So now it feels like it's properly April although after such stunning weather over the weekend you might well have thought it was summer already.
This one's just a quick diary catchup, just so I'm keeping track of the comings and goings, the why's and wherefores, the strikes and the gutters. In this case, that means what the hell have I been up to in the last week? I mean I've mentioned a few things, and there's been a couple of photo's, but I do appear to have somewhat slipped from the habit of writing an entry everyday.
In part this is because of the distractions that the new year has brought. Work has changed dramatically and so I've been re-aligning myself to it. Bizarrely, I'm starting to get a bit of a kick out of it again. Something that hasn't been the case for more than a couple of years. However, I'm all too aware of the fragility of the place. Things can disappear as quickly as they arrive, and vicky verky (which roughly translated means vice-versa)
Perhaps I should resolve to return to 750words.com, which is after all, what got me into this mess in the first place. I might take a poke around at it if schedules permit, but let's not count any chickens.The other thing that's diverted me is the use of instagr-am. Without doubt the coolest photography app on the iPhone, I find myself using it to document goings on without writing anything. I know they say a picture is worth a thousand words, but then they say all sorts of things don't they. Many of which are just old wives and grandmothers tales. The immediacy of posting a photo to the blog is a big draw and apparently so much so that it is becoming my shorthand for writing an entry of any substance. It's not a situation I'm particularly over-the-moon about.
I like words. No, that's not right. I love words. They are solid concrete things that explain how the world around me looks, and feels and works and yet at the same time, they are malleable and as such I can bend them to my very will. I can use them to create beautiful structures, bold sentences and bull sh1t, as well as alliteration. (I see what you did there -Ed) They are immensely powerful and instantly disposable. Just like the old newspaper saying: "Today's headline is just tomorrow's chip wrapper" *. From Shakespeare to swearing and back again, words are a heavenly device, hence my feeling I should write more and photograph less.
For the geeks who were wondering how that hangs together.... A photo in my library or taken from within instagr-am itself is posted to the instagr-am site, Twitter, Posterous, Facebook and if it has location info attached to it, checks me in on Foursquare all simultaneously. The Posterous entry can then also create entries for Blogger, Tumblr and Wordpress. You can see the appeal. Click-post-disseminate. Simples.None of this is telling you about my week though is it. It is just procrastination which avoids the subject and diverts us away from the stated aims. So let's get to it....
Monday - work, Tuesday - work, Wednesday - work, Thursday - work (and WTC very poorly administered by Jugs), Friday - work. I would like to expand on the work details, but I've signed an NDA, so I could tell you, but the I'd have to have you "taken care of" to put it as politely as possible. Besides that, the Badman puts it so much better than I. You really should take a look at http://badmansjournal.blogspot.com/. Friday night was a short bike ride (4 miles) with daughter on which I nearly died. I kid you not. At the time I was very concerned about my health and felt I might actually have been near some sort of heart malfunction. After some recuperation however, I've drawn the conclusion that there were actually four factors that contributed to my in-the-region-of-death experience (it wasn't that near).1: Illness. I've had a cold/flu thing over the last couple of weeks which I haven't fully shaken off. It's definitely on the wane now though. I suspect that my oxygen flow was far from at it's peak with much coughing and spluttering.
2: Daughters Pace. She is after all, only 21 and as fit as a preverbal butchers dog. I probably shouldn't try to out run her.3: Weather. It was damn hot on Friday and I was no doubt a little de-hydrated, compounded by the fact that Fridays inconveniently fall after Thursdays (WTC). And finally...
4: Bike. Turns out the crank shaft bearings have gone, and so to keep pace with any normal bike, you end up pedalling almost double time, and there's little or no free wheeling. It's a (potential) killer. Saturday started with some lawn mowing, and general garden tidying while daughter and Mrs G ran some town based errands. It then completely skipped over the Grand National which I had on my initial list as something to have a look at and then morphed into a spontaneous Bar-B-Q. Who knew?!! Mrs G, Daughter and I just thought as it was such a nice day we'd have a few friends round, open up the hot tub, fire up the bar-bee and crack a few tinnies, along with some carefully selected wines.It's on days like that that the hot tub shows itself as the sound investment it was. In fact, more of a cool tub on such a day. Having turned it down to a mere 30 degrees, it made for a most refreshing dip from the heat and was especially fun for the kids. The adults enjoyed the weather and frivolity. The bar-bee passed it's first run of the year, and the iTunes DJ feature got a good testing. No party should be without it in this day and age. Most entertaining.
Sunday had the same weather again. We'd unfortunately had a rather sleepless night caused by some engineering works on the nearby railway. I understand that night time works are the least disruptive to the network, but they are still the most disruptive to our sleep patterns. On the plus side, Sunday meant we allowed ourselves a lie-in and I actually felt my cold/flu/thing lift a little.So much so in fact, that Mrs G and resolved to cycle into the city and back out and over to her offices. The logic with a ride to her offices is in preparation for her daily commute. She's intending to cycle with daughter and wanted to gauge the timing. Naturally after Friday's events I wasn't overly keen, but in point of fact, I had nothing to be concerned about. 2 out of 4 of my previous issues were dealt with (it was still hot and I have yet to have the crankshaft bearing replaced) and as a result, it was a most enjoyable outing. About 8 miles round trip - felt like 200 yards - a doddle.
For the final leg, Mrs G and I swapped bikes. What a dream it is to ride on a decent set of crankshaft bearings (said the actress to the bishop). The repair is imminent I feel.
And here we are, back at Monday. What does this week hold? Well at least one day will spent with the Badman in another Starfleet office. My diary has a few conference calls and meetings throughout but beyond that... I have no idea.
I'm hoping for a week as smooth as my new bearings will be. Have fun.* For the American audience, I feel this one really needs a proper bit of explanation. Back in the day, the Brits used to buy "deep fried fish with french fries" on a Friday night as "take out". The french fries would be wrapped up in yesterday's newspaper. Waste not, want not. Today, Mr Health & Nanny State Safety, wouldn't dream of allowing such a thing to take place, not least because newspaper ink is probably more toxic now than it was 30 years ago. Instead we have plain boring chip paper. Where's the fun in that?
This post originally appeared here: Posterous
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