bartonflyer

From South to North

2011-11-28T18:33:00.000Z

So leaving the joys of sunny France we had a long weekend in windy, chilly Edinburgh, but what a lovely city Edinburgh is.

A favourite place to visit - The Botanical Gardens - complete with squirrels!

and the world's tallest palm house

then with the sun low in the sky, a super photo-opportunity for an arty-farty shot (actually I'm quite pleased with it!!)

Heading South

2011-11-10T16:13:00.000Z

Or to be more precise South-West. On our last visit to Chez Borgnette this year, doing a little clearing of ivy from, the walls when the noise of honking geese gradually increased soon this superb skein flying overhead heading for the warmth - Spain or Africa?

Absolutely superb sight - I hope they all make it

A walk in the woods

2011-09-25T19:51:00.001+01:00

So here we are in the beautiful Charente, gardening done, plenty of wine drunk and now time for a wander. From the front of the house a path leads down across a small valley by the side of the vines, then up into the woods

Looking back across the valley, the house does seem rather splendid

This time of year should be good for fungi, but typically I was too late in the day - however I did find a few, and some fascinating lichens (memo to self - must learn something about lichen)

A bracket of some sort

No idea what this is

Nor this, unless it's some form of coprinus?

And finally the lichen - very pretty

What a pleasant way to spend a few hours on a Sunday afternoon

France Flying Videos

2011-09-05T16:08:00.001+01:00

As well as taking photographs non-stop, Les is a great one for making short videos....

So here are a few:

Departure from Brie-Champniers Airport at Angoulême

Flying over the Poitou-Charente countryside near Cognac

Landing at Lesparre airfield on the Medoc (a greaser!!!!!!)

Another good one at Couhe (well any one you walk away from is a good one!)

And the next day, it was time to go home - here we are heading North from Angouleme, passing east abeam La Rochelle

Over the Loire, and on towards Cherboug for fuel (for the aeroplane and the pilots!)

A bit further up the peninsula

Then with 85 litres in the aircraft & 2 croque-monsieurs in the crew - off we went - life-jackets on and over the channel, out towards ORTAC, under airway Q41 (WHY IS THAT SO LOW!!!), and coasted in over Sandbanks

Back on the ground at Ashcroft Farm about 90 minutes later - a really enjoyable few days flying

G-CGRB in France

2011-09-05T14:06:00.002+01:00

Our first trip abroad in RB, originally the plan was to go to Bremgarten and Tannheim in Germany, back across France to Angoulême, stay a couple of days in Poitou-Charente and then return home. But as ever with light aircraft the weather intervenes and the eastern part of France and into Germany just looked too 'iffy' so we departed Ashcroft Farm (EGCR) direct to Guernsey, refuelled there then on to Angoulême.
We arrived at Brie-Champniers airport (LFBU), Angoulême at around 16:00 local, our chauffeuse collected us and we spent a very boozy evening celebrating the first channel crossing for RB. Sunday we had a day off, then Monday we planned a flight from Angoulême to Lesparre/Saint-Laurente-Medoc (LFBU), on to Saint-Pierre-D'Oleron (LFDB), then eastwards and inland to Couhe/Verac (LFDV) and back to Angoulême.


RB on the apron at Angoulême

The Aeroclub at Angoulême were very accommodating letting us park in their hangar for the first night.

Overhead Lesparre


Parked at Lesparre

Onwards to the Ile d'Oleron

Downwind for runway 10 LH at Saint Pierre d'Oleron

Parked up at St Pierre

Leaving Saint Pierre d'Oleron our track to Couhe took us over Fort Boyard built in the 1800s as a fort, used as a prison and latterly as a game show site.

Finally on to Couhe/Verac, a delightful little grass field, before our return to Angoulême

Overhead Couhe

Parked at Couhe

My thanks to photographer Les for many of the shots above.

Some Aerial Views

2011-09-05T12:17:00.000+01:00

So, at long last with the noise issues on RB sorted out, a trip to France beckoned (I'll post another entry with the details).
Having arrived at Angouleme on August 28th, we took the 29th off and lounged by the pool, but then went for a day's flying on Monday the 29th (another post - coming soon!!) to do a round trip to The Medoc, Ile-d'Oleron, Couhe and back to Angouleme - amazingly, just the slightest deviation on the first leg took us right over our house - so an ideal opportunity for some aerial shots - for which I am indebted to my flying friend Les

The Chez Borgnette hamlet - you can just make out the pool

Overhead, a good view of the house, pool and barn

Looking back

Climbing away and departing to the west

G-CGRB - the new CTLS

2011-06-09T21:11:00.002+01:00

As I wrote in an earlier post I had a try in a Flight Design CTSW a while back and thoroughly enjoyed the experience - however I didn't really want to go from the grandeur of the Group A Cherokee 6 to a microlight, hence the choice of the CTLS, the big brother.

This aircraft is certified as an EASA Permit to Fly aircraft with a max AUW of 600kg, which gives it a reasonable load carrying capacity (2 x 25kg luggage compartments mean you can take more than you can on Ryanair!!) and juggling fuel and luggage can give you a serious range capability - certainly exceeding the range of my bladder :)

So here it is G-CGRB - based now at Ashcroft Farm EGCR a delightful grass airfield in rural Cheshire

So far, so good, but it's definitely not all been plain sailing! Since buying the aircraft new, I've had a failed undercarriage leg (manufacturing fault), corrosion found on the engine mount, a failed Dynon EFIS and now a horrendous noise being generated by some resonance somewhere in the aircraft - hopefully to be diagnosed tomorrow (Friday 10th June) - all in all a very, very disappointing experience.

UPDATE - Thanks due to Bill Brookes who flew up to Ashcroft and cast an expert eye over the aircraft. Still not 100% diagnosed, but I'd say 99.99% certain - the problem was that some tape between the fairing at the top of the starboard undercarriage leg and the fuselage had split - very small, almost imperceptible but enough to act as a "reed" in the airflow then that resonating up the leg, up the cabin wall and into the wing was causing the noise. Some vigorous shaking of the leg, the spat and the fairing resulted in the split being considerably enlarged, then, of course on flying the aircraft we could not reproduce the noise. That all fits as presumably with the split in the tape being larger it didn't then resonate at the same frequency - so no noise!

La vie en France

2011-05-23T19:12:00.000+01:00

Well we did it - we bought a house in Charente department of the Poitou Charente region. It is between Cognac and Angouleme in a small village called Moulidars. Last Thursday - 12th May we got the ferry from Portsmouth to Cherboug and drove the 380 odd miles for our first stay in our French house.

I give a massive thank you to Graham Downie and his wife Juli-Anne of Cognac Property Services who helped us find the place, negotiate our path through the French legal system and who went the extra mile in helping us at the last minute when my mother became incapacitated and passed away, resulting in a funeral on the day we were due to complete the sale - not necessarily the most auspicious start, but thanks to Graham & Juli-Anne definitely not as stressful as it might have been.

Graham also writes a blog "A little drop of Cognac" which is well worth reading for anyone interested in property in France and/or the Charente area in general - our house appears in his blog, but here are a few to illustrate just what a cracking place it is:

Imagine sitting there in 30 degree sunshine, sipping a cold G&T (or if we want to be a little local, then a glass of Pineau de Charente)

Does it get much better?

The view from the front is across a small dry valley populated with vines

Then if it all gets too much, just go round to the back of the house and slip into the pool

The wildlife is fascinating - lizrds and frogs I expected, but not "Couleuvre verte et jaune" - the Western Whip Snake - completely harmless, but certainly gave me a bit of a start when I went to investigate a rustling noise in the hedge by the pool - this pair popped out and almost ignoring me carried on their mating ritual - well you would, wouldn't you?

mmm time for another glass of Pineau I think!

Catching up on events

2011-05-07T12:22:00.001+01:00

It's been a while since I blogged. Perhaps that's an inevitable thing, you start with good intentions of writing a regular commentary on life, the universe and everything, but then the enthusiasm just tails off and perhaps, horror of horrors, you just have nothing interesting to say!

However, life rolls on and a number of things have happened so I feel that I should document them.

Firstly and most sadly, my mother has died - at the moment it's too raw a feeling to say much, but although her health had deteriorated to the point where she needed nursing care it still came as a shock when it happened so quickly.

A conversation I had with her just a very few weeks ago concerned the house we were buying in France - I showed her the photographs and she said how much she'd like to be able to see it one day - never now to happen which leaves me feeling rather empty. Even more poignantly the day of the sale completion is the day of the funeral.

Another event of note is the purchase of a new aeroplane, as I blogged earlier I rather fancied the CTLS (having flown a CTSW) so I am now the proud owner of G-CGRB and I'll write a separate blog entry about it.

What a sad day!

2010-10-29T16:23:00.002+01:00

Today, 29th October 2010, we sold the plane.

Yes, Alliance Aviation, from this Sunday coming will no longer own an aircraft. The reasons are obvious, and in essence the decision was a no-brainer.

WP is a big, heavy, expensive gas guzzler.
The group itself is depleted, we never managed to find any new members after one emigrated and one retired so instead of costs being shared amongst 7, it was amongst 5 and with correspondlingly less income as fewer members means less flying.
The appetite for long trips, for which WP was ideal, seemed to have diminshed amongst us all and the number of hours per year flown by each remaining group member just fell and fell.

So having had the aircraft up for sale for around 2 years, we succumbed today and sold it for not much more than scrap value to a dealer. Weather permitting it will be flown away from Barton on Sunday

A last look at a lovely aeroplane - we've owned it from 1999, I've loved flying it, it's looked after me and never let me down - a sad farewell to an old friend.

WP before the respray

and resplendent afterwards

I've joined Twitter!

2010-08-08T12:39:00.000+01:00

Read my Tweets!

Why? That's a good question, and one to which I have no definitive answer.

It seems to me that blogging and tweeting are very much the same thing, casting your thoughts to the wind for no other reason than that you can.

Maybe, just maybe such exercise, being one that requires thought and some degree of manual dexterity (just to type) will contribute to the well being of participents. There was an article on Today on Radio 4 earlier in the week describing a study into dementia which suggests that keeping an active intellectual life reduces the risk factors for the onset of Alzheimer's. Perhaps there's a study to be done correlating numbers of bloggers and tweeters with dementia sufferers?

A fun family day

2010-03-07T13:28:00.001Z

Society moves on and becomes more secular year by year (and what a good thing that is), but with that comes fewer formal occasions - weddings, christenings etc. But if not a formal christening (for which of course one should be a christian, I wonder how many are?) then what?

The answer - a Naming Ceremony. And that's what was organised for Seraphina - Here are a few photos

There are more in gallery 29 on my photo site:

www.ianj49.co.uk

and then the party was over:

A Photographic Afternoon Out

2010-02-28T21:32:00.003Z

It was my Grandson Quinn's birthday a couple of weeks ago, he asked for a digital camera. After much deliberation a family decision was made to pool resources and get him one which offered more than a simple point & shoot as he's expressed a real interest in photography. So Fuji Finepix in his grasp, and Olympus E-P2 in mine we set off along the Bridgewater Canal in the direction of Astley Green.

I thought I'd just post some pictures of "the snapper snapped"

Checking those leading lines!

Looking for the next shot

Photographing Grandad

Small Chap - BIG Engine

Learning to use the E-P2 (and some new Software)

2010-02-06T17:02:00.004Z

Well, a day off work yesterday and as the weather cleared a little in the afternoon I drove through the little village of Belmont and parked up, then walked through the ruins of Hollinshead Hall.
There's not too much to see there apart from the Well House which does make a great subject for a moody photo:

is just how it looks (the out of the camera jpgs from the E-P2 are just fantastic!!).

But that then leads me on to the new software I've discovered, LightZone from LightCrafts the most intuitive way yet of post processing - here's a "tweak" done with LightZone:

But of course the E-P2 has capabilities of it's own, a set of "Art Filters" for all sorts of effects, the Well House just seemed to lend itself to the "Grainy B&W Film" filter:

Some more shots, looking up the lane that wends it's way through Tockholes Plantation first the "out of camera" shot, then a B&W conversion, again done with LightZone

Then onwards through the woods, following the upper reaches of the River Roddlesworth before it enters the Roddlesworth Reservoirs - more excellent photo opportunities

All in all, a very pleasant couple of hours and the more I use the E-P2 the more I like it !

A New Camera and a Handsome Subject

2010-01-24T13:03:00.005Z

Well I took the plunge and decided to sell off all my Sony & Minolta DSLR gear - so far all the lenses and various bits & pieces have gone (and amazingly I've got back more than I paid!) - my new camera an Olympus E-P2 arrived on Thursday last.

So here's the first picture - as shot, straight out of the camera jpg - no post processing other than a resize and little sharpen after the resize!

Thursday 24th Feb - A sad post script - our Gold Laced Wyandotte (for that is the breed she was) died yesterday - we'd had her for nearly 5 years, so not a bad innings for a chicken - I suspect the chicken equivalent of a heart attack or stroke, but at least it was quick. On opening up the chicken house in the morning she didn't come out, just sat in the nest box, which was unusual for her then later that day just went - very sad.

Fallout from Lehman Brothers Collapse

2009-06-14T16:56:00.004+01:00

Trust is a funny thing - you only realise how important it is when it's not there. The MPs expenses scandal shows that to perfection - I suspect many people were, up until a few months ago, happy to address a letter to their MP as "The Honorable .......", but not any more.

However, that's not really why I'm musing away this afternoon, rather some thoughts on how I've lost (or so it seems at the moment) a sizeable chunk of money invested for my retirement. Having managed to save some cash over the last few years I had a review with my financial advisors and decided that as I am approaching retirement I should become rather more cautious with any investments and was given an interesting leaflet from DRL (Defined Returns Limited) which offered a 100% guarantee that my capital was secure and would pay me a %'age of the rise in the Footsie over a period of years, but if the index fell would then just pay me back my original capital.

What could go wrong with that?

Everything as it turns out!

Despite the promises in the brochure that this investment was suitable for those who needed to protect their capital it turns out that DRL invested the money with Lehman Brother in the Netherlands. That seems to be significant because despite the brochure saying that DRL and Lehmans UK WERE protected under the financial services protection scheme, Lehmans bv weren't. So when Lehmans went down in the US and the rest of the empire followed there went my dosh.

All may not be lost - so many people have complained about this to the Financial Ombudsman Service that they are conducting a special investigation/review into the matter - an action group has been formed with a website and blog at http://missoldinvestments.co.uk/ and there is an early day motion laid before parliament - so maybe, just maybe all is not yet lost.

Is this the future of Light Aviation?

2009-04-29T17:00:00.012+01:00

Whilst I'm still a comitted member of the G-BXWP flying group (see www.allianceaviation.org for details) we do seem to be having difficulty in getting new members for the group, having lost 2 over the last few years, and that together with the increased cost of aviation fuel, maintenance, parking, landing fees etc. etc. just makes me question how long the situation can continue.

So whilst at Barton (or City Airport Manchester as it is now pretentiously named) a few days ago I had a wander around and took a look at the other aircraft there. One type definitely caught my eye - a composite construction, high wing, tricycle undercarriage design that just "looked right" - so a few enquiries and what I had been looking at turned out to be a CTSW from Flight Design of Germany. The microlight school at Barton, Mainair, owns & operates G-CERA so a call to their owner & chief instructor Chris Copple who I've known for many years soon had me booked in for a flight.

Here it is, parked on the apron at Barton:With Chris in the right hand seat, he took me through the pre-flight briefing then we started up and taxied out to the hold for runway 20, did the checks, lined up then full throttle and away we went. WOW - almost before I'd got the throttle fully open we were airborne and climbing out, maintaining 80 kts in the climb and with what seemed an impossible high attitude we saw well over 1,000 fpm on the electronic altimeter.

Yes that's right - the instruments aren't instruments, it is a flat panel display with a representation of an airspeed indicator and rate of climb - the altitude is shown in digits and by pressing various buttons you can see all manner of information that would traditionally be shown on analogue instruments (and yes those are my feet below the panel!!)

Leaving the circuit we headed out to the North West and did some general handling, straight & level, turns left & right, then a climb and a power off clean stall. I have to report the aircraft handles well, no tendancy to drop the nose in the turn and the stall, at about 40kts, was quite docile with a little buffet and gentle "nod" down of the nose. Push forwards, apply power and the stall recovery was straightfoward with very little height loss.

Then Chris suggested I try a PFL - this from around 2,000' - so I pulled back the power, trimmed for the glide and selected a field, had I been in the Cherokee6 I would have now been starting to sweat, however in the CT the main issue seemed to be to keep choosing another field as we sailed past my first choice then my second one - this aircraft really does want to glide a long way!

Then back to Barton and into the circuit, a standard overhead join, descend and set up an approach to 20 for an intended touch & go which I didn't manage - once again, like the PFL I just couldn't get the height off (once again too used to the Cherokee6) - so turning it into a low approach and go-around instead, off we went for another try. This time it was successful, though I rather ballooned it before touching down, so off again perhaps third time lucky? Nice approach, to all intents and purposes a glide approach with 40 flap, just a touch of power to offset the sink before the hedge, straighten up for the crosswind and hold off, hold off, hold off and this one turned into a good one (well any one you walk away from .........!). Taxy back in, shut down and my first flight in a micro-light was over.

So my impressions?

This seems an excellent little aircraft, were I starting from scratch then there's little doubt this would be right there in the frame rather than the Grob or C150 that I actually started on. Depending on the future of the WP group then I could well be interesting in the CTSW or more likely its larger brother the CTLS - although still a two seater, this moves out of the microlight category and gives around 300KG useful load, is slightly larger and more stable and really does look the part - but who knows what the future might bring?

HSBC - no improvement!

2009-01-28T18:53:00.006Z

I wrote last year about my experience with HSBC following the theft of my credit card http://bartonflyer.blogspot.com/2008/03/hsbc-what-bunch-of-tossers.html - well the saga continued as, despite my thinking that I'd cancelled the card and was no longer a customer, some months after the episode, statements started arriving showing my balance of £0.00

After ignoring these for some 6 months, I finally decided to ring them and find out why they thought I was still a customer. Once again the automated system asks me to key in the card number, then my date of birth then it tells me I can't use that service as I haven't registered for it and don't have a security number (which of course I knew from the start!), by pressing enough buttons on the telephone I finally get to speak to a human being in the Lost & Stolen section. A pleasant enough chap but completely unable to help as the card is already known as being lost or stolen - well of course - it was me that reported it ... Doh!

Transferred to general card services, another helpful human being then confirms for me that the card is marked as stolen and HSBC know that I don't have a replacement card but that she cannot accept an instruction to cancel it by phone (why not - I don't have it, there are no transactions on it, there is no balance on it!) and I must write in to HSBC with an instruction to cancel.

OK, I'll do that, what is the address? HSBC's heplful human refers me to the address shown on the back of the statement.
I turn my statement over and guess what? Got it in one - there is no bloody address on the back!

Another interesting discussion ensues - I'm sure the helpful human thinks she's dealing with a congenital idiot as she keeps telling me the section on the back in which to look - I'm staring at it now - THERE IS NO BLOODY ADDRESS!

Just for reference if anyone else does need to contact this abysmal organisation the address is HSBC Bank plc, Chartwell House, 365 Chartwell Square, Southend-on-Sea, Essex, SS99 2UU

So, letter written, correctly addressed and successfully posted!
I wonder what will happen next?

An Afternoon at Manchester's Transport Museum

2008-11-29T19:49:00.005Z

Not too much to report, perhaps the title Transport Museum is a little grand - it is in fact a Bus Museum (though to be fair they do have a tram, a fire engine, a street cleaner and two invalid carriages). The web site is http://www.gmts.co.uk/ and is informative and accurate.

So, by special request we went (Caz, Quinn, Sera and me) - here are the photos:

The last leg home

2008-11-09T19:49:00.001Z

After a great week in Madeira the final few miles back to Bolton by rail from Manchester Airport

Sailing to the Ilhas Desertas

2008-11-07T20:09:00.012Z

Madeira is in fact an island in an archipelago (oh how I've longed to use that word!) - the whole group consists of Madeira (the largest), Porto Santo, The Ilhas Desertas (3 islands Ilhéu Chão, Deserta Grande and Bugio) and the Selvagen Islands (and indeed in some articles I've read, the Canary Islands are also included).

Porto Santo has a large airport and a daily ferry to and from Madeira whilst the Selvagens are deserted and two days sailing south.

The Desertas Islands are in prominent visibility from the South of Madeira and are just 2 or 3 hours away (depending upon the speed of your boat!).

We took a day excursion on the Ventura do Mar a converted fishing boat. We left Funchal at 9 am and headed South East towards the Ilhas Desertas (as you see I can speak Portuguese!).

Around noon we arrived and tied up in a small bay on Deserta Grande - the largest of the three islands. The area is designated as a nature reserve and fishing and diving are strictly regulated.

Four wardens live on the island (see the little hut in the photo below) and act as protectors for the area.

The trip was terrific - lunch once we'd anchored was tuna, fresh bread, salad, baked potato and a very passable red wine, then we were taken ashore via a small inflatable dinghy for a "very" short tour of the island.

"Tour" probably inflates the experience - it's actually a footpath with some information boards, around 1/4 mile in total but still you do get to see the odd inhabitant.

In fact the Desertas also host an endemic Tarantula, but we didn't see that!

There was an opportunity to buy the T-Shirt, the brochure AND the DVD but we passed on that and then it was back onto the Ventura do Mar and sails set, back to Madeira, getting back to Funchal as night fell around 6:30 pm

Walking the Levadas

2008-11-02T18:44:00.013Z

Madeira is famous in walking fraternities for its Levadas. These are small (in width) watercourses built to bring water from the wet north and central mountains to the southern part of the island.

They are typically small concrete channels, sometimes with path alongside, but sometimes with one wall of the channel a bit wider than the other so it can be used to walk along.
The picture is of the Levada Piornais near Funchal - a little earlier in its course it is covered over and you walk on the covers.

The levada meanders along up one side of the Socoridos valley, in some parts protected by a handrail (though whether that would pass UK Health & Safety is pretty debatable!)

It also goes through a number of small tunnels driven through the rock, and populated, rather alarmingly when we were there by men with shotguns - who gave a warning "be very careful", though whether that was relating to balancing along the levada edge or dodging the shooting was not immediately clear!

After the tunnels you finally emerge on what seems a very precarious path - one of our party definitely needing two hands and a list to starboard to avoid looking into the gorge to the left

Another Place

2008-10-26T17:50:00.004Z

Now, heaven knows I'm no great art lover, and certainly much modern art leaves me cold (Mark Rothko - Emperor's New Clothes anyone?) but the Anthony Gomley statues on the beach at Crosby are impressive, thought provoking (what are they doing?, where are they going?, WHY?) and just plain FUN - so many looking out to see (or even out to sea!), just stood there; impervious to the wind, rain and tides - here are a few pictures:

My new (2 previous owners!) Varadero

2008-10-25T20:23:00.004+01:00

Well the insurance paid out, the Pan is gone and I have plumped for a Honda Varadero

Here it is (photo courtesy of the previous owner)

A 960cc V-Twin. Lighter than the Pan and feels a lot more "agile", certainly great fun to ride and I am enjoying it immnensly. Slightly less stable and secure feeling at motorway speeds and a bit more wind noise and buffeting (but then I haven't got round to looking at the plethora of after market add-ons yet!)

Ellie The Lurcher

2008-10-25T17:44:00.013+01:00

It was Sera's birthday recently and to acknowledge her love of dogs she was given a present of a sponsorship of Ellie, a 6 year old Lurcher being cared for by The Dogs Trust at their Merseyside branch in Huyton.

Today was the day to go and visit Ellie, so in driving rain and miserable weather off we went, and spent a hapy half hour walking Ellie around the grounds.

Some more photos:

And just to prove I was there, Quinn took this one:

A Little Update

2008-09-03T19:47:00.001+01:00

Well, much has happened since my last blog posting - a holiday in France (and I'm sure I'll be boring everyone with the photos before long), the insurance payout on my bike (which did get written off) and the search for a new bike (pretty sure I'll get a Honda XL-Varadero as a change from the Pan).
Watch this space for more updates soon!!

Trashed on the M6

2008-07-28T21:38:00.005+01:00

I was out with the Hell's Grandads yesterday coming back from The Lakes - just south of the M55 junction, I was leading doing a steady 70 in the outside lane, in busy traffic.

Up ahead a classic M6 shunt - van & car collided & stopped in the fast lane, I pulled up pretty sharp as did Mick who was just behind me and we both stopped in the now stationary queue - just about got my feet down - looked round & a guy on a CBR was flying down the outside lane obviously no way could he stop. He tried to avoid me but clipped the back & near side - knocked me very hard & I fell off and the impact took off the exhaust, rear peg, pannier and I think has bent the frame as looking at it from the rear, the seat was definitely at an odd angle.

The others in our group were about 1/2 a mile behind & later said that they'd seen this guy in a group of 4 pass them and all hurtling towards the slowing traffic without apparently slowing down!

The guy had his girlfriend on the back & I think she broke her leg - as their right legs hit the left side of my bike - anyway ambulance & police called & the two of them got taken off in the ambulance.
The police were excellent - sorted the whole thing out - and probably fortunately stopped my trying to ride the bike home - as it did start up (amazing just how noisy a Pan is with only one exhaust) - so they arranged for it to be recovered - I went home on the back of Mick's bike and I'm glad to say lived to ride another day! I'm guessing that they'll write it off, especially if the frame is bent, but will have to wait & see. So all in all it rather spoiled what had been a good day out!

The rear view - looks like the frame may be a tad out of line! note the lack of nearside pannier & exhaust

note lack of silencer & rear peg

On the Pont-Neuf bridge

2008-07-09T14:22:00.001+01:00

After a stressful sales presentation a little stroll through Paris before flying home.

Tonight's wine

2008-07-07T19:38:00.001+01:00

Tesco's finest - works for me an excellent wine, full bodied and very flavoursome

An interesting diversion on The Web

2008-06-26T14:29:00.005+01:00

One fascinating feature of the internet is the number of get-rich-quick schemes that pop up everywhere you look. Are these just the latest incarnation of the old pyramid selling scams, or is there really an opportunity to make money by imparting knowledge?

Well - only one way to find out and that's to set one up !

A bit of research (admittedly probably influenced by too much red wine) and I've registered my domain www.sunglassesforless.co.uk and bought a hosting package (PHP & MySQL) with the cheapest UK provider I could find and also signed up with Build A Niche Store (or BANS as it's nicknamed).

So the site is up and running - let's see what happens!

A walk from Bolton-by-Bowland

2008-06-17T21:00:00.014+01:00

With rain forecast for the afternoon, I made a (relatively) early start and parked up at the information centre in the village.

The walk is another from the Hillside Publications "Walking Country - Pendle & the Ribble" - an easy circular route heading North from Bolton-by-Bowland, then circling clockwise to return to the village.

Bolton-by-Bowland is a very pretty spot, the village green and church both being extremely attractive:

The walk took around 2 1/2 hours, with plenty of stops for photographs - that of course is the great excuse for the unfit walker!

One interesting area was near the end of the walk which went past Bolton Hall. Now a rather luxurious set of residences created from the old stable blocks. The grounds of the hall are still pretty extensive and have a lot of rhododendrons which were in spectacular bloom on the day I passed by.

Walking near Pendle

2008-06-13T21:32:00.015+01:00

With my new found leisure time, one aim is to get back into walking in the countryside. So armed with a new guidebook "Walking Country - Pendle & the Ribble" from Hillside Publications
I chose walk no 7 - Rimington and set off for the car park in Downham.

The walk was easy going but well planned taking in some great scenery and a fair bit of industrial heritage - mines and lime kilns as well as mills and farms.

Being June, buttercups were out in force and rather suprisingly (to me anyway) a lot of large fungus on trees.

I said it was well planned and with a carefully chosen start time and leaving plenty of time for photo-opportunities I contrived to arrive at Rimington, or more specifically the Black Bull just in time for lunch. A Thwaites house with properly hand-pulled cask beers and an excellent range of sandwiches - thoroughly recommended.

Some photos taken on the way, this is Ings Beck.

Everywhere on this walk, Pendle Hill imposes it's looming prescence

These two were taken after Rimington on the
walk towards Hollins & Ings End.

The clouds really were threatening, though thankfully it did not really start raining until the walk was almost finished.

Looking in the other direction from Pendle there is a terrific view towards the giants of Ingleborough and Pen-y-Ghent.

Sunny Sunday In The Peak District

2008-06-08T18:32:00.006+01:00

9:30 am, the sun is shining so having met up at the PC World car park in Bolton we decided on heading towards Buxton, then over to Carsington Water.

Graham is back on two wheels again riding his newly acquired Gold Wing, the sounds of Radio 2 wafting from it rather spoil the Hell's Angels image!

Breakfast was planned for the Grouse & Claret Inn at Rowsley, but due to traffic and us being pulled by the police at Doveholes - "inspecting tax & tyres sir" we were 10 minutes late so we had to stop for lunch instead.

Now I'm all in favour of our brave boys in blue catching criminals, but the copper who stopped us was ONLY stopping bikers - don't car drivers evade tax & have dodgy tyres too? Anyway we were all judged fine upstanding citizens and allowed to continue our lawful passage along the queen's highway.

Through Matlock & Matlock Bath then parked up at Carsington Water where fun abounds and ice cream is served very slowly.

Some visitors - two wheeled and two winged!

Then off towards Leek and Rudyard Lake. I got the satnav to take us the pretty route and apart from wanting us to go through a ford that looked rather too wide & deep for my liking, it did take us down a series of country lanes before putting us on the A roads.

One photo opportunity arose so here it is:

Taking the Family Flying

2008-06-07T20:51:00.010+01:00

Having revalidated my licence, I was able to fulfill a long standing request to take my grandchildren (and along for the ride my daughter and son-in-law) for a pleasure flight.

Although they have all flown on commercial services, only Caroline had ever been in a light aircraft, so this was quite an adventure. I gave a stern safety briefing, majoring on avoiding propellors (which was a little underminded when Seraphina voluteered that she didn't know what a propellor was) - but suitably warned, both children behaved impeccably.

We booked out at the tower, then checked out the aircraft and got everyone strapped in, then off and heading out towards the north west, loooking in at The Reebock, then over towards Southport.

On the way we climbed to about 3,000' on top of the clouds, then a turn for home, descending to be under the Manchester TMA and back to Barton.

I think Quinn may need just to be a little taller if he ever wants to be a pilot!

Not at clear just why Rod has his eyes tight shut, I'm sure my flying wasn't that bad!

Flying Again (and Legal!)

2008-06-07T20:39:00.003+01:00

After a couple of years not doing enough hours, my certificate of experience finally ran out so the decision whether to renew or not became rather pressing. I still love flying, so the choice became a little academic and on Tuesday this week, I booked an instructor and planned a little navigation exercise.

All went perfectly well, a mid-point course correction and about 1 minute early we found ourselves bang over the destination without ever having switched the GPS on! Then off for a license skills test - a few steep turns, a practice forced landing, fully developed stall with the aircraft clean, then approaching the stall in the landing configuration. Although feeling a bit rusty, it all came back to me and I coped well (at least I think I did).

Back to Barton, a flapless approach for a touch and go, then a practice EFATO on the climb out with neither me nor the instructor warning the tower that it was a practice - they seemed quite relieved when we acknowledged their radio call as we were climbing away. Round the circuit and in to land and there it was - all done & I can legally fly VFR for another two years.

Now - should I renew the IR ? Yes of course I should :-)

Over the Border & Into Yorkshire!

2008-05-18T20:46:00.007+01:00

A fine (but cold) Sunday morning saw Hell's Grandads meeting near Darwen at the ludicrously early time of 8:30 and setting off for the full English at our favourite cafe/garage on the A59 between Skipton and Bolton Abbey.

From there on through Kettlewell, Buckden & Aysgarth to Hawes where we parked up the Pans amongst the amazing variety of bikes that congregate there every Sunday.

The hardy ones managed an ice-cream then we set off towards Ingleton along one of THE biking roads of Great Britain.

At Ingleton the decision was to head for Caton where there is another biker's stop complete with snack bar doing hot drinks and buttered Chorley Cakes! However the party managed to get split up with the leader (me!) slavishly following the GPS and being lead down the 'B' roads whilst the rest stayed on the main road following their own route!

No harm done and we all met up again at the Caton snack bar for a great photo-opportunity!

Hell's Grandads Ride Out

2008-05-05T23:00:00.005+01:00

Finally the rain stopped so the first group outing of the year - amazing that it's got to May before a planned rideout.

But a new member (Eric) and a new bike in the group a Honda Pacific Coast (known to the dutch as "The Baby Pan" - on the Pan Austria Rally last year I met a couple of Pacific Coast riders from Holland).

The route was from Bolton up to the Knott End Cafe for breakfast (with Malc JUST managing to avoid the lemon meringue pie), then on to Glasson Dock and a stop at the Port of Lancaster Smokehouse to buy kippers (IMHO they have the best kippers in the world - certainly the best that I've ever tasted).

From there on through Lancaster then cross country towards High Bentham and gradually circling back towards home. A stop at Bolton by Bowland gave one more photo opprtunity:

Musings on the USA

2008-04-25T10:34:00.054+01:00

So, after a week back in the UK, following two weeks holiday in the USA: Time to ponder & give some impressions.

Counting up, this was something like my 25th trip to America over a period of some 30+ years, most have been business trips but about 5 or 6 were holidays, and it is interesting to reflect on the changes over time.

Our trip started in Chicago where we cleared immigration. This was smooth, reasonably quick and quite painless, I've certainly stood in much longer queues on previous visits so no complaints there, other than being fingerprinted - I am NOT a criminal so why am I treated as one? A connecting flight took us to Little Rock Arkansas where we were met by my old biking pal Bryn and he drove us to Searcy, around 60 miles North East where Bren was waiting with a glass or two of Red and a bowl of chili.

Over the next two days we were shown around the local area, then further afield to a little town called Mountainview in the Ozarks. A filling snack of BBQ pulled pork followed by Moose Tracks ice-cream certainly hit the spot. In the afternoon we watched the "Grinnin' and Pickin'" where folk just gathered in small groups with fiddles, basses, guitars, dulcimers and whatever and started playing & singing. Not for money, just for fun and charming it was. Most bizarrely though, the whole area is "dry" as in "no alcohol on sale" (certainly not in respect of rainfall as much was under water!). A visit to Wal-Mart, to buy some remarkably cheap Wranglers, got me thinking on why I could have bought a gun in a supermarket, but not a bottle of beer? I think that is one thing about America where I just believe they are fundamentally wrong in their reasoning. The right to bear arms may be important, but doesn't the right to life trump that? I've been in The South before, mainly Georgia, but this was my first time in Arkansas. My impressions were very favourable, a benign climate (possibly excepting the odd tornado), no overcrowding, no clogged up roads, beautiful lakes & mountains with a politeness and friendliness from everyone that I spoke to. But (isn't there always a but?) I just got the feeling that this was so much of a backwater that I'd never live there. Terrific place to visit and I would definitely go again and spend more time in the mountains, but I had the same feeling that I had in Australia some years ago, of being so far away from "mainstream" - that and not being able to have a glass of wine with your meal.....

On from Arkansas to Annapolis, Maryland. Staying at the William Page Inn we had the most comfortable room, great hospitality from Robert the Innkeeper and a really pleasant two days. The highlight was a day out with a very old friend, Stan Bielak and his wife Janet. Stan, a business acquaintance from some 15 years ago has, I'm delighted to say, become a friend. We spent the afternoon chatting in their beautiful home on the shores of The Chesapeake Bay, joined later by two most pleasant grandchildren, mad keen on soccer (that's football to the rest of the western world!). Then we went for a super meal at The Narrows just across the Chesapeake Bridge. All in all a very, very pleasant day.

Next day to Washington, where Lynne was to have two days attending the conference (which was the underlying purpose of the whole trip). Our hotel was "Rouge" both in name & nature. An older (late 60's?) building that had been renovated and turned into a "Boutique Hotel", apparently by someone with a limitless supply of red paint, but no ability to fix mirrors to walls or to organise engineers to mend lifts! However they did supply free booze (you've guessed it RED Stripe Beer or RED wine) for an hour every evening. On the first night we ate with the other members of Lynnes' study group at The Logan Tavern a really busy bar/restaurant about 10 minutes walk away and in the process one of our party made an excellent wine choice with an Argentine Malbec - Who said psychiatrists were dull? It is now Thursday 10'th April and with Lynne attending the conference I have the day to myself, so decide to do the tourist thing and get a day's subway ticket (what a bargain at $7.50). My first choice was to go to the National Archives to see the The Declaration of Independence, but unfortunately the queues for entry were right round the building and I passed on that option and went instead to The National Gallery of Art, a superb building where the collections are impressive to the point of overwhelming. I spent most time in the West building where the more traditional (classical?) art is kept, but did visit the East building for confirmation that (in my opinion) most modern art is just a case of The Emperor's New Clothes! On from the Art Galleries to The Capitol, a walk up the hill and back onto the subway and that was my day gone. That evening there was a dinner meeting organised by the American conference hosts with the guest speaker being the chief psychiatrist in the American Army, talking about the suicide rates amongst the US service personnel involved in their various conflicts. Not, you might think, the most engrossing subject for a talk over dinner, but the Colonel was an excellent speaker and her talk quite fascinating to me as a complete layman.

My impressions of Washington? Overall I found it rather a dull city, although there are some impressive buildings, there just isn't much of a "buzz" about the place.

Friday and we caught an early afternoon train to New York, to arrive in Penn Station. A taxi ride across town to our hotel The Affinia Gardens, another suite hotel but unlike The Rouge, not in garish red AND with functioning lifts! The meal that evening had been booked at The Tribeca Grill owned in part by Robert de Niro. After managing to get on the wrong subway line, a group of us ended up on Canal Street with about a mile to walk - so in true British spirit we did! The meal was good (though no sight of de Niro, but would I have recognised him anyway - surely he's not as famous as Johnny Briggs who we saw in Manchester?), but extraordinarily expensive even with the pound worth two dollars! Just possibly it may have been the quantity of extremely pleasing red wine that tipped the balance. One of us was certainly unconscious in the taxi back to the hotel but modesty forbids me to say which one. That said, why was it me that awoke with a headache the next morning? Once again Lynne was attending the conference (Saturday) so I had the day to myself in New York. The fizzy tablets did their work & I caught the subway to City Hall and joining the folk walking over The Brooklyn Bridge. From the Brooklyn side I took many (too many!) photographs some of which are up on my website in Gallery24 if you are interested.

Sunday was to be our last full day in New York, so we went for culture! A walk from our hotel on E 64th street, 25 blocks north to The Guggenhiem Museum on E 89th street. Such a pity, but the museum building itself is completely covered in scaffolding and udergoing a significant renovation. Inside, the major exhibition was by a Chinese American artist, Cai Guo-Qiang. "Challenging" would be my best way of describing it; from a set of cars in various stages of destruction, all suspended from the gallery ceiling, to 100 stuffed wolves running into a glass wall it certainly challenged me to try and understand what it meant or whether The Emperor's New Clothes had struck again? On the The Metropolitan Museum - a look around the ancient Egyptian galleries - very impressive, a look at the Fench Impressionists also impressive, then some Mark Rothko et al (you've got it - The Empero.....).

But what a treat outside - two young black guys doing a break dance and acrobatic show on the pavement - the climax was a full somersault over four audience members stood looking petrified!

The meal that evening was in Smith & Wollensky (a steak house that Stan had introduced me to on a previous visit to New Your a good few years ago). The Colorado Rib steak was enormous and delicious.

Monday was our last day in New York as were would be catching the Amtrak Lake Shore Limited train to Chicago. We did the tourist things and visited Macys then went to The Rockefeller Centre and up to "The Top of The Rock". Being a bright, clear, sunny day the views were spectacular in all directions.Finally a meal in the Sea Grill, in the Rockefeller Centre rounded off an excellent short stay in one of the world's most exciting cities. Once again I was impressed by New York, even though it's overcrowded and too touristy in many parts, it does have that "buzz" that is missing in Washington.

So - the overnight train to Chicago, luggage checked in at the station (how civilised is that?) and ensconced in our sleeper, we set off up the Hudson River valley through Schenectady, Albany and on towards the Great Lakes. Not the greatest night's sleep, but woke up to a flatish, pretty dull landscape and a train that was gradually going slower and slower until it ground to a complete halt. It transpired that one of the two engines had a problem so they took it off and we continued, eventually, with just the other engine pulling the train and finally arrived in Chicago about 4 hours late. Apart from the unfailing cheerfulness of the train staff it was a tad reminiscent of British Rail in the bad old days!

As Chicago was to be the end of the holiday, we'd decided to "hang the expense" and booked into the Ritz-Carlton just off the Magnificent Mile. Let me declare an interest right up front - I love Chicago, I think I've been 3 or 4 times now and the city never fails to impress. It's a busy, working town. There's an agression in the driving that I like (most driving in the US just seems SO slow and far too polite compared to Europe).
But, overall it's the architecture and the skyline that knocks me out: The view is from Navy pier towards the Hancock Tower (with the two aerials) - our hotel is the tall building immediately to the left).
Our first evening in Chicago we had seats at Wrigley Field to watch the Cubs pay Cinncinati Reds. Lynne's first ever visit to a baseball game and despite my insistance on wearing my Salford City Reds hat I think she thoroughly enjoyed the razzamatazz of an All American event.
For our one full day in Chicago we got tourist tickets on the subway and went to ride the "EL" round The Loop. The EL invokes thoughts of gangster movies and cop car chases and must be one of the travel bargains of the world!

A visit to the Marshal Field department store (now owned by Macy's) brought a great photo opportunity. We walked for miles that day, ending up down at the Navy Pier with the wind so strong that you could hardly stand up.

Continuing the strong restaurant theme of this blog, we ate that night at Morton's Seakhouse. Although a chain, the meal was superb, the service excellent and it rounded off the holiday in style.

Next morning, some shopping for various folk at home (with the exchange rate as it was the temptations to buy clothes were strong). A last lunch in an Italian restaurant then it was time to collect the bags from the hotel & get a cab back to O'Hare where the whole American adventure had begun.

Right at the beginning of this ramble I said I'd give my impressions and note the changes that I've seen over the years, so here goes:

There seems to be an enormous paranoia gripping America and its population that most definitely was never there before. 911 and the wars in Afhghanistan and Iraq have clearly taken their toll, though having lived in Britain through a much longer period under terrorist threat it certainly seems to me to be a massive overreaction.

The divisions between rich and poor seem greater than ever. I saw more people begging on the streets than in any previous trip, and more people sleeping rough. America may be the land of opportunity but the treatment (or lack of it) of those at the bottom of the pile shames an otherwise great and generous people.

American insularity remains as great as ever - though US newspapers seem to have a little more world news than I recall from earlier visits. But still precious little authoritative comment on foreign affairs.

Overall I still love visiting the USA. Although I'd vowed I wouldn't go whilst the idiot Bush was president, the opportunity was there and the pull too great and we had a wonderful two weeks. No doubt we will return (to quote a phrase!).

At Wrigley Field

2008-04-16T16:56:00.001+01:00

Salford City Reds fans get everywhere

At Smith and Wollensky

2008-04-13T01:27:00.001+01:00

This is a Colorado rib - it's big! It's delicious. It's expensive.

Brooklyn Bridge

2008-04-12T16:22:00.001+01:00

Looking towards Manhatton

Union Station Washington DC

2008-04-11T17:45:00.001+01:00

I may well be an old cynic but this is a stunning building. If only the price of a glass of chardonnay was a tad more reasonable then it really would be the perfect railway station

Logan's Washington

2008-04-10T01:04:00.002+01:00

Out on the town in Washington DC - excellent choice of wine - a few bottles were sunk!

The White House

2008-04-09T22:00:00.002+01:00

So much power, such a surprisingly small building, and we didn't get an invition to go in!

Lighthouse Mall Annapolis

2008-04-09T17:01:00.002+01:00

Especially for Caroline - can you spot the difference between Annapolis & the Trafford Centre (I couldn't) - isn't globalisation wonderful - you can buy the same teddy bear on all continents!

Sun Cafe Memphis Airport

2008-04-07T19:15:00.001+01:00

En route from Little Rock Arkansas to Baltimore Washington International then Annapolis

Saturday Night's Wine

2008-03-29T19:52:00.004Z

Wine: Barbera d'Alba, Cru Serraboella
Year: 2004
Grape: Barbera
Chateau: Cigliuti
Supplier: Berry Bros. & Rudd

Another excellent wine from BB&R - rich red from Piedmont with long smooth flavour.

Score: 7/10

Tonight's wine

2008-03-28T20:29:00.005Z

Wine: Qupe (really has an e acute but I don't know how to do that) - California, Santa Maria Valley
Year: 2005
Château: Bien Nacido - Roberto Linquist
Supplier: Berry Bros. & Rudd
Grape: Syrah

This one I really like. I'm not normally a fan of Californian wine - too much Ernst & Julio Gallo, bland crap, but this is excellent. It has a smooth, mellow flavour, no over acidity and a long pleasant after taste. Thoroughly recommended.

Score: 8/10

Tonight's Wine

2008-03-26T19:32:00.006Z

Writing this blog has encouraged me to think about recording a number of activities, and tonight I shall start committing my thoughts to paper (or more precisely to mass storage!) on the wines we drink at home. I'll also give each wine a totally arbitrary and unscientific score out of 10

Wine: Santenay, AC Cotes de Beaune
Year: 2005
Chateau: Joseph Drouhin
Supplier: Berry Bros & Rudd
Grape: Pinot Noir

Although described in the BB&R tasting notes as "An affordable burgundy of excellent pedigree from the greatest vintage of recent times" I found this just a tad disappointing. Difficult to describe exactly but my best shot would be to call it - a bit thin! I don't think I shall buy another bottle.

Score: 6/10

An afternoon at Quarry Bank Mill - Styal

2008-03-22T20:45:00.006Z

With the added attraction of an Easter Egg hunt, who could resist? Certainly not Quinn & Sera so off to Styal for a walk round the mill and a look at the latest addition - the "secret garden".

It's been a few years since I last visited and whilst the fabric of the mill remains, there is a definite change in the "feel" of the place.

A number of the exhibits are definitely looking a bit tatty and there seems to have been an effort to modernise the "visiting experience".

In common with so many museums today it seems we have to be challenged by multi-media interactivity rather than being left to make up our own minds.

One thing that did annoy me was the ban on photography inside the property. I can understand banning flash photography in some places with delicate fabrics and paintings - but an industrial heritage site? When was cast iron last jeopardised by a camera?

A stroll in the garden after the walk through the mill was nice with Quinn in reflective mood & Sera skipping her way through life as ever!

Motorcycle Tyres - Recommendation - use B&C

2008-03-15T20:09:00.006Z

Completely unsolicited testimonial

Had a new front tyre put on the Pan today - decided to go with a straight replacement of the original which was a Bridgestone Excedra. Booked it in with B&C Performance Tyres of Farnworth, Bolton (01204 577 333).

They could not have been more helpful - the axle on the front wheel was all but seized but the guy doing it persevered and got the wheel out, fitted the new tyre then sorted out the corrosion on the spindle and a few of the retaining bolts - all well above what he really had to do - fantastic service, friendly and very professional - I have no hesitation in recommending this place.

HSBC - What a bunch of to**ers!

2008-03-15T19:18:00.008Z

Now I am a reasonable man.
It's a rare occasion on which I get angry, but today HSBC managed to do it.
In a previous blog entry I described the burglary: One of the items in my wallet was an HSBC credit card. Not a card that Iuse very often, but one that I wanted to keep. In the aftermath of the burglary I reported the card stolen, and was assured that a replacement card would be sent. Over the last few days I've received my replacement RBS card, MBNA card even my Nectar card but from HSBC nothing!
Then a letter arrived from HSBC saying that as my card was nearing its expiry date and because I used it so infrequently as a convenience to me they would not be replacing it unless I specifically asked them to. As I did want to keep the card I rang the number provided and that's when the whole shambles started.
After waiting around 1/2 a minute the automated response asked me to key in my credit card number - I did that. The disembodied voice then asked for my date of birth so I keyed that in. Short pause and then I am told that I cannot use this service as I do not have a security number - but wait ..... I rang the number they gave me, I entered the information they requested, they have never given me a security number - so press 4 to ask for a human being to speak to me. Sure enough a human does come on the line, a very polite female who asks me for all the information I've just keyed and what the issue is. I explain and then she tells me that I need to be transferred to the credit card department - but wait .... That is the number I called in the first place in response to a letter from the credit card department.
Never mind I get transferred to another human being, this time a well spoken man who is polite to the point of obsequiousness. I explain that I do wish to renew my card, at which he tells me that he needs to take me through some security questions so once again I give my name, my date of birth etc etc. He then asks for the expiry date of my previous card. I tell him that the whole reason for the call is that my previous card was stolen, that HSBC know that and it is at their insistence that I am making the telephone call in the first place!
Because I cannot tell them the expiry date of the previous card, which they have already accepted was stolen I am now told that I must go into a local HSBC branch with proof of my identity.
Result HSBC loose a customer.

El Rincon

2008-03-13T21:30:00.005Z

A belated company Christmas night out at El Rincon de Rafa in Manchester. Terrific food, good wine, celebrity guests - yes we saw Johnny Briggs (AKA Mike Baldwin).
Arrived just before 8 and had a couple of Riojas to get into the atmosphere, the rest of the party soon turned up and a few drinks got everyone into a relaxed mood. The meal was a LOT of tapas of which there were some superb dishes, in particular the fish (cod I think) moist & flaky in a light batter, the tiny chorizo sausages and the crab. With the tapas over two giant paellas arrived - cooked to perfection. The hardy ones amongst us then tackled the crema catalana - whilst tasting great it wasn't exactly how I remember the dish from eating it in Spain, more of ice ream dessert than a creamy sweet custard.
Resisting calls to order Spanish brandy, I think that would have been extremely foolish (killjoy I know!) people stated drifting away with the last of us leaving just before midnight, pretty full, slightly drunk and well satisfied.

After a long day

2008-03-10T21:29:00.000Z

Burglary !

2008-03-06T20:23:00.004Z

Sub title - How to be REALLY stupid!

Tuesday night, March 4'th.

With an early start in the morning, to catch a flight from Manchester to Cork, I took myself off to bed around 10:45 and was comfortably dozing off. Before retiring I'd done my usual preparation and put my wallet, car and house keys, mobile phone, passport and Euros on the kitchen table conveniently placed to collect on my way out in the morning.

Around 11:15, my sleep was interrupted by a loud shout from downstairs "OI OI": not quite conscious I then heard my wife on the phone dialling 999 and asking for the police. Curiosity took over and I got out of bed, quickly threw on some clothes and dashed downstairs.

Although I'd gone to bed, my wife was waiting up for her son to come home and because of that, the outer porch door and front door were both unlocked. On hearing what she thought was said son coming in, but not popping into the living room to say "hello", she took a look into the hall and was somewhat suprised to see a young man, dressed mainly in black with a handful of our posessions around his person - my wife's handbag, briefcase and my conviently placed phone, wallet and car keys (though I'm delighted to say he ignored my passport).

That's when the "OI OI" came out. At that, the little toe-rag made a rapid exit to join two others waiting outside and sprint off up the road. By the time I got downstairs my wife had called the police and to my great surprise ran outside, jumped into her car and made off in hot pursuit like some avenging angel. Fortunately she didn't find the miscreants for I hate to think what the consequences might have been!

The police arrived within ten minutes and were extremely efficient, professional and sympathetic. My only disappointment was that the dog handler didn't open the doors of his van and let the dogs out. I presume they need to actually know who they are after before they do that. A search locally yielded no trace of the burglars, but did turn up the handbag and contents (minus purse, mobile phone & blackberry) in a neighbour's garden. No such luck with my wallet.

The following morning brought some better news, the briefcase and full contents were returned by a stranger having been found a few streets away and a little later my driving licence was found just two streets away and returned by another good samaritan.

So the net cost was just some cash - around £100, all our credit cards, two mobile phones, one blackberry, cars keys (for two cars both of which have had the immobilisers re-programmed but will now need their locks changing), house keys (note to thieves - "the locks have all been changed") and most of all my old tatty wallet. I've had that wallet for some 20 years. I bought it at the seaside in Royan, it was cheap and cheerful (a bit like me I like to think), and now it's gone.

Mother's Day

2008-03-02T15:49:00.005Z

Once more, using the new phone (Sony Ericsson K810i) to take a picture and publish it directly to the blog - suitably impressing my mother!

Office

2008-02-29T18:38:00.006Z

Friday afternoon in the office, a new mobile phone arrives to replace my old faulty one, take a photo & publish it directly to my blog - isn't technology amazing?

Programming for Fun!

2008-02-24T18:18:00.004Z

Spent a happy afternoon writing an improved feature to administer my photo site . I wrote the site in order to begin teaching mysef PHP, it consists of a menu system to select galleries then view photographs within the selected gallery either individually or as a slideshow.
I also wrote an admin system to upload photos, assign them to galleries, manage the galleries and users etc. The basic problem was how to enhance this so that once photgraphs have been uploaded I could alter the display sequence (i.e. the order in which the photographs are displayed once the gallery is selected).
In the end I plumped for a simple idea of allowing the administator to assign an integer as the display sequence indicator and developed a page which would display all the thumbnails for a particular gallery and allow them to be resequenced as required. Had to struggle a little with the arcane way in which you must pass data between pages - the "connectionless" state of the internet leaves a lot to be desired when trying to develop "joined up" systems.

Musing on Websites and Blogs

2008-02-13T20:38:00.005Z

This whole internet phenomenon continues to amaze me. As one who has worked a lifetime in IT I marvel at the use of graphics, communications networks, database technology and so much more that was considered "difficult" just a very few years ago, but has now become commonplace.

My background is as a programmer and systems analyst, but starting in a very different world from today's wealth of multi-media. Working in the computer laboratory at Salford University, supporting the NAG librarary we thought using a programme to do matrix arithmetic or seeing the GINO-F graphics libarary draw a gingerbread man, was cutting edge - I wonder how many people who use a graphics editor and rotate a picture through 90 degrees have any inkling of the mathematics behind ther actions?

Writing COBOL programmes for stock control for BICC in the mid 1970s was very different to the development I see happening in my own company, using tools like VB.net with sophisticated development environments - no queuing to submit a stack of punched cards then wait a day for the results for today's developer!

I developed my own website Travels with my Digital Camera to learn HTML, PHP and MySQL. It probably helped quite a bit that I have a programming background so database design and structure held no fears, but it is also possible that I have limited my horizons by my own thoughts of what is and is not possible.

Since signing up for the blog, I've also discovered Google AdSense, so having incorporated some ads on my site (and blog) I am confidently sitting back and waiting for the cash to roll in.

Off to take some photos

2008-02-10T21:21:00.001Z

Another glorious day, so after a lazy morning in bed (breakfast included, thanks Lynne), I decided to take some photos.
My camera is a Sony Alpha 700 DSLR, the latest descendent from the Minolta range of Dyxum (or Maxum) cameras since Sony bought out Minolta's camera business in 2005. The first shot was taken with the Minolta 24mm f2.8 prime lens, hand held and the second with the Minolta 50mm f1.7 together with a 12mm extension tube. For this shot the camera was mounted on my Benbo Trekker tripod.
A drive past the old dyeworks at Belmont then a walk into the woods - found this pond. With the sunlight streaming through the trees and the reflections unruffled in the water it made an attractive sight.

It's only February, but already a hairy caterpillar was out eating lichen on an old tree stump.

First MotorBike Outing of 2008

2008-02-09T20:30:00.001Z

Saturday saw warm (well relatively warm) sunny weather so got my motorcycle out of the garage. The battery charger (Optimate III from Shadofax engineering) had done its job perfectly and the bike started with no problem. Checked out the tyre pressures (foot pump needed to top up both, 42 in the front and 44 in the rear), oil, water, break and clutch fluids - all OK so set off to Bamber Bridge.
Chose to avoid the motorway and went towards Belmont and through Abbey Village.
As ever the bike behaved perfectly (why would anyone want anything other than a Honda ? The best Honda of all ? The ST1100a Pan European of course).