

Monday road past coombe abbey closed after the air crash there and into brandon woods.

Tuesday we finished watching la vie en rose dvd.

Wednesday road open again.

Friday still a bit damp in the morning, but took the ducati for a ride in the afternoon.

Saturday 2x round the village circuit in the cool sunshine 14 mins 12. But I did pump the tyres back up to 50 psi.
Into town for lunch then a look at the new lidl .
Took the ducati for a ride. At last figured out how to get it on both paddock stands and cleaned it.
Charged the car.
Rain returned in the evening.
Lots of the reading festival on bbc3.

Sunday more rain at dawn.
We went to have a look at shugborough. The entrance looked familiar. Had to pay for the car park, but had free membership entry apart from a couple of exhibits. Got the tractor train down to the main house. Had lunch in the cafe outside, while a few small birds took the crumbs around the tables. With the sun shining, we went around the garden 1st, accidentally exiting to the canal lock and bridge just outside, with its ice cream boat, swans and ducks. Back inside, past the widest yew tree in europe, the chinese house, up to the ruin at the back of the house, where it became obvious that we had been here before, to see claire's hot air balloon trip launch. Round the side to see the doric temple and into the house, past its plastic columns - no photos allowed. With big queues for the shuttle, we walked back up to the the wallled garden - sadly now missing its glass house, past the house of winds, with its rather good domed ceiling and stained glass inner windows.
We returned down the a5, past the expensive, empty enigma that is the m6 toll.

Monday holiday and some rather urgent shopping.

Monday took the ducati for a ride, then 2x round the village circuit 14 mins 19.

Tuesday put some new inner tubes in my old school bike. It's still difficult to position the warped back wheel, with its missing spoke, so that it misses the frame and the rear brake pads. Everything is a bit stiff, but it does go. Seems relatively light too. Very different from the mountain bike. Impressive how far apart its 3 gears are.

Thursday 4x circuit in the grey 28 mins 54. Also removed the u lock to save a bit of weight.
Saw the fox trotting across the garden, but only got to the camera as it was leaving.

Friday large frog in the garden.

Saturday off to london. A hot summer day, almost as if it hadn't been absent for the last 2 months. Lunch, coffee and cake at an italian cafe just off baker street, then E through paddington street gardens, past the ginger pig and la fromagerie, along weymouth street, N of bt tower, past a few bikes incluing a dropped, black ducati monster. Found a strange flat tyre artwork in bedford square, along the front of the british museum to microglobe photographic in galen place. Carol bought a sigma 105mm dg F2.8 macro lens for the sony a200. We pushed on E past bloomsbury square, familiar from out xmas trips to see bikefix in lambs conduit street. Someone trying an under seat steered street machine recumbent while we were there. It looked rather awkward for getting you feet on the ground around the steering. In the shop there was also an unpainted fujin with no suspension and a hurricane . I'm only looking at this stage, due to the extreme cost. Down S to the theatre area, back up through covent garden. Surprised to see turnkey and soundcontrol music shops had disappeared. A rather tedious slog back down oxford street into the setting sun through the crowds. Oxfordshire looking pretty along the m40 in the late summer sun.

Sunday 5x circuit 36 mins 45.
Saw the fox having a scratch by the pond, but again a dash for the camera only saw it leaving. Spider by the kitchen window.
Charged the car in the pouring rain.

September.

Monday went to the cadmac meet in the pouring rain.

Tuesday off with mynd cancelled due to more rain, but sunny in the morning. Into town for lunch. Took the ducati for a ride, then 8x circuit (10+ miles) 56 mins 13 before the thunder returned for heavy showers. Left crank starting to squeak a bit. The bike is probably a bit heavy, measured as 34.5 lbs.

Wednesday bought the persepolis dvd.

Thursday 8x circuit 59 mins 29.

Saturday into town for lunch. Heavy rain coming back.
Evening we watched persepolis.

Sunday more rain.
Charged the car in the pouring rain.
Finished reading thenot even wrong book.

With the lhc being turned on next week, I suppose I had better get my prediction in - even though results may be a long time coming. I suspect the higgs boson will not be found, there will be no evidence of further spatial dimensions beyond the standard 3 (+time), but I think it likely that there will be some new fireworks that will need explaining, maybe even a 4th generation of particles beyond the top and bottom quarks, and the tau (electron 3) and its neutrino.

Sunday watched joanna lumley's quest to svalbard to see the northern lights.

Wednesday morning still too wet for the bike, although it brightened up later.
At 09:28 they managed to send a beam of protons all the way round the lhc . Now a long wait for collisions and results.
Had a bit of a look at preon theory, which rather nicely gets the number of fundamental particles down to 2 (and their 2 anti partners), but its about as hypothetical and unproveable as string theory.

Thursday raining again. Afternoon took the ducati for a ride, then 1x round the village circuit on my old school bike (no lights, no computer), carol following on the mountain bike. Everything a bit stiff, and swaying a bit from the warped back wheel, but it does go.

Friday more heavy rain. We went to the pheasant at withybrook to eat.

Saturday up late to blue sky sunshine, as if it hadn't been raining for weeks. Saw 2 spiders fighting for territory in the garden. Buzzards calling and circling in thermals above the village.

We went to oxford with increasing cloud down the a46, but blue sky returned later. Lunch at the big bang , then coffee and cake at the other g and d ice cream cafe in little clarendon street. A shiny suzuki sv650 in st ebbe's street looking a bit melted, with its old style fairing. With the decent weather we decided to ascend carfax tower (for the 1st time ever). Not the grand views of oxford colleges that you might expect, but you can still see a lot, including the ugly engineering building, exeter college chapel spire, high street traffic. Black birds hopping in and out of the chimneys. Roof lead covered in graffiti. Songbird from rumours rising from a busker in cornmarket street. Back down the rather tight spiral stair.

Carol bought some fresh stuff in the market. Some wedding going on jesus college with the car waiting in turl street. Had a look at my old college exeter (or jordan ?), the chapel exteriror apparently being cleaned. Went through to the fellows' garden and climbed the wall to see the radcliffe camera.

Back on broad street to have a quick look at the bikes, finding 3x triumph daytona 675 06,07,08. Home before dark.

Sunday after a grey start, the sunshine came back, and I took the kawasaki shopping. Went to take the ducati for a ride, but it failed to start again (used jump leads on thursday), so put it on charge for a couple of hours. Still refused to turn over on its own - time for a new battery. Also charged the car. Both spiders seem to be still here.
4x circuit 29 mins 15 (5+ miles).

1d late due to hawkstone .

Monday tried to get a yb16al-a2 battery for the ducati from the local bike accessory shop, but they wouldn't fill it. Ducati dealers wanted 2x as much and couldn't fill it. Gave up and went shopping at tesco.

Tuesday succeeded at alf england yamaha bike shop - very tempted by the blue r6 demonstrator by the door - 1 sunny day, maybe.

4x round the village circuit 28 mins 41.
Left the new battery to settle for a while, gave it a short trickle charge and fitted it to the ducati. Used jump leads for the 1st start to reduce the load on it, then took it for a ride in the dusk.

Wednesday carol took the kawasaki to work.

Thursday took the ducati to work, carol on the kawasaki again. Sunny but cool.

Friday ducati. Sunny and warm afternoon. 4x circuit 30 mins 23.

Saturday up early to make the most of the sunshine.
We went to hawkstone park. Very nice low density area with lots of trees. A long walk around the park and follies, but beautiful scenery and perfect weather. We followed the full 3h track. Round the rhododendron jungle to the white tower, the along the dragon path. Carol went up the monument (150 steps).

Over the wooden swiss bridge, round and under again, past the gingerbread hall.

Through a tunnel to the green and slimy cleft. More tunnels to the grotto, then out to the awful precipice.

Round the top to the ice cream hut and the gothic arch.

We followed the lower path back, up and down, through more tunnels. Saw a dragonfly on the rail, carol getting some good photos with the sony a200 - even the coloured shadow of the wings on the wood..

Back at the entrance we saw pheasants calmly wandering around in the fields and undergrowth.

Sunday another perfect weather day. Saw the fox in the garden. Adjusted the chain on the kawasaki. Charged the car. Took the ducati for a ride, then 4x circuit 28 mins 42.

Forgot to mention I've been reading some more road to reality - currently going on about the magic of complex numbers and how they are in some senses more "natural" than irrational reals.
Also the most beautiful equation ever euler's identity.

Thursday charged the car again.

Friday took the ducati to work through the early morning damp mist. Nice and sunny on the scenic route home. 4x round the village circuit 29 mins 45.
Yves rossy crosses the channel in 10 mins with his 4x jetcat powered wing - cool.

Saturday up late to a misty start, but eventually a nice sunny afternoon. Into town for lunch, then over to waitrose for shopping.

Sunday took the kawasaki for a longish ride in the grey and got a bit wet.

October.

Wednesday very windy, removing much of the beautiful autumn colour from the trees.
Lots of problems with the broadband connection, and eventually even the dial tone went intermittent.

Thursday a man from bt came early and replaced the telephone cable that had been worn away on a tree down the road.
Carol took the kawasaki to work.
Home early, I took the ducati for a ride in the cold sunshine, plus a few photos.

Friday took the ducati to work. Carol on the kawasaki. Fairly warm and sunny on the way home.
We went to see the brideshead revisited film. Badly miscast, it manages to convey most of the story, even without the detail of the excellent tv series. Many of the characters limited to just a few seconds. The very quick tour of the few parts of oxford that they filmed is rather jarring, as it cuts "seamlessly" between familiar places a long way apart. A shame they couldn't wait for the sun to be out at many of the locations. Really must go and see castle howard.

Saturday we went over to alf england to have a sit on the r6 demonstrator - quite nice and light, but the seat is a bit wide, hard and a little high, and the fairing space behind the wide headlights looks a bit of an afterthought. The styling generally looks a bit angular and alien, but in the end looks good. Then over to windy corner to have a sit on a daytona 675 - very slim and light with a soft suspension. The styling generally looks cheaper with lots of fasteners everywhere.
Into town for lunch.

Sunday steady rain through the night and into the morning.
Charged the car in the rain.
Brightened up later and I took the ducati over to see adrian's new garage doors.

Monday took the ducati to work - a bit cold after the early morning frost, but very pretty riding through warwickshire in the misty sunshine.
Over to the cadmac meet in the dark, with someone trying to sell their range of glues.

Tuesday off in the rain with mynd cancelled, took the kawasaki for an mot at spon gate, then into town for lunch, coffee and cake. Looked like it might brighten up, but more rain on the way home. 815 miles in 11+ months.
Bought the band of horses cd everything all the time and the my chemical romance retrospective cd + dvd the black parade is dead.
Charged the car again after last night's headlights had discharged it.
Also bought the brideshead revisited book, massively reduced at tesco.

The new rezillos site is (partly) up, and they're on tour, but nowhere near here. Sounds great on myspace.

Wednesday took the ducati. Cleaned it a bit.

Thursday evening over to warwick university, the campus buzzing with students and bass pumping out of some new building. Big queues in the shop. Quite impressed to see a b reg. gpz600r in the car park - must be 24 years old.
Not sure if my new polish course would run. In the end only 9 takers, which is not really enough to break even, but they agreed to cut it down to 1.5h and continue anyway. A bit alien with its cyrillic origin character set, but I think I can cope with yet another language. Dobry wieczor.

Friday took the ducati to work, then for an mot, carol came over on the kawasaki to meet me at spon gate. Nice sunny warm afternoon. 906 miles in 11+ months.

Saturday morning popped into town on the kawasaki to move some money around. Almost perfect biking weather with blue sky and thin whisps of cloud, light breeze, slightly cool, but warm in the sunshine - bike going very nicely.
Into town for lunch, coffee and cake.

Sunday blue sky sunshine slowly clearing the morning mist. The white fungus has returned among the autumn leaves.

Fitted a new horn to the ducati, as the original is rather pathetic. Took it for a ride down to the canal. 2x round the village circuit 15 mins 28.

It seems the colours of the r6 are changing for 2009. They seem to have lifted the black and gold scheme from the 2008 triumph daytona 675.

Wednesday charged the car again.

Thursday evening into town for something to eat, coffee and cake before heading over to the university for polish - dzisiaj jest czwartek.

Friday took the ducati to work. Not running well in the cold morning, but normal thrumbly service was resumed on the way home.
Charged the car. Measured the current from the battery at about 10mA in the off state - shouldn't be a problem. 0.25A going in with the backup battery attached.

Saturday went to charge the pda, only to find it completely discharged, including the nimh backup - full reset then. Not used it much recently.
Into town for lunch, coffee and cake. Bought a polish dictionary. Then over to waitrose for shopping. Apple season, and nearly all gone from our tree, bought some british grown orleans reinette and d'estivale for variety.
We went for a ride on the bikes down to the canal.
Started reading brideshead.

Sunday measured the battery voltage running at 13.75V, up from 12.05V off, which implies it is being charged - hmmm? Charged it again.
Read some more reality - currently going on about quaternions.

Monday bought a new battery for the car. Bought the wanted dvd.

Tuesday fited the new battery. Found the ground terminal was only gripping on 3 of 6 fingers and they were badly rusted away. Cleaned them up and closed them up before refitting. Off load it's showing 12.39V, which seems much better.

Wednesday afternoon off in the sunshine. Took the kawasaki for a ride, with heated grips on - low sunshine a bit of a problem.
The letter arrived confirming that our mortgage has been paid in full - deeds to follow. So I guess we now own the house.

Thursday into town for something to eat, coffee and cake. Bought the aliens cd luna. Then over to the university for polish - dobrze.

Friday we went out to eat at the old lion.

Saturday up early and down the a14 to see the greenpeace rainbow warrior at the end of southend pier. Had lunch at 1 of the sea front cafes. A long walk in high wind. Very busy, but we only had to wait about 15 min before going aboard. This is #2 - see the scandalous story of what happened to #1 here . #3 coming (eventually). Went for a walk up the shopping centre, coffee and cake at costa. Long way back in the dark , with the wind blowing the little van around.

Sunday up late after the clocks changed.
Took the ducati for a longish ride in the afternoon sunshine.
Car battery seems to be holding up, so far.

November.

Monday frosty start. Bought the iron man dvd.

Tuesday frosty again. In the afternoon it started snowing - damp, sleety snow, but snow nevertheless, in october.

Wednesday even more frost.

Thursday into town for something to eat, coffee and cake, then over to the university for polish - czy mowi po polsku ?

Saturday up early for a site survey from wilfirs for a new garden gate.
Into town for lunch at browns, then coffee and cake at the newly reopened liquid bar. Over to alma's where a wonderful thing happened - overheard polish conversation started to sound familiar, and resolved itself into a few words. Saved a bit of cake for the squirrels of the cathedral.
Over to waitrose for shopping. Bought some more uk grown apples - st edmund's and winter wonder . The orleans reinette were very good, but the d'estivale while tasting ok, were covered in a horrible slimy wax.

Sunday listening to bh heard the rather excellent song hockey mama for obama.

Charged the car.

Monday evening over to the cadmac meet where tony of the lma gave a talk on his work with the bbc (again) and uavs.
Bought some new jump leads.

Tuesday off in the damp, with mynd cancelled.
Finished watching simon schama's american future - a history - lots of interesting stuff, including the land grab from mexico.
Charged the car.
Some house documents arrived.
Took the kawasaki for a ride at sunset to get some strings for the various guitars, couldn't get any lights for the bass. Saw the fox as I was putting the bike away at dusk.

Wednesday morning something remarkable happened overnight - the american electorate made the right choice for once, electing the (slightly) black barack obama.
New strings on the classical guitar.

Thursday into town for something to eat, coffee and cake, then over to the university for polish - jaki dzisiaj jest dzien ?

Saturday into town for lunch, coffee and cake at alma's. Dropped into the newly extended herbert art gallery - impressive range of modern art, as well as the expected godiva section.

New strings on the acoustic guitar.
Heavy rain in the evening.

Sunday fitted a new roller blind in the bathroom.
Charged the car.
More rain.

Tuesday stuart and chris came over for the evening.

Wednesday off in the sunshine.
Had a look at some garden gate options.
My cubase studio 4 arrived from digital village - very quick.

Thursday into town for something to eat, coffee and cake - xmas lights on in west orchards, then over to the university for polish - week off next week, and we have some homework - mamy zadanie domowe.

Friday charged the car. Saw the fox again in the dark.

Saturday morning over to wilfirs to talk about the garden gate.
Over to birmingham for lunch. Had a quick look at the yamaha dealers and the r6 . Lunch in a cafe under the railway arches. A proper long walk around the centre, including the fair deal music shop, the harvey nichols centre, the german xmas market. Also popped into hobgoblin to have another go on the paul hathway mandolin. Started to rain
Read some of the cubase manual.

Sunday charged the car.
Installed cubase and had a go with the 1st tutorials. The 300+ms latency on the laptop line in through directx is far too much to do any "live" interactive recording.

Sunday suffering from a heavy cold, on into the week, but lots of work to be done.

Thursday evening went into town for something to eat at browns with scott, massimo and gianfranco. A drink in whitefriars pub 1st. Nice to see the xmas lights in the cold night air.

Friday bought the long awaited tomb raider underworld . Long install onto the laptop, but it won't run, presumably because of the video card not meeting the requirements for direct3d . The dual core prcessor and ram should be ok. Not built a pc since mid 2003, which is a long time in pc years. It seems modern motherboards have replaced agp with pci-e . This is going to be expensive game play.

Saturday into town for lunch at browns again. Bought the stereophonicsdecade in the sun.

Sunday morning ice and rain.
Charged the car.
Did some polish homework.

Wednesday charged the car.

Thursday into town for something to eat at west orchards, coffee and cake at m+s, then on to the university for polish - ile kostuje jeden jablko ?

Friday off to use up holiday - nice and sunny.
Went over to see sw joinery about the garden gate.
Played the mandola a bit.

Saturday cold damp mist all day. We went to have a look at daylesford organic - extremely busy on 1 of the few saturdays left before xmas, had to wait 30mins+ to eat.
On the way back, carol spotted a sign for adlestrop , famous for the poem , and we went to have a look round in the extreme cold.

Sunday damp again, a bit of shopping.

Swapped to the advent calendar for xmas - stuffed with things from 2008

December.

Sunday I thought the advent calendar wasn't working, but actually it works ok with browsers using the built in java vm, although this is not there in the latest versions. Also works using the more recent sun java jre, but only if the relevant security options are used.

Monday evening over to coventry for the cadmac agm and to pay next year's fees - not much flying this year due to the weather, but we have now purchased the field. No xmas do, for lack of a venue.

Tuesday morning off, but no mynd of course. It actually started snowing - big wet flakes.
Bought the motu 828 mk usb2 digital audio interface. Hard to find now that it has been mostly superseded by the much more expensive mk3 firewire unit. Found it in stock at studiospares and set off down the m1 through the drizzle. Stopped for lunch at services. Found the shop easily enough on the n circular. Difficult to turn around and instead came back up the a40/m40, stopping at oxford services for coffee and cake. Sunshine on the way back through the damp. Slightly more expensive than other sources, and almost exactly £20 of fuel, but I have it now. That's my xmas present sorted. Plenty of time in the car for the nicole atkins cd - nice use of backing vocals.
Charged the car (a bit).

Wednesday installed the sw for the motu and got the headphones out working.

Thursday into town for something to eat at west orchards, coffee and cake at m+s, then on to the university for the last polish before xmas. Took the mandola in and played a few xmas melodies. Also some stollen cakes.
Last week that should have been - ile kostuje jedno jablko ?

Wesolych swiat oraz szczesliwego nowego roku

Friday off to visit the nec bike show.

Tickets in advance saved a few £. Lunch at wetherspoons outside the halls wasn't good, but the use of vibrating/flashing pagers for meal collections was neat.
Relatively quiet compared to saturday last year, but still fairly busy in the middle of the afternoon. Met up with john for a drink in wetherspoons (again). Most of the stands very similar to last year.
The ducati streetfighter was a bit of an early model and hands off. Again the ducati 848 and 1198 are fabulously expemsive, look very nice, but seem very uncomfortable to sit on, with ridiculously short footrests, and knee banging projections.
3 new colour schemes for the r6 provides plenty of opportunity for sitting on. Still think the black and gold looks the best, but the wheels and mud guards would have been better with a matt finish. Again the seat seems high and wide, but generally seems a comfortable position. The r1 is even more comfortable, but 1000cc seems too much.
The bat bike is even more impressive close(ish) up, looking decidedly asymmetric, reflecting its supposed origin.
Bought a ducati 1098 - a tiny plastic version.
Bought some wonder cleaner spray in a bogof deal.

Saturday a bit of tiying up. Into town for lunch. Carol bought a teapot.
Evening jes and steve came over, We all went down the pub to eat, under a starry sky. Up a bit late, catching up on news.

Sunday morning frosty mist, then sunshine. Tried some of the wonder cleaner spray on the car wheels - doesn't appear to do anything.Charged the car. Icy still evening.

For those for whom the advent calendar isn't working, here is what it looks like now.

10000+ hits.

Monday bought the dark knight dvd.

Tuesday took my new ducati 1098 into work, and parked it on top of a computer - all 5" of it.

Wednesday bought a multi charger with an input voltage monitor to monitor the state of charge of the car.

Thursday charged the car.
We couldn't summon the energy to go to london and see the rezillos.

Friday off. Into town for lunch.

Saturday wet and windy. Into town for lunch, coffee and cake, then over to waitrose - roads flooded on the way back.
Found some time to connect up the motu - guitar through the fx500, then stereo through the rev100 into motu in 7+8, motu main outs to the amp. Probably the rev100 should be in its own send return loop, but that'll do for now. So many levels to optimise.

The halion one vst instrument seemed to be missing from cubase. I had carefully installed only the 32bit version, but a full install is required to get halion one working ok. Seems to be a good general midi implementation.

Sunday damp. Charged the car. Problems starting the van. Fired up the kawasaki, just in case.

For those for whom the advent calendar isn't working, here is what it looks like now.

Sunday a nice man from the aa came and started the van - not much wrong with it apparently.
Attempting to keep vista up to date resulted in no internet access, as the latest service pack is incompatible with the older zone alarm, so needed to uninstall it, update zone alarm then reinstall it - great...

Tuesday investigated getting a new alternator for the car - expensive. Charged it a bit.

Wednesday over to the binley park inn for our work xmas lunch - took a long time, but fairly good. Still brilliant sunshine on the way home.
Bought a couple more maisto bike models from amazon resellers. Not really the best colours, but good for the shape reference.

Friday the imagined village and monica naranjo tarantula cds arrived from amazon. Released early in the year, it has taken a long time to get down to a sensible price. Still waiting for the latest mylene farmer cd to do that. Familiar with the (literally) fantastic opening track europa, the rest is also good, with a remarkable range. Nice to hear a bit of french in there too.

Saturday we went to have a look at hein gericke at leicester, stopping at a pub on the way for lunch. Later over to garden organic for coffee and cake.

Sunday warm and sunny, if a bit windy. Charged the car.

Swapped to snow background for xmas week.

For those for whom the advent calendar isn't working, here is what it looks like now.

Monday evening down to stratford to see the bad shepherds . A bit of a walk around the city centre xmas lights 1st. Great fun to hear punk classics done very well in a folk style. Bit of a late night for a monday.

Tuesday evening we went down our pub that has changed hands again.

Xmas eve took the mandola in to work and round a few places playing a few xmas tunes. Finished early and home for lunch.
Took the ducati for a ride and refuel in the relatively warm sunshine. Rather muddy roads - cleaned it when I got back.
Over to adrian's to swap xmas presents in the evening.

Xmas day lunch at home. Over to adrian's later.

Friday 1x round the village circuit in the cold 8 mins 51.
Saw 3x goldfinches feeding in the lavender.

Over to the binley park inn again for yet another xmas lunch.
late afternoon we went for a walk up the hill in the sunshine. Back at sunset.

Saturday up not very early and off to oxford thornhill (surprisingly quiet/empty), where we got straight on an extremely warm espress bus to london. Out into the cold wind on baker street before 12:00. A sandwich then coffee and cake in a place called allans just S of oxford street. While carol hit the clothes shops, I had a look round the music shops of denmark street and charing cross road. Also hobgoblin, with a very expensive paul hathway mandolin. Oxford street noticeably less busy than previous years.

Headed down through covent garden, along the N side of the strand and fleet street, past st dunstan in the west, down to the cathedral, where I found the bikehut shop, but no time for a look, as we crossed the millennium bridge to the tate modern. Rather disappointing this year, with no external art, and only half of the turbine hall crammed with apparently unrelated bits of art, including beds, books, an enormous cat and the spider thing that was outside last year. The crack in the floor seems to have been rather badly repaired.

Back into the centre and a meal at trattoria da aldo in greek street, which was very authentic, right down to the chewy gelato. Just missed a bus at park lane, with some of the subways closed. Back to an extremely cold car at thornhill and home before midnight.

Sunday 1x circuit 8 mins 32.
A bit of food shopping.
Unusual this year in that there is a still a 1w holiday left.

Swapped to the snow logo.

For those for whom the advent calendar wasn't working, here is what it looked like complete, finishing with the ducati.