The sun continues to shine on the righteous but here in Manchester I am locked in a windowless conference room and have put my jacket on to counter the effect of the air conditioning.
Lots of familiar faces in the room. The network engineering community is by and large a nice community. Today I kicked off a new project on Facebook. No idea what it is yet. Just gathering expressions of interest:)
Had a good chat with Dan Cunliffe of Pangea this morning. They have sent me a tracking device to carry with me on the coast to coast walk. The plan is to give people access to the live tracker online so that they can follow our progress. Few bits and bobs to sort out but we have time to get it all done.
Been looking at train times for getting home. Sensible options are 16.20 or 18.43. The issue will be how much I want to go to the social after the meeting versus what time I want to get home. There is also an element of putting off the train journey which isn’t particularly exciting. The later one at 2 hours 27 minutes is also the shortest so I may opt for that.
I’m staying at the Hilton in Manchester Deansgate. Room is v pleasant as is Manchester on this beautiful sunny day. Travelled up with Rich from LONAP and am just waiting for him to finish a conference call before we have a spot of lunch.
Club sandwich in the bar of the hotel. We were joined by Nat Morris. Saw a Google car at the lights outside.
I’m here for the UKNOF conference. Always a good day and preceded by a curry which takes place at 8.30 tonight at Akbar’s.
Ended up with Mark Fordyce and one of his guys at the Cloud 23 Bar. Apparently this is only half way up the building rather than at the top. The top three floors are owned by the architect. Must be a palatial job.
Short input today – the pics and vids will have to do the talking
Jaw is less achey this morning. Good. It’s a beautiful sunny day that began with me heading down to make the tea followed by a sausage bap for brekkie. I’m doing a bit of sorting before I head south to London for my periodic trefor.net exec dinner.
The camping stuff has been put away, except for the tent which I’ll do in a bit. At least it’s nice and dry out.
I’m away for two nights, one of which (tonight) will require a jacket. The packing therefore has a different dimension to it. It’s always a bit of a nuisance having to take a jacket. In fact there isn’t a dress code but I think a jacket, shirt and jeans does the job. I’ve booked a cab for 11.05 for 11.35 train. Plenty of contingency as it only takes 5 minutes or so to get to the station. I would normally walk with the weather being so nice but I don’t want to hoik my gear.
Anne is off to Bromborough today. Her mum’s ashes are being interred tomorrow morning. It will properly allow her to move on. Between us we have lost three parents within the last 18 months or so. Dads’ still going well in the Isle of Man. It’s a situation everyone has to deal with but it certainly moves you on to a different phase in life. Reinforces my philosophy of enjoying life as much as I can whilst I can.
Just spoke with dad – he is playing golf with the boys this afternoon. He has a buggy. They don’t play a full 18 holes but it gets them out.
Some developments on the coast to Coast. Last night I ordered an Anker PowerCore+ 26800 Premium battery charger. Should do my S7 about 8 times. I also ordered a 200GB SanDisk microSD card – SanDisk Ultra 200 GB microSDXC Memory Card up to 90 MB/s, Class 10 – fwiw. Means I should have no memory storage issues for all the videos I intend to take on the walk.
Dan Cunliffe of Pangea is also sending me a tracker and I have a portal driving lesson on Thursday morning to see what it can do. This is an alternative to using Runkeeper and has the benefit of not running on my phone which I can then use purely for pics and navigation. The S7 camera is great btw.
Now on the train from Lincoln to Newark. It has another 20 minutes before it goes.
You see before you a man with an aching jaw. The aching stems from a gap that used to house a tooth. The ongoing saga of the toothache has been brought to a head. I have to trust that the toothache itself will now disappear but will have to wait for the throb to subside before I can verify this.
I did plan to put all the camping stuff away this afternoon but that has not been possible due to the aforementioned jaw ache. I got as far as putting a sleeping bag away this morning and that’s that. The place will be tidied before I head for London tomorrow or Anne will be somewhat dismayed.
Most of the tidying involves finding somewhere to store kit that has been deselected for the coast to coast due to having been superseded by something better. Probably still perfectly good kit. Just not required for the expedition. I will be taking additional base layers with me mind you because I found it very useful to be able to wear two base layers in Derbyshire. The Lake District in two weeks time is likely to offer similar conditions to Derbyshrie last weekend.
One thing that the Derbyshire trip taught me was that I won’t be writing much stuff in the evenings after a day’s walking. I will have to rely on photos, videos plus a few introductory words. The issue with the vids is going to be bandwidth availability as noted in this blog post on trefor.net. Will just have to see how I get on.
I did stitch together a video of the weekend using iMovie. This is basically all the vids seen in the saturday and sunday posts on philosopherontap connected together in the right order. The files size uploaded to YouTube was 1.3GB so that is not practical for the coast to coast. I will save the iMovie work for one big programme put together after I get home. I have embedded the finished vid of last weekend at the end of this post. I know you will want to watch it.
On another note the Lloyds phone insurers have been on the blower. They can’t get hold of a Oneplus2 as it has to be ordered direct from Oneplus. They have offered me £249 or one of the phones below:
Samsung G900
Sony Xperia Z3
Apple iPhone 5s 32gb
HTC One M8 Eye
Samsung N9005
Not sure what I’ll do yet but I will let you know obvs.
The other learning from Derbyshire was that my new insole isn’t going to cut it. There is a very nice soft gel bit where the ball of the foot is intended to be but unfortunately my feet being the odd sizes that they are the right foot ball doesn’t quite make the gel bit and rubs against the edge of that area. The upshot was a sore foot over the weekend. My old Meindl inserts will be fine. Good job I tested it out before going on the real walk.
Went on a scouts walking weekend in Derbyshire with the Mountain Activity Team. 30 kids, 18 adults. The usual great time. Walked 10.28 miles with a group of leaders.
It is difficult to describe such a busy day – here are some videos plus a link to the weekend’s photos.
Watershed moment at the dentist this morning. We jointly decided to have the tooth out. John offered to do it there and then but I wanted a few days to “say goodbye”. Also I’m off to Derbyshire camping with the Scouts and didn’t want to spoil it with a sore gum. I’m going in at 11.20 on Monday to get it done.
Before the dentist I popped in to GoOutdoors to buy a map of the Peak District where I’m going. OL24. The were sold out as were Blacks when I rang them. Obviously as a relatively nearby bit of countryside it is a popular one. You’d think they would have ordered more in though.
It is 15.50 and I’m pretty much packed. Just got to chuck a few things into the rucksack and then I’m ready to rock and roll. The Clif Bars I ordered arrived today but I’m not taking them to Derbyshire. They are strictly rationed for the Coast to Coast. 24 between 2 of us over 12 days. This is in addition to anything provided for us as packed lunches by the B&Bs.
I’m being picked up at 6 so will spend the rest of the afternoon playing with the iMovie software.
I have a plan for when we get to the campsite. It will be chucking it down so I will assemble the tent inside the mess tent, assuming they have one, and then move it into place outside. I have a 500cc bottle of Grouse whisky with me for medicinal purposes tonight and tomorrow. Now watch the vid.
Basically completed my kitlist today. Got the second pair of Montaine walking kecks, some dry bags, took the laces I’d bought yesterday back to GoOutdoors because they weren’t long enough and got some new ones from Blacks who had the right size. Also bought some gaiters in Blacks.
So I pretty much have everything I need for the trip. Tomorrow I’m off to Derbyshire with the scouts. Being picked up at sixish. It will be getting dark when I arrive and I’ll have to pitch my small tent but ah well.
Also the weather forecast suggests it will be chucking it down when we arrive. Ah well again.
We are notionally stopping at a fish and chip shop in Chesterfield which is supposed to be a goodun. I’ll have to buy some supplies in the morning but am otherwise good to go.
Darren finished the plastering in the attic today. He has many talents. He practices kung fu every night and plays the spanish guitar. Wow.
Went to see John in his first outdoor cricket training of the year. They were just finishing as I got there. Popped into the clubhouse for a swift un whilst John picked up some new kit.
Didn’t go swimming. Had weetabix and a banana for breakfast and home made tomato and red pepper soup with a cheese and pickle sandwich for lunch. Beans on toast with sausages for tea,
Below is my first iMovie. Didn’t have time to fine tune it so it is what it is. Hopefully Hannah won’t mind the photo of her as a kid being in the opening credits. Found it in the attic whilst shifting stuff around for the plastering. The tool is really easy to use and I must say the investment in the high end Macbook Pro looks to have paid off here. Didn’t take long at all to compile.
PS the title of this post – tref’s 1st iMovie video sound like something out of kindergarten – little Tref’s first steps/words/poo etc
Stunning day here in the shire. Perfect spring weather. T shirt in the conservatory with the doors open to the garden.
Darren the plasterer played the role of hero this morning. He stuck on a pair of gloves and rescued the pigeon that had fallen down our chimney yesterday. It lost a few down feathers and was a little flustered but mostly ok and off it flew.
Bought a new set of walking boot inserts, spare laces and a whistle. Did some online research on the whistle front and the only one that they had left in GoOutdoors turned out to be much louder decibel-wise than the ones being reviewed online. Also ordered a spare pair of Montane walking trousers which are brilliant.
I’m still short of a decent pair of gaiters. None in the shop fitted. And I need a drybag. Otherwise I’m mostly done. Ordered a couple of 12 packs of Clif Bars from Amazon yesterday.
En route from GoOutdoors I stopped by Ajax’s office to talk coast to coast. Going over kit lists he mentioned that we needed at least 6 pair of walking socks. I maintained that three was the going rate: one on , one spare in the day bag and one in the wash ready for the next day (or at least having been washed from the previous day). We called little Stu to arbitrate and he came down on my side:)
To keep Anne happy I rattled off a number of jobs. We now have a new (turquoise) toilet seat in the shower room, the odds and sods I needed to sort through for recycling have been put in the boot ready for the tip and a bag has been emptied.
Some all of the stuff being chucked is pretty historic. A hat from NSREC 95 for example. The heady days of the space business. I remember NSREC 95 being in Madison Wisconsin, the dairy capital of the USA. Hence the cow print hat. The trip there was fairly eventful as the connecting flight from Chicago couldn’t land due to the weather. We tried to fly around the storm but eventually landed elsewhere and were bussed to Madison.
The NSERC conferences were always great events. Nuclear and Space Radiation Effects Conference. They didn’t shout out their presence as you might imagine.
Decided that perhaps I should get this tooth looked at before going on the walk. Called John Hill’s surgery only to find that he was off until Friday and that it was unlikely that there would be time now before the walk. I’m popping in to see him on Friday morning.
Had a beer in the Morning Star whilst John was at Colin’s for his sax lesson. Their machine wasn’t working so I owe them – will swing by later on the way to pick up from Jazz Vehicle. John and I had a most acceptable meal of bbq ribs tonight. Anne is off out to a charity handbag auction!
Mains choices for my periodic Exec Dinner at Barrafina next Tuesday.
CRISP PORK BELLY with a red wine sauce. Patatas a lo Pobre, Baby Gem Salad, Botarga, Walnuts & Manchego
or SEA BASS with Fennel, Radish, Comice Pear & Dill Salad, Gem Lettuce Salad, Bortaga, Walnuts & Manchego
It’s a drizzly day and there is a lot of noise from the cars on the wet road outside the front. I often wonder why the number of cars seems to increase when it is raining. Do these motorists normally walk? I don’t think so.
35 mins in the pool this morning. After a couple of laps I heard a voice say “hi Tref”. It was Erica. Hadn’t seen her even though she was in the next lane – I’m pretty blind without my specs.
Never ceases to amaze me how slow I swim. Towards the end of the morning lane session you get some fairly large ladies getting in the pool. Warming up for the over 50s swimfit class, or whatever it is called. Most of them are faster than me.
Darren the plasterer turned up whilst I was in the pool. He is here for three days or so to line the attic – it will be a big improvement – see featured image. The long box btw contains my singles. Vinyl. 7″.
I’ve been doing a lot of background reading of people’s diaries on the coast to coast walk. You see a lot of folk in their sixties or older keeping up a fairly brisk pace – over 3mph averages for some. This is going to be fairly unattainable for me. 3mph on the flat on a road maybe. Perhaps I will speed up over the course of the fortnight.
Sneaked out for a bag of chips from the Burton Road chippy for lunch after dropping Anne and Erica outside the Cathedral West front – they are meeting Anne Morton. Then swung by to see Ajax and chat about the coast to coast. He wasn’t there – emergency dental appointment.
Finally, on this lunch break, visited GoOutdoors to buy some gaiters and a whistle. Came away without either but needing to do some research. Had a great chat with a Polish sounding girl there who was very knowledgeable about footwear. I’m going back there tomorrow to check out some insoles.
There is peace in the house. John is back at school, Hannah and Joe at Uni and Anne is out. It is a beautiful spring day and I have the conservatory doors open to the garden.
This Monday morning is a morning of getting some work done. I have three places left to fill for next Tuesday’s Trefor.net dinner and will make a start sorting a workshop on VoIP fraud that I am planning for 16th June. Don’t often talk about work stuff on this site do I?
Three weeks to go until the coast to coast. This week I’m back in serious training – pool and gym. I did 30 mins breast stroke this morning and came home to some bran flakes, banana and strawberries. The plan is to do an hour of cardio in the gym this afternoon. I want to be seriously breathless for most of it. I’m in Lincoln all week so should be doable every day and then I’m off walking in Derbyshire with the scouts for the weekend.
I’d like to pull back at least the one last notch on the belt before the coast to coast. Some challenges do lie between now and the walk as I have the dinner in London, UKNOF in Manchester, the ELO concert at the O2 and a few days in Luxembourg at Euro-IX to negotiate. She’ll be right.
Bit of distressing news. Had a bird constantly knocking on the small side window of the living room – just behind where I’m sat in the conservatory. Turns out there is another bird stuck down the chimney. It must have been either its mate or parent knocking on the window.
I’ve taken away the fireguard and opened up the chimney vent. Hopefully the bird in the chimney will get out and escape through the conservatory doors. I’m not too optimistic about the outcome I’m afraid.
Making some progress with OS Maps. Have now created the first 6 days walking as online routes.
Bird update – the trapped bird seems big enough to be a pigeon. I can just see it but not particularly excited about the idea of sticking my hand up and grabbing it. Worrawoos eh?
Went to 18th Bailgate scout Group committee meeting at 7pm. Booked the marquee for Joefest 2016.
Featured image is of a VW camper van salt and pepper set we have bought for Betty the camper van.
Beautiful sunny day. Unfortunately I’m going to be sat in the car for 7 hours but it is one of those duties I don’t mind doing – taking Hannah back to Durham Uni. This time it’s for the last time!
It’s a slightly longer trip than normal as we also have to swing by Joe, a mere 30 mins or so further north in Newcastle, to drop his gear off. He went Friday evening to go to a music rehearsal on Saturday.
Had a bacon sandwich with glass of milk for breakfast. We are nearly out of HP sauce, a situation that will have to be watched closely.
The car is turned around and ready to take the luggage once I get the go ahead.
I’m anticipating that by the time I get back from up North the lawn will have miraculously mown itself and there will be a delicious roast lamb dinner awaiting my arrival.
…
Made it to Newcahstle, delivered some stuff to Joe including his bike, and went to the Moulin Rouge Cafe & Grill for lunch. The kids doubted my judgement but when tasting the food became converts. If you need somewhere to eat in Newcastle go there.
Dropped Joe off in town for a jazz rehearsal and took Hansk to Tesco metro in Durham. Over an hour later we had filled a trolley, taken Han back to Grey College and set the coordinates for the Morning Star for a quick pint before going home.
I’m now watching Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 1 with a glass of Carlos 1 brandy.
Said I’d give Anne a hand moving some stuff in the attic today. She seemed to think that meant straight away after breakfast and for a prolonged period of time. I figured I’d ease into the day. Ah well. There’s always Sunday morning for the easing. Sunday is when I normally reserve for doing jobs whereas Anne indulges in her hobby of going to church at that time (“it’s not a hobby Tref it’s a way of life” :).
Down to two kids at home now and tomorrow back to one.
Last night I met Coops, Ajax and Jezzer in the Prince of Wales for early doors. Coops had been at it since 3pm as the police had been round telling everyone in Great Northern Terrace to evacuate the area. A digger had gone through the main gas main. The whole of Lincoln was gridlocked because of the road closures. Took Anne 20 minutes just to get to the bypass – taking Joe to Newark Northgate.
Had a v pleasant few beers with the lads before being picked up by (the lovely) Anne and coming home to the paella I had prepared earlier. Perfect timing really.
Today has started wet. It’s normal.
Peugeot loaded up to go to the tip. Had to draw the line at emptying all the eaves. There is still some junk there but it mostly would involve a crawl to get it so my view is that if it isn’t in the way let it stay there. Also the whole point of an attic is to be able to store things up there. If it then gets shifted to the eaves then it isn’t particularly accessible not in such a good environment.
Webs has now taken Hannah to pick up Lois. Hannah is taking Lois for a surprise birthday treat at the Branston Hall Spa. Fair play.
We still have to shift stuff to one side of the attic so that Darren the plasterer can get at the walls when he comes in on Tuesday.
Been reading lots of online accounts of the coast to coast walk. Not found one yet that describes the bit of the walk from Rosthwaite to Patterdale in one day. This looks like toughie with two ascents. I found an account by one Dutch guy who only made it to Grassmere by 2.50 and decided to get a taxi the rest of the way. It would be a shame if that was the case for us. We need to do the whole shebang.
Brightening up out – it’s normal 🙂
It’s Grand National day today. I have a list of gee gees to bet on from the family. It’s the once a year bet. The kids expect me to put the money down but expect to keep any winnings themselves!
No winnings.
Lasagne for tea. Bath and early night. Up north tomorrow.
Featured image is of flies stuck to the band I put around the pear tree to try and stop mites getting up and causing yellow leaves again.
After a busy day yesterday it’s back to the Lincoln home office today. In fact it’s Lincon now until Tuesday 19th April at which point it starts to get busy.
Joe goes back to Newcastle this evening – a couple of days early because of a band rehearsal. I’m taking Hannah, and Joe’s stuff, back on Sunday. In the meantime it’s off downtown again to get Hannah’s mobile contract sorted. She isn’t on a good deal.
It’s a bright sunny day if a little crisp this morning. I’m sat in the conservatory with the door open to the garden and the birds tweeting away in fine form outside. It’s a good time of year.
Had a cheese, ham and onion toastie for lunch. Was starving even though I didn’t go swimming today. I’ll be back in the groove next week.
Getting to grips with tidying up the NAS box. The phone picture backup software Sweet Home has been backing up the pics in the wrong place – it takes absolutely ages to move files around because the amount of data is so large – 2.38Gig of photos in December alone plus vids.
Featured image is my new dual screen desktop setup. Vid below was taken downtown before the shops opened.
I have an ITSPA Council meeting, postponed from March due to the clash with Convergence Summit North, fwiw. Now heading South on the 07.30 out of Lincoln Central. There is only one station in Lincoln mind you, not counting North Hykeham. There used to be a Lincoln St Marks, which was the station I arrived in Lincoln at for my post university job interview. They knocked it down to make a shopping centre and no Beeching in sight!!
I like these ad hoc days out in London although today I will be kicking my heels this morning as the Council meeting isn’t until 2pm and I get in at 9.26. I had thought I’d arrange something to do but didn’t get around to it.
Under these circumstances and with no takers on the offer of a cawfee I normally head to the British Library and do some work in the caff there.
…
Have arranged to meet the heir at his office for 11.30. Tom works at the Beeb. An early lunch in the BBC canteen beckons. Gourmet food no doubt surrounded by celebs. Ah the life in the full eye of the media.
Having put out a notice of availability the offers are now coming in thick and fast with dan Winfield offering to show me around Techhub at Old Street. He just missed out. Techhub is just a load of open plan office space anyway as I recall but hey…
The walk to Broadcasting House takes 30 minute according to Google. I will have two hours to get there so a pleasant stroll through the streets of London is in prospect. It’s a nice enough spring day. Best time of year.
The train has stopped at Stevenage. We are now en route again.
Note how these diary entries reflect real time. You are reading it after the event but the idea is to give you the effect of being there as it happens 🙂 Cool huh? I could take it further by putting timestamps in with the sentences but really am not that bothered. You will have to settle for the mix of words, written and spoken, and images still and moving.
Got to the BBC to find loads of kids queuing to catch a glimpse of 5th Harmony – a pop group apaz. Also paps outside Tom’s office to catch Amanda Holden, a celebrity!
Had lunch with Tom and Ubered it to the ITSPA council meeting. Arrived 30 mins late – I thought it started at 2pm but actually it was 1pm! Ah well.
That’s it for today.
Featured image is of an abandoned car on the pavement outside Euston Station. More pics here.
