8°C, rain
Rosie is on watch. She sits on this step as it’s the only one she can see out of the front door’s small window. she may, if very lucky, bark at a passer-by.
On the Step
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Monthly Archives: Dec 2011
Which TV?
4°C, rain.
I want a new TV. the one I have drives me nuts- there is a high pitched whining noise (even when the sound is muted)from my CRT set. New TVs are currently cheap, between £300 & £.silly, but the problem is choice. There are too many to choose from.
Plasma screen: heavy, good colour gamut, less contrast ratio very fast re-fresh rate.
LCD: cheapest option, light, sharp but poor flicker. Thicker screen, but the sound is better in the bigger box.
LED: (backlight is an array of LEDs), fast re-fresh rate is expensive, but sharp, bright and better gamut than LCD. Screen can be very thin, but once it’s set up, you won’t see that.
TechRadar
I can only hope I succeed in getting one today.
Boxing day
10°C, sun & strong wind. CK:57 miles
Good Christmases have to include a good bikeride, this one was despite the wind. It was warm (relatively) so much that I sneaked into a farm to use a standpipe to replenish my water bottles. Several recent rides have been spoilt by dehydration so I’m keeping on top of that. Using a 42×17 gear felt just right too. My troublesome tendon is not noticeable when riding without overshoes. Those things put too much pressure on that achilles tendon. A good day followed by deep sleep.
Winterlude
10~6°C, rain
This plan: Bent the flashing under that window to help it drain over a roof tile. Temporarily shoved a wad of plastic in front of the point that the water seems to get in. Let’s see how it goes, today brings rain, lots of it. The wood will take so long to dry out though, but at least we’re heading towards a slightly less wet part of winter. I put the heating back on up there and am running a de-humidifier to grab what is probably condensation.
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Leak
12°C, Westerly
Investigating a damp patch in the attic. Started with taking up the floorboards in the top room to have a look. There is a dark patch around the point that the pipes come out of the floor to the radiator. That was my first suspect.
However, confusion remains. There are four pipes that end there too. Just open pipes with an elbow bend that is not connected to anything. So, switch on the heating to see whether any water comes out. None.
The boards behind are damp to the touch behind, right into the eaves. There is a roof window just above and my second suspicion lies there. I don’t have any expertise with roof windows but it doesn’t look as if the lead flashing is right. Rain water could, I suspect, run along its lower gutter and under a roof-tile each side. It should run onto a tile then downwards off the roof.
Let’s get an expert.
Dehydrated
12°C, light cloud, light NW. CA:29½ miles
Flagged a little on the ride today, especially near the end. Dehydration was probably the cause. Took until 9pm to feel back to normal and stop worrying that I have an oncoming cold.
- Like old times: a screenshot from a flight sim, played on a 4 year old computer
no white Christmas
5°C, rain & warming. CK26 miles
Decent ride around Lancs in the gloaming. The new Armadillo tyre seems fine. Naturally, I’m wary of tough, puncture resistant tyres but there are many punctures to be had in Lancs- especially on those cycle-tracks near Southport. Puncture resistant tyres have, in the past, given a harder ride & are prone to skids. They don’t even offer any real reduction in punctures.
Today’s ride tested them reasonably well on slimy roads with black clay mud in Lancs lanes. I felt no wheel-spin or skittishness on corners.
Interesting how two rides can contrast. Sunday, I rode 33 miles and was pretty worn out at the end. Contrast that with today’s outing. Fewer miles, yes but finished feeling refreshed and warm all day. It’s not good to miss more than 2 days’ exercise.
Tomorrow is to be warmer- possibly 12°C and no rain. What a contrast with last year!
0300 Night Watch
0°C, clear out. Orion visible
3am: often I’m awake at this time of night. It has formed a pattern like this over the past few months. I fall into deep sleep at 10pm, but wake at 3. It could be work stress adjusting my sleep cycle. Tonight is the first of my winter holiday but I will probably wake at 6, have some breakfast and then go back to bed until dawn. The routine wasn’t like this last year.
44 Inch Chest
1°C, clearing to ice
Film: 44 Inch Chest: more like a play with fine acting from established British actors like John Hurt. It was all atmosphere and dialogue a story about a group of London old criminals. My fellow audience were non-plussed, but I liked it.
Related articles
- 44 Inch Chest (mrmovietimes.com)
Unbroken
5°C, light winds, snow threatened then stayed away.
The desktop computer is no longer faulty. It couldn’t connect to the internet and this seemed to cause other problems too. The odd thing is, I didn’t fix it, no-one did. Perhaps pulling out the connections, or restarting the router has done the trick. Now it sees the internet after about three weeks of floundering. Best bit is that my iPod has new tunes and is all synchronised. Perhaps it was all down to a poor connection. It was a close call, I nearly bought a new router.
So for fun, I turned the overclock back up to 2.88Ghz & launched a flight sim– Rise Of Flight. It’s a good one, though not easy. Probably true of Cliffs Of Dover which I may buy sometime this holiday.
Micycle 