6°C, white cloud
This deserves to be shared.
It’s a maths question, dammit!
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Monthly Archives: Apr 2011
There’s going to be a Royal wedding.
Bit chilly at 8°C this morning. Later 16°C
I know this because: a/ we have no work on Friday, b/ the media are ramming it down our throats like fois gras. At a cyclists’ cafe today: some of the old boys recalled a royal wedding back in the 1980s. Apparently “you didn’t see any females all day last time”. That means women I assume, you could find female cattle in fields and brown blackbird foraging for food, bet they were talking about humans. By implication, they (the women) were all watching the television.
Chernobyl day
16°C, cloudy & easterly breeze. K:29½ miles.
Last day: end of holiday, but we’re only back for 2 days before the next one. Friday is some celebrity wedding that gives us all a day off- thanks, you have some use then. We’ve just had been the best Easter holiday for years, absolutely years. Fine weather, good camping, and best of all- a long holiday. Oh, and the lodger leaves next weekend.
Has it really been 25 years since the Chernobyl plant blew up? There is lots to look at on GoogleEarth. There is something unique about that event: perhaps an omen that foretells man’s decline in the world. At the same time there is so much dis-information, especially on the web. I’m no authority, but the widespread contradictions testify to that. There is politics, mythology and scaremongering in the story. The story has manifest itself in song, documentaries, books and, bizarrely for some, a small number of computer games.
Pond hole
16°C, clear blue
The hole is finally dug, shaped, measured and levelled. It has liner underlay and awaits the liner itself now. By the time that was all done, I was too tired to start the delicate work of placing the liner in measured amounts and adding water, in measured amounts. Actually, there isn’t that much water about right now. We’ve only had a few days rain in the last month and none is forecast. Can I use tap water?
cooling 49 miles
16°C, confused winds, CK:49 miles
Longer ride today on the Fixed, but less energy from me. Rode for 3 hours with slightly too-thin layers on. the effect is to drain away warmth that takes hours to replenish after getting home. I’m still a little chilly now. The, admittedly light, wind blew from the west today. But looking up at clouds that moved in another direction- is that what wind-shear is?
Have I really have got another 2 days off.
Riding in the o-zone
c24°C, clear but anvil clouds building. CK: 40miles
Met office have issued warning of smog over the weekend. they say that the still air and bright sunshine cause gasses in fumes to react and produce ozone. It’s a problem for asthmatics and kids, this is quite interesting. It’s interesting for me on days like this where I have been out on the bike. Sometimes, when I get home I have a little cough, a strange one that feels achey in my lungs. Could this be a hint of the “tightness” that asthmatics complain of?
Riding on the 16t: as the ride wore on, it started to feel right. There were a few difficult hills but I could touch 30mph on the descents so it’s all about compromise. Overall, the average speed should be up on the 17t cog. I bet that winter rides will need that 17t again though, the difficulty is spinning out on fast descents. I never can keep the speed up in the cold weather anyway.
It’s Monday-thursday
it’s going to be hot 23°C? We’re going to have known nothing like it.
Monday-thursday: a day where the queen gives arms to the poor. Armed, one day the poor will rise up and it will become all Citizen-Smith here. Or something like that.
I have too much of a cold to enjoy the hot weather, dammit, I shall not complain.
Alternative vote: The Tories say that the Politician with the 3rd most votes will get in. They say, according to this leaflet, that there are no wasted votes in FPtP (First past the post). It looks to me as if they have taken all the evidence and drawn the diametrically opposite conclusions. The No voters look to be in the majority in the polls now, I suspect that people simply don’t understand how it works; plus the No-campaigners are lying about its consequences. All they have to do is use the numbers to illustrate advantages (or otherwise) then we could make up our minds. Perhaps the root of the problem is that they’re all afraid of talking numbers; such a fear is widespread. Politicians still haven’t really grasped why we, the public, hate them.
Nant Gwynant
upto 21°C, still & no cloud
Just got back. It was great, but I’ve brought a cold with me. It’s been strange, it came on tentatively on the drive there. But it held back for quite a few days, drawing my strength in the background while I climbed mountains. Now I’m all bunged up and have gone to bed with a roll of tissue paper. No, Wait! that sounds terrible.
Another interesting physical process can be noticed when falling asleep. As you drift away in a campsite, sometimes you snap back. When you do, the first thing that snaps back into focus is the sound of the river (on the opposite edge of the camp). It jumps into your consciousness almost as if someone has thrown a switch. This can happen repeatedly until you finally do fall asleep.
Anyway, where have I been?
- Rhinogs: walked up Rhinog Fawr, clear & cold.
- Nant Gwynant, Yr Aran (the summit cleared, much to my surprise)
- Nant Gwynant: Climbed Y Llewedd (on the Snowdon horseshoe)
- Nant Gwynant: Moel Siabod– near Capel Curig. A fine mountain with an ice scarred east face hidden by soft grassy slopes to the North & west.
Geraniacae
18°C, clear. Ck.53 miles
It’s not easy deciding which gear to put on the single-speed bike. In this hilly terrain, it’s useful to have a higher gear to make use of the descents and their higher speed. If it’s too high you can’t get up the climbs though, too low and your pegs# spin uncontrollably. On balance, I am going to revert to the 42×16 that the bike came with when I bought it last new-year.
#”Pegs” is a typo for legs, I decided to keep that one.
Honey?
up to 20°C later, nice again tomorrow.
Hay fever starts with this holiday, along with fine clear weather. How about taking local honey for some protection from hay-fever. Honey bees collect nectar from flowers (biotic pollinations) but hay-fever is caused by grasses (Abiotic pollination). So how does it work alternative-medicine people? Incidentally, the current April flurry of sneezes is said to be caused by tree spores- maybe Beech/Birches.
Now I’m watching weather forecasts eagerly, I want a clear few days so I can make camp in Wales & trudge up some mountains. That’s what I want.
Micycle 