Steve: Yes you can only add pics to the post. Well done on the update.

Great day yesterday thanks Nick. Selling England is noticeably better - there is more of everything. D is not impressed with the volume - I said I'm testing the new version and she said it's as bad as the old one.

Now where to source those remasters...
 

 nick: Sat was fab, thanks very much.

I did a look around and so far as I can see, the nearest place that we might be able to see a U-boat is Liverpool. Might be a nice day out
 

 Steve: Good bit of research there thanks, it is a fair old way though so it wouldn't be a day-trip!
 

 Steve: I have booked some Barbican tickets as follows, I am sure I can use spares if no-one comes:

Thurs 8th Oct - Beethoven Violin + Sib 5th (2)

Sun 7th Feb - Beeth Symph 1 + 9 (3)

Thu 4th Mar - Bernstein Symphonic Dances + Rach Symphonic Dances (2)

Sun 25th Apr - Copland/Previn/Barber + Strauss Alpine Symphony (4)

Got a bit of discount from booking the number of gigs. This made the basket completely indecipherable.
 

 nick: re: barbican - thanks for booking, I'll definitely take the two Sunday ones if that's still OK and may be able to use the others if you're unable to get rid of them

nick
 

 Steve: Just listening to spotify and Fountain of Salmacis comes on and I can tell it's remixed! So I need to buy this definitely then. Had a Ramshackled track earlier which was fun.
 

 nick: Glad to hear you're re-reading "Protector" - one of my favourites. Maybe Tim would like it even.

Approaching the end of Das Boot - very good recommendation Steve. If you'd not read it then I'd be recommending it to you. The event that occurred as they were on the way to Gibraltar was a complete surprise, and I don't know how the book will turn out.
 

 Steve: Yes Das Boot is an epic, it hadn't occurred to me how much of the time they are either thrown around or at some stupid angle. And it has a neat way of explaning how things work without it seeming forced into the narrative. I have it to lend Tim if you fancy.

Paul has a track meeting tonight which should be interesting. Off to Kings Lynn tomorrow to go as far as possible on my free season-ticket complimentary train passes.
 

 nick: Ha! finally, a way to keep up with Paul
 

 Steve: Another plug for Spotify - it is saving me loads of money. All of those artists/albums you considered, one listen and you are cured. The sound quality is very good and it reacts to your requests very quickly. You can listen to whole albums but you do get audible adverts and it pauses them if you mute the volume!

They do need a bigger catalogue but I assume it's coming.

I'm on a classical phase at the moment BTW. Last night was Vaughan Williams and Sibelius.

Trust you had a good holiday Tim.
 

 nick: Don't you have to download client software for spotify? Does it work on Linux (I know, I could find out but I'm too lazy!) Any disadvantages with it?
 

 Steve: Yes it requires an install and looks like it'll only work under Wine.

I have just ordered a John Adams album from hearing some so it's not all hopeless. Only disadvantage is the adverts and lack complete catalogue. It's good enough quality to check if the Genesis remasters are worth getting I reckon.
 

 Tim: Hi, got back last night, good hols, thanks for the card Steve. And well done on the concerts front, I'll come to any that I can make where there are vacancies. How's the Vaughan Williams going?

And yes, it sounds like I'd better read Das Boot, ta. Re Liverpool, are you specifically after a German sub? There's a sub museum in Gosport (other side of the harbour from Portsmouth).
 

 Tim: Nearly forgot - how about cycling tomorrow, do you think the weather's up to it?
 

 nick: well it seems currently to be showing cloudy turning to light rain. I don't mind giving it a go on that basis, what do you think? Can leave it until tomorrow to decide if you want
 

 Tim: Yep, give it a go, we can always call it off tomorrow. Are you working? 6pm at MD?
 

 nick: yes I am in the office today, but probably can get to MD for 6pm. What do you think about the weather?
 

 Tim: Looks OK to me. BBC says light rain later but maybe we'll have finished before anything happens, weather.com says mostly cloudy with 20% chance of precipitation going up to 60% at 11pm. No idea what those % represent exactly.
 

 nick: OK well I'll aim to get to MD at 6, and if you're not on the one that gets in at 18.02 I'll get the 18.04 to HE. In fact I notice they're running from MD to HE more often than once an hour, so if I miss the 18.04 I can get one at 18.34.
 

 Steve: Early days on the VW - I have a lovely box set which means far too much stuff to cope with. The symphonies I tried sound impressive but may be style over substance. I thought this book looked interesting and will see if my lot can get it for my birthday. Lots of copies in our library and even more weirdly most of them are out!

I guess we should start with a local sub first so yes good suggestion.
 

 Tim: OK, so when are we going to Gosport?

Nick, I think I probably won't bother with Big Wheel this year. It'll wipe out the weekend, and I want to get up the attic.
 

 Steve: Oh dear and I'm not going to the Big Wheel either so we will unfortunately need proof that you have done it Nick :)

I have a fair bit of holiday left so it should be a Friday school day for some peace and quiet. But then we have Bestival 2nd weekend in Sept to contend with.
 

 nick: ha! you'll be missing out on Sunday then...

They've put maps of the routes on the website using "gmap pedometer" - do you use that tim? Are our MD->HE routes on there somewhere?

I'm going to a prom in the evening - Holst 1st choral symphony; Delius Brigg Fair; Elgar Enigma variations. Unfortunately, the plan is that Tony picks me up at 3.30, so I'm not going to get a lot of kip after the ride. Hope the Elgar is nice and loud to wake me up.
 

 nick: flipping heck, the "50 miles" one goes on forever!
 

 Tim: Good route. I think it's a particularly nice touch that the last 10 miles are North Waltham to Basingstoke via Farleigh Wallop.

I haven't seen that site before, just gave it a try, here's our Monday route. Due to the inadequacies of the map it's not much good for finding routes, but recording them isn't bad.
 

 nick: That (Monday) was a nice route. Hadn't realised that we went downhill so much (according to the Elevation graph)
 

 Tim: How did it go then Nick? We're expecting pictures of course, so that'd make a lovely new post.
 

 Steve: In sympathy I did about 70 miles on Saturday. Paul went to Wales and did 120 in an event that was not a race but was timed.

I should think the Nimrod variation was pretty epic live.

I got a CD of an album of yours Tim - Steve Reich (some variations or other) and Adams' Shaker Loops. Actually so far the Reich is the one I keep playing as at 20 minutes it's far too short.

Bought a mount-cutter so have remounted my AH CD cases more professionally and got Road Games in its own frame. If anyone wants anything mounted let me know, Tim you still have your LPs. Wilkos are doing a cheap 14" square black frame which allows a 2" border and works really well. I can even do it without touching/damaging the LP cover.
 

 Tim: Wow, you bought a mount cutter? I don't even know what they look like.
But I've been on the lookout for mounts as it happens. Can you do big ones? (For a 100cm x 70 frame, probly) and er what are the raw materials? Or can you use it to make the hole in an existing mount bigger?
More questions to follow!

Variations for Wind, Strings, and oh bum I can't remember either, Keyboards, just looked it up. That's the one? Damn good.
 

 Steve: Yes on the Reich.

Yes you can do big ones (ahem). It's mount board that you buy from any art shop and it's only about £6 for almost A0 size. They do metric up to A1 then this other size which is not quite A0 - it's one of the old traditional sizes - something like 48x32". You would need this one and there's a good range of colours. Almost all have white core assuming that's okay.

The cutter is a special ruler with a groove and a shuttle thing with a blade at 45 or 90 degrees, see HERE. Mine was from an eBay seller for about £20. Next time I'm down we can have a go or if you get one ask me before you use it as I've had some serious trauma. And yes you can use the middle for further projects.

Ask Nick to post a pic of the one I did him recently. The AH was the 5 covers stuck on a background so I have now cut 5 windows and put them behind - it really tidies the rough edges/dents etc away. You use masking tape to hold them in place. Of course 3 are signed now so it's looking really good. I had just 2cm between apertures and it seems to stand it easily.

I'm off this afternoon getting D back from camp but I look forward to a load of updates when I get back.
 

 nick: Sorry but I didn't get any pictures yesterday! Light wasn't great - overcast most of the time but it was very good cycling weather, no rain at all. Route was great - not nearly as hilly as I'd expected and we (me, John, Geoff) finished in about 3.5 hours.

Proms impressive, especially, as you suspected, Steve, the finale of Enigma - they were using the organ. And the Holst was good - the choir must have numbered well over 100 people. I've got one more lined up with Tony - that's Beethoven's 9th.

I have some more LP covers that probably would look good framed, thanks for the offer Steve. When are you off on holiday?
 

 Tim: Well done Nick. I think I would have held you back on my CX, so it's probably just as well.

On the frame front, I just had a quick lookie in Ikea, they've got 100x70 metal frames for £15 or another type with mounts included for £20. Probably go for the ones with mounts, and inrease the aperture from 69x49 to 76x61. The geometry's not ideal but it's a cheap solution... next time you're down :-)

Re: Elgar, Nimrod's not the finale.
 

 nick: > Re: Elgar, Nimrod's not the finale.

that's why I was careful not to say it was. Although it did sound a bit like Nimrod in parts.
 

 Tim: "I should think the Nimrod variation was pretty epic live."

"Proms impressive, especially, as you suspected, Steve, the finale of Enigma"

Erm.
 

 nick: fair cop.
 

 Steve: I have Friday off and the following 2 weeks so hopefully good chance of some nice weather. We will be in Nant Gwynant near Beddgelert with the route to Snowdon past our front door.

£20 for a frame that size with mount is very good I'd say.

I may have to unsubscribe from the BBC audience list as they keep sending seemingly invites to seemingly ridiculous/contrived new comedies:

"In Pointless the aim is to score as few points as possible.

Every question (e.g. name a Tom Cruise movie) has already been put to 100 people before the show. So we know which are the most popular answers and which are the least popular.

In the studio, contestants must try to give the answers the fewest people would have given, thereby scoring as few points as possible.

And if they can really search their knowledge for the most obscure facts, they might even come up with an answer that nobody gave... a pointless answer!"
 

 nick: re: bbc shows, yes I've had tons of those too. Nearly all the stuff is not of interest and they are obviously having problems drumming up interest for "Pointless" (three emails in the last month telling me about it). I'll stay subscribed in case something interesting turns up though, so if you want to drop off the list I'll try and filter out the dross (maybe I'll create a gmail filter to remove stuff talking about exciting new comedy shows)
 

 Tim: Sounds like a good game to me. What's comedy about it though?
 

 nick: In the news.. - lucky you, Steve!
 

 Tim: Could be interesting.
 

 Steve: Yes she's been umming and ahhing for ages about this, I must dig some rude carrots up then.
 

 nick: Aha! a challenge has been set - I wonder if I can beat it? Only 49 books so far this year though so I need to up my average...
 

 Steve: How about a short one to up the average - Of the Farm by Updike - just finished it - exquisite.
 

 Tim: I don't think that counts, Steve.

BTW I see Voiceprint have released a Moraz/Bruford Live album. Some of the tracks have already been bonus tracks on reissues though, so you could possibly have them from last time you were in that area.
 

 nick: > How about a short one to up the average
> - Of the Farm by Updike - just
> finished it - exquisite.

For some reason I thought that was a comment from Tim, but it didn't compute at all - Tim praising a book as "exquisite"?

I may try the Updike, thanks. Just finished "The Name of the Rose" which was quite long and I didn't really enjoy it so it was quite a slog. Maybe Tim's sort of thing though
 

 Steve: Hmm I don't remember live bonus tracks on them - oops. Keep thinking about the Bruford remasters but re-buying stuff is always tricky.

Been trying some Holger Czukay - it's very interesting but maybe not suitable for buying. Got Goblin on now - Prog band.
 

 Tim: I quite liked Name of the Rose, but even then, not that easy going. Same with most of his books.

Also on the Bruford front he's done an album with Piano Circus, we saw them at Union Chapel didn't we? Or was that Piano Somethingelse.
 

 Steve: Don't remember the Piano thing, good research though. Don't forget I'm off for 2 weeks soon but we should have Internet access over there.
 

 nick: internet? in WALES??
 

 Steve: Yes Internet and no TV so we can get the news and weather on iPlayer :)
 

 Tim: We're looking forward to some pictures then.
 

 Tim: Nick, looks like rain Saturday. How about after work Monday/Tuesday?
 

 nick: Monday probably is best for me, so pencil that in. I saw John last night, we both said how much we'd enjoyed the ride at the weekend. Geoff was thinking of going round the IoW this Saturday but I think that was weather dependent so that'll probably get postponed too.

Off to see "The Australian Pink Floyd" tonight at the Anvil - I *think* they're doing the whole of the Wall. Actually I'm quite excited, although I saw another PF tribute ("Think Floyd") there a couple of years ago and they weren't much cop.
 

 nick: well, crikey, as Steve might say - Australian PF were pretty good last night - they did the whole of "The Wall" with animations (that were not the original but looked very like it, albeit with Kangaroos every so often) and impressive light show. Sounded spot on too. And they did the full version of "Empty Spaces" which I really like.

Came across this Flanders and Swann lyric which I'd vaguely remembered - really good examples of syllepsis (apparently that's the term) in it, e.g. "When he asked "what in Heaven?" she made no reply,
Up her mind, and a dash for the door. "

steve, hope you have a good holiday and birthday
 

 Tim: Oh bugger, yes they overlap don't they. Aherm.
Steve, what address are you staying at?
 

 nick: Just came across a piece written by Pat Metheny. I wish he'd just say what he thinks instead of prevaricating.
 

 Tim: Yes, get off the fence man.

Meanwhile, OK for bikes tomorrow?
 

 nick: I think the weather looks ok so I reckon we might be on - confirm tomorrow?
 

 Tim: Still looks OK to me. I can be at HE for 5:30, MD at 6.
 

 nick: OK I'll aim to be at MD for 6pm then.
 

 Tim: OK.
 

 Tim: Right, the flat tyre is fixed, probably, I'll give it a little ride out one evening to make sure. I think I've got the knack now, so hopefully it won't take as long next time (?).

Any scope for trying again Friday evening or Saturday morning?
 

 nick: could be on for friday/saturday - don't think anything else is lined up that would conflict. Did you have to go out and buy a new tube? Was it the one with the broken valve that went?
 

 Tim: I already had a new tube plus two types of repair gear: self-adhesive patches and the traditional glue and patch job.

II tried the self-adhesive one first and it looked OKish but didn't actually stick properly, and being a bit chicken about inflating the tube while not inside a tyre (what PSI can it take?) I didn't find out until I'd reassembled everything. The glue job looked more promising in a melty-on sort of way and stayed up, for the short term at least.

I found and removed a tiny sharp thing stuck in the tyre. I don't know what happened exactly, the tyre was basically OK until I tried to top it up (which involved accidentally deflating it first, can't get the hang of the pump!), maybe I picked it up in the garage.

The *other* tube is the one with the broken valve, I think I'll swap that over too.
 

 nick: Folding Bike with hydraulic drive
 

 Tim: Hydraulic drive? Sounds awful (but maybe isn't).

Meanwhile, where's Steve with his handy internet access, photos, and holiday address?
 

 Tim: Nick, a leaflet on our doormat says Titus Andronicus is on at Titchfield Festival Theatre (but site not working atm?) 16th - 26th September. 2 Junctions down the M27 from here.

Also on the doormat, thanks to Steve mentioning Steve Reich, I had a little look to see what Glass has been up to, and there's a new version of Koyaanisqatsi. Which led me to find out that for the previous new version (1998?!) there was a DVD-Audio 5.1 edition, so I've got that in, ready for when my wiring is finished...
 

 nick: Titus Andronicus, hmm I should see that, not got it booked anywhere else (at first I thought I was seeing it at the Globe later this month, but I'm getting mixed up with Troilus and Cressida).

TA is famously violent. Geoff said when he saw it at the Globe people in the audience were fainting at all the blood.

Fancy going with me then Tim?
 

 Tim: Might as well.
 

 Tim: Weather forecast for Fri/Sat looking good. Which do you prefer?
 

 nick: I think sat would be best, saves me having to rush home on Fri.
 

 Tim: Right. I should be able to do an 8:30 start, which means I can be at MD about 9. If that's not early enough you could catch the 8:00 and we can do the uphill route. Or something.
 

 nick: late change of plan - I have to take bring Ella home this evening and take her somewhere tomorrow at 9am (Lesley isn't able to drive at the moment) so for tomorrow I can't get to MD before 9.30 ish. Is that still OK with you? e.g. if you get the train which gets in around 9.36 I should be able to be there for that
 

 Tim: No, my train *leaves* at hh:36.
I can arrive at 9 and wait (don't mind), or arrive at 10 if that's nearer the mark.
 

 nick: ok, make it the one that arrives at 10 then, that should give me plenty of time in case (very unlikely but it could happen) Ella is a bit late getting ready...
 

 Tim: 10 it is.
 

 Tim: Started a new post for this morning's route.