Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Infestation
This morning at breakfast Daisy spotted a tiny tiny little catepillar waddling across our dining table. I could barely see it, and had to move a bit closer.
"There's another", she said, pointing at the leaf of our rubber plant.
Sure enough, there was another one craning off the end of the leaf. As we watched, it leapt off and abseiled down towards our table. I was busy musing at the little thing lowering itself down, when Daisy shrieked.
On the ceiling there was a whole colony of them. It looked like a tiny dirt patch from normal level, but getting closer it was a swarm of around 100 of the things. There was another colony further over, and another.
Ewwwww
Under my microscope-like D70, you can see they're not at all nice. They were about 1-2mm long, and looked barely the width of a hair. We got rid of them with a good sucking of the Dyson.
The demise of the little rascals at the hose of the vacuum cleaner
"There's another", she said, pointing at the leaf of our rubber plant.
Sure enough, there was another one craning off the end of the leaf. As we watched, it leapt off and abseiled down towards our table. I was busy musing at the little thing lowering itself down, when Daisy shrieked.
On the ceiling there was a whole colony of them. It looked like a tiny dirt patch from normal level, but getting closer it was a swarm of around 100 of the things. There was another colony further over, and another.
Ewwwww
Under my microscope-like D70, you can see they're not at all nice. They were about 1-2mm long, and looked barely the width of a hair. We got rid of them with a good sucking of the Dyson.
The demise of the little rascals at the hose of the vacuum cleaner
Tuesday, June 28, 2005
Kingston Lacy
I know it's Tuesday, but this happened Sunday. I thought I better catch up with some posts, as I'm getting a bit behind!
If you remember, I baked an apple cake and some biscuits and we headed off with all our picnic equipment to arrive at Kingston Lacy by noon. The morning looked like it might be a cool day, but by the afternoon the sun was beating down and it was hitting 25oC again.
Kingston Lacy House
Kingston Lacy is a National Trust property that was once owned by the Bankes family whose previous home, Corfe Castle, had been ruined in a raid by the Parliamentary forces in 1646.
If you visit, you can look around the house, or just visit the gardens. I've been in the house many times and so with the consent of the friends we were meeting, it was decided we would just visit the gardens.
Awww, baby sheepy
We walked around a mile route that took us past the Japanese garden that they are introducing. Currently it is not a patch on a real japanese garden (like the ones we saw on our trip there last November), but it did look very pretty.
Was a hot day
We sat and ate our picnic (or at least, we ate some of it, as there was rather alot of it!) under the shade of a tree near the entrance to the formal gardens in which picnicing was prohibited.
Sundial in the grounds
We then took a longer walk through the woodlands to the south of the property, which was about 2 miles in length. It was a beautiful day for it, although I caught the sun on my [rather ample] forehead. My knee is almost back to normal now, although it's a little weak, so by the end my legs were aching.
It was a lovely day, though, and I can certainly recommend the gardens at Kingston Lacy for a nice wander around. They were pretty busy with people, and do cost £4 to get in (extra for the house), but they are great for photography :o)
If you remember, I baked an apple cake and some biscuits and we headed off with all our picnic equipment to arrive at Kingston Lacy by noon. The morning looked like it might be a cool day, but by the afternoon the sun was beating down and it was hitting 25oC again.
Kingston Lacy House
Kingston Lacy is a National Trust property that was once owned by the Bankes family whose previous home, Corfe Castle, had been ruined in a raid by the Parliamentary forces in 1646.
If you visit, you can look around the house, or just visit the gardens. I've been in the house many times and so with the consent of the friends we were meeting, it was decided we would just visit the gardens.
Awww, baby sheepy
We walked around a mile route that took us past the Japanese garden that they are introducing. Currently it is not a patch on a real japanese garden (like the ones we saw on our trip there last November), but it did look very pretty.
Was a hot day
We sat and ate our picnic (or at least, we ate some of it, as there was rather alot of it!) under the shade of a tree near the entrance to the formal gardens in which picnicing was prohibited.
Sundial in the grounds
We then took a longer walk through the woodlands to the south of the property, which was about 2 miles in length. It was a beautiful day for it, although I caught the sun on my [rather ample] forehead. My knee is almost back to normal now, although it's a little weak, so by the end my legs were aching.
It was a lovely day, though, and I can certainly recommend the gardens at Kingston Lacy for a nice wander around. They were pretty busy with people, and do cost £4 to get in (extra for the house), but they are great for photography :o)
I'll have an upset Carol
I was rather upset to find out today that Richard Whiteley has died at the young age of 61. It seems he died of pneumonia having been admitted to hospital recently.
It's rather a shame that he died so young. Despite the fact that many people took the mickey out of him, it was clear he was a harmless guy with a funny aptitude for messing up puns. I saw myself in him. I reckon I am going to become what he was, maybe without the jackets, and probably not so successful.
It might be a bit unpopular, but I want to say I thought Richard was great. I think he would have been one of the nicer celebraties to have met.
It's rather a shame that he died so young. Despite the fact that many people took the mickey out of him, it was clear he was a harmless guy with a funny aptitude for messing up puns. I saw myself in him. I reckon I am going to become what he was, maybe without the jackets, and probably not so successful.
It might be a bit unpopular, but I want to say I thought Richard was great. I think he would have been one of the nicer celebraties to have met.
MIT Survey
Thanks to Biscuits I am now a statistic. I'm not sure what the survey's attempting to find out, but some of the questions are a bit badly worded. Particularly the bit where it chooses links off your webpage. Anyway, I'm a statistic. Take it yourself if you're a blogger and help some poor PhD candidate get his award!
Monday, June 27, 2005
Sage Fishcakes
Well, in My last post I said I needed a sage recipe, so I made one. It's an alteration from a pretty standard cod and parsley fish cake recipe.
Ingredients
450g potatoes, peeled and diced
300g skinless fish fillet
Small lemon cut into slices
2 tbsp of dried sage
2 tsp of horseradish sauce
salt and pepper
For the coating:
plain flour
1 egg, beaten
75g breadcrumbs
Whizzing the bread (we made with the bread-machine) to make crumbs
First, cook the potatoes until they are soft. Put them in lightly salted water and boil them for 12-15 minutes. Drain them and mash them thoroughly.
Preheat the oven to 190oC.
Put the fish into a saucepan and cover them with water. Put the lemon slices all over the fish to infuse them with lemon flavour. Bring the saucepan to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes until the fish is cooked and tender. Drain well and flake the fish.
Add the fish, sage, horseradish sauce and seasoning to the mash and thoroughly mix it all together into a chunky paste.
Divide the mixture into 8.
The potato and fish mixture ready and divided
Line a baking tray with non-stick parchment paper.
Take each part of the fish paste and shape it into your favourite fishcake shape. Dust the cake with flour, dip it into the egg and roll in the breadcrumbs. This is easy to achieve if you have a small production line with the flour, egg and breadcrumbs in bowls next to each other, with the baking tray at the end.
Rolling the cakes in the breadcrumbs
Spray the cakes with low fat cooking spray (although we forgot and it just meant they didn't brown too much).
Ready for baking
Place in the oven and cook for 20 minutes.
Fish and Chips! Nothing better
Ingredients
450g potatoes, peeled and diced
300g skinless fish fillet
Small lemon cut into slices
2 tbsp of dried sage
2 tsp of horseradish sauce
salt and pepper
For the coating:
plain flour
1 egg, beaten
75g breadcrumbs
Whizzing the bread (we made with the bread-machine) to make crumbs
First, cook the potatoes until they are soft. Put them in lightly salted water and boil them for 12-15 minutes. Drain them and mash them thoroughly.
Preheat the oven to 190oC.
Put the fish into a saucepan and cover them with water. Put the lemon slices all over the fish to infuse them with lemon flavour. Bring the saucepan to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes until the fish is cooked and tender. Drain well and flake the fish.
Add the fish, sage, horseradish sauce and seasoning to the mash and thoroughly mix it all together into a chunky paste.
Divide the mixture into 8.
The potato and fish mixture ready and divided
Line a baking tray with non-stick parchment paper.
Take each part of the fish paste and shape it into your favourite fishcake shape. Dust the cake with flour, dip it into the egg and roll in the breadcrumbs. This is easy to achieve if you have a small production line with the flour, egg and breadcrumbs in bowls next to each other, with the baking tray at the end.
Rolling the cakes in the breadcrumbs
Spray the cakes with low fat cooking spray (although we forgot and it just meant they didn't brown too much).
Ready for baking
Place in the oven and cook for 20 minutes.
Fish and Chips! Nothing better
Drying herbs
When I was out the other day I was trimming our garden back so that it was actually possible to walk around some of the little grass paths. This involved cutting back a sage shrub that was getting a bit assertive in its bid to take over the garden. However, it seemed a shame just to chuck the bits I cut off, so I consulted the wonderful RHS Encyclopedia of Gardening
and it told me how to dry the herbs for later use. They gave a number of options, but the quickest (and I'm always up for the quickest way to do chores) was to use the microwave.
First you wash the leaves and pat them down, so they're no longer wet. Lay them out on a sheet of kitchen paper.
Arrange the leaves on a sheet of kitchen paper
Bung them in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes. Because of the way microwaves work, this will remove all the moisture from the leaves leaving them crispy and curled up. They will then easily crumble between the fingers.
Crumble the leaves
The book suggests you should keep them in a dark glass jar in a cool, dry place. I'm not sure what's with the dark-glass bit, but we have loads of really small tupperware-like tubs that are no good for anything else, so we're using one of those.
A pot of ready to use, dried sage
Now we just need a recipe that uses sage!
and it told me how to dry the herbs for later use. They gave a number of options, but the quickest (and I'm always up for the quickest way to do chores) was to use the microwave.First you wash the leaves and pat them down, so they're no longer wet. Lay them out on a sheet of kitchen paper.
Arrange the leaves on a sheet of kitchen paper
Bung them in the microwave for 2 to 3 minutes. Because of the way microwaves work, this will remove all the moisture from the leaves leaving them crispy and curled up. They will then easily crumble between the fingers.
Crumble the leaves
The book suggests you should keep them in a dark glass jar in a cool, dry place. I'm not sure what's with the dark-glass bit, but we have loads of really small tupperware-like tubs that are no good for anything else, so we're using one of those.
A pot of ready to use, dried sage
Now we just need a recipe that uses sage!
Saturday, June 25, 2005
Spiced Apple Cake
Spiced Apple Cake
Here's the cake I just made. The curry was also very nice :o)
Busy day
It's supposed to be a Saturday - today's been busier than a regular work day.
Although I got up late (despite an early night) we got straight to work. We headed out to Wimborne to do some shopping. I was pleased that we decided to utilise the local green-grocers rather than to kowtow to the big supermarkets. However, we still needed to utilise Somerfield, as there was some stuff that we needed that only they do. We took a load of old clothes to the Help the Aged charity shop, and we bought our first Christmas present for my sister! Now that's forethought.
We headed home and scoffed the lunch we treated ourselved to and, after seeing the end of the Federer-Kiefe Wimbledon match, we headed back out to our local gardening supermarket, Haskins. There we bought a bird-seed dispenser that the squirrel won't be able to chew to bits, as well as buying some organic tomato feed and a hoe.
I used the hoe when we got back home to weed the veggie patch and it's awesome compared to the rake I was using before. And it only cost £10. I planted out some runner beans that have sprouted, and then cut the grass and trimmed alot of overgrown bushes and trees. Daisy was out helping to weed the lawn.
Tomorrow we are off to meet some people we know off the internet (IRC pals). We're off to Kingston Lacy house, a National Trust property nearby. We have planned a picnic, although I don't think the other guys know yet. So when we came in Daisy made some sugar-puff chocolate crunch things, and I started on dinner. Tonight we're having a chicken and vegetable curry from the Weightwatchers Time To Eat book. Once that was cooking (takes 1 hour) I began on a spiced apple cake from Cakes & Cake Decorating by Angela Nilsen, Sarah Maxwell and Janice Murfitt! The curry will be ready any minute, then I'll eat that and go bake some biscuits.
I can't wait to go to bed and have a rest!! At least all this exercise has helped my knee loosen up.
Although I got up late (despite an early night) we got straight to work. We headed out to Wimborne to do some shopping. I was pleased that we decided to utilise the local green-grocers rather than to kowtow to the big supermarkets. However, we still needed to utilise Somerfield, as there was some stuff that we needed that only they do. We took a load of old clothes to the Help the Aged charity shop, and we bought our first Christmas present for my sister! Now that's forethought.
We headed home and scoffed the lunch we treated ourselved to and, after seeing the end of the Federer-Kiefe Wimbledon match, we headed back out to our local gardening supermarket, Haskins. There we bought a bird-seed dispenser that the squirrel won't be able to chew to bits, as well as buying some organic tomato feed and a hoe.
I used the hoe when we got back home to weed the veggie patch and it's awesome compared to the rake I was using before. And it only cost £10. I planted out some runner beans that have sprouted, and then cut the grass and trimmed alot of overgrown bushes and trees. Daisy was out helping to weed the lawn.
Tomorrow we are off to meet some people we know off the internet (IRC pals). We're off to Kingston Lacy house, a National Trust property nearby. We have planned a picnic, although I don't think the other guys know yet. So when we came in Daisy made some sugar-puff chocolate crunch things, and I started on dinner. Tonight we're having a chicken and vegetable curry from the Weightwatchers Time To Eat book. Once that was cooking (takes 1 hour) I began on a spiced apple cake from Cakes & Cake Decorating by Angela Nilsen, Sarah Maxwell and Janice Murfitt! The curry will be ready any minute, then I'll eat that and go bake some biscuits.
I can't wait to go to bed and have a rest!! At least all this exercise has helped my knee loosen up.
Friday, June 24, 2005
Storm
The weather in the UK has been glorious for the past week. However, due to the weather systems we get over here glorious weather always ends with a bang, and I love it when it does.
Last night was no exception. I was out applying the slug nematodes to our vegetable patch last night and was also admiring the clouds in the sky. There was a layer of alto/cirro-stratus (very high blanket cloud) which the Sun was stuggling through to cast a strange pinky-yellow hue over the garden. Underneath the stratus, cumulus clouds were building. This is pretty unusual and usually signifies a storm, which seemed even likelier considering how humid it was.
Soon after I heard a faint rumble.
"Was that thunder?", I asked Daisy.
"Didn't hear it."
I moved round the house and could see a dark ominous cloud sitting on the horizon. The butterflies in my stomach began to flap. I love storms!
Storm building in the south-west.
Later that evening, as we were off to bed, Daisy was locking up the doors and said "woo scary, lightning". I leapt out of my chair, although I didn't plan on taking photos unless the storm was producing a decent amount of lightning. I quickly headed out the door, and a cloud-to-cloud fork flickered across the sky. Whoooooooaaa. I had to get my camera and stuff.
I gathered my camera and snapped it onto my tripod, flinging the legs out to their fullest extent, as quickly as I could. I rushed outside and began snapping.
Daisy was a bit frightened for me being out in the storm, but it just gives me a massive buzz. There's really nothing like it. Particularly when you know you've just got a good photo. At least I only have to wait a few seconds to find out, and not a week.
Wrath of the gods.
This actually brings me to make an observation about digital cameras, and their night-time exposure capabilities. At the end of a long exposure (that photo above was 20 seconds) the camera has to read all the charge off the CCD and create a picture from it, and this can take a long time. On my D70 this can take about 15 seconds for a 20 second exposure. This means that if you shoot continuously, you're only actually capturing pictures about 60% of the time. This can be important in the situation of a lightning storm! I must've missed about 3 good photo opportunities because my camera was busy flashing "Job nr" at me, as it compiled the previous picture. The solution this this is to have 2 cameras and while one's reading the image, the other can be capturing - although that might be a bit over the top :o)
[Edit 27th June 2005: I've since read that this is due to the noise reduction systems. If you take a 20 second shot, the camera takes another 20 second shot with the shutter closed (effectively a black photo). This shows up any 'hot pixels' on the CCD, which it then subtracts from the original 20 second exposure. It also applied a light median filter to the image. You can get around these by turning the camera off during this second exposure. The camera has already stored the original exposure, so there's no worry about losing your image. I found out this information from Christian Buil's page about D70 astrophotography.]
When it began to rain I went back in (with a little friendly persuasion), but I didn't want to stop taking photos, so I went into the lounge and took some through the lounge window.
Storm watching, undercover
Eventually I got tired and had to retire to bed, but my heart was still pounding with the adrenalin and it was hard to get to sleep, particularly after I asked Daisy why she was in bed fully dressed, and she said to me, "If the house gets hit and burns down I won't be outside in the nude."
Last night was no exception. I was out applying the slug nematodes to our vegetable patch last night and was also admiring the clouds in the sky. There was a layer of alto/cirro-stratus (very high blanket cloud) which the Sun was stuggling through to cast a strange pinky-yellow hue over the garden. Underneath the stratus, cumulus clouds were building. This is pretty unusual and usually signifies a storm, which seemed even likelier considering how humid it was.
Soon after I heard a faint rumble.
"Was that thunder?", I asked Daisy.
"Didn't hear it."
I moved round the house and could see a dark ominous cloud sitting on the horizon. The butterflies in my stomach began to flap. I love storms!
Storm building in the south-west.
Later that evening, as we were off to bed, Daisy was locking up the doors and said "woo scary, lightning". I leapt out of my chair, although I didn't plan on taking photos unless the storm was producing a decent amount of lightning. I quickly headed out the door, and a cloud-to-cloud fork flickered across the sky. Whoooooooaaa. I had to get my camera and stuff.
I gathered my camera and snapped it onto my tripod, flinging the legs out to their fullest extent, as quickly as I could. I rushed outside and began snapping.
Daisy was a bit frightened for me being out in the storm, but it just gives me a massive buzz. There's really nothing like it. Particularly when you know you've just got a good photo. At least I only have to wait a few seconds to find out, and not a week.
Wrath of the gods.
This actually brings me to make an observation about digital cameras, and their night-time exposure capabilities. At the end of a long exposure (that photo above was 20 seconds) the camera has to read all the charge off the CCD and create a picture from it, and this can take a long time. On my D70 this can take about 15 seconds for a 20 second exposure. This means that if you shoot continuously, you're only actually capturing pictures about 60% of the time. This can be important in the situation of a lightning storm! I must've missed about 3 good photo opportunities because my camera was busy flashing "Job nr" at me, as it compiled the previous picture. The solution this this is to have 2 cameras and while one's reading the image, the other can be capturing - although that might be a bit over the top :o)
[Edit 27th June 2005: I've since read that this is due to the noise reduction systems. If you take a 20 second shot, the camera takes another 20 second shot with the shutter closed (effectively a black photo). This shows up any 'hot pixels' on the CCD, which it then subtracts from the original 20 second exposure. It also applied a light median filter to the image. You can get around these by turning the camera off during this second exposure. The camera has already stored the original exposure, so there's no worry about losing your image. I found out this information from Christian Buil's page about D70 astrophotography.]
When it began to rain I went back in (with a little friendly persuasion), but I didn't want to stop taking photos, so I went into the lounge and took some through the lounge window.
Storm watching, undercover
Eventually I got tired and had to retire to bed, but my heart was still pounding with the adrenalin and it was hard to get to sleep, particularly after I asked Daisy why she was in bed fully dressed, and she said to me, "If the house gets hit and burns down I won't be outside in the nude."
Tuesday, June 21, 2005
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies
Tonight, as my leg is getting better enough to walk around on, I decided to celebrate by making some chocolate chip peanut butter cookies. These are super yummy - nice and soft (ideal for those with delicate teeth) and very chocolatey. If you use diet chocolate, diet brown sugar and diet peanut butter you might be able to make them low calorie, but I doubt it.
Ingredients
125g soft margarine
1/4 cup (~60g) of smooth peanut butter
1/4 cup (~60g) of crunchy peanut butter
1 cup of brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup of cocoa
1/2 cup of plain flour
3/4 cup of self-raising flour
250g plain chocolate
Method
- Preheat oven to 180oC.
- Grease 2 baking trays.
- Cream together the margarine, peanut butter and sugar into a large mixing bowl.
- Add the egg and mix well.
- Combine the plain and self-raising flour with the cocoa.
- Chop up the chocolate and mix into the mixture.
- Take teaspoons of the mixture and roll into balls. Place them on the baking trays and press with a fork.
- Bake for 12-15 minutes until they crack on top.
- Leave on the tray for 5 minutes to cool, before placing on a wire rack.
Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
Having witnessed the Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, I was expecting Star Wars Episode III to be subtitled "Revenge of the Shit", however, having seen it on Saturday I was pleasantly surprised.
Despite actually enjoying the film, I do believe the film has some drawbacks. First up, I don't believe the film would make much sense to anyone who hasn't seen either the first film they made (Episode 4), or the last films they made (Episodes I and II). It is very much a part of the larger vision. Also the film is perhaps 80% action, which some people might find boring. Again, I think this is because it's part of a plot that is spread over 6 films, so it loses some of its flow.
However, if you have seen any of the other Star Wars films mentioned above, this film will probably come as a very good suprise. If you saw Episode I or II, you'll enjoy the action sequences which were lacking from the first two. The visuals really are stunning; particularly the cityscapes which contain so much detail that I really just wanted to have a browse around (a screensaver based on these would rock!). If you have seen Episode 4 (the first film they made nearly 30 years ago in 1977), you will suddenly get a fuller picture of how Darth Vader came to be as he is, and how Luke and Leia ended up apart. The cues into the old films, such as the introduction of Darth Vader's generals, was a master stroke. Personally I believe Anakin's turn to the dark side came a bit quickly (Palpatine: Come to the Dark Side, Anakin, and save Padmé; Anakin: Oh ok.), but I guess they wanted to keep this film firmly in the action genre.
After the film I wondered whether it would be worth Georgey Lucas remaking the other Episodes with the same people, but then I realised the only person in the old films, that might look different, was Obi Wan (ignoring minor characters like Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru, and potentially the upgraded Yoda), so that was also pretty good foresight on George Lucas behalf.
Sunday, June 19, 2005
Dislocation
It's been a lovely weekend, this weekend. The sun is shining and the temperature touching on 28oCelcius (82oFahrenheit). Yesterday my wife ('Daisy') setup a flickr account (her photos here) and so suggested we could get up early (ish - it's a Sunday) and go for a walk at a nearby heathland. This would give her a chance to take some photos to put on flikr, and would potentially give me some food for my currently ravenous appetite for taking photos of bugs (more of those in another post).
So, off we went about 10 o'clock (told you - it's a Sunday!) and we drove up to the local heath, which is about 4 miles away. The car park is set amongst tall pine trees, and paths lead onto the heath and various small woodland areas either side. We walked into one of the woodlands on our bug hunt. Bugs seemed to be few and far between, but we got some nice photos of some fungi and ferns.
Fungi
Sun through the trees
Anyway, I came across this strange area where it looked like there'd been a small bonfire. A circle, a couple of meters across, cleared in the centre of the ferns, and the floor covered in ashes, and growing in the centre a very prickly looking thistle. The underneath of the surrounding ferns was visible - ideal for bugs, surely?
I ventured into the circle, scouring the undergrowth for any discernable movement which could be a bug that I haven't yet taken any photos of. There was a bunch of ants scurrying along in the corner, but no interesting bugs. Daisy had stayed on the main track and was examining some nettles, ten meters away. As I gave up, and headed for the exit of the circle, I decided I would probably tell her that there was no bugs in there, just evidence of an ant's nest near by.
Clearly, my mind was elsewhere, as I walked into the thistle, in the centre. It was VERY prickly, and I was wearing shorts. I spasmed sideways, and clonk, my knee exited from its rightful place and headed sideways. This HURT. I collapsed, screaming, onto the ashes, onto the ants, onto newly growing nettles. I dropped my new, expensive camera!
Although a bit of a blur, I continued screaming. I remember looking down to my knee, and see it looking all wrong - bits sticking out the wrong places. I must have instinctively grabbed it. I pushed it a bit, but it didn't budge. I pushed a bit more, and clonk it snapped back into place. That's a sound I will never forget.
Daisy came rushing around the corner. She held me, and put her leg as a pillow for me. I was still hurting a lot - crying like a wuss. She held my hand. She was shaking.
"Don't shake", I said. I didn't want her to be frightened. I needed her right then.
"It's ok", I said, "it's back in place, now. It'll be ok in a bit." The pain was easing a little, although I still couldn't move my leg from the position it was in. I was desperate to get up, but couldn't.
I lay there a while - maybe five minutes, I guess. I needed to move. I had to get up. Daisy helped me up and we hobbled slowly to the main path. The more I used it the better it became, although I couldn't put much pressure on it. Daisy gave me support.
A lady came along with some dogs and asked if I was ok. I recounted the story, and she kindly offered herself as a second crutch. I declined, as Daisy was doing a sterling job carrying all my camera equipment as well as me. We got back to the car and headed home, where I've been sitting all day.
I'm still hobbling, but it's feeling much better. It didn't swell at all, although the sting that the thistle gave me is still painful.
Something that struck me afterwards was that I have never (before then) screamed for my life. I always wondered what I'd do - how would I react to something bad happening to me? I cried out with a very loud "aaaahhhh" kind of sound, perhaps expectedly. Now I know.
My wife was wonderful too. She helped me so much, and gave me so much confidence that everything was going to be ok. I do love her so.
Knees are not supposed to go sideways. I don't think I will ever forget the clonk, or the mental picture I have of my knee all bent the wrong way. I think I may be working from home this week :o)
So, off we went about 10 o'clock (told you - it's a Sunday!) and we drove up to the local heath, which is about 4 miles away. The car park is set amongst tall pine trees, and paths lead onto the heath and various small woodland areas either side. We walked into one of the woodlands on our bug hunt. Bugs seemed to be few and far between, but we got some nice photos of some fungi and ferns.
Fungi
Sun through the trees
Anyway, I came across this strange area where it looked like there'd been a small bonfire. A circle, a couple of meters across, cleared in the centre of the ferns, and the floor covered in ashes, and growing in the centre a very prickly looking thistle. The underneath of the surrounding ferns was visible - ideal for bugs, surely?
I ventured into the circle, scouring the undergrowth for any discernable movement which could be a bug that I haven't yet taken any photos of. There was a bunch of ants scurrying along in the corner, but no interesting bugs. Daisy had stayed on the main track and was examining some nettles, ten meters away. As I gave up, and headed for the exit of the circle, I decided I would probably tell her that there was no bugs in there, just evidence of an ant's nest near by.
Clearly, my mind was elsewhere, as I walked into the thistle, in the centre. It was VERY prickly, and I was wearing shorts. I spasmed sideways, and clonk, my knee exited from its rightful place and headed sideways. This HURT. I collapsed, screaming, onto the ashes, onto the ants, onto newly growing nettles. I dropped my new, expensive camera!
Although a bit of a blur, I continued screaming. I remember looking down to my knee, and see it looking all wrong - bits sticking out the wrong places. I must have instinctively grabbed it. I pushed it a bit, but it didn't budge. I pushed a bit more, and clonk it snapped back into place. That's a sound I will never forget.
Daisy came rushing around the corner. She held me, and put her leg as a pillow for me. I was still hurting a lot - crying like a wuss. She held my hand. She was shaking.
"Don't shake", I said. I didn't want her to be frightened. I needed her right then.
"It's ok", I said, "it's back in place, now. It'll be ok in a bit." The pain was easing a little, although I still couldn't move my leg from the position it was in. I was desperate to get up, but couldn't.
I lay there a while - maybe five minutes, I guess. I needed to move. I had to get up. Daisy helped me up and we hobbled slowly to the main path. The more I used it the better it became, although I couldn't put much pressure on it. Daisy gave me support.
A lady came along with some dogs and asked if I was ok. I recounted the story, and she kindly offered herself as a second crutch. I declined, as Daisy was doing a sterling job carrying all my camera equipment as well as me. We got back to the car and headed home, where I've been sitting all day.
I'm still hobbling, but it's feeling much better. It didn't swell at all, although the sting that the thistle gave me is still painful.
Something that struck me afterwards was that I have never (before then) screamed for my life. I always wondered what I'd do - how would I react to something bad happening to me? I cried out with a very loud "aaaahhhh" kind of sound, perhaps expectedly. Now I know.
My wife was wonderful too. She helped me so much, and gave me so much confidence that everything was going to be ok. I do love her so.
Knees are not supposed to go sideways. I don't think I will ever forget the clonk, or the mental picture I have of my knee all bent the wrong way. I think I may be working from home this week :o)
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Milton Keynes
The Hilton - Milton Keynes
Apologies for the lack of updates for the last three days. I've been up to Milton Keynes on a trip to the Open University, where we had a workshop for my current project. It was much better than usual workshops - much more informal - where we had meetings and listened to visionary talks from our boss and leader. Previous workshops have been very conference-like with much listening to presentations. The important bit (the food) was very binary in quality - lunch tended to be crappy cold nastiness, but coffee and afternoon tea came with the most gorgeous cakes. Our workshop dinner was a barbeque at a nearby hotel, and was pretty yummy too.
The hotel was an absolute rip off though. For something that was no better than a slightly worn out Travelodge, the Hilton opposite the Open University campus charges £140-odd a night. Even with our special bulk-booking it was £110, which was just ridiculous, in my opinion.
The journey back was nice, as we finished at lunch time and it is just wonderful to be back with my wife, who is immeasureably beautiful. (geez, I'm a soppy sod).
Oh, I guess this is the first post containing a picture taken with my new D70. It's a shame it's so dull... sorry about that.
Sunday, June 12, 2005
Macro Insects and Bugs
More photos from that film! These were again taken with my Nikon FM2n using an old Carl Zeiss 50mm lens reversed on the front, and a variable number of extension tubes. These were all lit using the Sun, which made it a little difficult to get any depth-of-field. Click the pictures to get a [slightly] larger view.
Ladybird
Shiny turquoise bug (don't have a bug book yet!) on a Geranium
Alien Fly
Ambushed - a spider gets a bee for dinner
Don't Jump! - A tiny beetle teeters on the edge of an Osteospermum petal
Green Bug-Eyed Monster - An aphid on an Osteospermum
Ladybird
Shiny turquoise bug (don't have a bug book yet!) on a Geranium
Alien Fly
Ambushed - a spider gets a bee for dinner
Don't Jump! - A tiny beetle teeters on the edge of an Osteospermum petal
Green Bug-Eyed Monster - An aphid on an Osteospermum
More Macro
Here's some more macro shots I took using the lens reversing ring. I also used a ring flash to light these shots.
Dusty japanese coins left over from our trip to Hiroshima last November.
Screws
Pencil
Dusty japanese coins left over from our trip to Hiroshima last November.
Screws
Pencil
Flowers in the Garden
Last week I bought a lens-reversing ring on Ebay, that I explained briefly in this post. Basically, it allows you to put a lens onto the camera, back-to-front, which allows you to get good quality close-up photographs.
Anyway, here are a couple of photographs I took of some of the flowers in our garden.
Geranium Sanguineum
Nigella damascena - A Persian Jewel
Centre of an Osteospermum
Anyway, here are a couple of photographs I took of some of the flowers in our garden.
Geranium Sanguineum
Nigella damascena - A Persian Jewel
Centre of an Osteospermum
Kite Surfing
Way back in early April (here) my wife and I cycled down to the beach. While we were down there we saw a bunch of guys kite surfing. I started a new film that day, which I eventually got back this weekend, so I thought you might like to see what they looked like!
I took all of these on my Nikon FM2n using a Sigma 70-300mm (f4-5.6) lens using Fuji Superia 100, in case you were wondering. Click on the pictures to get a (slightly) larger view.
Snap - There's wifey taking photos
Hold on!
SPLASH!
Whee!
Also wind-surfers taking advantage of the strong winds
Finished, and tired
I took all of these on my Nikon FM2n using a Sigma 70-300mm (f4-5.6) lens using Fuji Superia 100, in case you were wondering. Click on the pictures to get a (slightly) larger view.
Snap - There's wifey taking photos
Hold on!
SPLASH!
Whee!
Also wind-surfers taking advantage of the strong winds
Finished, and tired
Thursday, June 09, 2005
Terribly Naughty
It's been exactly four years ago today that my wife and I met for the first time. We actually met on the internet, on an IRC channel, but our first face-to-face meeting happened in Exeter on June 9th 2001, exactly four years ago. It was a slightly strange meeting, as it kind of felt like we knew each other, but at the same time had never actually met. We went on an old bus tour (that is an old bus, not an old tour) of Plymouth and visited the aquarium there.
Anyway, to celebrate this momentous anniversary, I bought my wife a box of chocolates. Somewhat out of proportion, and in no way commensurate with the amount of money spent on the chocolates, I was terribly naughty and ordered myself a Nikon D70, while Nikon's £100 cashback offer still exists. The best deal still seemed to exist at 7dayshop.com (with the exception of Ebay, if you can accept the risks involved). I really can't wait to get it, and, according to 7dayshop, is shipped in 24 hours by Royal Mail Special Delivery, so maybe I will get it in time for our outing to the Wimborne Folk Festival! We will also go into Poole at the weekend and I'll get my photos that I took throughout the week back, the old-fashioned way. Look out for lots of photo posts in the coming week!!
Tomorrow, at work, we have an "away day". This is one of those insidious days where you are supposed to meet new people, build links between members of your "team" but generally just have a miserable time brain-storming pointlessly about work-related stuff. I'm not looking forward to this, and worse, I even have to get up early to get in on time. Blah! Details of what happens tomorrow.
Anyway, to celebrate this momentous anniversary, I bought my wife a box of chocolates. Somewhat out of proportion, and in no way commensurate with the amount of money spent on the chocolates, I was terribly naughty and ordered myself a Nikon D70, while Nikon's £100 cashback offer still exists. The best deal still seemed to exist at 7dayshop.com (with the exception of Ebay, if you can accept the risks involved). I really can't wait to get it, and, according to 7dayshop, is shipped in 24 hours by Royal Mail Special Delivery, so maybe I will get it in time for our outing to the Wimborne Folk Festival! We will also go into Poole at the weekend and I'll get my photos that I took throughout the week back, the old-fashioned way. Look out for lots of photo posts in the coming week!!
Tomorrow, at work, we have an "away day". This is one of those insidious days where you are supposed to meet new people, build links between members of your "team" but generally just have a miserable time brain-storming pointlessly about work-related stuff. I'm not looking forward to this, and worse, I even have to get up early to get in on time. Blah! Details of what happens tomorrow.
New Road Charges Plan
On the BBC news site today they have reported that the transport secretary Alistair Darling wants to introduce a new traffic charge that will replace the old road-tax and fuel duty charges.
The basic idea he outlines is that a satellite tracking device in every vehicle will track where that vehicle goes and will be able to charge the driver based on its usage, where different times of the day and different roads will attract different costs. For example, rural roads might attract 2p a mile, whereas driving at rush-hour on congested roads might attract a £1.30 a mile charge.
It sounds nice and simple, and personally I would be all in favour of something like this. But... [and it's a big 'but', as you can tell], I don't see that the technology is available to achieve this, yet. In theory it is possible, but scaling the system to 30 million cars, sounds unreasonable. Then, there's various liberty and demographic issues.
First, lets deals with the technology issues. When they say a "satellite tracking device" they presumably don't mean a GPS, which is a passive device (that is, it only listens to the satellites). They presumably mean something which says "I'm here".. "I'm here".. so that some computer somewhere is able to add on costs to some account. If this is correct, the bandwidth requirements would be astronomical (even for a satellite!). If 512 bytes of data were transmitted every minute by 30 million cars in the country, then that's around a 256Mb/s throughput - and that's not including any error correction that would need to happen. The architecture to provide this throughput would cost a fortune, not to mention the devices that go in the cars and have to be able to communicate with satellites (have you seen satellite dishes?). Of course, a GPS could be used to keep a track of the vehicle saved somewhere in the device and 'downloaded' at some later date - but who's going to collect that data? Who's going to ensure the data is untampered with (de-crypting data seems a hobby for some people)? What about all those holes in the GPS signal field? Do you get charged for those?
Ok, so let's say they get the technology working, somehow. Who's going to pay for the satellite tracking devices? Us, of course; whether it be through taxes or our of our own pockets. Yes, we have to pay to add devices to our cars so that the government can charge us to use our cars. Alot of people would do this, but what about the 16% who (in the initial survey) said they would refuse? Are they going to send them to jail? Ok, let's say they do send them to jail and everyone who has a car has a device. I have a PDA - it shows me how to get from A to B and I can make it avoid certain roads. Now, if I want to get from A to B and it points me along a piece of road that costs £1.30, but there's clearly a way that takes me along 2p a mile roads, which do you think I'd take? This is the concern of the environmentalists who say that this system would just shift traffic onto rural roads.
The environmentalists also make the point that this system (unlike the current fuel duty system) penalises frugal drivers, as it doesn't distinguish between them and 'gas-guzzlers'. This could be got around by linking into the DVLA systems, so that when you get your box fitted it is able to identify your type of car, and therefore how gas-guzzly it is. An extra levy is applied according to that. For newer cars this could be connected to the engine management system to provide exact miles-per-gallon scaled levies. Sounds alot more complicated than fuel duty, though!
There's also the problem of authentication, verification and accountability. Surely someone
would hack the device? Surely someone would refuse to have, or simply remove the device? What if you're a farmer and only drive off road? Who do you contact if your bill says you drove to Edinburgh and back when you didn't?
There's also the 'big brother' issue. There's a computer somewhere that knows exactly where we are (if we take our car), where we've been, what we like doing, where we shop, which school the kids are in, etc. etc.
I think the whole idea of road charging is a good idea, but there are so many problems, so fraught with litigiousness, and is, basically, intractable that it will almost certainly never actually come into force. I think the government need to think of something simpler to get people out of their cars and onto their bikes.
What's your thoughts on it?
The basic idea he outlines is that a satellite tracking device in every vehicle will track where that vehicle goes and will be able to charge the driver based on its usage, where different times of the day and different roads will attract different costs. For example, rural roads might attract 2p a mile, whereas driving at rush-hour on congested roads might attract a £1.30 a mile charge.
It sounds nice and simple, and personally I would be all in favour of something like this. But... [and it's a big 'but', as you can tell], I don't see that the technology is available to achieve this, yet. In theory it is possible, but scaling the system to 30 million cars, sounds unreasonable. Then, there's various liberty and demographic issues.
First, lets deals with the technology issues. When they say a "satellite tracking device" they presumably don't mean a GPS, which is a passive device (that is, it only listens to the satellites). They presumably mean something which says "I'm here".. "I'm here".. so that some computer somewhere is able to add on costs to some account. If this is correct, the bandwidth requirements would be astronomical (even for a satellite!). If 512 bytes of data were transmitted every minute by 30 million cars in the country, then that's around a 256Mb/s throughput - and that's not including any error correction that would need to happen. The architecture to provide this throughput would cost a fortune, not to mention the devices that go in the cars and have to be able to communicate with satellites (have you seen satellite dishes?). Of course, a GPS could be used to keep a track of the vehicle saved somewhere in the device and 'downloaded' at some later date - but who's going to collect that data? Who's going to ensure the data is untampered with (de-crypting data seems a hobby for some people)? What about all those holes in the GPS signal field? Do you get charged for those?
Ok, so let's say they get the technology working, somehow. Who's going to pay for the satellite tracking devices? Us, of course; whether it be through taxes or our of our own pockets. Yes, we have to pay to add devices to our cars so that the government can charge us to use our cars. Alot of people would do this, but what about the 16% who (in the initial survey) said they would refuse? Are they going to send them to jail? Ok, let's say they do send them to jail and everyone who has a car has a device. I have a PDA - it shows me how to get from A to B and I can make it avoid certain roads. Now, if I want to get from A to B and it points me along a piece of road that costs £1.30, but there's clearly a way that takes me along 2p a mile roads, which do you think I'd take? This is the concern of the environmentalists who say that this system would just shift traffic onto rural roads.
The environmentalists also make the point that this system (unlike the current fuel duty system) penalises frugal drivers, as it doesn't distinguish between them and 'gas-guzzlers'. This could be got around by linking into the DVLA systems, so that when you get your box fitted it is able to identify your type of car, and therefore how gas-guzzly it is. An extra levy is applied according to that. For newer cars this could be connected to the engine management system to provide exact miles-per-gallon scaled levies. Sounds alot more complicated than fuel duty, though!
There's also the problem of authentication, verification and accountability. Surely someone
would hack the device? Surely someone would refuse to have, or simply remove the device? What if you're a farmer and only drive off road? Who do you contact if your bill says you drove to Edinburgh and back when you didn't?
There's also the 'big brother' issue. There's a computer somewhere that knows exactly where we are (if we take our car), where we've been, what we like doing, where we shop, which school the kids are in, etc. etc.
I think the whole idea of road charging is a good idea, but there are so many problems, so fraught with litigiousness, and is, basically, intractable that it will almost certainly never actually come into force. I think the government need to think of something simpler to get people out of their cars and onto their bikes.
What's your thoughts on it?
Tuesday, June 07, 2005
Mother-in-lawless
On Sunday my mother-in-law left us, after her week's stay here, and headed back home (with our help - she doesn't know the route to and from our place very well yet). It was a busy week, yet at the same time, somehow devoid of anything interesting to talk about. I guess it's what happens when one is entertaining a guest.
Mother-in-law is thinking of getting a place nearer where we live, so she has been looking at houses in the locality, and weighing up whether she actually likes where we live. In her (what could only be a mother-in-law's) mind, this seems to depend quite heavily on the presence of a Waitrose, which there isn't one nearby. However, she did find a house that she really likes so now it's up to her whether or not to make an offer, or to hold off.
During the week, my wife and I did very little cooking. It really was a week where the diet was thrown out the window in favour of luxury. Yesterday I celebrated my sister's birthday with a meal at a local pub. The day before, whilst helping mother-in-law back to Wales, we stopped off at a Little Chef (a Little Thief with the current prices!). The day before we ate at a pub in Poole. The evening before we had a curry from the local take-away. The night before we did cook - but sausage, egg and chips :o) The lunch before ate at another local pub, and a chinese the night before... and so it goes on...
Now with all that past us, we'll be getting back to the diet. What, perhaps, surpised me most is that I still lost a pound over that week. I suspect that was due to the worry!!
I bought off Ebay recently a device for my camera called a reversing ring. This allows lenses to be fitted on the camera back-to-front. Why would anyone want to do this? Well, it provides a means for taking macro (close-up) shots. You see, lenses are designed to take something far away and project it into a little space where the film is placed. If you reverse the lens, you project something close by onto a space far away (except the film gets in the way and captures that projection).
I can't yet show you any examples I've taken because I'm still using the slow-method, known as film, and mine haven't been developed yet. However, I've been out in the garden today and taken a film's worth of various bugs and flowers. I'll post some pictures when they come in, but for now, here's some pics of the camera set up:
Parts of the camera setup for macros
The camera with it all put together - 3 extension tubes (64mm), reversing ring, stepper ring and reversed 50mm lens.
Anyway, nothing much else to say other than "Sorry about the lack of blogging" - as usual.
Mother-in-law is thinking of getting a place nearer where we live, so she has been looking at houses in the locality, and weighing up whether she actually likes where we live. In her (what could only be a mother-in-law's) mind, this seems to depend quite heavily on the presence of a Waitrose, which there isn't one nearby. However, she did find a house that she really likes so now it's up to her whether or not to make an offer, or to hold off.
During the week, my wife and I did very little cooking. It really was a week where the diet was thrown out the window in favour of luxury. Yesterday I celebrated my sister's birthday with a meal at a local pub. The day before, whilst helping mother-in-law back to Wales, we stopped off at a Little Chef (a Little Thief with the current prices!). The day before we ate at a pub in Poole. The evening before we had a curry from the local take-away. The night before we did cook - but sausage, egg and chips :o) The lunch before ate at another local pub, and a chinese the night before... and so it goes on...
Now with all that past us, we'll be getting back to the diet. What, perhaps, surpised me most is that I still lost a pound over that week. I suspect that was due to the worry!!
I bought off Ebay recently a device for my camera called a reversing ring. This allows lenses to be fitted on the camera back-to-front. Why would anyone want to do this? Well, it provides a means for taking macro (close-up) shots. You see, lenses are designed to take something far away and project it into a little space where the film is placed. If you reverse the lens, you project something close by onto a space far away (except the film gets in the way and captures that projection).
I can't yet show you any examples I've taken because I'm still using the slow-method, known as film, and mine haven't been developed yet. However, I've been out in the garden today and taken a film's worth of various bugs and flowers. I'll post some pictures when they come in, but for now, here's some pics of the camera set up:
Parts of the camera setup for macros
The camera with it all put together - 3 extension tubes (64mm), reversing ring, stepper ring and reversed 50mm lens.
Anyway, nothing much else to say other than "Sorry about the lack of blogging" - as usual.
Thursday, June 02, 2005
Wimborne
Having enjoyed having a look around Belfast on Welcome to Melancholy, I thought that perhaps others would be interested to see my home town.
I live in a small town called Wimborne (or Wimborne Minster, to give it its full title) on the south coast of England. It's about 10 miles north of Bournemouth - the wonderful town full of old folk.
The town was founded in the 8th Century and St.Cuthberga built the impressive minster that is the town's main attraction, and still a working church.
Wimborne Minster
Wimborne Minster
A central square in the town hosts a bunch of banks, shops, and the Georgian King's Head Hotel.
Wimborne Square
Wimborne Square towards the King's Head
Off the main square there are a few small alleys containing shops, restaurants and quiet walks along the Rivers Allen and Stour that meet in the town.
Mill Lane
Riverside Café, next to the River Allen
The town sits on the south side of Colehill, where much of the housing for Wimborne is based. From much of the area north of Wimborne you get good views of the Minster standing up above the old buildings.
Views of the Minster
Next weekend (June 10th-12th) the annual Wimborne Folk Festival will take place, where the entire population of morris, and apalachian dancers descend on the town and stamp out their talent in the streets. Many concerts and other folk-related activities take place, and it's always good fun. There should be some photos of that from me in a week's time - so look out for that.
I live in a small town called Wimborne (or Wimborne Minster, to give it its full title) on the south coast of England. It's about 10 miles north of Bournemouth - the wonderful town full of old folk.
The town was founded in the 8th Century and St.Cuthberga built the impressive minster that is the town's main attraction, and still a working church.
Wimborne Minster
Wimborne Minster
A central square in the town hosts a bunch of banks, shops, and the Georgian King's Head Hotel.
Wimborne Square
Wimborne Square towards the King's Head
Off the main square there are a few small alleys containing shops, restaurants and quiet walks along the Rivers Allen and Stour that meet in the town.
Mill Lane
Riverside Café, next to the River Allen
The town sits on the south side of Colehill, where much of the housing for Wimborne is based. From much of the area north of Wimborne you get good views of the Minster standing up above the old buildings.
Views of the Minster
Next weekend (June 10th-12th) the annual Wimborne Folk Festival will take place, where the entire population of morris, and apalachian dancers descend on the town and stamp out their talent in the streets. Many concerts and other folk-related activities take place, and it's always good fun. There should be some photos of that from me in a week's time - so look out for that.
