Yogi Does Storm Bert
Yogi and I did a walk in the storm. It was blowy and damp.
Christmas trees everywhere
All over town they have popped up. And it is not even December.
F F F Freezing Run
Quick snap on the run 'cause I was frozen.
And finger shoes mean I doubt my toes will ever forgive me.
Before the snow
Shorter run because it started to rain. Then snow. So cut the loop at the bridge.
Clumps with Yogi
Morning autumn walk with the Yogmister. A bit much for Ewok these days, so he chills instead.
Bruce Lee at the Ultimate
Bruce Lee at Oxford's Ultimate Picture Palace followed by super grub at Le Kesh. Yummy.
My favourite run
Before the pandemic the works "favourite" and "run" wouldn't be a combination I'd ever expect to say. Four years later and there are some running views that are definitely favourites.
Huge thank you to #CouchTo5k, NHS and Every Mind Matters.
Up early
End of a lovely week 'camping out' in the cottage. Relaxing as it could be with lots of fit and finish decisions to make. Up early to pack the house into the storage container. (Couldn't quite believe how much stuff you can accumulate in 7 days.)
Camping out in Halfpint
Still lots to do, but enough done to camp out for a few days in Halfpint. And by "camping" I mean something a little more luxurious than the brick tent camping we did before all the work started.
Can you see the sea?
If you lean out of the window.
And if you consider the estuary the sea.
Hence Halfpint is Halfpint and not "Sea View".
Shed transforming
The shed like thing (and occasional dog shelter) is slowly transforming into a studio space.
The roof has been rebuilt (using the slates that weren't broken from the gable wall of the house). New windows and doors. Radon sump because, well because despite this architects apparently architect. Gable end rebuilt and lime rendered. Tanking in place ready for new floor next. Then internal partitions, first fix, second fix and decoration.
Will it be done before the end of the year? Guesses in the comments below…
Comments
2024-11-02 15:22:02 anonymous No
2024-11-02 15:21:03 also anonymous Yes
2024-11-02 15:20:04 possibly anonymous Maybe
Two Doors
Front Door: step mosaic checking. Will they fit?
Rinsing Wetsuits
Outside water. How posh. Makes rinsing wetsuits easier (with fewer puddles up the stairs).
Lunch at the Blue Tin
Walk in the woods with Yogi & F and the delicious grub at the Blue Tin. Lovely.
Kool G Rap
Lads, lads, lads night out at the Jazz Cafe for Kool G Rap. Thanks S for organizing. Like B Block, it's a state of mind.
Stockholm Again, Again
Stockholm x2: When your distributed team gets together for a week, but then you get another team who had planned for a different week.
Honiton Hippo
Before.
The amazing Honiton Hippo. Big thanks to G&J for signing us up. A wonderful experience. Might need to persuade the boys to join us next year…
House Progress
Progress, progress, progress 🤩. Still lots to go to finish, but it's come a long long way.
Measuring Cars
Twist or stick? A slightly bigger boot and slightly more range would be perfect… but we're sticking 🤩
ouch
Getting my excuses in early. Training is a tad challenging because a) blisters and b) blister plasters.
Post Op
Exploded Lipoma (yes, thank's Yogi) resulted in an emergency op which was all a bit fraught for a 100+ chap with slightly dodgy kidneys.
Wonderful B&B
The most wonderful B&B. You did have to go with the vibe, but if you go with the vibe, then the vibe is awesome.
Bike Collection
Jumped on the train to Newbury to pick up the bike.
Horse Guards
Horse guards out for the morning exercise. First time I've seen a troop of horses pull out in front of a blue light.
Reading Ride
32k river-ish route, off road and side roads, to Reading. Much nicer than the bus, even if it was warm.
H's electrolytes for a rapid recovery.
Pen-Y-Fan Sunrise
Up early. Early? More like up late since I don't think there was two much sleep before 02:30. For a little amble up to Pen-Y-Fan for sunrise (05:31 according to the Met Office).
We we up on Corn Du for 05:18 and the boys decided a "swift jog" over to Pen-Y-Fan for the moment was entirely doable. Slightly gutted that their pace from summit to summit was substantially brisker than my 5k pace on the flat 🤔
Setting off with nothing but stars, some moon, and the occasional strobe of F's head torch was a little magical.
Camping and wood-fired pizza at the always great Pencelli was fantastic, especially a few hours kip in my awesome Bivvy 🤩
And some not bad low-light captures from this Fuji sensor 📷.
Weir Progress
Progress. Well, preparation progress. We thought it would be a while. And so far it has.
Robertsbridge
Strangeness in Robertsbridge:
- Wheelbarrow guard of honour at the station entrance
- Bike stands used as protection for the planters (and more wheelbarrows)
- A pile of (maybe) donated books for the (possibly) swap-a-book stall in the station?
Winning Here
"in a nonviolent struggle, the only weapon that you’re going to have is numbers." Srdja Popovic, Blueprint for Revolution
Tactical voting FTW!
Didcot and Wantage
| Name of candidate | Description (if any) | Number of votes |
|---|---|---|
| BEATTY Steve | Reform UK | 6400 |
| CASEY-RERHAYE Sam | The Green Party | 2693 |
| GLOVER Olly | Liberal Democrat | 21793 (elected) |
| JOHNSTON David Mervyn | The Conservative Party Candidate | 15560 |
| KHAN Mocky | Labour Party | 8045 |
| POMLETT Kyn | Social Democratic Party | 242 |
Henley and Thame
| Name of candidate | Description (if any) | Number of votes |
|---|---|---|
| CARPIN David | Independent | 306 |
| MANLEY-BROWNE Nanda | Labour Party | 3574 |
| NEWTON Caroline Anne | The Conservative Party Candidate | 17637 |
| POMLETT Maryse | Social Democratic Party | 515 |
| ROBB Jo | The Green Party | 2008 |
| SHIELDS Peter | Reform UK | 5213 |
| VAN MIERLO Freddie | Liberal Democrats | 23904 (elected) |
> "And here’s the tricky part: every time we run this exercise, in which we ask people to imagine what’s important to their fellow countrymen, no one ever speaks of things like civil rights, or freedom of religion, or the right to assemble. Those are big things. Instead, people—in the Maldives, in Syria, in Serbia—talk about the little things: they want respect and dignity, they want their families to be safe, and they want honest pay for honest work. That’s it. It’s never sweeping stuff. Too often, however, dissidents fail to realize that it’s the mundane things that move people. Well-educated and passionate, these aspiring revolutionaries focus on lofty quotations from historical leaders and abstract ideas of liberty, forgetting that their constituent is a tired shopkeeper whose needs and thoughts and beliefs are far more basic."
Srdja Popovic, Blueprint for Revolution
Evening Views
Wednesday: heading out to S's for beer and body count prep.
Friday: heading to town to pick up supplies for dinner. Chef H in the house.
Emperor Naruhito says Hi!
So I had no clue that Emperor Naruhito had been in London and met with the king. Not a peep until I literally passed Buckingham Palace on the way into the office and wondered about the choice of tea-towels hanging along the street.
View from the Sella Hut
A pretty amazing place to spend the night. The Vittorio Sella Hut at Alpe Lauson (2.588 m.) in the Gran Paradiso National Park. Lovely people, great food, beer AND ESPRESSO!
And wildlife too!
Yogi does the clumps
The Clumps are a bit of a stretch for Little E now. That means Yogi gets a work out on his own. Today: up and down through the buttercups and past the occasional daisy or two.
Getting old
Little E is getting a little slower, and someday's he's far from being one hundred percent. On tonight's evening stroll he forgot which way we were heading. So please, don't be too surprised if there's more than a few Ewok pics for the next while or two. After all, the little fella has been with us for a while, and put more than a bit of an amazing shift in.
Morning Walk
A wet and windy walk that got brighter and dryer.
A good year for caterpillars
Not content with eating all the box, another type of caterpillar are now covering things that aren't box. Haven't seen this for a while
London Run
In every day this week (not done that since before the pandemic), and my body tired of the commute so I stayed over on Thursday to get some decent sleep. That didn't work out great, so I found myself on a beautiful morning run rather early.
Слава Україні! as they say in the Cabinet Office.
Old Haunts
The amazing B has tracked down somewhere around 85% of PEIS. Astounding and commendable. At this rate we might even meet up. Inspired by M (who did similarly a day earlier) I took a (very short) detour on the ride in to grab a reminder of the place where we met.
Slow
I have this "waiting for trains" thing down. Book. Coffee. Vegan Carrot Cake from Mokoko Bath. Sorted.
But first coffee
One down from 積ん読. A great read by Jenny Graham on her world record round the world ride: Coffee First, Then the world.
Seen from the door of the tent at Pencelli.
Cheat cream
Yes, it's ok to snag an ice cream before the end of the hike (you just can't bet on one being available at the end!).
This one from a lovely chap at Torpantau.
camping
Mart booked us a slot in the lovely Pencelli Castle campsite (note to self, castle???). Last time we were here was with the boys. Smoking!
Brecon Loop
A beautiful 30k loop with Mart in the Brecon's.
Blaen-y-Glyn down to Torpantau and then the track up to what was the Upper Neuadd Reservoir (still on the OS map 😉). Then a steep up to the ridge along to Cefn Cul, past Rhiw yr Ysgyfarnog and Craig-Gwaun-Taf to Corn Du (and the first cheese and salad Croissant).
From Corn Du to Pen y Fan (ignoring the very English queue for the summit photo), a second Croissant, and then across to Cribyn (and a third).
Cribyn down then up to Fan y Big, Croissant number 4, and a chat with the mountain biker (olde school, hard core, no E's).
Decision time: short or longer way back?
Fan y Big down to Craig Cwareli, along the ridge to Bwich y Ddwyallt and then across and down the spur ro Twyn Du and the bottom of the Talybont Reservoir (danger, hidden machinery and strong currents!).
From the reservoir the track (cycle route 8) all along the eastern shore and a slog back up to Blaen-y-Glyn.
Awesome. Thanks mate!
Here's the route (via openrouteservice):
.
Padstow, Briefly
Padstow, briefly. Catching up with N and P and seeing the progress. Big thanks to F for looking out for the boys.
Ewok, Frazzled
Still not 100% with his trim. But posting by the laundry helped. Apparently, it's a competition with Pip.
Pill Box Evening
The view across the field to the pill box and the tower of Benson Church. Beautiful Light.
Post run Yogi rest
Yogi. Seriously unimpressed that when I said "let’s go for a run" I meant it literally.
A stroll along the river bank
At last, some half decent weather. We walked into town. It was beautiful, but a little too far for little E.
Ewok trying to hide
Trying to blend in with the pile of straw at the bottom of the field. Not too successfully.
May in the garden
It's back, May in the Garden. Early May at least.
More May in the Garden.
2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 (May-ish) | 2017 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | 2011 | 2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005
Maintaining Power
Power off so some awesome tree surgeons could give the woods a hair cut. I did offer to help, but they'd met Ewok.
Power packs to the rescue. We have experience of this.
Yogi Pause
Walks are two speed. Slow, slow, slow with Little E. And very much not so slow from Yogi. Yogi waits at the blue gate. Usually.
350D going strong
Trade in value: £18. Sentimental value: priceless.
Small, light, fun to use, and takes the Canon glass. But it's not upto replacing the 100v however much I might like it too.
Rads
Grabbing a coffee in the office and I noticed that they have the style of rads we're thinking of for half pint. Is that a coincidence? Or is the office style subliminally infecting my sense of decoration?
Haircut
Old little E is getting a little too fragile for the groomers. So surprise! My turn to do the trim. Are you impressed? Little E wasn't.
Fixed!
So exciting, the x100 returned from repairs. Except not. The part is no longer manufactured. Now to ponder what to replace a x100T with…
…might take a while
Tate
A trip to St Ives and The Tate.
The same spot in 2006 …
…and again in 2011.
This trip was much much better than 2014, but we had almost the same view stopper.
A treat for this trip: pictures by Alfred Wallis.
More St Ives from moments past.
Family Henley 10k
What's all this? A tag on my shoes?
So after seeing H complete a half marathon in Nottingham last month we somehow signed up for the Henley River 10k 🤔
Three PBs. A 5th, 24th and 83rd overall, with first prize to our support crew and the post-run Easter pint.
Next?
Passion Play
The best way from Paddington to Trafalgar Square? Two-wheels! You get fresh air (closed roads!) and exercise and all the sights!!!
The seats weren't too bad 🤩
And back to an old haunt for some food. Can you guess where?.
Too small and too big
The reviews were right. Even going up a size these were almost impossible to put on. I needed stick ankles and fat feet to fit. Shame.
Forty
The footpath is now cleared. So you don't need to step out into the road to get round the brambles, and for the first time lovely F and I could hold hands walking home from a night out. The speed limit is now 40. Which makes it a tad less scary when someone ignores my signal to turn right, or isn't paying attention when the driver in front overtakes me irrespective of oncoming traffic.
Anyone would think that gambling with someone else's life was a perfectly acceptable trade for being able to join the queue for the Shillingford Bridge traffic lights a few seconds sooner.
60k loop
Section 1: Wallingford to Oxford off-road, along the old Roman Road that linked Dorchester with Alchester.
Section 2: Along the Thames Path to Abingdon.
Section 3: Cycle highway 5 to Brightwell via Didcot and Long Wittenham.
Sun. Rain. And two flats (one white).
DJ Shadow
DJ Shadow | Bristol: Please respect those who would like to enjoy a device-free experience.
Construction incoming
The weir is still shut. But there are hints that steps are slowly progressing. Here's hoping.
The project update
A little update on the project. It's going to be a little bit more work than we thought; some of it is showing the wear and tear of 300+ birthdays.
Morning Run London Pt 2
Day 2 in London. Day 2 of morning runs. Earlier today because I didn't sleep.
Morning Run London
Up early for a 6k loop around Parliament and the South Bank. Quick stop at what was Oren in Coin Street for the memories ♥
Walking Back
I used to ride through Bank Junction every work day. It's now getting the pedestrian-friendly treatment. Welcome to a spot of calm in the city.
Squeezing along the north bank Thames path to catch a glimpse of the river.
Broken x100
It's been a while since a broken camera. But the X100 is locking up randomly. <sadface>
</sadface>. Hopefully the lovely Fuji techs can fix it.
Spaces
There are two platform-side bike racks at Paddington Station. These are the racks for annual commuters. Or at least they used to be. There's a lot more spaces free than before the pandemic 🤔
Opps. No shower
The universe, with its sense of humour, comes at you fast.
I should have known that gloating about being the only one would have its downside.
Almost that loop again
I really do enjoy this loop. Except this was slightly different because last weekend the bridleway along the river was flooded and I decided I liked the idea of dry feet for a change.
Very muddy. Feet didn't stay dry, but did stay warm. Enough.
Probably far from a fair test of Homethings washing up liquid. But hey, why not? It did a pretty good job too...
Showers
Most recently "showers" has meant being outside and getting soaked. Today was inside and trying to avoid getting soaked. Thank you Screw Fix (& sorry Colliers)
Just Me
For the first half of January I thought I was always late to the office because the locker room was so busy. Last week I realised it was all the new year resolutions. Because last week is when they stopped. And now there's always space on a bench.
H Half
A mini-trip: Loughborough and Nottingham to watch H in his first half marathon and raising funds for Movember 👍👍👍. Great fun!
The gap
Looking across to the gap from Hawker's Cove. Imagine this moving while listening to Coldplay.
Padstow, high tide at the outer harbour
The end of a long, downer of a week. Dragged myself out for the last of the daylight. Result.
Running to Hawker's
The top of the hill, now heading down.
Nearly back to town, with noone watching the ferry.
Padstow Reflecting
Editors note: does this make your eyes go funny too? The image is flipped so it's upside down, which makes your brain think that you're looking up to the boats, and that doesn't make sense because for that to be up you'd need to be under water.
Dog walk wading
At what point does a walk become a wade?
[Ed: don't ever enter flood water, it's dangerous. The RNLIs Flood Rescue Manual has a section on the study of water and hazards that explains why.]
2024 Floods Three
January blues beating idea: let's ride a loop along the river and see what's happening. First stop Shillingford.
2024 Floods Two
Yup, it got worse over night.
Yes. Lake Gerald is back
Yogi on fire
...enjoying the glow in the evening sun.
(I had turn the vibrance down on this one. I know, no no filter.)
2024 Floods
We walked down to see how the river was treating the temporary parking for the lock keeper.
Not great.
"I'll sit here for scale" said Yogi.
Ewok wasn't impressed either.
