Panic on the streets

Posted on 2nd Apr 2012 by essiep

8°C, grey with a little rain.

I went for a bit of panic petrol buying yesterday. When I got to the Panic Station, there was only one car before me. Perhaps I have missed a window of opportunity all the drivers who have already panic bought a tank of petrol will have run it near dry just in time for the coming tankers’ strike. Now, why would they do that?

Charming stop-frame video:

We tried to do this at work with year 7s. They didn’t really get the idea, but at least they made a video of some sort.

Frog’s Porn

Posted on 27th Mar 2012 by essiep

19°C, endless blue

I have a bucket of Frog Spawn from a colleague who brought it into work. You have to admire my ability to drive home with a bucket of water+ this spawn jelly stuff without spilling any. My pond will have fulfilled its destiny if they thrive into adulthood. There has been no algal bloom this year, good for the tadpoles. Perhaps a sign of good health in that little body of water.

This is a time of year that your aesthetic sensibility breaks out as if to desperately demand time in your mind. There is much work overload to block it out. I drove home listening to an Aria by Handel. The shapes made by that pure voice were delicious. Traffic was bad enough for some time watching a magpie hopping along a roofline in a manner like a weightless astronaut.

I need a holiday from work. the last one was demolished by the influenza. I felt cheated. Continue reading →

Bread

Posted on 24th Mar 2012 by essiep

4°C, very dense fog. Hot later.

Made bread. Okay, so I was given the bread machine over a year ago, but finally decided to use it. You can buy small packets of bread flour with yeast included. This solves the problem that put me off for that time- I have no kitchen scales.
Now the house smells gorgeous.

Today promises to be very warm, for now fog is so dense that visibility is less than 60 yards.

Magic telebox

Posted on 12th Feb 2012 by essiep

2°C, dry but cloudy (getting warmer, huzzah!).

Over-run by remotes from new gadgets. I only intended to buy a Blu-ray player so I can watch my latest video rental. That first part failed with me feeling annoyed with Argos for mis-labelling the player. I wanted a player with built-in wireless which can then show BBC’s iPlayer on the TV. The catalogue was labelled as such but once I got it home and looked it wasn’t. For that model, you have to buy a USB dongle, otherwise no wireless. This was annoying because the Argos woman said I can’t return this unless it’s faulty. Anyway, they found an alternative, a Sony device with wireless built-in. But…

Behind the counter was a range of ex-display stuff including a FreeSat box that I intended to buy with next month’s salary. At half-price, I took it.

Good things: the best is the picture quality. Not so much the extra resolution, but far more convincing colour and tonal depth than the previous white sky box. the sound is better too. The set-top box will record from TV from next week’s schedule, setting is just too easy.

That draining cold is receding this week. It had better take my cough with it.

Continue reading →

Get the Maul

Posted on 10th Feb 2012 by essiep

0°C, Ice is drying

Frozen roads this morning made walking this morning simply frightening. There was a glassy layer over everything. Railings and cards looked wet, but touch them and the glassy surface is dry and bitterly cold.

The firewood supply is getting lower but splitting the bigger logs I have takes ages. I’m going to try a maul. It’s a narrow headed axe with a nice long handle that should let me put a big swing behind it. If not, it’s still a good way to warm up on an icy February day.

What should I do about these spiders?

Posted on 26th Jan 2012 by essiep

5~2°C, SW. c=0

There is one species of spider that really likes living in my house. They’re very thin, long legged and hang out near the coving in most rooms in this house. Latin name: Pholcus phalangioides. It’s the daddy-long legs spider.

That page’s author recommends encouraging them. That sounds like an opportunity to make a silly jibe with some emotional support. I shalln’t. They are quite delightful little lodgers, there must be 30 to 50 in this house in various rooms altogether. They must be getting food from somewhere, it’s not mine they are taking. There are a few eco-system enclaves here which may be the source. Each one is rooted in a ceramic pot with a houseplant poking above the soil. Sometimes flies take wing. they look like fruit flies, tiny and delicate looking. There must be a load of other stuff living in those pots that can’t be seen too. Remember the fantastic mushroom that grew out of one pot last November? There is an entire realm of life in each of those earthenware worlds.

I’m quite taken with their fragile awkward lanky gait. This year’s mild weather has seen more of them survive. Last year the house was fairly barren, the hard hard frosts took their toll. Maybe they can grow large. So, what I’ll do is take their photo and just enjoy their presence in my house.

Her efforts…

Posted on 25th Jan 2012 by essiep

10°C, lightness

“Her efforts are to be congratulated“. My favourite report correction of the day, I’d prefer to congratulate the girl. That’s how I changed it.

Headlights: after 9 years, one of the car’s headlights failed. I could see the lack of a point of light shining on the boot of the car in front this morning. Not a bad lifespan for a halogen bulb. The one that died was on the easy side to fix, but I bought a replacement pair which promise to be 120% brighter. The right-hand one was so awkward to fit- there is no real hand-space behind the light cluster. You’d really need a child’s hand to reach the wires and avoid touching the glass. The new bulbs shine out the same to my eye. Maybe order these?

My nose is so blocked today that I can’t draw the slightest breath. This is a head-cold that has moved around, throat, chest and nose. An unsettled, wandering nomad of a cold. May it wander off somewhere else, or somebody else instead.

There is a link there that reflects the world’s deep interconnectedness between things. I just can’tsee what it is apart from occurring on the one same day, today.

Urn

Posted on 2nd Jan 2012 by essiep

5°C, clear with westerly wind. CA35 miles.

Sales are on, here I have picked up some glitzy ceramics for the kitchen. The glaze on these stoneware pots is flawless, more like polished glass than gold. Opinions vary- some are polite, others thought “kitsch”.

I have an idea for that storage jar. What about not using it for food? What about putting in some ash from the fire’s ash bucket? Perhaps leave an old, burnt pair of glasses, or false teeth semi-covered inside. It’s an image isn’t it? I wonder how any new lodgers would react.
You have to admit, it’s a better idea than keeping couscous in there.

On the Step

Posted on 30th Dec 2011 by essiep

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.

Which TV?

Posted on 30th Dec 2011 by essiep

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.