Author Archives: essiep

Gotcha back

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20°C, light grey, warm & close

Result: the gutter press have been clobbered for their bad behaviour last Christmas. Observers have felt annoyed about this story over the last half-year, now they are ordered to pay large fines to the innocent landlord for their ludicrous inventions last winter. It’s still remarkable that these papers make up those stories with no apparent inhibition; we knew back then, it was probably false. They must have felt, at the time, that there was nothing to stop them.

Home: Tiled behind the cooker; paid unbelievable amounts of money to get the car serviced. Weather is threatening Wales and a hiking trip there next week.
King Cnut: look up where he came from on GoogleEarth:

I'm in this kind of mood today.

Try it yourself & let me know what result you see.

July, the tired month

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16°C, grey, dull, very dull. CA:20

Bone-tired II: yes yes, I know I say this every year, the last week of term and all. I woke in the night, about 4 ish, and my heartbeat was still thumping, I’m that tired. It seems like a very physical state to be in. Three more getups to go.

Cuckoo

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18°C, 3 sharp showers, SW. CK: 55miles

Found a cuckoo in the road today, a victim of roadkill. Quite a beautiful bird; it looks, in many ways, like a hawk except in a few details. The beak is straight & the claws not oversized like a sparrowhawk (which is about the same size). Not sure that I’ve ever seen a cuckoo before, though they are heard on every camping trip over the past few years.

Single-speed bikes are supposed to have mechanical advantages over deraillier geared bikes. The straight chainline promised long chain wear, but this turns out not to be. Perhaps the chain on mine is of poor quality, but the fact is it’s worn out after only 750 miles. Also, the headset bearing has gone notchy too which suggests that these componants are poor quality to keep the price down. I really don’t want to replace a chain after less than a year’s use again.

Four Lions

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17C, rain then bright.

Just a quick note this time. I know most of my posts are short, terse even.

Film: Four Lions, a comedy about some none too bright would-be suicide bombers from Sheffield. I say ‘comedy’ since that’s what it says on the label, but I didn’t notice that many funny bits. It did get better towards the end. It reminded me of Citizen Smith, the TV series from the early 80s, unfortunately it shared a similar characteristic where the parody was expressed through characters who were rather dim witted. A pretty feeble way to get laughs I’d say.

Hobnail boot

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18°C, NE 10mph. CA:20

Ever woken with a deep ache in a muscle? It’s often a mystery as this one is for me today. It feels like someone kicked me up the arse in the night. I can’t recall anyone tip-toeing in hobnail boots into my room last night. the dogs didn’t rouse, so the mystery remains.

Happy birthday Neptune. In a way. It’s gone round the sun once since the day it was first discovered, so as of today, it’s ONE.

Avian miracle II

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23°C, wall to wall blue. CK:50 miles

Riding near Mawdsley Lancs., I saw a bird lying in the road. As I passed, it was obvious that it was still alive. So I turned around and went back, if left it would get driven over. It was a bull-finch, sitting in the pale sun-bleached tarmac with one leg sticking out at an awkward angle. So ( like last time) I picked it up with one hand, and suddenly it flew away towards a tree with other passerines swirling round.

Further proof that I can do miracles, as if any were needed.

I suppose it had an injured leg that prevented it jumping enough to take off. A very similar thing happened a few years ago in Leicestershire, I have blogged about it here but can’t locate it right now.