Thursday, April 27, 2017
nick: May Day bank holiday weekend
- 3:39 pm... 80 comments
Comments:
nick: BBC weather now has rain starting at 1pm on Sunday on IoW. I will need to go faster than last time to beat it
nick: BBC weather has moved IoW rain on Sunday back to 4pm. The tension is almost too much for me to take
Tim: Maybe the Bachinis will be able to wave at you as you go by. Unless it's really pissing down of course.
Tim: Nick, I forgot to suss out your plan for tomorrow, but if you want to park here and/or call in afterwards for tea/toast/shower just let me know.
nick: Thanks Tim - I'm planning on catching the 7am ferry so I'm going to be having to get up pretty early and probably will park near the ferry, but if I get up in time to park at yours and cycle from there I'll send you a text
nick: I managed to finish in time for the 1:30pm ferry, although it was a bit of a rush at the end because the chain ferry was closed and there was a 5 mile diversion through Newport. So far as I can tell, I must have gone past Steve and Deborah when they were at the tea stop in Yarmouth - I had a text from Deborah saying that they were there shortly after I'd gone past it. I stopped and waited for a bit and had a sandwich in case they came past me but all that happened was another cyclist ran into me while I was at the roadside (she said she'd had her head down and not been looking where she was going, very apologetic).
Rain started about 12.40 so I didn't get too wet. Almost nodded off on the ferry.
Managed to stay awake for Steve Hackett in the evening - it was pretty good: his bassist was Nick Beggs who I think has worked with Steve Wilson. First half was Hackett stuff, a bit of which I recognised; second half was Genesis, with an emphasis on Wind and Wuthering (40 years old) but also Firth of Fifth, Dance on a Volcano, Los Endos and Musical Box. Tony was very impressed.
Tim: Eh? They only finished 7th in the table, and the playoff spots are 2-5.
It turns out that Poole and Hungerford are both ineligible because their grounds don't have the required 500 seats for the next league up (National League). Bit of a shame really.
Steve: We did a slow 42 miles in the end. Got soaked for about an hour then was okay. Deborah has been complaining of pains for a few days after. Overall though this was the only rain we had in 4 days, and we had a fair but of sun so was excellent.
nick: re:Hackett I forgot to mention he played "Inside and Out" - never thought I'd hear that live. He introduced it by talking about the EP of stuff from W&W sessions, and I was a bit worried he was going to play "Pigeons"
Steve: Rode in today, enjoyed it although should have set off a bit earlier as the traffic is really bad around 8 in London. I was definitely putting it off drinking my tea. Got the clothing right and will train home. Stressed over having the right stuff at work. Realise that my laptop bag is at home, so can't take that home tonight. Minor issue.
nick: I often find myself considering making excuses for riding "looks a bit rainy today" etc. but invariably am glad when I do it, and usually feel regretful when I skip a day.
This weekend we're seeing Amanda and Tony (Steve and I stayed one night with them) in Wales - we're staying Sat night in a hotel in the Brecon Beacons. Tony is apparently very excited about doing a bike ride. I hope it's not too hilly
Tim: Blimey, Portsmouth just won League Two. We were third before today's game, and would need to win without either of the teams above us doing likewise. Obviously that's not impossible, but I really didn't imagine it happening.
We were top of the table for about half an hour all season. About fifteen minutes in the first half, and the all-important last bit.
OK I know, that's enough football talk.
Steve: Good to see you getting excited Tim. Just like I did at Snarky Puppy. Brilliant gig despite them not starting until 9:20. I'll buy the live download now it's appeared on their site. Nice to know we were at their biggest non-festival gig to date.
nick: Tim, yes I'm free on Saturday if you want to do a ride. I hope the weather will be looking up a bit by then.
Tim: The forecast at the moment is Sunny Intervals so let's pencil it in. I can be at MIC at 5 past any hour you like.
Tim: Not exactly sure why, but I've ordered a set of those Kraftwerk blu-rays. It's quite likely I'm going to need some new hardware.
Steve: That is news indeed.
We are in Rome for 6 days from today in case you wonder at the lack of replies.
Can't see any urgent business on the horizon.
nick: Would 13.05 at Micheldever be OK? BBC weather says chance of rain in the morning here, but clear by 1pm
Tim: Legs mostly OK today, bum hurts somewhat, generally a bit tired. Looking forward to another ride soon.
nick: Nice ride - thanks for planning it. I am around next weekend but the weekend after will be in Barcelona. I'll be here for Bank Holiday Monday though, in case you are planning options
Tim: Next weekend is looking unlikely, especially if the wet weather persists.
No idea whether I'm free on the Monday, I'll try and keep you posted.
nick: The Steely Dan tribute band last night were pretty good. I came away wanting to get some more Steely Dan music (although I'm not really that into it). The guitarist in particular was amazing - he made it seem so effortless but was really doing great stuff. A lot nicer venue than the Brixton Academy too (a bit smaller than the Brook) so you had no trouble seeing. They're playing St Albans (among other places) later in the year, and I'd recommend it
nick: There are quite a few videos of Stanley Dee on youtube. Found one of a really rocking track, played at the venue I was at, but 6 months earlier. The ending, with guitar solo, is brilliant (starts about 3:40)
Tim: Seems there are a lot of other Steely Dan tributes out there. Corny names include: Steemy Dan, Nearly Dan, Steely Scam, Steely Dane, Steely Jam, Steelin' Dan, Steely Fan, Steely Damned.
nick: I get the impression that SD are highly regarded among musicians (Tony really rates them, and there were a couple of Tony's friends at the gig who also play music with him) so perhaps that's a reason they attract a lot of tribute bands.
Steve: Back, how amazing was that? An "average" church makes St Pauls look positively drab.
Well done Paul for organising and doing the whole thing in Italian!
Got the Four Seasons thing on currently as I catch up. Excellent. Next up the Rome trilogy by Respighi of course.
Recent record fayre I bought Drama (where's mine?), ELP Trilogy, American Garage, Moving Waves and a Dave Grusin.
On the SD front I have The Royal Scam and have played it loads even though it is also not quite my thing. Not a duff track on it, and my favourite Haitian Divorce. Better on LP but not 100%, although it's Dad's so he might have worn it out.
Tim: And inevitably The Royal Scam is the name of (an)other tribute band(s).
Nick, I've got clearance for a ride on the 29th. Subject to weather, obv. Trains look normal.
Tim: I've ordered a Blu-Ray drive. Maybe I'll be able to rip the audio off those Kraftwerk and Max Richter discs. Or something.
Steve: Gonna need a bigger disk...
That HIA is pretty good, maybe not something I'd listen to much though.
Matt went to the Luton game and was traumatised. But it saves the pain of a Wembley defeat. They equalised in the 95 minute by a goalie error, I mean OG! Luton were all over them for most of the match.
How are you voting for your team Tim?
nick: Blu-Ray capacity according to Wikipedia can be "25 GB (single-layer), 50 GB (dual-layer), 100/128 GB (BDXL)". Blimey! Given that it takes around 5 mins to rip a 700MB CD, you might need a lot of time as well as disk space
Tim: Playoffs are normally (well, 75%) trauma. And I voted to keep ownership, voting ends today.
The Kraftwerk will mostly be video, there will be three (ish?) versions of the audio, so maybe 24cds worth. Sleep will be 8 cds at 24bit, so...12 cds? 20GB all in, maybe.
Steve: I'm going to go for the Bluedot Saturday 8th Orbital. Drive there and back. Any takers as well as Paul?
Steve: Yeah she was nice. They both were.
BTW I tried to use this blog on my mobile on holiday and got some cryptic error in Italian. Needed to use the web page version and it was okay. Same error in English when I came back. Odd.
nick: Entertaining Mr Sloane is what we potentially could see when everyone's down in Hampshire - I can book it if people are interested?
Steve: Yeah fine thanks, we will double the numbers.
Also, I have a free weekend 13th October if you want to mark it.
nick: I mean - I assume one ticket for Steve and one ticket for Deborah.
I pencilled in weekend of 13-Oct
nick: Did Deborah have a good time in Italy? Hope the flights weren't too stressful. We're off to Barcelona tomorrow, I'm trying not to feel resentful about the lovely weather lined up here while we're away.
Steve: She was stressed but otherwise brill thanks. We missed some crap weather :)
Hope your expensive hotel is worth it.
Check this out: Yes Roundabout with Geddy Lee
Is he playing it thinking it's too easy?
nick: Hi Tim - yes, Mon 29th looks good - I'll stick that time in my calendar. We get back Sunday evening so I should be fine for that but I'll let you know if anything comes up
nick: Not sure why but it gives me a nice warm feeling to see Geddy Lee playing with them, it's nice to think that they're friends
Steve: He does seem like a great bloke, comes across well in interview.
And watching recent videos of Yes, I am constantly amazed how fantastic Steve's playing is. And on that one Rick is also great.
Just had the broken tooth out at a clinic about 3 miles away so I cycled. I took it very easy on the way back (lot of gentle wnhill) so as not to get things pumping; quite a revelation, slow cycling.
Now to see what happens when the injections wear off...
nick: Steve was right, the desktop version of the site seems to work. I booked for Saturday 10th. Tickets £10 each, got a discount because I was buying 4 or more
Tim: Cheapskate.
I assumed you meant the 9th, but probably just because I've got no real idea what's going on. 10th fine too. (Just saw your email.)
Tim: Quite a lot of showers today and a rapidly changing forecast. See what the outlook is in the morning.
nick: Barcelona was very sunny, quite busy, not very high-rise (so lots of sky), lots of beautiful looking people, quite a lot of nice buildings to look at, millions of restaurants, and Sagrada Família was breathtaking. Definitely worth a visit. I think Tim and Tina might like it. There was quite a lot of beach as well as interesting things to look at
nick: oh! don't know why that should be... maybe your work firewall is blocking it? I'll see if I can post one to nickoh.com
Tim: I'll try a bit more fishing then... maybe Steve's got a good one from Rome? For the blog, like.
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nick: BBC weather now has rain starting at 1pm on Sunday on IoW. I will need to go faster than last time to beat it
nick: BBC weather has moved IoW rain on Sunday back to 4pm. The tension is almost too much for me to take Tim: Maybe the Bachinis will be able to wave at you as you go by. Unless it's really pissing down of course. Tim: Nick, I forgot to suss out your plan for tomorrow, but if you want to park here and/or call in afterwards for tea/toast/shower just let me know. nick: Thanks Tim - I'm planning on catching the 7am ferry so I'm going to be having to get up pretty early and probably will park near the ferry, but if I get up in time to park at yours and cycle from there I'll send you a text nick: I managed to finish in time for the 1:30pm ferry, although it was a bit of a rush at the end because the chain ferry was closed and there was a 5 mile diversion through Newport. So far as I can tell, I must have gone past Steve and Deborah when they were at the tea stop in Yarmouth - I had a text from Deborah saying that they were there shortly after I'd gone past it. I stopped and waited for a bit and had a sandwich in case they came past me but all that happened was another cyclist ran into me while I was at the roadside (she said she'd had her head down and not been looking where she was going, very apologetic).Rain started about 12.40 so I didn't get too wet. Almost nodded off on the ferry.
Managed to stay awake for Steve Hackett in the evening - it was pretty good: his bassist was Nick Beggs who I think has worked with Steve Wilson. First half was Hackett stuff, a bit of which I recognised; second half was Genesis, with an emphasis on Wind and Wuthering (40 years old) but also Firth of Fifth, Dance on a Volcano, Los Endos and Musical Box. Tony was very impressed.
Tim: Eh? They only finished 7th in the table, and the playoff spots are 2-5.It turns out that Poole and Hungerford are both ineligible because their grounds don't have the required 500 seats for the next league up (National League). Bit of a shame really.
Steve: We did a slow 42 miles in the end. Got soaked for about an hour then was okay. Deborah has been complaining of pains for a few days after. Overall though this was the only rain we had in 4 days, and we had a fair but of sun so was excellent. nick: re:Hackett I forgot to mention he played "Inside and Out" - never thought I'd hear that live. He introduced it by talking about the EP of stuff from W&W sessions, and I was a bit worried he was going to play "Pigeons" Steve: Rode in today, enjoyed it although should have set off a bit earlier as the traffic is really bad around 8 in London. I was definitely putting it off drinking my tea. Got the clothing right and will train home. Stressed over having the right stuff at work. Realise that my laptop bag is at home, so can't take that home tonight. Minor issue. nick: I often find myself considering making excuses for riding "looks a bit rainy today" etc. but invariably am glad when I do it, and usually feel regretful when I skip a day.This weekend we're seeing Amanda and Tony (Steve and I stayed one night with them) in Wales - we're staying Sat night in a hotel in the Brecon Beacons. Tony is apparently very excited about doing a bike ride. I hope it's not too hilly
Tim: Blimey, Portsmouth just won League Two. We were third before today's game, and would need to win without either of the teams above us doing likewise. Obviously that's not impossible, but I really didn't imagine it happening.We were top of the table for about half an hour all season. About fifteen minutes in the first half, and the all-important last bit.
OK I know, that's enough football talk.
Steve: Good to see you getting excited Tim. Just like I did at Snarky Puppy. Brilliant gig despite them not starting until 9:20. I'll buy the live download now it's appeared on their site. Nice to know we were at their biggest non-festival gig to date. nick: Tim, yes I'm free on Saturday if you want to do a ride. I hope the weather will be looking up a bit by then. Tim: The forecast at the moment is Sunny Intervals so let's pencil it in. I can be at MIC at 5 past any hour you like. Tim: Not exactly sure why, but I've ordered a set of those Kraftwerk blu-rays. It's quite likely I'm going to need some new hardware. Steve: That is news indeed.We are in Rome for 6 days from today in case you wonder at the lack of replies.
Can't see any urgent business on the horizon.
nick: Would 13.05 at Micheldever be OK? BBC weather says chance of rain in the morning here, but clear by 1pm Tim: Legs mostly OK today, bum hurts somewhat, generally a bit tired. Looking forward to another ride soon. nick: Nice ride - thanks for planning it. I am around next weekend but the weekend after will be in Barcelona. I'll be here for Bank Holiday Monday though, in case you are planning options Tim: Next weekend is looking unlikely, especially if the wet weather persists.No idea whether I'm free on the Monday, I'll try and keep you posted.
nick: The Steely Dan tribute band last night were pretty good. I came away wanting to get some more Steely Dan music (although I'm not really that into it). The guitarist in particular was amazing - he made it seem so effortless but was really doing great stuff. A lot nicer venue than the Brixton Academy too (a bit smaller than the Brook) so you had no trouble seeing. They're playing St Albans (among other places) later in the year, and I'd recommend it nick: There are quite a few videos of Stanley Dee on youtube. Found one of a really rocking track, played at the venue I was at, but 6 months earlier. The ending, with guitar solo, is brilliant (starts about 3:40) Tim: Seems there are a lot of other Steely Dan tributes out there. Corny names include: Steemy Dan, Nearly Dan, Steely Scam, Steely Dane, Steely Jam, Steelin' Dan, Steely Fan, Steely Damned. nick: I get the impression that SD are highly regarded among musicians (Tony really rates them, and there were a couple of Tony's friends at the gig who also play music with him) so perhaps that's a reason they attract a lot of tribute bands. Steve: Back, how amazing was that? An "average" church makes St Pauls look positively drab.Well done Paul for organising and doing the whole thing in Italian!
Got the Four Seasons thing on currently as I catch up. Excellent. Next up the Rome trilogy by Respighi of course.
Recent record fayre I bought Drama (where's mine?), ELP Trilogy, American Garage, Moving Waves and a Dave Grusin.
On the SD front I have The Royal Scam and have played it loads even though it is also not quite my thing. Not a duff track on it, and my favourite Haitian Divorce. Better on LP but not 100%, although it's Dad's so he might have worn it out.
Tim: And inevitably The Royal Scam is the name of (an)other tribute band(s).Nick, I've got clearance for a ride on the 29th. Subject to weather, obv. Trains look normal.
Tim: I've ordered a Blu-Ray drive. Maybe I'll be able to rip the audio off those Kraftwerk and Max Richter discs. Or something. Steve: Gonna need a bigger disk...That HIA is pretty good, maybe not something I'd listen to much though.
Matt went to the Luton game and was traumatised. But it saves the pain of a Wembley defeat. They equalised in the 95 minute by a goalie error, I mean OG! Luton were all over them for most of the match.
How are you voting for your team Tim?
nick: Blu-Ray capacity according to Wikipedia can be "25 GB (single-layer), 50 GB (dual-layer), 100/128 GB (BDXL)". Blimey! Given that it takes around 5 mins to rip a 700MB CD, you might need a lot of time as well as disk space Tim: Playoffs are normally (well, 75%) trauma. And I voted to keep ownership, voting ends today.The Kraftwerk will mostly be video, there will be three (ish?) versions of the audio, so maybe 24cds worth. Sleep will be 8 cds at 24bit, so...12 cds? 20GB all in, maybe.
Steve: I'm going to go for the Bluedot Saturday 8th Orbital. Drive there and back. Any takers as well as Paul? Steve: Yeah she was nice. They both were.BTW I tried to use this blog on my mobile on holiday and got some cryptic error in Italian. Needed to use the web page version and it was okay. Same error in English when I came back. Odd.
nick: Entertaining Mr Sloane is what we potentially could see when everyone's down in Hampshire - I can book it if people are interested? Steve: Yeah fine thanks, we will double the numbers.Also, I have a free weekend 13th October if you want to mark it.
nick: I mean - I assume one ticket for Steve and one ticket for Deborah.I pencilled in weekend of 13-Oct
nick: Did Deborah have a good time in Italy? Hope the flights weren't too stressful. We're off to Barcelona tomorrow, I'm trying not to feel resentful about the lovely weather lined up here while we're away. Steve: She was stressed but otherwise brill thanks. We missed some crap weather :)Hope your expensive hotel is worth it.
Check this out: Yes Roundabout with Geddy Lee
Is he playing it thinking it's too easy?
nick: Hi Tim - yes, Mon 29th looks good - I'll stick that time in my calendar. We get back Sunday evening so I should be fine for that but I'll let you know if anything comes up nick: Not sure why but it gives me a nice warm feeling to see Geddy Lee playing with them, it's nice to think that they're friends Steve: He does seem like a great bloke, comes across well in interview.And watching recent videos of Yes, I am constantly amazed how fantastic Steve's playing is. And on that one Rick is also great.
Just had the broken tooth out at a clinic about 3 miles away so I cycled. I took it very easy on the way back (lot of gentle wnhill) so as not to get things pumping; quite a revelation, slow cycling.
Now to see what happens when the injections wear off...
nick: Steve was right, the desktop version of the site seems to work. I booked for Saturday 10th. Tickets £10 each, got a discount because I was buying 4 or more Tim: Cheapskate.I assumed you meant the 9th, but probably just because I've got no real idea what's going on. 10th fine too. (Just saw your email.)
Tim: Quite a lot of showers today and a rapidly changing forecast. See what the outlook is in the morning. nick: Barcelona was very sunny, quite busy, not very high-rise (so lots of sky), lots of beautiful looking people, quite a lot of nice buildings to look at, millions of restaurants, and Sagrada Família was breathtaking. Definitely worth a visit. I think Tim and Tina might like it. There was quite a lot of beach as well as interesting things to look at nick: oh! don't know why that should be... maybe your work firewall is blocking it? I'll see if I can post one to nickoh.com
Tim: I'll try a bit more fishing then... maybe Steve's got a good one from Rome? For the blog, like.
