Safety Drive

One thing I have noticed over the past year working at ABB is the attention to safety. In an industry that brought us Bhopal the need to keep safety at the front of our minds is paramount.

I see this on a daily basis. Among the software I sell are programs for sizing pressure relief valves for vessels. These valves help ensure the storage tank doesn't become a high pressure bomb. Others inspect these vessels to make sure they are not being damaged by time, elements, and the job they do, while others help in the safe decommissioning of plants when they reach end of life.

In the office we have to hold the hand rail, use the lift if we have more than 1 bag (ie can't hold the hand rail), and use a tray to carry more than 2 cups of hot or cold drinks. We are expected to stop un-safe actions wherever we see them, including when we are off duty.

Driving is high risk. Distance, weather, distraction and other plebs make it downright dangerous at times. We are encourage to place our safety and that of others high, and we will be supported in this activity. I have been assessed by an AA advanced driver, and have undergone additional training.

So I was not surprised to find that there was a "Winter Driver's Kit" that I was supposed to have in the car with me. Its got things like a warning triangle, a torch, and a shovel. I finally picked my pack up this week.

To misquote Chief Brody, "I'm gonna need a bigger car"

The bag is 65cm by 27cm square - 48litres capacity. In addition to the aforementioned, there is a woolly hat and socks, gloves, a flask and a day glo coat. There's also a first aid kit, a spare battery, deicer and an ice scraper.

I'm not sure, but I think the shovel and coat can be used together as a tent. I'm positive the bag will float, so perhaps I can sail it, or use it as a tauntaun as Han did for Luke in Empire?

Because I played safe when ordering the car I got the full sized tyre instead of the space saver. This means the boot the full of tyre.

I don't know where this bag is going to live...

Ye Olde Grande Day Out

We spent yesterday in Shotts at Izzy's Birthday Tournament.
What a fabulous day - what incredible effort was put into the games and decoration. And the enthusiasm of the games.
High points of the day were the Jousting and the Castle Scaling competitions.

I was just pipped to the post in the Castle Scaling in one of the closer races of the day.
Sadly there are no photos of my joust. I was up and knocked down and bounced out of the ring before Fiona could even lift the camera. It all happened so fast that Master Tait suspected foul play and ordered a rematch. His fears were unfounded as I was again bounced out almost as quickly.
My personal involvement finished, I could enjoy the rest of the day.

As the jousting progressed it became quite serious -

with husband versus wife, brother versus sister, and brothers in law brothers in arms.

But it was all really abut having fun, which we all did.

Great day with good friends.

Mini Cruise

Our Lego mini figures enjoyed our cruise almost as well as Fiona and I did.

LIfeboat Drill

At the House of the Virgin Mary at Ephesus

Reading the description at Ephesus

Waiting for the show to begin on board ship

Being silly at Delos

Enjoying a glass of wine

Taking a dip in the pool

In the castle in Alanya

One of the games of Rummikub

Cruise

Just back from our week away on our cruise.
We had a week aboard Thompson Celebration for a cruise through the Aegean with stops in Turkey, Cyprus and Greece.
Days were out in the sun, soaking up history and the evenings were on board eating, drinking and enjoying the light entertainment.
Day 1 was Kusadasi in Turkey where we took the trip to Ephesus, postal destination of some of St Paul's letters, and site of one of the Seven wonders of the ancient world, though only 1 pillar remains and it wasn't commented on. Time and earthquakes have taken its toll so that only 15% has been excavated at present, but it is breathtaking.  We arrived at the top of the town, the rich bit, and worked our way down to the more common area. We got to see the 2 theatres, the brothel, the library and the public toilets. Incredible to think this has been here since 900BC.

Day 2 was Mykonos. Today's trip was by boat to Delos.
The boat was too big to get into Mykonos so we were anchored outside the harbour and used tenders to get into port. From where we took the ferry across to the island of Delos and its abandoned city. Delos is famous as the birthplace of Apollo (and his seldom mentioned twin sister Artemis) and its history has been built on this. As a centre of pilgrimage it flourished and eventually became quite wealthy. But again time passes and things change so it was eventually abandoned, before year 1AD. The tour guide we had was fantastic - she really brought it all to life.

Day 3 was a Bike ride in Rhodes.
A bit more active today with an 18 mile cycle through Rhodes. This involved cycling on the 'wrong' side of the street, crossing against the lights, and going the wrong way up a one way street. I brought my Garmin but it wasn't behaving properly so it only logged the final 3 miles back to the boat. It was saying the temperature was 35C but that was in a backpack.

After the cycle we headed into Rhodes to try and find a USB cable for my camera. We found one and a wee beer.

Day 4 was at sea, sailing to Cyprus. Apart from lounging in deck chairs, and cooling off in the pool, we did laps of the boat. The promenade deck said that 5 laps was 1 mile. We did 6 laps but we were steaming at the time (that's a nautical term for moving under power - we we also steaming later but that was wine, gin and cocktails) so my Garmin trace has us covering 7 miles in 32 minutes!

Day 5 was in Larnaca in Cyprus, and another bike ride.
Today's ride was about 19 miles. It was hotter than the other cycle but easier as there was little traffic. In fact there was not much of anything as there seems to not be too much in Larnaca.
We did stop at the beach and had a paddle though...

And again the Garmin took a hissy fit and only logged the cycle back to the boat from the beach. It logged temperatures between 34C and 40C so I'm hoping its just the fact it was in the backpack.

Day 6 was back in Turkey in Alanya.
Today's trip was a castle, cave and city trip. First stop - the Castle at the top of the headland. With 5 miles of wall we could only see a little bit, so we were brought to the Sultan's inner castle.

 Next stop was the cave which had brilliant stalagmites and -tites. But it was very humid. We made out way back outside to the 30C where it felt cool.
Then it was the City part. Unfortunately neither Fiona nor I actually brought any money, not  acent, so window shopping only. Difficult with the local vendors.

Day 7 was back to Marmaris, the coach to the airport and the flight back home.

More Mini Us!

After building my own mini-Fiona complete with Happy and Angry faces, we have been gifted with Holiday Fiona and Dermot.

Thanks to Christine, we now have non work mini figures to take on our holiday later in September. We are both ready for the sun with Fiona in her non-triathlon swimsuit and me with my funky shirt and sunglasses.

We even have accessories!
I have my camera to record all the sights we will be seeing...

..and Fiona has a thong!

Mini us

Fiona's car was in for it's service this morning so we had the day in Glasgow while we waited.

Having some shopping to do we headed normal one o Buchanan Galleries and after browsing the shops ended up in the Lego shop.

They have a build a mini-figure section where you pick assorted parts and can make your own figures.

I managed to build my own mini-Fiona. She even chose her own head though she said she didn't like the yellow head. She even has her id badge and mug of coffee.

It was only after we got home that Fiona explained the real reason for changing the head. The head she chose has two faces. The one normal one, and the 'angry eyes' one for when she's not on form.

She plans on bringing this into the office to use to show her mood.

I already had a mini-figure for me. It was a freebie from a work conference.

Now we can be a mini-couple!

Just Typical...

The cable company I get TV phone and broadband from has been bought over by Virgin Media.

This is probably a good thing - my provider is quite small and been bought over a few times already. Luckily it keeps getting better for me. The number of channels, the quality of both broadband and the set top boxes. All of it has been pretty good. I do think its odd that they cannot provide the Red Button channels which are available on Freeserve, but that's only a minor issue.

Naturally, we won't get the same package but after a quick look at the website it looks like the same prices will give a better service, so all in all, I'm looking forward to it.

We will get a new set top box - a tivo box to replace my current PVR. That should be fine although I do like my current box. I'll also be getting new wireless kit for my broadband. That would be good as my stuff I bought myself and then turned down the option to buy from the cable company last time.

It seems we will be contacted in the next few weeks with dates for the switchover, and then personal visits to set up the new stuff.

So I was not surprised when last week my phone wouldn't connect to my wifi when I came home. It was reporting an 'authenticating error'. I presumed it was something to do with the switch over and after rebooting the router all was well. A few days later the same thing with the same corrective action. I was beginning to think this was getting a bit silly the third time I had to reset the router.

Last night when we got in we both had the same error. This time a reset of the router didn't do the job as the router died. Complete failure of the power supply to the router.

So, do I wait for the cable company or do I get a new router?

Bit of a dilemma for about 5 minutes - off to tesco for a cheap router and we're back online, shakes never even taking hold.

But do I keep this new one or take the cable companies new one?

Not fooling anyone

We were out on the bikes again this morning (well today, the morning disappeared in a nice lie-in)

Fiona is still not convinced about the mini-triathalon she has been entered into later this autumn, so I am still doing my best to get her out training.

We headed out to Eglington Park again. This was for 2 main reasons - the strong WNW wind meant heading North was better so we could have the wind behind us on the way home. The other was because we were passed by a large number of vintage trucks yesterday. I did some googling and it appeared that they were heading to a rally in Eglington today. The wind thing was just a bonus.

Since this was essentially the same route we did the other night we can make direct comparisons: A little bit further today (because we cycled around the park looking for the vintage trucks) in a little bit more time. Overall an improvement in average speed. That's the benefit of training.

Todays:

Last weeks:

However, I was completely unable to get her to run once we got back home,instead we sat in the garden and ate an ice cream.

Sunny Saturday

I don't think fiona is taking her upcoming mini triathlon seriously enough. Apart from that one evening she's not been in a pool and she still hasn't done any running.

She did clarify though. Its not that her hair would get wet, its how her hair looks when its wet.

She did come out on the bikes this morning though.

It was a good ride, warm and mostly dry. We could keep a reasonable pace provided I stayed behind her. Once i got in front she would start to lag and 'rest'.

Week in Wicklow

Fiona and I spent the past week in a cottage just outside Blessington in Wicklow. There was no WiFi and the poor mobile signal meant I didn't incur any extortionate roaming charges. Also meant were pleasantly out of touch for the week.

We got the ferry from Troon to Larne on Saturday morning, taking my brand new, 5 miles on the clock, company car. The sailing and drive to my mums was calm while I got used to the new car.

We took my folks out for dinner since it was father's day on the Sunday and my mum's birthday the next Thursday. 

After the fry up Sunday morning, Fiona and I headed off to the cottage. All through the drive the weather was picking up, we had a "holding high" forecast for the week, to keep the weather good.

We got to the cottage in good time. Its was a few miles outside Blessington, just up from the primary school in Lackan. It was a modern cottage - 2 bedrooms, open plan kitchen dining room with sitting room around the corner. 

We headed out for a drive and found that there was filming going on for the tv show Vikings. We much watch this and see what we recognise. Chinese takeaway and then a stroll around the area.

Monday dawned a little overcast but it didn't slow us. Into the car for a drive across the Wicklow mountains. 

During the drive the mist rolled in dropping visibility to a few metres. The drive was haunting and eerie.

We crossed the peak and suddenly the mist started to clear. After a few minutes the scenery was amazing (it was amazing all the time but we just couldn't see it)

Down on the shore of one of the lakes it looked like another Vikings scene. A wooden village was being built on the shore line below the cliff.

After stopping to get lunch we ended up in the devil's glen, heading to the waterfall. I had spent a weekend here when I was still in school, the only time I was ever hostel-ing. After our sandwiches we had a pleasant walk to the waterfall, observing various art installations along the way.

Instead of eatng out tonight, we decided to cook, so after a trip to the shops, tea and cake outside in the sun, fajitas were born. With strawberries and meringues. Cava and rummikub finished the evening.

Tuesday was Powerscourt day. There was something for both of us - garden for Fiona and waterfall for me. More windy roads today but since there was no mist the view was extraordinary. 

Arrived at the gardens and headed round. Spectacular in the sunshine. Incredible plantings and formal gardens. After we walked though we sat and had an ice cream in the sunshine.

We then headed for the waterfall. What a disappointment. Not the waterfall itself - that was spectacular. But there was no walk. You drive up (and pay per head to get in) right to the base of the waterfall. You walk from the car, though there is a circular route so you could actually stay in the car if you wanted, and the entire view is right there.

There were a couple of ambivalent paths, none marked, none seemed very long. I felt robbed since I had expected a few km walk to the waterfall. 

Once we arrived back in Blessington there was a fleet of Viking long ships rowing down the lake.
After dinner in a local pub it was gin and bitter back at the cottage.

Wednesday started calm and bright. The lake was glassy - mirror like, if you had a big mirror you could only keep flat.

Over muesli we planned the day. The thought of walking along the coast from Bray to Greystones seemed the most attractive option. Plus it gave us the opportunity to see if we could climb either the great or small sugar loafs.
Turn on the sat nav and the fastest route is quite boring. The shortest looks like more fun so off we go. This road is narrow, bumpy, and full of sheep but we get into Bray just after a hard sea mist settles and we can see nothing.

We park and decide to do the 6km cliff walk into Greystones. We decided against water, sun cream, and Fiona brings her fleece to keep warm, but within 10 minutes the sun burns off most of the mist, and starts on me.
Beautiful walk along the coast, the sun making it reminiscent of Crete last year.

We make if into Greystones and look for something to drink. 10 minutes on the dart has us back in Bray. 

Which is jumping by now. 

We get back to the car and drive down to Wicklow town which was much quieter. After tea and cake we simply walked through the town, ending up at the ruined castle where we sat for an hour looking out over the water.

Drove back to the cottage, stopping for aftersun and Indian takeaway.

Thursday started a bit cooler, thankfully as my nose is quite burned. We decided to head to the abbey at Baltinglass, so off we headed. 

After some sat nav confusion we arrived at the abbey's remains. Bit of an odd place . They are currently maintaining it so you can't actually get in. And there's just a single remaining wall. 

Oh well.
No photos either. Since there was a guy in the portacabin, who never came out to speak to us, I didn't want to take pictures in case he thought I was an inspector or something.

Off then to Rath Gael ring fort. This was somewhat better. Again, this is somewhere where they are preserving. They are clearing the ground and ultimately building a car park. There was a central thick ring wall of dry stone and three outer rings of stone and earth. Not much else but impressive to see what was built 4000 years ago.

Our next stop was the village of Shillelagh where the famous sticks come from. 

Sadly this was a complete damp squib. We saw one shop selling shillelaghs but it was closed. 

We then decided to visit Dwyer McAllister's cottage. We had no idea of who he was or why his cottage was on our tourist map, but it was nearby. It was much harder to find but we persevered and finally arrived.

It was closed. But look at the opening hours - Last admission is 45 minutes before closing, but the opening hours are Daily from Mid June to Mid September

We couldn't find the stone circle.

We decided to give up and head for food. Fiona wanted to try a pub we passed a few times. They were closed too. But I finally got Fiona to drive a bit. We headed back into Blessington where we went back go the pub from Tuesday night. More gin at the cottage where we got to watch England lose to Uruguay.

Friday was our last day in the cottage. So after packing up and signing out we decided to head to a path and lake we had spied earlier in the week. We hadn't walked the path that day as Fiona wanted to have long trousers on in case of ticks.
From the cottage we followed the main road

until we made it to the lay by where the view stopped us earlier in the week.

A pleasant walk along Lough Bray Upper and lower.

Back to the car and we people watched for a while, amused at the number of people who came, and looked at the view without getting out of the car.

After we were done it was a drive back to my folks in Dublin for a family party Saturday night and the ferry home on Sunday afternoon.

With no wifi and no phone signal, even if I wanted to pay the roaming charges (I don't understand why the global company I use says I can't use my contract while I use their service abroad - its not like they charge themselves a fee or anything) and no way to get the photos off the cameras and online, this was writtten off line while we were away and uploaded on 28th June. The date shown is for my records.