Some light

Posted on 26th Feb 2010 by essiep

7-3°C, showers, now clear.

Rab tells me her story, well my story but my memory eludes me of those fifteen minutes on the 10th that I can’t account for. I was indeed out cold, I had blankets put over me, maybe over my head (this bit I struggle to believe). I must have been out for a while rather than staggering about with amnesia. Then I got up, or tried to. After falling back to the tarmac, I got up enough to be assisted to the opposite footpath where I sat myself.
Strange, strange memorys. The thought of losing that time is quite unsettling, I’ve not had anything to compare in my life before.

The Kite Runner: tonight’s excellent film.

Think you’ve had a bad day?

Posted on 10th Feb 2010 by essiep

-1°C. Clear + snow showers

The worst ride to work yet. Involved a severe deflection by a lorry, a tarmac bounce and later, stitches. Parts the collision I can’t remember, there are two gaps in my memory and since, I have been behaving like a dopey person. Later I find out the damage to my bike, it’s being brought back as I write.

I have witness details and damage to repair- my phone broke in the fall, the bike may be out of action for a while too.

Drew this picture while waiting in A&E, it calmed my hands at the time, took away some of the shaking.

The Aberystwyth Starlings event

Posted on 7th Feb 2010 by essiep

5°C, grey, damp and cold. C=56 miles

Starlings roost on the pier in Aberystwyth each night. They fly there each afternoon at sunset.

Well worth the trip to the coast to see this. Flocks fly in without interval, each in a rounded mass which them dive under the pier to spend the night on the girders underneath.

Frozen splash

Posted on 31st Jan 2010 by essiep

2°C, still, clear with the odd snowshower. C 46 miles

This must have taken some time to build up. Ice on a hedgerow that froze each time a car splashed in this puddle.

Got home slightly cold, but warming up from a long time in the cold takes ages.
Still struggling with bad gear-changes; 2 for & 1 back all the time. Maybe (as suggested) it’s the jockey wheels. They’re cheap to replace.

How would you do this?

Posted on 21st Jan 2010 by essiep

5°C, light cloud, sun too.

Picture this:

you’re driving a dustbin lorry, you’ve just finished with a load of bins and need to reverse into the left turning ahead. So you pull out, roll forwards and then reverse into that road to your rear-left. My question is this- how would you indicate?

Bear in mind that it’s rush-hour and busy with walking-pace traffic.

This is what the guy did this morning:

Pull out, stop, put hazard lights on and do the reverse turn.

What should he have done?

Turboshed

Posted on 10th Jan 2010 by essiep

+1°C, a slight thaw, or do my senses deceive me?

After so long bleating about a lack of exercise, I have bought a turbo-trainer for the bike. It works well enough during the 1h 10′ session I had today.

Winter beach

Posted on 22nd Dec 2009 by essiep

-6~ +2°C, not counting wind-chill.

Drove home last night late, in the valleys, temperatures dropped to minus six. It was all dry and little white so no real problems. The car coped apart from the screen-wash jets froze and didn’t work for the whole trip.

The car’s service+MOT cost the earth, there must be a better way to keep the thing going. It’s going back because the new brakes aren’t right- not if the warning light is true.

…sorry, this is boring.

December’s rainbow

Posted on 13th Dec 2009 by essiep

2~5°C, light NE winds, some showers. Cycle 60.8 miles.

NE winds brought light showers from the North Sea today. This new fleece long sleeve shirt did the trick- no chills for me. I have ot recommend this stuff, even when wet, it’s warm in the way that woollen shirts are.Weather like this is great for rainbows- even in the middle of the day- possible because the sun is still quite low.
Today has the earliest sunset of the year.

Somewhere near Packington, Leicestershire.

Cwm Cau

Posted on 29th Nov 2009 by essiep

6°C, miserable here, better in Powys

On the South face of Cadair Idris, the lake Llyn Cau. Yesterday. The snow started at about 1,000ft, it formed a decent ground-cover a few hundred metres higher here at this lake Llyn Cau. We had intended to go to the beach but the mountains called with their bright white peaks in the patches of sunshine.

Make a survey for up to at least 15 people

Posted on 23rd Nov 2009 by essiep

9°C, showers, clammy

You can work out what’s wrong with the title.
Fine morning to unblock a stinking drain. The overspill left a layer of slimy mud below the window which must have been teeming with life. My guess is there were algae living in it along with the inevitable fungi. Further along the food chain were a growing family of slugs, looking like miniature gherkins. They were so happy. The fungi spent their time making the rotten newspaper smell, and the jelly-like clear slimes- what were they. Or maybe not; times like this I need an expert in microscopic-smelly-lifeforms.
All wet and shiny clean now.

A day to be confused by stuff that people write. Go away, sit in a quiet dark room and and think really hard.

Micycle

Mike thinks b/hikes

Category Archives: Travel