Rocester

Posted on 13th May 2012 by essiep

15°C, SW winds, sunny

Rode to Rocester (pronounced Roaster) & wound through windy lanes between grassy fields. The grass picked up waves of wind that gave the surface an oceanic quality. A lovely day then. Just to dampen it a bit was my uncharacteristic lack of energy. It all felt like such an effort, and that wasn’t because the bike’s gears were still jumping about a bit. After some adjustment they were much better anyway. the last thing I will say about them is that the levers felt heavier than ideal- so perhaps a change of cable sheaths will finally fix the issue.

I have come home with that sticky throat (the bit in the back of my mouth anyway) that I get when hay-fever is bad and I react to dust on a dry day. However, that and the empty feeling in my legs is also characteristic of on-coming cold feeling. Time will tell.

Caravaggio

Posted on 12th May 2012 by essiep

14°C, sunny bits & windy

Film: Carravagio by Derek Jarman. A good film has the ability to occupy your thoughts for the next day, or even days after that. Carravagio had some good ingredients- the cinematography was matched to the painter’s style. The sets were minimal and no scenes were shot outside. Rooms were mostly bare and light to draw ling inky black shadows just like the paintings. Tenebrist in style, apparently. Tilda Swinton supported along with various other well known British actors. In a few places, modern props were used to disconcerting effect.

Today, I’m left wondering why this film failed to light any spark in me. A few times I even looked ay he video player’s remaining time display. Not a good sign.

Sun & weekend in step

Posted on 12th May 2012 by essiep

11°C, sun

How often does a run of good weather break at the weekend? Okay, so we’ve had the wettest April on record. That only makes days like this seem more refreshing. The sun is out, fresh verdant emerald growth is illuminated in its semi-translucency.

See any weird silhouette hound in the picture?

I have a new sofa. Erm, no it’s only new to me via eBay for £30. It’s an Ikea design from a few years ago with a leather cover. It’s smaller than usual for a two seater but that’s a bonus.

My bike wheel is repaired and to celebrate I bought some pressies for the house (fleece throw, a duvet cover & stuff).

Back-ache is nearly over and work stress is a little diminished.
This day is going well. I’m going to snooze in the attic bedroom.

late wet

Posted on 9th May 2012 by essiep

Description: Trees were knocked down and burned over hundreds of square km by the Tunguska meteoroid impact.

14°C, rain which arrived late.

This is a day off work, blame backache. At one stage I had to lift my legs out of bed. These things make you feel rotten, it’s the kind of thing old folks supposedly experience.

So here I am, a little housebound so I fired up the computer upstairs. I still have some old Flight Sims files that are worth uploading. There are some compatibility problems with software that is new. GoogleEarth 6 doesn’t work properly with the scenery app FSX-KML. there is a workaround, but it’s a pain. Still, I have fixed up a file for the area of the Tunguska Event (1909). There is no real impact crater, but there is a convenient marsh area shown on GE.

The other files I fiddled with are Siberian airfields in the Sakha Republic. Some of the files are a mess of naming conventions. I don’t yet know how best to release the files. There are about a dozen airfield files in total, along with nearby scenery. Perhaps later, I may upload some pictures.

FSX scenery remains a therapeutic thing to do. I used to, years ago, get really hooked on this.

Sunny bank holiday

Posted on 6th May 2012 by essiep

11°C, sunny & light wind

This is not the way to spend a sunny but cool bank holiday weekend. I’m exhausted and am rumbled by ominous gurglings from my belly. Yes, I’m unwell. Confusingly, for a few days exhaustion has crept up; is it stress, lack of sleep or just the unwinding feeling from a lesson observation at work?

Sleep habits have evolved this year for me. Not in a good way though, no more is the solid sleep with a very early rise. I don’t get up before 5am these days. Now I lie a frustrating hour in bed wishing I could nod off at about 3am. Often, like tonight, I get up for a camomille tea in the hope that it will help.

Days, I look at the bike in the garage and lament its meagre 110 miles for the year so far. This time last year, I had clocked up over 300 and worn out the first chain.

Dual sleep

Posted on 3rd May 2012 by essiep

Deep sleep (Photo credit: smerikal)

8°C, light clouds & windy

It’s 02:00 in the morning & my late wake reminds me of a BBC feature on the Myth Of The Eight Hour Sleep. The idea is that in reality, we have phases of sleep- Deep Sleep, Watch & then a second 4 hours sleep.
This does fit my sleep habits that have appeared over the past few years. Tonight it’s early, but that’s work-stress that tore me up. There is a long weekend coming up I reassure myself.
My experience supports the suggestions in the articles. They have posted some good links worth following too. Perhaps sleep is another great British obsession after the weather.

Dark day

Posted on 1st May 2012 by essiep

9°C, rain, but less of it. CA20

That’s no metaphor, it really is dark. There are thick thick clouds overhead bearing rain that must be destined for somewhere else on this island. The news is full of floods and yet the drought still goes on. Here, everything is wet, roads are black with wet and the air- thick, rich scent. I suppose the plants are happy. Listen to Nils Frahm

…as what little light fades into gloaming. An oppressively ‘orrible day, but still the days go by too fast. Why do they have to do that?

Today I finally relented and issued (un-moderated) coursework grades to my Year 11 class. They are nervous, some refused to have the mark which I respected. There is nothing they can do about it anyway. Some insisted that I don’t read out the marks, that’s alright too, so I hold the printout with my thumb next to the relevant score on the sheet. The last kid can’t see where she’s supposed to be looking- it’s next to my right thumb. Still confused I clarify-the thumb that’s connected to my right hand. No better, so finally- the hand that’s furthest from the window. 68.

Elements

Posted on 29th Apr 2012 by essiep

5°C, wind rain & cold. Dammit.

Two years ago, the days reached 19°C with some consistency. Today, outside looks like one of those awful holidays in Wales- cold rain driven by winds that shake trees as if they think they’re at some sporting event.

There is a grim looking pile of marking that has to be done. What fun will today bring?

New wheels and the Hereafter

Posted on 28th Apr 2012 by essiep

8°C, drier but still chilly.

Film: Hereafter; Clint Eastwood directed with Matt Damon in the lead role.
It’s a Hollywood story which runs along nicely. The lead character has psychic powers which are “a curse not a gift”. That theme is the most interesting part. Lie most American films, there is love interest. This time, there are three character’s threads which eventually and inevitable come together in unlikely circumstances. The ending is, however, a cheap throwaway. It was as if they ran out of money and had to finish it in a hurry.

Bike repairs saga: Burton-upon-Trent has a decent bike shop. I took the wheel there with the STX hub from my spares box. For the interim, I decided to buy a pair of cheap R500 wheels. They only have 20 spokes front (& 24 rear)- I hope they can take my weight (14¾ stones).

Fitted: A tight fit on the tyres but otherwise not much to do. The wheel rim is true but spokes were not evenly tensioned. I like to adjust spokes by sound- I pluck the spokes and listen, some sounded flat, others sharp. To get the wheel well tuned, you need to make adjustments to spokes so they all make the same note, and the wheel is true. Only when you have both, can you be sure of a wheel that is true and will stay so.

It does look odd with only 20 spokes on the front and straight-lace pattern. That makes the rim more sensitive to spoke adjustments (I assume the spoke nipple thread is the same pitch though).

12-21 teeth

Posted on 27th Apr 2012 by essiep

9°C, rain

Drive to work in heavy rain. An opportunity to drop in the bike shop on the way home. Their stock wasn’t complete so I came away with a 12-21 teeth cassette instead of my preferred 13-23. Oh well, it works smoothly even though it’s the lowest few gears that will be used the most. I can change to a more suitable gear range in time for the autumn when the pace fall back a little and the hills feel steeper.

Micycle

Mike thinks b/hikes