Shushy

Posted on 27th Dec 2010 by essiep

+2C, rain & sleet. Melting.

I have a new place to put videos- Vimeo. It’s like YouTube, but rather more grown up. That’s most obvious in the comments columns; so far I have not seen any of the Tourettes comments that is the norm on YouTube. Have a look here

Kona do a single-speed that may be just right. I only found it today, supplied by Evans. The frame is square- meaning the toptube & seat tubes are the same length. With a change of stem, this could do the job with its 23.5″ top tube. It even has mud-guard ‘eyes’. I’m trying it out next week; in the meantime, think over where I’m going to store it.

Kona Paddy wagon

White liverpool

Posted on 26th Dec 2010 by essiep

-3°C still damned cold.

No convincing end in sight, though only -3°C, this could easily go on for 3 months. But it won’t!
I’ve missed 1,000 miles of cycling because of ice. the end is nigh.

20th, best make a start then

Posted on 20th Dec 2010 by essiep

-6°C,

It’s the 20th today, a good time to start christmas shopping you must agree. Icy roads are mitigating, certainly no trip to Birmingham this year. Oh, and this December is said to be the harshest for a century!

No cycling for a week it appears, the ice is against it. I have done some tiling in the kitchen. Prepare to be impressed; it’s the white tiles you know…
You can’t see the unfinished bit in this shot.
Crazy laptop widget thinks it’s -11°

3rd snow

Posted on 19th Dec 2010 by essiep

-7°C, brighter, snow is setting harder.

Christmas Carol service at St. Pauls in Brum last night. Very nice, as was the German market. Forecast says “vewy fwozen with vewy heavy snowfalls with a bweeze picking up”. the streets of Birmingham are thick with snow, a foot deep in places.

A turbo session today then.

Goodbye Captain

Posted on 18th Dec 2010 by essiep

-1°C, snow.

Don Van Vliet Died this week. It sounds like a cliché, but I harbour the feeling that I grew up with his music. Though he gave up the music business a long time ago to concentrate on painting, he’s still there in my mind, and my iPod.

He followed the other great creative genius of American culture- Frank Zappa. Two characters that redeem the notion of intelligent creativity in that most capitalist of nations.

Snow events

Posted on 17th Dec 2010 by essiep

Snow, rather heavy. -1°C will drop to -4°

End of term, end of Mazda 6,start of a big rest. How nice to get the old faithful back; they’ve done a grand job on it. Despite liking some things about the car, I’m not that impressed with the fuel economy though. It has no fuel meter, so it’s not until you re-fill that any economy can be calculated. It came out at 35mpg. I was expecting 10mpg more.

Holiday now, you can tell how much you need it by the listless empty feeling that I reported last July. there is a headache nearby and a roughness in my throat- but sod it, let’s blame the coal fire.

Here we go again

Posted on 16th Dec 2010 by essiep

3 to -4°C

Grey grey. White, white, now dark & hard hard ice. Minus 5 tonight. Only one day to go, but I tire past the point of suspecting an oncoming cold. Is this all there is?

Arctic Blarst

Posted on 15th Dec 2010 by essiep

4C, thin clouds.

Bad weather is rolling over the horizon, an ‘icy blarst’ say the weather reporters. Probably no more cycling this week. This seems to be all I post about these days, blame excessive workload for that. There is simply no time for painting.

Macbeth

Posted on 13th Dec 2010 by essiep

3°C, thin but dark skies

I’m no aficionado, so it’s new to me this impression of Macbeth. I’m talking about Rupert Goold’s film version. It’s the Cold War Warsaw Pact setting, the uniforms and location. It’s like some hideous Stalinist interrogation camp. These plays presumable are always teetering on the edge of over-acting, but this one never steps over into discomfort. I hope to get a DVD version soon; a far better way to watch it, at over 2 & half hours I will have to tackle this in parts.

How on earth do I insert symbol characters on this laptop?

Quick!

Posted on 11th Dec 2010 by essiep

8°C, grey (min 5C)

Quick, we’ve only got a few days. this is a respite from the chill. Wash the winter woollies, clean the garden before the next blanket of snow.
Feeling the wind-down towards the winter holiday. It’s 07.30 but still dark, compare with summer when I’d be back from the dog-walk by now and doing the next chore on my list.
Busy day with luck.

Snow turns to mud

Micycle

Mike thinks b/hikes