grendel

i reminds me of one re-enactment i went to near Uckfield, the campsite was in a field at the head of a valley, and overnight it was blowing a hooligan, my little bivvie tent (i was attending on a motorcycle so space was at a premium) was flapping like nothing, i was trying to sleep and even wearing full motorcycling gear (including helmet), the noise was so bad i couldnt sleep, I eventually decamped to the porch of the pub and slept there. in the morning I recovered the remains of my tent (blown to shreds by the wind), and was surprised to see that the neighbouring trailer tent had been moved 20 feet down the hillside, it was at this point the occupants woke up, and stuck their noses out of the door and were very much surprised at their new location, the whole thing had slid 20 feet downslope during the night. ah those wonderful days when we roughed it .

well that has been one busy bank holiday day, started out with a phone call, dad, the water tank is leaking and the living room floor is wet. answer turn off the water supply feeding the tank and run the taps to lower the water level, 10 minutes later, dad, the tap just spins and the valve stem isnt turning- ok trip over to daughters with an adjustable wrench, tap turned off, everything drying out now. Back home and it was time for my slightly delayed bike ride, today I was going to try and get all the way to whitstable (just over 7 miles) So on the bike and away I went, arrived in whitstable just as the mayday parade started, managed to get across in front of it and to the seafront, so along the seafront to tankerton, where I stopped and ate the sandwich I took with me, then retraced my steps back along the seafront, just in time to meet the end of the parade arriving back, took a detour in the one direction I could go and worked my way back to the cycle route, then off to home, total trip 20 miles. this trip, as I finally got home the battery capacity meter dropped the first bar off the top, so there might be some truth in the 60-80 mile range claim., excuse the rotated pictures, but I had already corrected the rotation. this means since I got the bike on the 20th April, I have already clocked up 88.9 miles cycling

after doing my own shopping I took my dad shopping, arrived home at about 4pm, then had a bite to eat, after that it was on the bike and head along the only flat (ish route out of Canterbury, along the river, got out past chartham, and then lost the path, the footpath I was now following ended at a tile, so at that point I turned round and headed home, 12 miles total, in just a week and a day I have clocked up 53.9 miles, and its getting easier.

I nearly bought a mini once, when I got in and tried to drive it and found that when i braked I also hit the throttle and clutch with the same foot, I decided against that idea.

dont be silly- pedal backwards of course.

it was up to 16 degrees in my back garden lunch time.

11 miles on the bike today, almost all the way to whitstable, thats nearly 42 miles in just one week of having the bike.

we hired a 7.5 ton box van to move, and it was full, to the point the last jigsaw to go in was slid on top of a wardrobe and nearly touched the roof, we had left a space for the step ladder in the back, so that went in and the doors were shut, nothing moved. all we had left to travel in the cars were the plastic plates, mugs and cutlery, we had purchased these so we could have a takeaway the night before and another the night after, our friends slept ove in sleeping bags on the floor (everything was packed) and then next morning we set off for our new house. it was a council exchange so we helped the people moving out (and to our old house) load their van, then once the way was clear we set to and unloaded our van into the house- we at least had armchairs for people to sleep in that night.

well after just a quick 1 1/2 mile trip to B&Q yesterday, today I managed 9 miles in the direction of Dover, lts a lot of steep up and down, yet I still havent managed to drop the charge light below max.

is that the yard between hippersons and the bridge?

theres the place just opposite the great Yarmouth Yacht Station too

about where I have coloured below, there is a pontoon

I have a simple philosophy, if its growing where i dont want it to- its a weed, if its growing somewhere I dont care and it looks pretty- its a flower, if its growing somewhere and its edible, its a vegetable. if its growing among the vegetables / fruit and its not edible, then its a weed. and my garden is not a mess, its a carefully cultivated wild bird sanctuary.

sadly even Canute 0ver 1000 years ago could not stop the tide coming in and eroding the coast, there is enormous power in the action of the sea, any defences no matter the cost would only delay the inevitable, it would literally be a case of throwing money into the sea, and even if they did manage to stop erosion at one location, it would just shift the problem to somewhere else.

well I am getting better at this cycling lark, yesterday rain stopped play (the sun came out briefly to stick its tongue out at me around 7.30pm) but after work today it was hop on the bike, head across town on the cycle paths, and back roads, and out towards Ashford on cycle route 18, I made it nearly as far as chartham and then returned, a lovely cycle alongside the river. and just near home I had dismounted to cross the main road, crossed the first half, and spotted a car coming round the roundabout just as I started to cross the second half, when with a shout and squeal of brakes another cyclist only just stopped- why he was cycling the wrong way up a main road was something I cant answer, I was watching the direction traffic should have been coming, and was a pedestrian (pushing a bike) across a legitimate crossing, so not my fault i deem. (I then promptly fell over trying to get back on the bike as there was a dip right where my foot was). All in all for me to be cycling the distances i am (i have totalled 21.6 miles in 4 rides, today was 7.6 miles) is quite remarkable as i normally get out of breath at a normal walking pace.

and you can always visit the post office if you have any interest in the Arthur Ransome books

I think its more a case that at 2am people will be driving on the road not expecting not to see a big abnormal load, they are better moved during daylight.

I should get there in time, so put me on the list

my day has been rather tiring, first shopping then a trip out on the new electric bike, first trip to halfords to get a gel saddle cover, the ride i did yesterday proved i needed something softer. that trip then proceeded to Fordwich and back home along the route 1 national cycleway, that trip 6 miles. then some housework at home, and at 4pm I decided I needed a second trip today, so headed out up to the university where it becomes the crab and winkle way, got to the university and then headed home again, 4 more miles, so thats 10 miles covered today in total, considering how unfit I am thats a minor miracle, only possible with an E-bike, that 10 miles was achieved without dropping a bar on the battery so the 4 mile round trip this evening was achieved in just 39 minutes, just because its an ebike, doesnt mean that i am not going to get fit, I am achieving that half hour of harder breathing quite easily, the bike has 5 pedal assist levels and I find 3 quite comfortable most of the time, only using 4 or 5 on steep hills. the Aim is to get some longer rides in and improve my fitness, though all i want to do right now is fall asleep- still it is only day 2. half the time just pedalling on the flat and downhill, the motors not even cutting in.

dont worry it happens to the best of us too.

you will see i cant follow simple instructions - 2 nights paid separately forgot the boat name in the note- so paypal name should be familiar,

true, but when you can get a non smart phone for £25 and pay £10 to top it up every 3 or 4 months thats a considerable saving over a smart phone and contract payments, I just dont use a phone enough to justify spending even £100 on one, I have a spare non smart phone (bought when I drowned the current phone and had to put it in a bucket of rice for a few months to recover / dry out, that wasnt expensive either. for me its the expectation from all of the various bodies from the doctor to the government that everyone has to have a smart phone and can use their apps, that is most disturbing. the figures say that on average 88% of the population own smart phones - that drops to 78% when you consider over 55 year olds, this leaves over 8 million people who dont have a smart phone, worryingly its the teen and middle aged people who have a 99% smart phone usage - these are the age group that are starting to make the decisions and are assuming that everyone has a smartphone- because they themselves do. It leaves the elderly and the poor vulnerable to pressure to purchase a phone they may not be able to afford- or even afford to keep in credit

the point is, other than paying for things I have absolutely no use for a smart phone, all my needs are covered elsewhere, in a much more secure manner. making people reliant upon the latest tech is effectively controlling them. If I did have a smart phone, I would still not be using it for banking or payments, as i dont believe that is as secure as carrying cash and a bank card (its a trust thing, I dont trust the phone companies with my data- no matter how secure they tell me it is), if you lose a smartphone- you have lost your 'life' and cannot accomplish anything. So I will stick with my dumb phone that makes phone calls and does simple texts, thank you very much.

I do have a tablet, however its not got a sim, so only works when I am within range of my internet (or wifi dongle) the tablet is the main reason I dont have a smart phone as I find that a smartphone has too small a screen to read, the buttons are too small to press, and its economically unviable for the few uses I do have for a phone, I have PAYG and generally top up £10 every 3 or 4 months, I have no need for a smartphone on contract, the main reason I have a phone at all is to use every day for MFA verification when I log in to work (you ought to see the fuss it caused when work said it was compulsory to use an app for this- they did backtrack quite quickly when I asked if they would provide a company phone for this purpose (I am in the one role where a company phone is not provided automatically). so it suits me fine to be considered a technical luddite without a smart phone.

Robin, while you dont carry cash, I dont carry a smart phone, I am already struggling parking the car, due to car parks assuming everyone has a smartphone, yet I always have a handful of cash on me, my parents have an old fashioned mobile phone, they dont even have the internet. and its my guess that there are quite a few people who would struggle should everything go digital. a few years ago I was sitting a test for a construction pass, in that field there are more than a few digitally challenged people who do a great job, out of the 20 candidates on the test, there must have been at least 3 who had absolutely no idea how to use a computer mouse. its not safe to assume that everyone can cope with technology, or has it available.