Monthly Archives: Aug 2008

Tapping on the wheel

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Cloying, milky air, warm & very humid. 19°C,

Only 32 miles but I must be careful. Last year I was bugged by a persistent chest infection that cut so many miles off cycling. This summer’s rides total 1,000 miles on the bike. So I have answered my home-life-falling-apart with exercise to keep myself sane and sleep through the night. The result is that is I am as fit as I can remember.
Enough of me, let’s talk of something interesting.

 
….that is less humid.

Bose Dock “popping” fault

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16°C, cloudy but dry.

Bose Dock doesn’t work? No life from your iPod, no recharge and certainly no sound. All you have is a repeated soft popping sound?
FIX: the power jack is inverted. Despite having chamfered pins on the power jack behind the dock, it is still easy to put the jack in upside-down.
REMEDY: just turn the jack over so the brand name is facing up then it should be back to normal.

It worked on mine anyway.

the same pattern…

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16-22°C, warm but dull overcast.

It follows the same pattern, being ill I mean. Yesterday was the worst, ending with going to bed in a fever, shivering under thick bedding. It always feels like such a waste, so many things I could be doing now, most notably, I have scrapped the idea of climbing a Welsh mountain.
Note: the fine "Dockleaf Bug", who watched as I  cleaned the car this afternoon.
shieldBug

Praise indeed

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19°C, light clouds, clearing later.

Nice response to my Chernobyl scenery for FSX:
Simviation Forum, he said:

I just want to praise this scenery, it’s probably one of my favorite all time spots to hover around now in fsx. My only request is that this scenery be expanded to add the city of pripryat (cant spell it worth a crap) and mabe the unfinished reactor… oh and chernobyl 2 http://pix.fine.kiev.ua/egor/gallery/0000b02w I just really want to have it feel like when i fly in that area that i’m actually flying there….

It’s broken the 1000 downloads point now just on AVSim alone. There are numerous other hosts that don’t detail the number of downloads. Anyway, I do intend to work out how to add in Pripyat; the current landclass poly is hardly ideal. It would be perfect if I could place the Ferris-wheel, the Polyssia Hotel and the tower blocks.
Here’s the link to the v1. if any readers want it (Microsoft Flight Sim X only): ChernNPP
ChernNPP_v2

Where is Rosie?

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20°C, good weather, dry & fresh

Today I lost my dog for some time. Some nice folks helped me find her soon enough. She likes to rummage around the wooded fields & lost track of me. The folks who found her said she was frantically running up and down (obviously upset). She slept very well on getting home.
Solutions:
  • Get a whistle*
  • Buy a bell for me and/or her.
  • Put my Mobile number on Rosie’s collar
  • Satellite tracking is out of the question though. What about a radio tag, I can creep about with headphones and a dipole aerial.

*I’m a teacher, I should have one.

I thought it was the dust…

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16°C, clearing for a nice day.

I thought it was the dust that made my throat feel dry & sore. Grain harvest dust does this every summer during cycle rides. It’s worth taking a detour to avoid combine harvesters because of the discomfort after getting a lungful. It’s a horrible feeling – as if your lungs won’t open full stretch; is that what it’s like for asthmatics?
Anyway, that’s not my problem, I have a good old fashioned cold as of this morning. Pity, because I had another cycle ride planned.

Not again

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16°C, cloudy with some rain.
Dammit No.II: it’s raining again, last year July was the rotten month that spoilt the summer for many, this year- August.
Later: it brightens up, the wind gets stronger but at least some sun appears. Result? 34 miles cycling…
…that’s better. Happy now.
So, my good people, if you are feeling restless, can’t sleep or settle to do something requiring concentration this is what you should do:
Go out to the shed, blow up the tyres on your bike, fill the drink bottle and get out there. Pack a rain jacket, go and tap out some miles.
It works every time.

Home by lunchtime

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16°C. Cloudy,

On getting home: I had every intention of cycling my restless feelings away. Now all I can see is torrential rain outside. Dammit!
Taking a solo holiday is revealing. Normally I can open conversation casually with strangers without any effort. But this trip I was largely in a bubble isolated from others & I think I know why: perhaps folks mistrust of single blokes travelling alone.

Day 2: Van Gogh Museum

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19°C, heavy showers forecast, it’s sunny right now.

2nd full day: more walking planned but I have a blister- let’s see if wearing two pairs of socks helps. I didn’t sleep very well so now have a mild headache; perhaps when I was in Japan blaming my poor sleep on the earth-quakes- I may not have slept anyway.
This certainly is a beautiful city, as expensive as London though.
 
Later: VG museum was far busier then the Rijksmuseum. I had to queue. The tone of the labels was interesting, interesting to anyone learning to paint I’d imagine. It’s clear that various phases in his work were deliberate attempts to learn skills he had identified as shortcomings himself. It’s sad to reflect that he never felt that he’d "arrived" in the sense that he became a professional artist.
 
Anyway; My feet hurt so much from blisters that I am only comfortable in my running shoes. Now is the last part of my stay, tomorrow will be consumed with the journey back and the desire not to miss my flight. Shipol is one of the biggest airports in Europe, I need to get to the right place.
Now, I’d better go and pick up some foodie souvenirs to take home.