As I was approaching the prison this morning, only to walk past it you understand, I heard a lot of noise coming from the playing field. Sounded like a rugby match or simlar. Turns out it was an American Football training session. Who new? Quite timely what with the Superbowl happening tonight – not that I ever watch it.
The photo below is of a photographer on the site of the now closed Coop garage on Outer Circle Road.
It’s only 9.25am and I already have so much to tell you. Fell asleep watching boring Scotland v England game on iPlayer when we got home last night . Suspect it was the booze that made me fall asleep and not the rugby but who can tell?
In consequence forgot to update my food intake diary which I did this morning. A diavola pizza has over 1,000 calorie in it!!! WHo’d a thought I’d ever by a calorie counter but this MyFitnessPal app is really good. It gives you control. At least it makes me think I have control. You can see that when you have a few pints you had better get some exercise in to offset the effects.
I’m wearing my boots around the house again this morning. I think they are starting to wear in. Hope so anyway. If I get a chance I’ll take them for a walk later this morning. I need to buy some leather boot spray from GoOutdoors and also a couple of bottles of white plonk from Tesco. We never drink white wine but our lunchtime guests might. If they don’t we can always use it for cooking. The beef stew I slow cooked yesterday is looking pretty good today.
The first real news of the day, that which I rushed to tell you at 9.25am, is that the daffs are out. Not sure if this is early. Probably is. Ah well.
The second bit of news is that whilst setting the fire I came across a “Tiny Computers” brochure from 1997. The first PC what I bought myself was that Tiny Computer. It was a P166MMX and it cost a whopping £1232 inc VAT. Blimmin eck. Worra ripoff.
Those were the days of dial up and just before I got my first ADSL line. I was paying BT£145 (or simlar) a month for a 1Mbps connection. After a year or so I moved to a 2Mbps Plusnet line for £110.
I held off scrunching up the Tiny paperwork I had planned to use to start the fire and used some old C&G mortgage documentation instead.
Unusually we are entertaining this weekend. I like this. The MacDougals are up Friday night for a 60th birthday bash and are swinging by for breakfast on Saturday morning. Paige is also coming.
Sunday lunchtime we have some friends coming – Jason and Annabel and kids plus Sue and Carolyn. I am cooking a beef stew on Saturday and leaving it overnight for the flavour to develop.
I expect you will hear more about these meals over the next couple of days but because I know you are interested I offer you the shopping list:
General
breakfast
sunday lunch
I got most of the stuff from LIDL, the beef and a few bits from Waitrose and the pizza from Tesco. Note no baked beans on the list. I did think about buying some but wasn’t sure whether we had any in. This is an appropriate lead in to the featured image and the video below.
I like to take a photo every day to accompany these posts. Gives them a bit of colour innit. Videos are also useful and I envisage that on some occasions the video is all you will get. When I’m doing the coast to coast for example where I may well be too knackered to write anything and where there may not be any connectivity to upload stuff even if I did.
So today a perfect photo opportunity presented itself on the way into Tesco. A bloke sat in a bath of baked beans. He was raising money for the British Heart Foundation. Solid bloke.
I once bought a guitar from the British Heart Foundation Shop in Fareham. We were passing one evening coming back from a curry and saw it in the window. The problem was the shop we wouldn’t be around when the shop opened. We were visiting a company called Newnet who we had just acquired. The barman at the hotel agreed to nip round during the day and purchase the instrument. I gave him £25 (actually I think it was Ben White’s cash).
You can imagine the impression we made on the engineers at Newnet when I brought the guitar along to the restaurant for dinner that night and had a singson after the meal. It was a crappy guitar actually but did the job.
The one thing that didn’t occur to me to ask the man in the bath was what sort of baked beans were they? Couldn’t see any branding anywhere but it’s the question of the hour! Yesterday’s featured image was purely a coincidence and not sourced from the bath!
Feb the fourth doesn’t quite have the same ring to it as May the fourth. For one thing May 4th is Anne’s birthday but also saying Feb the fourth be with you doesn’t sound as good as May the fourth be with you. If you don’t understand that I’m not going to explain, and it’s not an age thing.
It’s dull day here. A typical British February day. It’s why people who can go and live somewhere warm for a few weeks. The winders here don’t have much going for them. OK you get the occasional beautifully crisp day where a walk in the country park produces beautiful photos of frozen landscapes with a low sun dazzling the camera. This ain’t one of those days.
I have been wearing shorts mind you. That’s because I decided to come home in them after the gym. I was going to have a shower at home but two hours later it won’t surprise you to hear that I’m still in the shorts and still not had a shower. It’s a good job this isn’t 4D smellyvision. I had a good session in the gym. 1 hour cardio – 450 calories. Considering it’s only my third session that’s not too bad. I need to build up the length of time.
I had considered going for an hour’s walk later but I may not have the inclination. Ve shall see.
The attic is coming along. Today I tidied up the wiring and moved the router/NAS box/CCTV box/RIPE Atlas Probe/Fast Ethernet Switch onto one of the shelves. It had been a real tangled mess of wires. The wiring needs more sorting really but That would mean drilling holes and getting some shorter patch cables and just right now I can’t be arsed. Still need to sort out proper access to the NAS box from the windows 10 machine. Microsoft hurts my brain. There is a scenario and I am neither going to rush into this one nor take it lightly, that I might one day buy an Apple machine!!!
We also moved my old amp up there and the chair Anne brought back from her mum and dad’s. Had to dismantle the chair and reassemble in the attic. I had said to myself that I would never buy another item of flatpack/self assembly furniture again. In this case we inherited it so I didn’t have much choice. As usual and despite my complaining Anne was right and the chair does look good up there.
We seem to be in between storms today and I can hear a lot of birdsong. I hope they know it’s still only early February. I saw on Facebook that someone had already cut their lawn! I don’t think the weather has been that good. I might even light the fire tonight though I’ve been saying that for a few days now. Maybe I’ll keep it for Sunday – we have people coming round for Sunday lunch which is avery rare occurrence. I like it when we have people round because it gives me an excuse to open some plonk at lunchtime.
This Sunday I do have a little problem in that Ireland are playing Wales at 3pm. The normally boozy friends that might come to Sunday lunch would never have finished by 3pm. However there will be small kids involved this coming Sunday so you never know… They might even want to watch the game – where there’s life there’s hope 🙂
The featured image is “baked beans” taken from tonight’s tea.
Only a small blister mind you. I did a longer walk this aft – 1hour 50 mins or so around lincoln – 5.44 miles. I need to step up the distances but this one wasn’t bad. My left foot was giving me gyp and upon reaching my destination, ie home I found a blister on one of the toes.
I did take the insole out to check the fit but it does seem to be the right size boot for the foot, ish so I guess it’s just a question of keeping at it, wearing in the boot and hardening the foot. If I can maintain this rate of exercise it bodes well.
The MyFitnessPal app suggests that at this rate I will shed 10Kg in 5 weeks. It doesn’t realise the 6 nations rugby season is fast looming but there’s a fighting chance I can do this. The point is to grow my fitness levels ready for the Snowdonia week at Easter and thence the coast to coast.
This morning I finished off the Airbnb entry for campervan Betty, for now at least. We will find out in due course if we’ve got it right. Also started the User Guide for Betty – the manual for hirers. Will need to use it myself first before I can properly finish the guide.
The process sorting my books also continues. It’s a job and a half, and very dusty. I’m constantly emitting loud sneezes. I don’t know how on earth we fitted all the books into the bookcases we had before I bought the new biggie. Even with the extra shelf space I’m struggling to fit them all in. Whereas I thought I’d fit A-M in one side of the fiction bookcase in the TV room I’ve now had to shift L and M to the other side. The fiction will be OK. It’s what to do with the ad hoc stuff – quiz books etc. Don’t worry. I’ll get it sorted.
Did a big run to the tip this morning. Mostly miscellaneous old paper plus a load of electrical stuff stored unnecessarily for years in the attic. I’m never going to need those dial up modems again anyway! The clearance of the attic is progressing well. We are at the point where John can move his man cave stuff in. I’m going to give Darren the plasterer a shout. The attic is dry lined but it’s just bare plasterboard. Plastering the space will cut down on the draughts big time. Not that it’s that bad.
Link to another video shot down side of cathedral
view over houses behind St Georges hospital from top of hill
moi
path leading down to the estate behind St Georges Hospital on Long Leys Road
Terrific Pylons gig last night at The Platform Bar at the Students Union. They were on first although in reality the covers band that came afterwards should have opened. We didn’t stay for the two main acts but went downstairs to find a seat and a somewhat (albeit only just) quieter environment where we could hear each other speak.
Anne cooked a lovely prawn chowder which we had before we went out so we didn’t join Nige and the others for a Thai meal at the Brayford. Joe came home later buzzing. He wasn’t too late as he had a taxi coming at 6.30 am to get him back to Newcastle.
Hurricane Henry is still blowing. Joe’s train home, which was considerably delayed yesterday when he came, is once more delayed. Not physically the same train afaik but just a reflection of the chaos the wind is causing to the overhead lines.
Went for a gym induction session with Luke at Yarborough Leisure Centre. Turns out Luke’s girlfriend is Miss Millard, an English teacher at William Farr fwiw. I think John has been taught by her though I struggle with teacher’s names. I only ended up doing 40 mins today, once “induced”, partly because I set the steps on too difficult a setting and knackered myself.
One tip I did pick up from Luke was to use the MyFitnessPal app. This allows you enter your goals – weight loss etc. You tap in your food consumption at each meal and add the amount of exercise done. The app tells you whether you are eating too much or not getting enough exercise. Once home and entering data I found this to be quite useful. Information is power. You can scan in what you’ve eaten (eg scan in the ryvita barcode and the app tells you how many calories per slice. Do this for everything and you can quickly build up a picture of how many calories you are taking on board.
It’s quite revealing. For example adding Branston Pickle to your cottage cheese and ryvita isn’t a sensible thing to do. Lots of sugar and calories. Next time I’ll replace it with onion or simlar.
The other handy feature is that MyFitnessPal integrates with Runkeeper which is really useful app to keep track of your exercise. I know I’m probably boring the pants of you but hey. I’m interested and I have an objective: the Wainwright Coast to Coast walk in May.
It’s a bright sunny day out but Henry still blows and the toothache remains…
Went for a swim this morning. Slightly late getting into the pool because I woke up in the middle of the night with a bunged up nose and couldn’t get back to sleep so was a little lethargic first thing.
Called John Hill the dentist on the way to Yarborough and went to see him after the swim. It isn’t a filling. Just sensitive teeth due to hard brushing. He gave me a couple of different toothpastes to try. Let’s hope it kicks in quickly because I’m suffering right now.
The good news is that I now have no trips lined up for a month. This means I will be able to focus on training for the Coast to Coast. I’ve booked a starter session with one of the gym trainers. He didn’t sound as if he was going to provide much value but there again it isn’t an expensive gym.
The weather today is being provided by storm Henry. Really sounds as if it should be Hurricane Henry but it isn’t. Henry is causing a bit of chaos mind you. Joe has come home to play a Pylons gig at the Engine Shed Platform Bar and his train was delayed because of overhead line problems between York and Northallerton fwiw.
Meant I had to go and pick him up from Newark and it was a bit of a blowy drive over. Reports of overturned lorries and bridges shut to high sided vehicles. Best to bunker down at home which is what I’d do apart from the fact that we are off out to the gig.
The featured image is of the basketball hoop blown over by Storm Gertrude. Figured it wasn’t worth sorting it out until the winter is behind us. It’s safe enough propped up against the fort at the bottom of the garden.
Also enjoy the vid.
It’s the Great British Bird Watch or words to that effect. We’ve never participated properly. You have to sit staring out the window for an hour noting numbers and species. Moreover they have to be seen on the ground and not in transit to some other garden. One that presumably has tastier delicacies on offer in the feeder. Worms etc.
We do get birds in our garden. Normally blackbirds and wood pigeons but the summer has been known to bring a nice variety. Hannah once had the presence of mind to capture a woodpecker tapping away at the nuts. We also have a wren and some robins plus the usual collection of tits.
Today’s weather is pretty crappy. I had given some thought to a ten mile walk but instead will hit the gym for a stint. It’s interesting how having a goal, in my case making a creditable effort at the Wainwright Coast to Coast walk in May, has changed my approach to exercise and the gym. In my mind I am happy with the notion of spending a couple of hours sweating away on the machines. This is because I know that on the actual walk I’ll need to sustain it for up to ten hours or more. The longest stretch is 23 miles.
As I write Andy Murray is once again losing the final of the Australian Open Tennis. It is premature to say that he has lost because it is still only the second set but Andy is behind at the mo. Cmon Andy. He is playing Novak Djokovic. I really like that name. It really rolls off the tongue. Very poetic and very appropriate for philosopherontap.com.
In other news I have a developing toothache sitch. It began on Friday en route home from London and dips in and out of my consciousness. Yesterday I had (the contents of) a tin of vegetable soup for lunch. Whilst the soup was still hot my tooth was in agony. Had to leave it to cool right down. Soup was insipid enough as it was.
It’s raining now. I’ve moved operations to the conservatory so that I might see a bird or two. They have more sense than to be out in this weather. Tucked up in nests somewhere no doubt. Must make sure our central heating is still on.
This tennis is getting very distracting. I’m going to have to turn it off. Tennis is as bad as cricket when it comes to playing on your nerves.
Oo a robin has just flown to the bird feeder. I’ve moved the feeders nearer the house this winter so that we get a better view. They are dangling off the rose around the arch at the end of the path. The theory is that the thorns of the rose will keep the squirrels away. Not sure if it has worked but hey. The upshot is that I suspect the small birds that can reach the feeder spend a little more time looking around for any signs of danger before they take the plunge. The robin did just that and when he flew down to the feeder he spent just enough time there to peck a seed and then fly off. Hopefully he got what he wanted. Maybe I’ll move them back to the apple tree.
The feeders at the rose seem inaccessible to woodpigeons who now just peck around underneath hoping to catch any discards. I don’t like woodpigeons. Their noise is irritating and they bully the smaller birds. I guess they have a place in the ecosystem.
Later this morning the attic beckons…
It’s not much of a title is it – the TV room. It’s only relevance is that I’m actually sat in the TV room writing this. Apart from the downstairs toilet, where the radiator is large relative to the size of the room, the TV room is the warmest in the house. It seems to be the right place to sit on a day where the outside temperature feels as if it is adhering to the seasonal norm.
There is a cup of tea at my side. The cup rests on last nights hotel receipt on top of Joe’s electric guitar amp. I didn’t want to risk leaving a ring on the amp. Anne is chatting to Erica on the phone in the kitchen. A no pressure day in prospect with the slight caveat that my tooth doesn’t seem to have made up its mind whether it is going to ache or not.
Cars drive by on the road outside. Past the pedestrian crossing.
I have a couple of objectives in mind for today. Firstly I need to put some time in the attic taking up the OO track. The attic is being turned into a screening room. One envisages small exclusive pre release showings of major Hollywood blockbusters, with the producers looking for go/nogo approvals from John and his pals. Popcorn, fizzy drinks, the rustling of sweet papers, a torch.
The second objective, which can be attained in stages, is to alphabetically sort the books on the TV room shelves. That feels like a relaxing activity whereby I can shuffle books around over a period of time. Would be quite useful to have a button I could click that does the job in the same way as sorting files on a computer.
…
I can confirm that today around 70m of Hornby )) track has been lifted in the attic and the layout is no more. In some respects I felt as if I was implementing the Beeching Act for model trains. However it has served its purpose and will now stay boxed up until another generation of Davies wants to play with trains. We also have a Scalectrix up there somewhere.
Tomorrow I will be taking a saw to some of the shelf that the track was laid on in order to make room for facilities. We aren’t totally sure what the facilities will be yet but they will support the showing of moving pictures as previously mentioned.
The featured image was taken on the pedestrian crossing outside our house on the walk back from the Morning Star.
Yer not getting much today. Just got back from Laandan after a hugely successful LONAP dinner last night. Joe Baguley of VMWare was our guest speaker. He is always very entertaining.
This morning walked to Kings Cross. Bit of a cold un and lots of disruption to trains up north due to “Storm Gertie” bless er. Had a meeting in Kings Cross station at 9.30. For this trip I accidentally bought tickets that had a young person’s railcard discount. I was quite happy to pay the difference owed but it was slightly galling due to the fact that earlier this month when Anne and I went to Venice I forgot to buy the discounted tickets. Fortunately the guards let me off in each direction. They are good guys these guards.
Not hungover as such but lacking in energy and I also seem to have picked up a toothache on the left side. This is literally a pain – I’ve only just been to the dentist.
Diet goes out the door today due to last night’s excesses and the prospect of doing it all again tonight at the school Burns Night in Hemswell Court.
Picked up the MOT for dad’s Peugeot so I will now be able to send off the forms to get it re-registered in the UK. ALso dropped in to BBC Radio Lincolnshire to record some stuff to go out on William Wright’s drive time show tonight. The County Council have a serious virus swilling around its systems destroying files.
Thassit for now. Gotta go and get my kilt sorted and have a quick shufty at the Address to the Haggis that I seem to have been stitched up with reading at the Burns Night.
PS the featured image shows a strangely and uncharacteristically empty Kings Cross station.
Today’s date has been written in code. You and I know how to decode it but an alien from another planet might look at it and wonder about the relevance of the word “cauliflower” or “bile duct”, or anything really. It could mean something completely different in another life form. They may not have cauliflowers or bile ducts on the planet Zog but I think you know what I mean. Assuming you can decode my sense of humour.
Orf to Laandan this morning. It’s an 11.35 train so plenty of time for me to walk down. We are having a LONAP dinner tonight with Joe Baguley, CTO of VMWare, as guest speaker. Should be an interesting evening. Joe is a good lad.
My walk to the station followed a 30 minute session in the pool and will be followed by a walk to the Holiday Inn at Russell Square. That’s not very far from Kings Cross but every little helps eh? Unfortunately it’ll be an uphill struggle on the fitness front today because of the dinner which will be supplemented by a hotel breakfast and a Burns Night dinner in Hemswell tomorrow.
When I was a student I joined the Dennis the Menace fan club. As part of the membership pack you got access to the club code where you could send secret messages to other members. Not sure I ever sent anyone anything but it was cool to have:).
Nowadays, working in the internet industry, every word is spoken in code. It’s a language made up mainly of acronyms. If you are in the club it all sounds perfectly understandable. If not it’s total gobbledygook.
49206c6561766520796f7520776974682061206d65737361676520696e2068657861646563696d616c20666f726d2e204c697665206c6f6e6720616e642062652068617070792e
Swim 30 mins, weetabix banana raisins, chat with Hannah, chat with Joe, sign off trefor.net fixes/mods, agree to go to Barcelona for MWC, book flights & hotels & trains, ryvita & cottage cheese lunch, chat with dad, work on contract for Anne’s Vans, ITSPA conf call re Convergence Summit North, book Harrogate hotel, first session in gym 45 mins inc 30 mins steps – need to arrange induction and programme setting, drop by West End Tap to deliver Pylons gig tickets, deliciouys chocken salad, bath, couple beers with Nige at Tap, pick up kids from JV, bed.
Decided to up the ante on the walking today. A quick glance at Google maps suggested that a round trip via Sudbrooke would be in the region of 8 or 9 miles. Just the right increase from the five miles I did the other day. When I got to Scothern I faced a decision as to whether to turn left for Nettleham and home or carry straight on for Scothern. I couldn’t remember whether it was Sudbrooke or Scothern I had decided was my objective so I went for the latter, longer route.
This way turned out to be 8 miles to Nettleham and a further three back to Lincoln. My feet by then, unaccustomed to the pounding, decided they needed a rest and I took refuge in the warm and very welcoming Tea Cosy Cafe.
It was quite hard going this morning. Partly this was because my body is still not hardened to the walking and the feet in particular were providing feedback. The other problem was that winter storm Jonas, having dumped record quantities of snow on the East Coast of the USA has been making its way across the Atlantic. The upshot of this was half my walk was into the teeth of a gale which, whilst emulating real world conditions that I might face on the coast to Coast walk, was an unnecessary element at this stage of my training.
Whilst sat in the caff emptying the pot of tea Google told me that there was a bus due in ten or fifteen minutes. I decided that 8 miles was good enough for today and that adding the three more it would take to get me home would wait for another day.
I bought a small pork pie from the coop for my lunch and the bus arrived on time at five past the hour to take me back to Lincoln.
A few observations arise. Firstly you notice a lot more when you are walking. This is not new news. Just reissued. This news is only partially true this morning because of the weather which caused me to concentrate on the road ahead. I did spot, fwiw, a small electricity substation by the side of the road in the North Greetwell area. There was also an old garage that was no longer in business but emitted echoes of its past.
The other take home message of the morning was the traffic queuing to get into Lincoln. It was either stationary of moving very slowly for the whole of the walk from our house along Wragby Road to the roundabout on the bypass. It’s no life is it? I also heard the RaF Red Arrows practicing above Scampton. I could see the smoke trails but not the planes themselves. The cars and the planes seemed to be very remote from what I was doing, walking along the footpath. Of a different age.
The road between Sudbrooke and Nettleham was particularly hard going into the wind. There was no footpath and it was a lot easier to walk on the road than on the long grass verge. I did step up onto the verge whenever a vehicle came towards me. Those cars that moved across giving me a wide berth got a wave of thanks. A few didn’t.
That particular stretch of road was long and it was quite satisfying reaching the bend that took the straight out of my sight. A little further on there was a sign offering a dozen eggs for £2.20. Were I carrying a day bag I’d have stopped and bought some. As it was the soreness of my feet kept my mind focussed on moving forward.
I’m not anticipating problems with sore feet in the long run. One of the reasons for these walks is to wear in the boots and get my feet used to the pounding. I’m back home in my office now, a brew on the go and a comfortable leather chair taking the strain. My natural pose for the last twenty five years.
Old Jonas, if he will permit me the familiarity, is flexing his muscles as I write. The trees in the back garden are animated and I am happy to be indoors in the warmth. My next objective will be 10 miles, interspersed with sessions in the pool and the gym. Good eh?
Nettleham village green
Nettleham church
Did my usual 30 mins in the pool followed by a visit to my dentist John Hill. John and I used to get together in the snug of the Victoria early doors of a Friday. If I needed to go to see him professionally I’d arrange to be the last patient in and we would walk up the hill to the pub afterwards.
Neither of us frequent the Vic anymore and that crowd has dispersed. It’s always nice to have a catch-up with him though, even if it is open mouthed and in between aaahs. On this occasion I needed a new fillin. “fortunately” it was the same tooth that was fixed last August so it was still within its guarantee period. Funny to think that you can apply a warranty to something like a tooth.
The upshot is that in the aftermath of the injections my right hand jaw is now sore and I had to cut up my cheese and onion toastie into small pieces in order to be able to get it down. Cooked the toastie on the George Foreman Grill by the way. I know that details like that are very important:)
After the dentist I swung by Coops’ garage to check on the progress of the Peugeot’s MOT. It failed the first time due to excessive emissions. This wasn’t a surprise. After all the car has only done 31k miles in 18 years. Most of the trips have been short ones to the golf club and back. Never long enough to burn off the crud. It’s being resubmitted this afternoon. Fingers crossed eh?
Finally I swung back to Yarborough Leisure Centre to sort out my gym membership. Anne and I are both members of the pool but it was only £50 more to have the gym included to a no brainer really. Walking is still going to be my priority but no harm in mixing it up.
The rest of the day is going to be sorting some LONAP stuff – we are having a dinner on Thursday in London and hopefully moving Anne’s Vans forward. Today is the due date for the website. Exciting eh?
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