Beginning to feel a lot like Christmas...

finally.

Now that I've finished work (not back working until 10 jan and not back in the office until 12 jan), all the shopping is done (or won't ever be done), Ciaran has arrived, and the wrapping is about to start,
I finally feel like its Christmas. The carol service the other night helped, but the bad weather affecting deliveries has meant the the christmassy aisles of the shops are all empty and being turned back into normal aisles. me being sick and then in wales at the start of the month didn't help either.

Perhaps the sight of North beach frozen with me now not needing to leave the house for a few days just moved me enough?

Carol service

Fiona and I went out to the carol service at Ayr Cathedral. Her friend David was the organist and they just have a new digital organ.
What a lovely evening! I normally I don't like singing at church - the old choir used to be a few wifeys who would try and outdo each other with how high they could get leaving the congregation mouthing down towards the bass end. This choir was good with all the high notes, but also had bits for us to sing at a more amateur level.
Starting with an organ solo while we lit our candles, in total there were seven readings, 9 musical pieces by the congregation, and 8 by the choir - all in all a good balance.

It was also my first time in the new cathedral.  The old cathedral (both were built in the 1950's) was closed a few years ago and the seat transferred to St Margaret's. It was quite different from a usual Sunday. Troon church is a Grade A listed building, designed by Reginald Fairlie in 1911, while the cathedral is much more modern, almost industrially so, with it plain white walls.

But it does have a cool organ.

Worst Snow in 40 years...

... and I missed it all.
I flew out of Glasgow at 0630 on Monday morning. The taxi ride from Troon was quick with the driver commenting on just how warm it was that morning. The flight to Cardiff it self was quite pleasant in a small Dash 8 and we made good time. The weather was beautiful - as the sun rose it was clear with good visibility
As we lined up for final approach we could see bright white cloud which turned out to be quite thick ground fog. We made our approach and at what seemed the last possible minute the engines went into full power and we entered a steep climb - the pilot rapidly climbing to 4000ft. We circled for another 90 minutes while we waited for it to thin and landed on the second approach. At least I would have something to tell people about!

What a difference on the ground. Cardiff was quite fog bound with the resultant overcast and cold damp feel. At almost 2 hours late we headed direct to the customer for the first of 5 training and discussion sessions with local and remote staff. It went quite well. By the time I take over this business stream in the new year I would like to think our order intake is already above target.
As an bonus we were staying in the Hilton in Cardiff, just opposite Cardiff Castle. As usual, there was no time to see anything but after dinner we took the long walk back t the hotel and passed through the Winter party which was being held - Ferris wheel, ice rink, mulled wine but we had an early start again on Tuesday. Headed up to the room where I finally saw the news reports about Glasgow and Scotland. Hard to believe all the disruption caused in such a short time.
Tuesday morning Andy and I met at 0600 for breakfast to find that the breakfast doesn't start til 0700. We were early enough to go back to his room and order room service so at least it wasn't a second day of no breakfast. How he's going to account for "room-service, breakfast for 2" on his expenses is something I look forward to hearing.
Andy's son Ian is coming across for Bristol this evening so there is just enough time for a quick lounge in the pool/sauna before the three of us head out for a meal and back to the hotel for a drink.

Wednesday is more leisurely. Instead of training we are discussing proposals before another application training session this afternoon, so we don't have to be in quite so early. As its bright enough I finally get a picture of the castle right outside my bedroom and Andy is charged with taking some pictures as we drive.
We finish the day with time to spare and head for a leisurely trip back to the airport. The airport itself is quite quiet. The shops are slowly closing and the one bar is closed. We get some food while we wait for the check in to open. So far everything looks good. Looks can deceive. But in all fairness it wasn't that bad. Our flight out should have left Glasgow at 1400 but by 1800 still hadn't left. The check in opened and we were assured that the flight would go so we went through security and went down to the pub to wait. At about the time we were due to board it took off from Glasgow, and made good time. It turned around quite quickly and we finally made it back into Glasgow just after 2300. Luckily the taxi driver was waiting (though not where I was waiting) and despite a few hairy moments the drive home was straight forward.

Another trip survived. Seen a hotel other than that one in Aberdeen. And missed a huge amount of disruption.

Night Photos

Last night saw the combination of four items - bright moon, clearish skies, camera with me, and some time to play.

Given the opportunity I decided to try some night photos with my normal, carry with me camera.

I think the first thing is that  need to find out more about taking these type of photos.
Of the ones I got I've had to enhance in order to see anything, and that just seems to bring the brightness way up, until you loose the sense of how dark it actually is.

 

These two shots are only a few degrees out from each other, but in the second one the lights of Kilmarnock, about 6 miles away, really dominate the picture.

The other aspect of taking these pictures is simply how cold it is. I think I will need to read up on the process and try again once all the criteria are matched.

Churches and Whatnot

Just back from 2 days in Aberdeen where we had our latest club meeting. It was a quieter trip as it was Ming and not Alick along this time, but workwise, it went very well.
We had a good turnout and with 6 presentations we had good lively discussion.

We left the office earlier than usual yesterday to visit one of our contacts who runs an analysis lab from an renovated church. Ideally we would like to set up a joint training course with him, but personally, I would be happy just to be instructed on these machines I'm supposed to teach others to use.

 As we spoke to him he got more and more excited, so once I've settled back in I'll have to write a detailled proposal to try and get something off the ground.
Best thing for me though is the idea of working in the former church.

Bonfire night

The Loans Scouts had their Bonfire and Fireworks tonight. Since no one had contracted food poisoning at the 60th last year, I was again manning the barbecue. Again, thanks to Campbells meats, we had a great selection on the burner.

Pity we couldn't control the weather. All morning it had been scattered but very heavy showers, with a few of hail. By the time I arrived to prepare at 1600 the rain was on again, and the plan was to run the BBQ in the hall itself and hope the extracter fans would cope with the smoke. That was the plan... Sadly there was too much smoke coming off the old BBQ that the extractor fans simply couldn't cope and at the last minute we had to move outside. Fortunately it had stopped raining and actually remained dry for the rest of the evening.

By 1830 the bonfire was well ablaze, the food was ablaze, and the fireworkswere about to start.

Though I tried, it was simply too difficult to get a good shot of the fireworks, especially from where I was standing. though I did actually get to see them this year.

The camera can actually capture them, but there is no background, and often nothing other than the firework burst - so the pictures are really quite samey and boring.

Plus the open door, and the light coming from the hall inside would wash the image out.

Once Troon started their display I was in a better position, but due to the distance it was harder to get shots in focus with the burst, like this:

After the fireworks most people settled back into the BBQ with David's mulled wine and simply ate meat products til there were none left.
Back home with a litre of mulled wine by 2100. Job done.

Got the edge

Fiona got me a Garmin Edge 500 cycle computer for my birthday and I've finally had a chance to day to give it a whirl. Although she bought me the one with the cadence sensor as well, I haven't had a chance to attach that to the bike.
this is a cool gadget!
In addition to the normal speed, distance, time,and then the averages, with the heart-rate monitor I get all my cardiac info, once I attach the cadence sensor, I will get that data too. But since the device is a GPS receiver, I get elevations, directions and mapped locations. This means that i can finally add my Whitelees cycles from last year onto the mapmyrun site. Of course, I will have to repeat each of the cycles, but that's probably good practice for this years Maggies run which I've entered again.

Went for a short run this afternoon, just to have a quick look. Its a cycle I've done before so I can compare with the last time.
Despite not having been ot in about a month, I managed the 9.5 miles a total of 3 minutes quicker (I know, not much but I feel good about it), and now I have some data to download into the Garmin analysis tools and mapmyrun.

MapMyRun.com

Mapmyrun took the data with no problem ( after installing the web utility) Despite saying it wouldn't work with Chrome, it seemed to and imported the route and the data. Since I changed the route slightly I let it import as a new route. The Garmin recorded the normal data, plus heartrate and calories.

Garmin's Training Center

The Garmin Training Center Software seems quite bare. I know Andy at work has an Edge 300 and uses something else. I must find out what and have a go with it.
You can plot various data against time or distance and that seems quite nice, but so far it looks like mapmyrun will be the logging tool of choice.

Birthday Kindle

My parents bought me an Amazon Kindle for my birthday.
I  have been keen on getting one for a while - I tend to reread books so having books which I've already read with me isn't a problem. Plus the sci fi geek issue comes forward - these devices are very similar to Star Trek's Padds. The Kindle even has built in wireless for automatic delivery of content. i can order books from Amazon and they are on the machine when I get home.

Of course, the big issue is the usability. As someone who regularly spends 50 hours a week working in front of a monitor and then goodness knows how much personal time, I know something about eye strain. Similarly, as some one who has written more than my share of technical documentation for the "paperless office" I know that it is difficult to replace the ease of printed material.
 after using this for a few days I have to say I am very impressed. Since it uses e-paper there is no back light. The screen is an off white with dark text, the same as any paperback you might have. It is the back lighting which causes most of the eye strain so that problem is more or less resolved. The other failure for the paperless office is portability. The kindle is wirelessly enabled through email. You can send documents to the machine simply by emailing them to its unique email address (or use the USB cable...). If you email them you also get the option of having them converted to Kindle's internal format (I've tried with pdf's and I wasn't impressed, but they are heavily formatted) although the Kindle will support most office formats.

Reading on the device is actually quite easy. There is no real glare off the screen. The unit is also light enough to hold with one hand, with pagination buttons on both sides to cater for those lefties still out there. Battery life is supposed to be good - 4 weeks with wireless turned off - and the default setting is to go into sleep mode (with an image screen saver coming on) rather than being turned off. Sleep mode will also kick in if you haven't turned a page for a set number of minutes.
Organising books is a bit basic - they all appear in a simple contents list. You can add categories, and then display categories which can simplfy the display list. Sadly, you cannot nest categories, but books can be memeners of more than one category.
The last issue with paperless office is note taking. The Kindle has a keypad for making notes and the 1984 stories all show that people do use the notes tool, but i haven't tried that yet, as I'm still  only using it for leisure.
Certainly, after a week I'm well impressed.

New Boiler - Days 48 and 49

New boiler finally up and running

It was an early start on Monday. The company delivering the extra pipework for the gas line said they would deliver between 7:30 and 9:30, and he showed at 8:15. As I was signing the docket, the first of the Scottish Gas guys showed up. He came in and I showed him the job, along with the written specific instructions the sales guy originally left. I then explained about the gas feed problem and the agreed solution. At this point he said it looked like an easy job and he would get started. His colleague arrived abut 20 minutes later (having phoned to explain he was running late). Once the 2 of them were there one got horsed into extracting the old boiler while the other started to rip out the existing pipework in the loft and airing cupboard. It seems that due to the mess of the original pipework, the guys putting in my bathroom 2 years ago bypassed the storage tanks and fed sink toilet and shower from the main supply. This meant that basically all pipework in the loft could come out, which meant a fast job. Soon the two of them were fitting the new boiler while Ciaran and I had to go out. By the time we got back (well, actually out back and out again) there were 4 guys with associated truck parked outside the house. The Gas guys were joined by an electrician and a brickie. It seems the brickie was late and this held up the others who had to wait for the flue to be fitted and sealed with concrete.
By the end of day 1 the new boiler was in place and wired, though not piped for gas. All the old stuff was out and the new gas line was mostly in place (just the bit that needed to be buried was left as they didn't have the correct tape with them).

The 48 day delay - instead of running the pipe in front of the door can't you just bury it?

Just some of the recycled Copper

Day 2 started with an estimate of being done by 1230. While one finished burying the gas main, the other competed fitting the boiler itself. Once gas was available they did a powerclean of the system and cleaned all their mess away, leaving the rubbish to be collected by a third party.
Everything was signed off by 1300.

As a final shot I was advised to collect the copper waste and sell it to a scrap merchant. Since so much came out of the house it would be worth the effort. So Ciaran and I spent the afternoon going through the bags and picking out the copper, getting just over 32kg (including the hot water tank) and sold it all for just over £4 a kilo.

After being given such a hard time by the company before any work had even taken place,  have to say that the professionalism of the tradesmen present was fantastic. The care they took of their work and of my house was refreshing to see, especially since I got the distinct impression that their management weren't that bothered.

New Boiler - Day 26

Its been quiet for a while.
Bill, the technical manager, though not the one who made the appointment, came out on the 7th to look at the job.  He thinks running a pipe would be fine, but agrees that crossing the door would not be a good idea. The technical solution of "lifting the slab" and just burying it across the door seems to have been accepted and now he's happy to authorise the work. "Wait for our phone call" seems to be their new logo.
Of course, coming home one night there is a missed call trying to arrange the installation. I call back but they have no dates left suitable for me. I point out how crap they are doing and haven't even started yet and I get the option of an emergency job, but the local manager will have to ring me...Before I hang up though I have them delete my landline from their system so maybe I will get the call.
He does call back but certainly can't do this week and the emergency option is only for 1 man over the weekend, which is not enough for the job. The next available day interferes with me being away on business and they cannot guarantee being done before I have to leave. We finally agree on a day and a team - 2 men on the 11th October should take only 1.5 days to complete the work. Luckily I am on holiday - so I am around but don't have to be here all day for them.
In the meantime the washing machine has been put back into the kitchen so I can resume washing duties. Mixed blessing that one.
Roll on the 11th.

A day on Bute

For the September weekend (not my weekend, that's next weekend, though I intend to work it to use for the October week), Ciaran and I were "invited" or a cycle on the Isle of Bute, another of the many islands of the west coast of Scotland. She knew of an interesting cycle that she had done a few years ago. Since the day was beautiful it became the plan for the day (bad weather would have meant going to Escape in Glasgow for some indoor skiing and eventually Ikea).
The day was nice but the wind was strong - tearing your breath away while on the ferry trip across. Unlike the others who left their helmets with the bike, I foolishly was holding mine until a gust of wind tore it away and belted a small yappy dog - the owner wasn't that pleased, oddly enough.
Once we arrived in Rothesay at around 1130 we organised lunch. After finding a bakery and having sandwiches made up we just figured it was easier to eat now rather than try and cycle with the pieces.

After we ate we started off. Despite not actually having a map, we had quickly checked the route and noticed that there actually aren't that many roads on Bute. Provided we didn't head down a dead end (there are a few) we should be all right. We headed north out of Rothesay and took the left at Kaimes castle avoiding the long dead end heading north to the ferry. Fiona had waned us about the climb so we got stuck in. Towards the top we passed a side road off to the left (south) and then over the top and passed a ruined church with the roof off. At this point Fiona started to believe we were on the wrong road, but seeing how we were enjoying the descent, decided not to make too big an issue of it. Besides, a bus had overtaken us on the climb. If it was a dead end the bus would have to pass us going the other way. As the bus passed us going the other way she decided to let me know. Of course by now we we basically on the coast, down at Ettrick Bay. Luckily for us, Ettrick Bay has a blue flag for swimming and one of the the SEPA electronic signs and information stations. The station had an OS map of the bay which showed a footpath along the shore we might be able to take to get us back on track. Luckily the track was not overgrown and we were able to get back without having to reclimb the hill.
With the lack of roads (or anything else really) on Bute, the road signs all seemed to point back to Rothesay. We would come to a junction and note that Rothesay was the only listed destination, often with wildly different distances. The gave Ciaran the most grief as he would always select the lowest number and be out voted.

Traffic on the island was also quite quiet. We came to one traffic jam where we simply had to wait for the road to clear. But by far the best bits was the spectacular scenery. We could see at different times Arran, Cumbrea, the mainland where we came from, and the mainland jutting down the west coast (Kintyre).
After one of the climbs we rounded a corner to find a rest area with a small car park, a few benches and a viewing platform over looking a lovely beach. It seems this is a favourite seal beach and most days they can be seen from the vantage point.
Despite no binoculars and not really enough zoom on the camera, we did manage to see about half a dozen basking in the sun, some of them quite large.

As we watched the seals an open top bus tour arrived to see them, which certainly none of us were expecting!
We discussed which way to go. Ciaran based on what he had already seen of the island decided that the best option was to follow the bus tour as it was certainly going straight back to Rothesay. We continued cycling, repeatedly passing mile markers indicating it was 5 miles from Rothesay but with no indication of which way, as if a bulk load were ordered at some point in the past. We then approached a T junction with Rothesay 4 miles to the left, or 10 miles going right. Just then the tour bus caught us and headed off to the right, so following Ciaran's decision (above his now objections) we headed off to the right. We had one more killer climb before we descended into Rothesay, just too late for the ferry (the stiff breeze finally did its job and we missed the boat by less than 5 minutes)
Ice cream in Rothesay, and a fish supper in Largs finished the day. I had forgotten to bring the cycle computer but once we got home we measured the trip as being 23 miles which we cycled in a total of 3 hours 20min, but that doesn't include stopping for the seals and the delay at Ettrick Bay.

Glasgow Challenge

Was up early this morning for the Pedal for Scotland Glasgow Challenge, a 51 mile cycle form Glasgow Green  to Edinburgh. Fortunately, its not "and back again" as they have put on coaches to get us back to Glasgow.
the weather was perfect for cycling - crisp and clear - warm when in the direct sun, but not too cold in the shade. There was a breeze but it was mostly behind us due t the layout of the course (and why its not Edinburgh to Glasgow).
Fiona collected me and then we headed out to collect Grace, arriving in at the end of the start queue at around 0900, where we sat, slowly moving forward through the morning. In an attempt to let the police control traffic, only small groups were being let go at a time, with  a minute or two between them. Had there been no queue jumping then we would have moved faster but what can you do?
We finally made it to the start just before 10.00 and off we went. After only a few minutes the drinks cage on Fiona's bike had worked itself loose and fell off. Of course, by the time we stopped and headed back, the next pack of cyclists were upon us and we had to wait for them to clear before we could recover the water bottle. Rather than attempt to fix it there, we decide to simply let me carry the bottle in my empty cage (due to my new camel-pack). We continued through Glasgow's streets which had police holding traffic for the cyclists at the early points. As the trip progressed, we were expected to follow the rules of the road ourselves, though casual observation showed that not many others had remembered that point.
Once we got into the rhythm of it the trip was quite enjoyable. The route was quite hilly, rolling more than sharp climbs and drops and there was only one spot where we had to get off and walk, but that was more to due with circumstance - the piece was a narrow lane with enough room for a car to comfortably drive down, even against a cyclist climbing. However, there were a few hundred cyclists climbing, some not well, some walking, and three cars, increasingly impatient, coming down. It seems easier and safer to just walk up and leave the cars to battle the maniacs.
After  that, it eased into a standard routine - my mass would bring me down the hills at greater and greater speed, zigging to avoid the ore timid descenders. I would try to roller-coaster as far as possible up the next hill before having to start pedalling where I would suffer and my pace would slow right down. the people I passed on the way down would pass me on the way up and then I would pass them again on the next descent. Fiona was quite annoyed that even with her new bike she couldn't keep up with me on the way down and I pretended not to notice that she never passed me even though I'm sure she could have left me on any of the climbs.

One thing I will have to look at is getting pictures while cycling. I have seen video cameras that will mount on the helmet or bike and take video or stills at VGA resolution but they don't seem that good. I don't mind stopping, but the current deal of getting the camera out of the saddle bag or rear pannier seems to take too much time.
A perfect example of this occurred at the top of a climb. since the Leuchars air show was on yesterday an Avro Vulcan did a flyby over the route. What an incredible sight. There is only one air worthy Vulcan left in existence, and this must have been it. But could I get to the camera in time? The lack of picture might give an indication.
Is there such a thing as an "instamatic" digital camera? something with no autofocus, minimal start up time, just for quick further away than 5 feet pictures?
By the time we were getting to the end we were quite happy to be done. The final few miles through cycle tracks in Edinburgh were teasing, especially with the mile countdown. The entrance into the park with the finish line was fantastic - the crowd applauded everyone so enthusiastically that you felt like you had just won, rather than being the nth thousand and something.
After resting for a bit we headed for the coaches back to Glasgow and after what seemed like an incredibly long drive we were back at Glasgow Green, with the truck full of our bikes alongside. Before too long we had the bikes on the car and we heading home.

We lost Grace before the first rest stop at 10 miles. What actually happened was she got through a red light that we couldn't catch. I don't think she was that disappointed - she had her mind on a faster time than us - she finished in 3.5 hours, about an hour quicker and earlier than we did. Fiona and I managed the course in 4 hours 33 min cycling finishing at 1610, a total of just over 6 hours.

Late Note: The reason this is published on Sunday 12th but hasn't appeared 'til now is that I was waiting for the official photos. The site implied they would be available within 24 hours, but reading the news on the site indicated it took longer. I have now seen the photos but they are so heavily watermarked that I have to wait for the official CD to arrive.

In the meantime, it was confirmed that over 9000 people too part on the day.

Blair Drummond

Saturday saw us back at Blair Drummond this year for our annual Staff day out.
It was much better weather this year, but that made the park so much busier. It also let some of the dry country animals come out, like the meerkats, who were all out running about. The only new animal of note was the brown bear, who is in solitary confinement until he passes quarantine, the he's to be paired with a female and expected to breed. There were also a new giraffe but we couldn't tell because they were all away over in their pen, and a new rhino, but they were out in the field.
We did the usual, walked around the animals, went for a cruise on the pedagos , and got close to the lemurs.

When I got into the office this morning I found out that I had won the raffle for a bottle of Gin! Definitely better then last year.

New Boiler - Day 10

After ten days how is the progress? Absolutely none.

The installer never got his manager (Bill) to ring back, and my calling the installation department only results with Bill being left voice message to phone me.

Last Saturday, the 28th, I decided to open up a hatch in the kitchen floor to see what I could see. Ciaran and I lifted the lino and I started drilling corner holes under where the boiler would sit. Its not exactly the right place to be looking but I cannot move the cooker out and open a hatch there. Finally managed to drill and cut the hatch and opened it to discover that there was a solid layer of polystyrene between the bottom of the floor and the concrete foundation, so the hatch was useless.

I then decided to call Scottish Gas again. The lady said she would leave a message for the manager to phone me on Tuesday, Monday being a bank holiday. I point out that he had already been left numerous messages to phone me but never has. She countered that he had been ringing the house number (despite being told to contact my mobile and all correspondence including my mobile number). I colourfully suggested that she leave a message for Bill and his team to be out at mine for 8 on the Tuesday morning, doing the job that should have been finished a week ago. However, she was not authorised to confirm installation dates so I would have to wait anyway.

On the morning of the Bank Holiday Monday, the sales man, whom I had phoned twice on Friday got back in touch. Despite him not working that day, he was clearing his messages. It seems that Bill, despite having access to my file had only been trying to contact me on the land line. As he now had the mobile number I was assured a call within a few hours.

On Tuesday evening, after no contact for the week, I rang again. This time Kevin took the call and for security had me confirm my mobile number!  He looked at my file and noted that Bill was supposed to phone me but wasn't getting any answer. I pointed out that he was supposed to phone my mobile, but conceded that there were some unanswered calls at the house (the phone logs them). I pointed out that Bill should have left a message. anyway, Kevin assured me that Bill now had the correct number and would call me as soon as he could. I thanked Kevin and asked to speak with Bill's boss. Kevin went away to check who that would be and came back to explain that it was George but what was I planing to say to him. I explained that I simply wanted my installation sorted and wasn't getting anywhere. Kevin understood and went off to get George. Sadly George was not available and would phone me.

On Wednesday lunchtime I did finally get a call on my mobile, though not Bill or George. Its another install guy who wants to come out. "Tomorrow" "Not suitable for me, How about Friday" "Got another job. Monday?" "No but Tuesday would be OK" "Fine" Good, so finally someone is coming out on Tuesday, 2 weeks later than scheduled to hopefully start the job.

In the meantime there still haven't been any calls...

New boiler - Day 1

After thinking about for long enough I finally decided to replace the central heating system with a modern one, in the hope of reducing my greenhouse emissions (or at least my monthly spend on gas). After doing the  quotes and all through  the summer today was the agreed installation day. The parts were due this morning with 2 teams arriving this afternoon. The work would be done by Wednesday evening.
As expected the new boiler and various parts arrived this morning. and shortly after lunch a single Scottish Gas installer arrived and apologised for being so late. It seems the job was due to start at 8 this morning with only the single guy. Bad start but hopefully not an omen...
The guy started examining the paperwork and scratching his head. It seems the job was oversimplified on the job sheet and it looks like its going to be a bit tougher then expected.
The problem is the gas supply has to be 3/4" but the old boiler only needed 1/2" so the 3/4" pipe is reduced somewhere between the meter at the front door and the oven at the back of the house. We are presuming that the pipe is running underground beneath the house, so there is no way to find the current reduction point and replace it as it could be anywhere between the two. A quick check next door shows their gas pipe runs outside along the base of the pebble dash, apparently confirming the idea that the pipe is not available for connecting to.
Sadly, running the pipe outside from my meter to the back to the kitchen means it crosses the front door and that doesn't look (or seem) right.
My installer gives up and refers it back up his management chain, telling me that someone will be in touch.
Later on I speak to next door. Their gas supply actually comes out of the bottom of the meter under and into the house and then up to the first floor, across the house and down into the boiler, and then down to the cooker. They didn't want to the effort of finding were the pipe reduced indoors and just by passed the entire search. It would be odd if mine was any different...

Brú na Bóinne

After getting up and having nice cooked breakfast I checked the sat nav and turned off yesterday's offending "Avoid Motorways" setting, so today should be more straight forward.
I had decided that we would go up to Newgrange, mostly because I hadn't been there in years and really wanted to go again. I had read that a new visitor centre was open and that all access to the site was through it. Undaunted, we typed "Newgrange" into the sat nav and visually confirmed where we were going and headed off.
Despite taking some very small lanes, the sat nav brought us directly to the passage grave at Newgrange. I parked just outside the old Visitor Centre and we looked at the buses and the neatly herded tourists. We headed up to the ticket office where we we offered a printed map with directions back to the visitor Centre in 6 languages. With no ambiguity we headed off, trusting enough in the printed instruction not to set the sat nav. After going through Slane were ended up a the new Visitor Centre, and again marvelled at just how busy it was. Since we wanted to see both sites, we were assigned seats on the 1515 Knowth and the 1645 Newgrange buses. Since it was only 1330 we had a bit to wait. We toured the centre, tested the tea room and eventually headed out for the bus.

Knowth is actually the larger and more impressive site. Yes Newgrange has the spectacular solstice alignment (Knowth has two passages aligned east and West but early work destroyed any possible sun box as in Newgrange) There are 19 tombs, with the other 18 arranged around the main one. Something like 80% of the world's megalithic art is on the site.
After spending an hour here we were bussed back to the centre for our second site visit.

After seeing Knowth, Newgrange is a bit of disappointment but still massively impressive. As the key passage grave in the region physically is on the highest local point and the quartz front shines in the morning sun. The lack of  satellite sites makes it look a bit empty, and you wonder if there is anything below the grass.
For the tourist, the key difference between here and Knowth is that you can go into the tomb itself. We were brought in and after moving to the end of the passage the guide treated us t a simulation of winter solstice morning with an electric light show. It really takes your breath away.

Glendalough

The technical issue which was due to delay all of RyanAir's flights this morning was somehow resolved and Fiona's flight arrived in Dublin on time. Dad and I collected her and then after breakfast, headed back up to the airport to get the hire car for the next 2 days. On a whim I decided to get a satnav with the car. I had only used on before in the States (Michigan, Nov 08) and was curious if they had really caught on in Europe. I know route mapping was popular but when we were in Midland we were able to enter things like "toy store" and get results. When I got back to Scotland I tried a machine at the local Dixons but very few businesses had been googled by then, so the feature didn't really work and there wee few categories apart from address. I entered my mum's house and the route suggested was the same one I would take anyway, so I headed off with some confidence.
 After checking the paper map (M50, Junct11, N81, R756: I work with IT, I'm not stupid) we headed off with our packed lunches for Glendalough. So far so good the sat nav brought us out of Swords and headed south towards the airport and the M50. It wouldn't let us on the M50 though. I figured the maps were out of data as some of these roads are very new, the tarmac still warm. But no problem, it would eventually catch up. But no. Despite knowing we were on the M50 it was not happy about us driving on it, attempting to direct us off at every junction, ending in a desperate cry of "Recalculating" once it realised we still weren't going its way. Finally we made it to J11 and we decided to let it have its way. It immediately brought us through a housing estate but eventually we ended up on the R115. This would have been a lovely road to take had the weather been anything other than what it was - pouring rain, with low cloud. Sadly we were climbing in the Wicklow Mountains with poor visibility. I was quite disappointed - I knew the scenery was amazing but you just couldn't see that much. As we crawled along the road passing sodden cyclists it finally began to lighten. By the time we came across Glenmacness Waterfall I had to stop for a photo as it was finally clear enough to get an idea of the entire region.

Glenmacness Waterfall, Wicklow panoramic made from 35 photos

Once we arrived at Glendalough (and ate lunch) the weather did improve. We headed into the Visitor Centre where we were told that we could pay to see the exhibition and film, or just go outside and see the Tower and other monuments for free. He then suggested that as it was dry, to just go back outside and come back when it started to rain. Finding it hard to fault his logic we headed back out and into the "Monastic Village".

The tower and the buildings are quite impressive. The remaining structures are estimated to have been built in the 10th-12th century, but the site had been active since the 6th century. From a teasing point of view, it has a very good example of the early Irish space programme with turf fired granite rockets. As we walked through the site we were really taken with the cemetery. Some of the graves were quite old while some were surprisingly new - I hadn't appreciated that the cemetery was still active.
We then started on a half hearted walk to the lakes which are further up the valley. We didn't get too far before the rain started and we felt compelled to turn back, which did seem to appease the rain gods since the rain more or less stopped.
After visiting the visitor centre and watching the film we again turned on the sat nav and headed back home. The trip home still wouldn't let us use the motorway but since we knew where we were we didn't feel to bothered.

It's a light and tumble journey...

From the East Side to the park;
Just a fine and fancy ramble
To the zoo.
Simon and Garfunkel - At the Zoo

 Michele took all six of us out to the zoo today. It was great fun. I haven't been to Dublin Zoo in absolute ages.
The weather wasn't great, but really only rained hard on us once and that was while we were in the Gorilla house, so we just hung about there a little longer. Some of the showers were a bit on the damp side, but you just gotta bear it. As usual Ciaran played to his audience, but I suspect neither Bobby nor Ava seem that impressed with what he had to say, certainly they look dubious in this photo.
They really have done a lot of work around the zoo with new enclosures being implemented all the time. The new enclosures seem to mean less visibility of the animals but its better in the long term for their health.

The real clever thing is the family pass which meant it was at least the 4th time that Michele had brought the children into the zoo. They would come in and fo0llow different paths, in different directions so that they wouldn't get bored with seeing the same animals in the same order.Yet in all that time they had managed not to see the Red Panda. This is related to the giant Panda but is only the size of a cat, coloured like a fox, with a big bottle tail. Its also know an the fire fox though the browser uses a red fox as its mascot.

Its amazing how much fun the zoo is and no matter how wet and unhappy you seem, its always a good time.

Kilmainham Gaol

Ciaran and I took the advice of my cousin and headed into town to visit Kilmainham Gaol. It was our first real trip on the Luas and we were well impressed, though felt the signposting at the far end could have been better. This is a major tourist attraction but there were no signs from the Luas stop, only a general map of the city that had not been vandalised.

The jail itself is a scarily impressive early Victorian one. The original plan was that prisoners would be reformed, so the emphasis was on silence and solitude. The acoustics are remarkable. Single cells and no contact with anyone for the majority of the time (at least the first year of a sentence). However reality overcame design and like other prisons it was overcrowded. The limestone walls held moisture keeping it cool in the summer but damp and cold in winter. Gas heating was fitted later but only used for about an hour a day. Some of the crimes committed to get in seemed pretty tame (stealing potatoes or an apple) but once you realise that, especially for destitute children, it was a better option than the workhouse. In fact the governor of the jail campaigned to have the children's food allowance cut by 4 ounces to more closely match the workhouse and discourage children being sentenced just to 'beef up'.

Apart from being a real jail, it played an significant role in the fight for Irish Independence, especially the 1916 Easter Uprising. As the second city of the empire, many Dubliners did not support an independent Ireland and were not happy with the Easter Rebellion, spitting at and throwing waste at the prisoners as they were eventually marched to Kilmainham. However it was the cold execution of these prisoners over the following weeks which turned public opinion toward the rebellion. Perversely, during the Civil War the Irish Government also used the prison to house and execute Republicans, further cementing a dislike for the jail.

The main thrust of the restoration of the jail is in recognition of the role the jail had in the various uprisings. Cells where prominent leaders were held are all noted. Its certainly worth a visit.

One of the problems of creating panoramic photos is shown here. Can anyone see it?

Airshow 2010

Fiona and I headed out to East Fortune for the 2010 Airshow. Its the first airshow I've been to in ages and I had a really good time. In all honesty, it wasn't Fiona's thing and I'm sure I'm going to have to owe her something.
It was a pretty good day though. Having been out for her cousin's 21st, we started out form her mum's house, which took at least an hour off the get-up and go time, which made things much easier. The forecast was for clouds with light rain as the afternoon progressed, but we hoped there was enough margin for error to allow us to see the planes. The drive to East Fortune was quiet enough with not much traffic, even once you got near the airfield. The parking was simple. They were using the old runway and we were put into the first row of the second half (the intersection of the 2 runways) where the car would be easy to find on the way out.
We had two hours before the flight programme started so we looked around at the 'static' display. In a sense it was a little disappointing. Apart from vendors, there were no new static displays for the show itself, only the usual museum displays. That being said, there was still a lot to see in the various hangers and store rooms, including the first operational Concorde, lots of info on the R34, the first transatlantic airship which flew from here to Mineola in Long Island, and the usual array of restored planes. After wandering around for the 2 hours we headed down to the main display arena, bought folding chairs and settled in to watch the show.
In all, there were 17 displays over the next 3 hours, including an intermission where Fiona and I managed to get something to eat.
The displays ranged from a plane towing a glider which was performing with another plane, to the glider on its own, to the tug plane and the glider pilot (in a tug plane); to early jets displaying on their own; old and new biplanes with and without lycra clad wing walkers; and restored war veterans.

It is always amazing to see the control that these pilots have over the planes. Two of the planes, the Mustang and the Skyraider both developed mechanical faults which limited their performance, but in both cases they managed to adjust the show to accommodate this. (Both plance did actually fly and display, but restricted their actions to fairly simply passes - the Mustang had a generator fault and the Skyraider had an open landing carriage bay). Most of the other planes (with the exception of the Catalina and the Douglas) put on an impressive display and the wingwalkers went for a handshake - they just barely missed each other

Visually, the most impressive had to be the Wingwalkers (even without being able to see them close up). The idea of standing on your hands while travelling at up to 150 mph on the wing of an air plane is not my cup of tea. Even the noise of the biplanes - as the pitch of the propeller changed the wingtip would sometimes go supersonic with tiny sonic booms adding to the noise. Sound wise it was between the awesome roar of the Hunter's jet and the emotional Merlin of the Spitfire.

The photos here are (from the top) a Vampire, the Aerostarts in Yak 52s and Yak 50s, the Mustang, the Skyraider, the Spitfire, the Catalina, the Wingwalkers and the Hunter. Not showm are the Swift Team (the Glider and Twisters), Tigermoth, Pitts , Dakota DC-3, Kittyhawk p-39, the Starduster, the Bulldog, and the Tutor.

At the end fi the flight programme we thought we would have an opportunity to continue looking around the museum displays, but sadly everything was closing at the same time. In fact, in a remarkably short time the traffic was clearing the car park. So we never got the opportunity this time to see Concorde (although I have seen it here a few times already) Perhaps we'll have to make another trip back?
We did get the chance to shop with another few models being bought, though not of anything on display today - Ciaran tends to prefer Russian modern fighers.

We made it back to the car, now sitting alone, facing the wrong direction for the flow of traffic with streams of cars passing on the drivers side, making it hard to simply get back into the car. Taking the road less travelled "Local Access Only" brought us down the quiet roads into North Berwick where we had a nice Italian dinner before heading back to Strathaven to collect Fiona's car.

Scotland's Secret Bunker

I took Ciaran and Cameron up into Fife to Scotland's Secret Bunker. This is the Cold War remnant that would have housed to Secretary of State for Scotland and about 300 other troops in the event of all out nuclear war. It was a bit of an eye opener.
The location was proper Hollywood - the opening scenes from Matthew Broderick's War Machine. This Scottish farm, with its remote out buildings, looks similar to any other one.

Nowadays you can see that the shutters are metal and not wood, but that would not have been noticeable while operational. You then go into the farmhouse (you don't see much of the farmhouse actually - you go in the door into a gift shop with a small staircase heading downstairs, behind a turnstyle), through the turnstyle and down the flight of stairs. Its a deep set of stairs, certainly more than typical in a house, with a long doglegged corridor heading downward in front of you.
The corridor ends in a large blast door. Once inside the space is quite impressive, though with a full complement of over 300 people I'm sure its not that big really. All in all, there are two levels, completely isolated from the ground for both electronic and shock protection, each level being the size of a football pitch. Total depth is 40 metres with accommodation, medical, broadcast on the upper level and the real operational stuff on the lower one.
With dorms operating on a hot bed policy - you climb out and someone else climbs in - it was good to know that even at the end of the world class was noticed - the more senior officials slept 4 to a room with SecStateScotland having his own room.
The staff had an 18 hours duty shift followed by 6 hours sleep with closely monitored and chaperoned interaction between male and female staff.  Though, with no water for bathing I'm not too sure how difficult a job that would be.
I think the lack of people actually working (there were a good number of visitors so the corridors all looked busy) makes the rooms seem bigger than they need be. With more bodies pressed in I think a greater sense of the scale would be obvious.

As it was, the few mannequins which were present always looked understaffed for the job.
Some aspects are quite odd -on the whole the bunker looks like something out of the cold war (which makes sense) but this bunker was operational until 1993, yet the tech is very 1960s or even earlier, making it look much more like a 1950's show. I appreciate that the tech is donated and there are still national security issues - there are some rooms which are still off limits due to national security issues -but it seems hard to understand this bunker being used in the late 80's, again comparing it to War Machine.

Rain Halts Play

When we woke up yesterday the rain was beating off the windows- the sort of day when you turn off the alarm and snuggle back under the duvet for as long as you can manage. Unluckily, it was the only day where we had timed appointments to keep - check out at 1200, Gorge Walking at 1430 and the ferry home at 1920. Between checking out and Gorge walking we had decided we would do our gift shopping and we would also look at the time-shares available within the complex.
Even with the short run out to the car with our gear we got pretty wet. I should have known something more dramatic was up as there was a lot of people arriving for the pool. While checking out another guest was asking about rooms for that night - it seems the ferry currently wasn't running due to gales and no decision would be made until 1300. I checked then about rooms and was told there was no problem as no new people were arriving until the ferry started moving again. Comforted by this we headed to look at the chalets.
 The rain stopped long enough for us to walk over to the chalets, chatting with the sales rep. We told her that we were going to do the gorge walk later and she looked a bit apprehensive. Before I could ask her anything my mobile went off. The gorge walkers had to cancel due to the state the rivers were in.

The agent said she wasn't surprised as there was a lot of water dropped since last night and most was running off. She pointed out "new" rivers down into the glen.
The chalets are quite nice, but expensive. Its a much better option to simply rent them by the day when you would like to use them, but they would appeal to many people. Ciaran fell in love with the 3 bedroom style - 3 double bedroom downstairs with an open plan living room dining room and kitchen upstairs, with a balcony out. Naturally, where they were meant a lovely view.
With no gorge walk we headed down to the ferry to see what was happening.
Ciaran did his bit of shopping, money still seems to burn him, and as we could see foot passengers joining the ship decided to head down to the terminal for an update. The staff were optimistic that sailings would be back to normal so we decided to head out to Glen Sannox to see what the water levels were really like, and then head back to the earlier ferry at 1640.
Once we started out the heavens opened and completely emptied themselves. With the poor visibility and the gale force winds I was really beginning to become concerned. Everywhere had an all over grey colour and the standing water on the roads made travel difficult. Fortunately with the narrow roads you tend not to travel very quickly anyway.
We arrived at Glen Sannox and apart from another family who appeared to all be wearing wet suits there was no one in sight. The rain was coming down so heavy that it wasn't worth the effort of getting out of the car to take the picture of the river. The other family also seemed to decide that conditions were never going to improve so they got into their car and headed away. Since we had no fixed agenda, we decided to wait a while.
After about 10 minutes the rain eased off and we got out for a look around. We could hardy believe our eyes - our happy little stream was a frothing monster, with the water level easily three to four feet higher than where it was only two days ago when we walked here on Friday.
When we were here on Friday we had noticed where the water level had dropped, from the rain on Thursday so we did expect a higher level, but never for the characteristic change which we saw. We now fully understood why the Gorge Walk had to be cancelled. After a while we headed back into Brodick and the ferry home.
Sadly, it was not to be as easy as that. Arriving at the ferry terminal, there was already a good number of cars waiting for the boat. Since we were technically early we had to go into the "unbooked" lane - essentially a standby category. The ferry arrived in and quite quickly seemed to have emptied itself of the Arran bound passengers. It seemed to take quite a long time to get the mainland bound vehicles onto the boat, with parts of lanes going on at a time. However, despite us being second in the standby lane, no cars from there were allowed on, but it looked now like the backlog had been caught up, and that if the ferry did go later then we would be on it.
Less than 20 minutes late, only 3 hours later, we were on board and feeling quite nervous. We could see the way the water in the harbour was moving, the tautness of the wind sock, and the absence of any flying birds to predict an rough trip back to Ardrossan.

We sat out at the back, just in case. By some strange combination of luck and weather, it was actually one of the easiest crossing Ciaran or I have ever made. The wind seemed to come at the back of the ferry at just the pace we were moving away from it, leaving not a breeze on the deck. The strange sense of isolation gave the opportunity to watch the island retreat s we headed back across the Forth.
Finally got home at about 2120, in time for Something, something something dark side, which Ciaran had been looking forward to all week.