G-CGRB - the new CTLS

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

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

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!

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!

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

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

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)

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

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

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.