Thursday, May 16, 2019
Steve: Better weather is here!
At NT Anglesey Abbey mill Cambs. D in the distance.
Was pretty cold when we went a few weeks ago.
- 9:11 am... 189 comments
Comments:
Steve: On my phone so not the apex but hopefully straight.
BTW we went to see a live screening last night of Golden Hour ballet. And after the GH D said that was the best ballet she has ever seen! The other two of course not as good.
It does remind me to tell you that if you haven't got it, Gorecki's 3rd (used above) is amazing. Quite minimalist actually and dirt cheap as it was a huge success. Not tried his other stuff of course.
I was well into the music last night which completely passed D by. Funny isn't it?
Tim: Just me from this end... and still thinking of Friday night until Sunday afternoon if that fits in OK.
nick: Just me - Lesley's at a music festival on Saturday. I think I would come Friday evening but not 100% sure yet, could be Sat AM.
BTW still getting erratic mails from the blog: I got Tim's response first, then a while later, Steve's previous comment
Steve: I don't use emails, just have a tab open.
I was planning for Bletchley Park Saturday, about time you did it?
And I haven't done the computer museum yet anyway.
nick: I don't use emails, just have a tab open.
Tim did configure the blog so that whenever anyone does a reply, it sends me an email. He must have done something else recently to break that, because my email notifications are sporadic so I have to remember to open this page to see if anyone's said anything.
Bletchley Park would be fab! I've never been
Tim: On Saturday I took you out of the box for receiving emails, and put you back in. Probably you should have received an email asking for verification. Sounds like you didn't though.
nick: No, I didn't get a verification email. I think it's something dodgy at their end - in some cases I'm getting notifications almost straight away (as before); sometimes they take ages
nick: On Saturday when we were out cycling, we went past two bridlepaths with huge mounds of plastic bits. It was so big I thought it must be something in preparation for a construction project or something. Apparently not.
nick: I do my bit by ripping unofficial posters off of lampposts when I see them.
Good for you! I have been thinking I should be going out and doing some litter picks.
21°C and bright sunshine here, and I'm about to cycle home! If only I wasn't vegan, I'd be stopping at the ice-cream van for a '99.
nick: Has anyone played Forbidden Desert?
I assumed that must be a TD album until I googled it.
I also have "Pandemic" so could bring that
Steve: So yet another live album from Yes to celebrate their anniversary called "50 live". What is the point????
Maybe they signed a punitive contract with Roger Dean :)
Tim: Plans for tomorrow still a bit vague but estimate ringing the doorbell about 8 or 9pm if that's OK.
nick: Think I'll be arriving early Saturday morning (8-9am) if that's OK, stay until Sunday and can give you a lift home if you want Tim
nick: I can bring Saturday's cryptic crossword on the iPad, so you boys can complete it in the car. I've been able to do the "easy" crosswords, but every time I try a cryptic I get nowhere
Tim: Steve, I'll be voting Green this evening so I probably ought to walk up the hill tomorrow. Plus it might give me a better chance against the nosh onslaught.
Steve: Yeah I voted Green as well. And if it were me I'd've walked as well.
Boy it was warm t-shirt cycling today and no shortage of insects out there. I think I spat them all out.
nick: Three green votes between us then! I forgot to vote on the way home so after getting changed I cycled to the polling station. The people inside my polling station said it was a fairly busy day: more people than they'd seen for the local elections but not as many as for the referendum.
Tim: Great weekend thanks a lot.
To help me keep track, these are the CDs I've got on loan from Steve:
Silhouettes
Frahm wintermusik
OPN R+7
Hecker Love Streams
Mark Pritchard x 2
nick: Yes thanks very much for all hospitality/catering/entertainment, it was great.
I can't immediately find the name of the car range Steve was thinking of
Steve: Yeah was excellent visit thanks. Outstanding crossword effort.
Was it the Signum I was thinking of? Right timeframe.
And this is the general von Paulus I was on about. He must've been in your books.
nick: Oh yes, perhaps it was Signum.
Yes, the WW2 book did talk about Paulus. Although there was so much going on I hadn't registered his name specifically
nick: OK I think I've done a route that goes to B&Bs which all have availability, based on a start date of Sat 6-July (a bit earlier than usual). Here it is
I think this is before school holidays start which perhaps makes things easier. Steve, given that you've been to all of these places, anywhere I should check out, or divert to see?
nick: The train ticket situation is worth playing with: for a single from Glasgow to Basingstoke on a Tuesday, "thetrainline.com" suggests I take Virgin train from Glasgow to Wolverhampton (arrive 15.35), and CrossCountry from Wolverhampton (leaves 15.42) to Basingstoke, which will cost me £133.
But I see that I could buy a single on that same Virgin train for £18, and a single on the CrossCountry service from Wolverhampton at 16.03 for £24.60. That means for less than a third of the suggested cost, I can do the same journey (and have a bit more breathing room at Wolverhampton!)
Although this might be academic, because Lesley says she fancies following me round and driving me home from Scotland
Steve: Oh boy, train prices.
And I just noticed your earlier link showing you've had access to crossword solving articles all these years!
nick: Friends of ours have had to cancel going on a holiday next week and offered us the tickets. I can't do it but Lesley might, if she can get someone to go with her. If she does, she'll be leaving on Fri 7 June (so won't be there all the time you are here).
Steve: OK the 4-player version again then!
Are they really Lesley's friends?... 'cause any non-Nick/Tim activities I partake in are with Deborah's friends, not mine.
Tim: Btw I reread the FD rules and couldn't spot anything we were doing wrong.
But there is also a FAQ at boardgamegeek with some clarifications from the designer. Includes some non-intuitive stuff about the Climber and their use of Jet Packs and/or tunnels and blocked tiles. I'll have to read it again, see if I can make sense of it.
nick: Are they really Lesley's friends?... 'cause any non-Nick/Tim activities I partake in are with Deborah's friends, not mine.
You got me - Liz and Michael are mainly Lesley's friends I suppose but I know them too: they are the couple who were married in St Lucia when we went there; also their daughter Jade is the one whose wedding we went to in Italy last year. Jade just had a baby, and the baby has some issue and is still in hospital, which is why Liz doesn't want to go on the holiday.
Hope that covers it...
Tim: Not really, the other thing we need to know is where the holiday is. (Might be able to make it!)
Tim: Probably a bit early, but are there any clues for next Friday yet?
(Btw Nick, I can't fit in a ride tomorrow, sorry.)
nick: _Probably a bit early, but are there any clues for next Friday yet?_
No idea. If Lesley's here then I thought she and Lesley might do something while we cycled, but if Lesley's going to Turkey then I'll arrange something we all can do.
Lesley has almost exhausted her list of potential plus-ones, and is threatening to force me to go but as well as conflicting with other arrangements I don't really fancy it
Tim: Doesn't sound like much of an excuse to me. You've got loads of leave, and you can have a cheap holiday and get some books read? And I bet you won't miss anything important.
:-)
nick: Yes I had been thinking of going to Silchester where there are Roman bits and also remains of an Iron Age thing and maybe a walk on the Basingstoke canal towpath but the weather looks a bit unpromising.
In other news, Lesley has found someone to go to Turkey with so she'll be disappearing some time on Friday morning (catching 11am train). Tim you can feel free to turn up any time on Friday morning for breakfast. I suppose if you arrive around 11 I could collect you from station and also drop Lesley off
Steve and Deborah if you're reading this you can turn up any time on Thursday - Lesley will be there all day and I'll get there about 6.30ish
Tim: Ted Chiang's Exhalation comes out in hardback next month, but I've just noticed that there are already people selling the paperback (probably airport edition) on Amazon.
nick: re: Exhalation - nice one: they have it on order at my library, so I've put in a reservation for it!
nick: Paul and Tony have done a two-part podcast on The Life and Times of John Real. They seem to have put quite a bit of effort in to making the music sound authentic. Certainly the prog-rock track sounds disturbingly like Fragile era Yes.
Steve: Very clever using John Peel's favourite track as the intro.
Paul's voice is too distinctive to be able to use it for more than one person though.
nick: Very clever using John Peel's favourite track as the intro
Listen again, it's not the actual track; it's one they've done in that style with their own words
You're right about the voice though, you can tell it's Paul doing most of the voices
Steve: Hmm drat, not an intentional Kennedy.
You'll be pleased to hear I have started the Iliad for those tricky crossword clues. Well for interest actually after reading another book set in Greece. Not an easy read so I have other references about to understand what is actually going on. And NOT HELPED by Homer referring to people by completely different names!
TD box coming today - I was going to go into the office. Oh well :)
nick: I'm very impressed that you're reading Homer. It sounds like a worthwhile thing to do. Perhaps better still if you read it in the original Greek, so you could learn the language too
Steve: Without the synopsis on Wikipedia I would have little idea, maybe I have a particularly cryptic version. There are so many names, and ways to refer to one "person", I don't know how they made an English book out of it.
Still no parcel...
Tim: I read the Iliad donkeys ago. Of course I don't remember much about it, except that there were a few long lists in it. I don't know how you deal with that.
Steve: Yes huge paragraphs of people who killed other people you've never heard of.
And the constant doubt of - is that a god or a person...
TD here but not tried it yet, and holiday from Thursday for 2 weeks.
The packaging is fine with me - two large cardboard folder things stuffed with disks and a nice book. LP-sized to match my KC one.
Better get ripping...
nick: I bought the newly remixed versions of Encore and Ricochet at the weekend (2 for a tenner at HMV). Listened to the Steve Wilson remix of Ricochet pt2 and couldn't immediately notice anything different, although that was in the car.
Steve hope you have a great holiday, get some nice pics!
Steve: That explains why some of these disks are already in the ripping database then.
And already cheap?!?
And you not hearing the difference does not surprise me!
Steve: One of the live doubles is already in the bootleg box I have but maybe SW got the proper tapes.
And phew, Bluedot tickets have just arrived. Not happy they will have a cashless thing onsite as I hate new technology. And what will you do Tim????
Tim: Yes, the live recordings were on the Manor Mobile (don't think SW had any involvement though).
Nick'll sort us out, he's good with that sort of thing.
Steve: So I was tempted by Force Majeure and put that on first but didn't notice anything special.
Then I tried Ricochet - the SW versions. I probably need to remind myself of the originals but it was part 1 that seemed the most amazing. And of course this has always been overlooked by me as part 2 came in that TD 80s box so I mostly play that.
nick: I went out on Paul's fixie at the weekend for a 20 mile ride. I noticed that I am slowing down on hills by pedalling "backwards" (or at least, pushing back on the pedals to stop them going round so fast). I assume that is what you're "meant" to do(?)
But my legs have been aching ever since - it's like I remember feeling when I started riding regularly. So must be exercising new muscles which I guess is a good thing...
Steve: I've passed this on to Paul - only he can advise!
I would have to have a free-wheel if I had one.
nick: Tim I realise the trains are a bit mucked up, with no Micheldever service tomorrow but I can get to e.g. Winchester if you did fancy a ride tomorrow (short notice but thought I'd mention it)
nick: The forecast wind direction for Saturday is from the South, might be worth doing HDE>MIC.
Sounds good to me, although it is forecast quite warm so the alternative would be to have a cooling headwind by going the other direction!
Tim: Maybe you're right. And the downhill counters the headwind a bit. See you at MIC then.
1:05pm? I can basically do any time you like.
nick: 1.05 at MIC sounds fine to me.
I came in this morning into a 15mph headwind and that was reasonably noticeable. Don't think it's that strong tomorrow though.
Can you arrange a route that goes past some poppy fields please?
nick: I had a bit of a go with this crossword/sudoku combination and think I can do a couple of them but it seems quite challenging. Setting it must be a nightmare
Tim: I've done a few, and overall it seems it's going to be too easy. (I think there are too many clues and not enough need to sudoku it.)
nick: I suppose if you know that the answer to any question has to be a single digit, and it's often going to be a choice of fewer than 9, then it *ought* to be straightforward
Steve: OK I'm back, and got through my work emails (mostly).
Was excellent with very good weather. Do we want a campervan? Not sure!
At the moment I do feel cured of watching TV and prefer to read or get nowhere with the i crossword. I guess that will wear off though.
nick: Do we want a campervan? Not sure!
oh dear! I thought you'd come back convinced one way or the other. Looks like you had good weather and I was very nostalgic for the places you mentioned because I think when I cycled Dundee -> Inverness I had excellent weather and glorious views for quite a while and I really liked it.
I've got the day off tomorrow for last minute prep before leaving on Saturday. I have been very lazy about route planning: in previous years it took me weeks to sort out using street view and writing down a list of directions; last couple of years I've relied on the hiking app to do the planning, and am assuming I can get that all done tonight/tomorrow. Looks like weather may be OK at least to start with.
Steve: I think if I got one it would be the same as the one we drove, i.e. no need to pay £1000s more for a VW (it was Toyota).
Driving home we saw the ruined castle thing near the A9 and the quiet road beside it from JOGLE - one of the best bits I thought, before my backside started to dominate proceedings.
One of the best bits of the holiday was the Scott museum and actual wooden ship at Dundee. Need to read his books then.
V&A is a load of pretentiousness with very little actual content, good job it's free.
Several orange markers added to our UK map!
Tried an Albert Hall live disk from the TD set and will have to edit it to remove John Peel's useless intro which you do not want once, let alone every time. Good quality and enjoyed it, would have to compare with the bootleg set I have. Faffy stuff though.
Tim: Apparently the Rubycon Extended Introduction recognisably ends with the beginning part of Rubycon Part 1, and likewise Oedipus Tyrannus Act 3 turns out to follow on from Rubycon Part 2. Therefore it's possible to make a 60 minute version of Rubycon.
Steve: I strongly recommend this: 8 Days to the Moon and Back.
I'm not a fan of dramatisations but in this they lip-synced to the actual comms channel.
Excellent music as well.
TD: Oedipus Tyrannus is very promising so far.
Steve: Oh and Deborah got picture of the week in the Luton News this week for the "wild" flowers on a road verge. I've taught her well.
Steve: Could people please send in their timetable for the forthcoming wet weekend?
I have access to our car on Saturday if required.
And I'm already getting angry about the cashless system where the onus is on you to reclaim left-overs within a one-month deadline. So no donuts this year.
With the advent of contactless cards, this smacks of a rip-off.
Tim: Er yes, I was wondering what's likely to happen - and what to wear. I can probably have our car if needed, or I'll be on a train to wherever is convenient, whenever.
Nick's the one with complications, I expect he'll be back in a couple of days to fill us in on the plan :-)
Tim: Sounds fine to me of course, but possibly Nick might want to go straight from and back to Bstoke, who knows.
Any idea what time anything is on? I can't spot any schedule. Probably doesn't really matter tbh.
Steve: No, the app appears to be the key to times. Although I see from last year stuff started at 12.
nick: Hi, yes I'm back. Coming up Friday evening and then travelling to Jodrell Bank on Saturday sounds OK to me. I would like to get back to Basingstoke for Sun 9am for Big Wheel but I realise not everyone might want to do that (not sure how much I want to actually, but I feel I need to keep the record unbroken).
So how about I collect Tim from BSK on Fri afternoon/evening and drive to Luton?
If you are intending to come home Saturday evening then we could go in one car: I don't mind driving up to Macclesfield.
I have the Blue Dot app so can see the lineup for Saturday includes
* 10:45 Clangers 50th anniversary screening+Q&A
...
* 12:35-13:20 Henge
* 13:45-14:30 Crystal Stormtrooper
* 13:45-14:15 Tony Njoku
* 14:45-15:45 Radio Science Orchestra
* 15:00-16:00 Robert Newman: Total Eclipse of Descartes (!)
* 15:00-16:00 Ryan Paul
* 16:00-17:00 Clangers DJ Set
* 16:40-17:25 KOKOKO!
* 17:35-17:55 Sean Morley
* 19:05-20:05 Jarvis Cocker
* 20:00-21:37 Screening of "Moon"
* 21:20-22:50 Kraftwerk 3-D
there is other stuff in parallel. I don't recognise most of it (including most of the above!)
Tim: Great. I won't make it to BSK until 18:15, if that's too late I can train it all the way, no problem. I assume we're all coming back Saturday night. I might scrounge a lift back to BSK depending on timing / sleep deprivation.
Steve: I started thinking get there ASAP, then a day of standing around in the showers had me thinking not. So I have no idea. Take carrier bags for our backsides?
Henge is good music until the vocals start (often the way) - as far as I got with the line-up.
Did anyone ever see Robert Newman in the end?
Tim: Yes, we did. It was good, and I can't remember any of it, so ideal to see again. Especially if it's indoors.
Steve: I got the app as well. I forgot, it's a science festival, so there is crap-loads of stuff on the go.
nick: Right well I'll collect Tim from BSK at 18:15 and then straight to Luton.
Yes there's tons of stuff on as well as music. BBC Breakfast were broadcasting from there this morning (I only saw the guy doing the end of the weather forecast)
nick: I couldn't quite work out the cashless thing, there don't seem to be any details of it in the app. One of the emails I had talks about charging credit to your wristband? Maybe we should take packed lunches
Steve: See this link: https://discoverthebluedot.com/connect where you can use the ticket # to register. I wondered if we can scam £5 by loading £100 (get £5 free), spending nothing and getting £105 back.
I simply do not trust it.
We can sort it out later but I am prepared to take food in - we've got rolls.
nick: Great concert thanks very much for sorting that. I was even more impressed than I had expected with Kraftwerk and have been listening to them since!
Got home just after 5am this morning, had an hour and a half sleep then did Big Wheel, which all felt a bit dreamy but went OK. John and Geoff also did it. I rode most of the time with John: he beat me home (see positions 79 and 80) but I assert that is because I was letting him go first because it was his birthday today.
Tim: Well done.
I had about 4 hours solid kip, which was a lifesaver, and caught the 10:30 from Luton.
But I checked the remaining members of Kraftwerk and your man is Hütter.
Steve: I held out all day and went bonk at 9:30 last night. I had forgotten that Nick had not seen them outside and would have been a long time ago anyway.
nick: I see there are also uploads to youtube of the bluedot concert itself.
Steve, I didn't give your water bottle back. I think I may have another of yours as well. So we need to organise another meet up to get sorted out (Tim has one of my water bottles too)
Steve: So I could call your bluff and say Saturday for a ride thing. I would train it wherever. Is the Reading thing feasible or BSK? A heatwave is coming apparently and D is at camp.
nick: That Reading ride we did was lovely. Although often the second time you do a trip you enjoyed it doesn't live up to the memories so perhaps we should try something different. Since Tim is busy Saturday, we could do Sunday instead?
Steve: I knew it was worth having children! Paul gave me some brand new unused 10-speed wheels that I can use on my Dawes (the rear gave up the ghost recently), already fitted with Marathon Plus. Had already got a new friction shifter to allow for any number of gears so quite an upgrade from 7-speed.
Tim: Let me rephrase that: I can't do this weekend. Lots of potential in August except maybe 10th/11th.
Steve: Got my money back from Bluedot. Was fairly painless in the end, the app alerted to say the refund site was up and after entering the wristband #s and bank details I see it got repaid. Now I can delete the app - my phone is forever short of storage.
nick: Got my money back from Bluedot. great!
Cycled in this morning and it was pretty hot, and the shower room was like a sauna: I had to dry myself four times. Coming into the air-conditioned office was amazing
nick: Just had a mail saying that tickets for Bluedot 2020 are now on sale. Doesn't say who's lined up to play though. So do we feel lucky?
nick: Is it the same weekend as the Big Wheel?
Almost certainly.
They put some BW pictures up, including one of Geoff and me. You can see bluedot mud on my legs!
Steve: As Tim said to me on Sunday, we can't think of anyone that would tempt us up there can we?
We've done it all!
BTW I went to that Lehmans play trilogy screening last night. Was excellent (if long) and Simon Russell Beale outstanding. Every character played by 3 people (no costume changes).
And oh the aircon :) I cycled.
It's still running Nick - you love live theatre.
Interestingly (also Nick) I overheard someone saying that Hopkins' King Lear was awful. I thought so!
nick: we can't think of anyone that would tempt us up there can we?
Klaus?
I'll have a look for the Lehmans thing, thanks
Steve: Nope not even Klaus, he'd not be headlining anyway.
And oh dear 10 years, I'd've said 5 but then should have used my double-it rule.
Steve: BTW Nick you might be interested in the Prom last night - PSB with choir and orchestra doing the Space album. Pretty impressive what I saw of it.
So I put the first track of Encore on to see if it's any good, hmm and have ended up adding the other three...
Tim: I've played a lot of TD over the last few days, thanks to Steve's rips - about 3/4 of everything from Ricochet to Poland (including a couple I only ever had on vinyl). Looking at them from this distance there are quite a few peculiar albums in there, significantly more disjointed than I was expecting. Interesting though.
nick: BTW Nick you might be interested in the Prom last night - PSB with choir and orchestra doing the Space album. As it happened I did come across that just before your post and did watch it. That's *twice* they've played at RAH recently and I've missed them!
Steve: Re TD: the proper Coventry Cathedral track is excellent and a good 34 mins length.
I play the seemingly dodgy Optical Race and Lily on the Beach quite a lot, I'm guessing Melrose (the next option) is terrible?
And thinking I might get the rest of the Kraftwerk in but go used on the cheap old versions. Discussions on the 2004 and 2009 Catalogue releases are not complementary. And due to the proliferation of duff tracks I'm not going to play them much.
£3 TE Express on its way. One coffee :)
nick: I've got Melrose and listen to it every now and again. OK but not amazing from what I remember.
In other news Lesley is away next weekend (3/4) so I'm definitely available either day for a bike ride. Saturday looks nice weather at the moment. I'm busy the following weekend (10/11) though - Ella's baby shower
Tim: A ride Saturday could well be poss, I'll keep an eye on the weather. It might be handy to start a bit earlier, 11 or 12, if that fits in with you. Maybe.
I found Melrose, and also a couple of others of that era that you might not have Steve and therefore should be subjected to: Miracle Mile and Canyon Dreams.
Steve: Can't wait for those iffy disks!
Not sure about weekend yet (D away).
BTW I just put on DSotMoog I and was looking at the sets which all seem to come with a 5th disk of alternate versions of various tracks. Did we know this?
Tim: Yes, they are:
The Evolution of TDSOTM compilation/mix, originally released as AW 023.
Tracks from Disc 2 of Are You Sequenced? that were mixed by Pete.
The full live set that TDSOTM8 was edited from. Except TDSOTM8 is longer (?no idea).
nick: I filled in my "what did you think of Bluedot" survey, which puts me in the draw for a pair of free tickets to next year. In the box "who'd you like to see", I put Klaus. So if that all comes together, you two might be able to see him doing Mirage etc. next year (I'll probably stay home so I can get to Big Wheel)
Steve: I wouldn't go all that way for 45 mins of Klaus or even 90 mins. His live stuff is not that great any more is it? Have you seen the Lisa Gerrard stuff.
He doesn't tour as he has dialysis I believe.
And how come I haven't had a survey?
Did you slam them on the cashless thing?
nick: I was imagining he'd be on stage with all his synths, and also a drip and dialysis machine.
I get loads of emails from them, don't you? They did ask about whether I got on OK with loading money on to the wristband and I just answered "n/a".
this is the URL for doing the survey but I don't know if it'll work again because it's got ids in it that I would imagine identify me, and I've already done it
Tim: Maybe we should buy Nick a copy of Big In Japan, from Klaus's last gigs. It's only a double (+DVD).
Steve: Hmm some Mirage stuff on there, is that why you mentioned it Nick?
And one Amazon reviewer has Virtual Outback as his best ever!
nick: Saturday weather still looking good, and availability ok, esp middle of the day...
OK. Yes I'm still up for it; don't think I've got anything else on for Saturday
Steve: OK I have a pass so will drive down for the day. When can I turn up Nick? I am giving our neighbour a lift to the airport at 5:30 AM :)
D has a ton of post-camp faff to do.
nick: That would be great Steve. Do you want to aim for 8AM onwards? I'll duck out of any 7AM Saturday ride tomorrow (they've not done one for the last couple of weeks and I don't know if there's one tomorrow). [Unless of course, you want to get here at 7am and come on that ride].
I can have some breakfast ready for you
I think the MTB would be the best bike to bring for the Micheldever->Hedge End ride (Tim usually includes a bit of off-road).
Tim: Just checking then in case you want to start riding earlier - I can rejig things this end if you do, and line up some lunch. You might even prefer to ride back too in the afty, who knows?
Steve: Yeah lets make a full day of it but not the 7AM ride (too risky timewise) and MTB noted thanks. Good to use it. So I'll aim for 8AM arrival. Exciting.
nick: ok 8AM great. Tim I guess that means we could do MIC train at 10.05 or 11.05 if you fancy it. Or you could get 8.05 and come and have breakfast
Steve: Well done yesterday lads.
Just remembered to say that Music Magpie are also on eBay and the prices can be slightly different.
nick: I had a look on Music Magpie and when I checked "Man Machine" they said they didn't have any left, but I'll keep an eye out, thanks.
Busy next week end but am free Saturday 17th (although not Sunday 18th) so maybe we could do something then?
And in case you thought I was making it up, here's the note I use, based on previous experience, when buying Blueberries (there are quite a lot of varieties, and I don't know if I've got them all!):
- good: Aurora, Darrow, star, brigitta, maya, duke, blue crop, ozark, legacy, azul, blue two, Spartan, rocio
- ok: jewel, emerald, kirra, liberty
- poor: misty, mayra
Steve: There are loads of copies available, just depends if you want 2009 or older version. I see an old one for £3. 10% MM voucher code should be easy to find.
This article is useful for comparing old and new: http://5against4.com/2009/11/08/kraftwerk-a-remastered-retrospective/
Steve: Is OK - my legs ached Sunday - they do after every ride, very annoying.
Finally got the Mission 700s back working in the "office". Need to dig out the Audiolab instead of the cheap Cambridge I'm using. Got some Air on...
Steve: I think I'll miss anything w/e 17th as it's Paul's last weekend here in the UK for a bit.
I'll check other weekends but D seems to have booked stuff in for a lot of them!
Tim: For comparison these are my upcoming Saturday home fixtures:
Sep 7, 28
Oct 12
Nov 2, 16
Dec 7, 21
Definitely missable though, especially with notice.
Tim: Tim Hecker's Love Streams has been growing on me, so now I've finally ordered a cheapo copy off ebay like you told me to ages ago Steve.
Steve: Well done although I suppose you have a lot more of this sort of thing than I do so I wasn't expecting you to buy one.
nick: Any chance of something happening next (bank-holiday) weekend? I think I can be free on Sat, Sun pm and Monday.
Has Paul gone to Italy now?
Steve: There is a very strong possibility I can do a repeat of my last visit if this suits?
Weather is looking good.
Steve: Oops forgot, has anyone got any speaker stands they no longer want? I think I maybe hoovered up yours Nick already. Taller is better.
Since I spend so much time WFH I might as well make it nice.
nick: Last time you came down on the Friday until Saturday evening is that right (I can't quite remember)?
Only thing I have on is eye test at 9am on Saturday morning in town but other than that am available any time over the weekend.
I have two sets of speaker stands but both are in use (in that there are speakers on top of them; I don't listen to them as much as I ought to)
nick: other than that am available any time over the weekend. - ah, except Sunday morning, I'm on duty again
Steve: No I think I came early 8AM Saturday morning til evening :) So I can come later this time.
But will you have eye-drops and not be able to do anything afterwards?
Steve: Hmm if we are cycling with the wind I will need panniers then!
And yes Paul went on Tuesday, Genoa area first.
nick: But will you have eye-drops and not be able to do anything afterwards?
It's just a regular eye test so I'm not expecting drops. I guess if they think the floaters need looking at again they'll call me back and tell me to be ready for eye drops.
I've been putting off the regular test in case they do say things are getting worse: I still see the floaters quite a lot but it's very hard to know if they're changing because you notice them more when you're thinking about them
Post a Comment
Steve: On my phone so not the apex but hopefully straight.BTW we went to see a live screening last night of Golden Hour ballet. And after the GH D said that was the best ballet she has ever seen! The other two of course not as good.
It does remind me to tell you that if you haven't got it, Gorecki's 3rd (used above) is amazing. Quite minimalist actually and dirt cheap as it was a huge success. Not tried his other stuff of course.
I was well into the music last night which completely passed D by. Funny isn't it?
Tim: Just me from this end... and still thinking of Friday night until Sunday afternoon if that fits in OK. nick: Just me - Lesley's at a music festival on Saturday. I think I would come Friday evening but not 100% sure yet, could be Sat AM.BTW still getting erratic mails from the blog: I got Tim's response first, then a while later, Steve's previous comment
Steve: I don't use emails, just have a tab open.I was planning for Bletchley Park Saturday, about time you did it?
And I haven't done the computer museum yet anyway.
nick: I don't use emails, just have a tab open.Tim did configure the blog so that whenever anyone does a reply, it sends me an email. He must have done something else recently to break that, because my email notifications are sporadic so I have to remember to open this page to see if anyone's said anything.
Bletchley Park would be fab! I've never been
Tim: On Saturday I took you out of the box for receiving emails, and put you back in. Probably you should have received an email asking for verification. Sounds like you didn't though. nick: No, I didn't get a verification email. I think it's something dodgy at their end - in some cases I'm getting notifications almost straight away (as before); sometimes they take ages nick: On Saturday when we were out cycling, we went past two bridlepaths with huge mounds of plastic bits. It was so big I thought it must be something in preparation for a construction project or something. Apparently not. nick: I do my bit by ripping unofficial posters off of lampposts when I see them.Good for you! I have been thinking I should be going out and doing some litter picks.
21°C and bright sunshine here, and I'm about to cycle home! If only I wasn't vegan, I'd be stopping at the ice-cream van for a '99.
nick: Has anyone played Forbidden Desert?I assumed that must be a TD album until I googled it.
I also have "Pandemic" so could bring that
Steve: So yet another live album from Yes to celebrate their anniversary called "50 live". What is the point????Maybe they signed a punitive contract with Roger Dean :)
Tim: Plans for tomorrow still a bit vague but estimate ringing the doorbell about 8 or 9pm if that's OK. nick: Think I'll be arriving early Saturday morning (8-9am) if that's OK, stay until Sunday and can give you a lift home if you want Tim nick: I can bring Saturday's cryptic crossword on the iPad, so you boys can complete it in the car. I've been able to do the "easy" crosswords, but every time I try a cryptic I get nowhere Tim: Steve, I'll be voting Green this evening so I probably ought to walk up the hill tomorrow. Plus it might give me a better chance against the nosh onslaught. Steve: Yeah I voted Green as well. And if it were me I'd've walked as well.Boy it was warm t-shirt cycling today and no shortage of insects out there. I think I spat them all out.
nick: Three green votes between us then! I forgot to vote on the way home so after getting changed I cycled to the polling station. The people inside my polling station said it was a fairly busy day: more people than they'd seen for the local elections but not as many as for the referendum. Tim: Great weekend thanks a lot.To help me keep track, these are the CDs I've got on loan from Steve:
Silhouettes
Frahm wintermusik
OPN R+7
Hecker Love Streams
Mark Pritchard x 2
nick: Yes thanks very much for all hospitality/catering/entertainment, it was great.I can't immediately find the name of the car range Steve was thinking of
Steve: Yeah was excellent visit thanks. Outstanding crossword effort.Was it the Signum I was thinking of? Right timeframe.
And this is the general von Paulus I was on about. He must've been in your books.
nick: Oh yes, perhaps it was Signum.Yes, the WW2 book did talk about Paulus. Although there was so much going on I hadn't registered his name specifically
nick: OK I think I've done a route that goes to B&Bs which all have availability, based on a start date of Sat 6-July (a bit earlier than usual). Here it isI think this is before school holidays start which perhaps makes things easier. Steve, given that you've been to all of these places, anywhere I should check out, or divert to see?
nick: The train ticket situation is worth playing with: for a single from Glasgow to Basingstoke on a Tuesday, "thetrainline.com" suggests I take Virgin train from Glasgow to Wolverhampton (arrive 15.35), and CrossCountry from Wolverhampton (leaves 15.42) to Basingstoke, which will cost me £133.But I see that I could buy a single on that same Virgin train for £18, and a single on the CrossCountry service from Wolverhampton at 16.03 for £24.60. That means for less than a third of the suggested cost, I can do the same journey (and have a bit more breathing room at Wolverhampton!)
Although this might be academic, because Lesley says she fancies following me round and driving me home from Scotland
Steve: Oh boy, train prices.And I just noticed your earlier link showing you've had access to crossword solving articles all these years!
nick: Friends of ours have had to cancel going on a holiday next week and offered us the tickets. I can't do it but Lesley might, if she can get someone to go with her. If she does, she'll be leaving on Fri 7 June (so won't be there all the time you are here). Steve: OK the 4-player version again then!Are they really Lesley's friends?... 'cause any non-Nick/Tim activities I partake in are with Deborah's friends, not mine.
Tim: Btw I reread the FD rules and couldn't spot anything we were doing wrong.But there is also a FAQ at boardgamegeek with some clarifications from the designer. Includes some non-intuitive stuff about the Climber and their use of Jet Packs and/or tunnels and blocked tiles. I'll have to read it again, see if I can make sense of it.
nick: Are they really Lesley's friends?... 'cause any non-Nick/Tim activities I partake in are with Deborah's friends, not mine.You got me - Liz and Michael are mainly Lesley's friends I suppose but I know them too: they are the couple who were married in St Lucia when we went there; also their daughter Jade is the one whose wedding we went to in Italy last year. Jade just had a baby, and the baby has some issue and is still in hospital, which is why Liz doesn't want to go on the holiday.
Hope that covers it...
Tim: Not really, the other thing we need to know is where the holiday is. (Might be able to make it!) Tim: Probably a bit early, but are there any clues for next Friday yet?(Btw Nick, I can't fit in a ride tomorrow, sorry.)
nick: _Probably a bit early, but are there any clues for next Friday yet?_ No idea. If Lesley's here then I thought she and Lesley might do something while we cycled, but if Lesley's going to Turkey then I'll arrange something we all can do.
Lesley has almost exhausted her list of potential plus-ones, and is threatening to force me to go but as well as conflicting with other arrangements I don't really fancy it
Tim: Doesn't sound like much of an excuse to me. You've got loads of leave, and you can have a cheap holiday and get some books read? And I bet you won't miss anything important.:-)
nick: Yes I had been thinking of going to Silchester where there are Roman bits and also remains of an Iron Age thing and maybe a walk on the Basingstoke canal towpath but the weather looks a bit unpromising.In other news, Lesley has found someone to go to Turkey with so she'll be disappearing some time on Friday morning (catching 11am train). Tim you can feel free to turn up any time on Friday morning for breakfast. I suppose if you arrive around 11 I could collect you from station and also drop Lesley off
Steve and Deborah if you're reading this you can turn up any time on Thursday - Lesley will be there all day and I'll get there about 6.30ish
Tim: Ted Chiang's Exhalation comes out in hardback next month, but I've just noticed that there are already people selling the paperback (probably airport edition) on Amazon. nick: re: Exhalation - nice one: they have it on order at my library, so I've put in a reservation for it! nick: Paul and Tony have done a two-part podcast on The Life and Times of John Real. They seem to have put quite a bit of effort in to making the music sound authentic. Certainly the prog-rock track sounds disturbingly like Fragile era Yes. Steve: Very clever using John Peel's favourite track as the intro.Paul's voice is too distinctive to be able to use it for more than one person though.
nick: Very clever using John Peel's favourite track as the introListen again, it's not the actual track; it's one they've done in that style with their own words
You're right about the voice though, you can tell it's Paul doing most of the voices
Steve: Hmm drat, not an intentional Kennedy.You'll be pleased to hear I have started the Iliad for those tricky crossword clues. Well for interest actually after reading another book set in Greece. Not an easy read so I have other references about to understand what is actually going on. And NOT HELPED by Homer referring to people by completely different names!
TD box coming today - I was going to go into the office. Oh well :)
nick: I'm very impressed that you're reading Homer. It sounds like a worthwhile thing to do. Perhaps better still if you read it in the original Greek, so you could learn the language too Steve: Without the synopsis on Wikipedia I would have little idea, maybe I have a particularly cryptic version. There are so many names, and ways to refer to one "person", I don't know how they made an English book out of it.Still no parcel...
Tim: I read the Iliad donkeys ago. Of course I don't remember much about it, except that there were a few long lists in it. I don't know how you deal with that. Steve: Yes huge paragraphs of people who killed other people you've never heard of.And the constant doubt of - is that a god or a person...
TD here but not tried it yet, and holiday from Thursday for 2 weeks.
The packaging is fine with me - two large cardboard folder things stuffed with disks and a nice book. LP-sized to match my KC one.
Better get ripping...
nick: I bought the newly remixed versions of Encore and Ricochet at the weekend (2 for a tenner at HMV). Listened to the Steve Wilson remix of Ricochet pt2 and couldn't immediately notice anything different, although that was in the car.Steve hope you have a great holiday, get some nice pics!
Steve: That explains why some of these disks are already in the ripping database then.And already cheap?!?
And you not hearing the difference does not surprise me!
Steve: One of the live doubles is already in the bootleg box I have but maybe SW got the proper tapes.And phew, Bluedot tickets have just arrived. Not happy they will have a cashless thing onsite as I hate new technology. And what will you do Tim????
Tim: Yes, the live recordings were on the Manor Mobile (don't think SW had any involvement though).Nick'll sort us out, he's good with that sort of thing.
Steve: So I was tempted by Force Majeure and put that on first but didn't notice anything special.Then I tried Ricochet - the SW versions. I probably need to remind myself of the originals but it was part 1 that seemed the most amazing. And of course this has always been overlooked by me as part 2 came in that TD 80s box so I mostly play that.
nick: I went out on Paul's fixie at the weekend for a 20 mile ride. I noticed that I am slowing down on hills by pedalling "backwards" (or at least, pushing back on the pedals to stop them going round so fast). I assume that is what you're "meant" to do(?)But my legs have been aching ever since - it's like I remember feeling when I started riding regularly. So must be exercising new muscles which I guess is a good thing...
Steve: I've passed this on to Paul - only he can advise!I would have to have a free-wheel if I had one.
nick: Tim I realise the trains are a bit mucked up, with no Micheldever service tomorrow but I can get to e.g. Winchester if you did fancy a ride tomorrow (short notice but thought I'd mention it) nick: The forecast wind direction for Saturday is from the South, might be worth doing HDE>MIC.Sounds good to me, although it is forecast quite warm so the alternative would be to have a cooling headwind by going the other direction!
Tim: Maybe you're right. And the downhill counters the headwind a bit. See you at MIC then.1:05pm? I can basically do any time you like.
nick: 1.05 at MIC sounds fine to me.I came in this morning into a 15mph headwind and that was reasonably noticeable. Don't think it's that strong tomorrow though.
Can you arrange a route that goes past some poppy fields please?
nick: I had a bit of a go with this crossword/sudoku combination and think I can do a couple of them but it seems quite challenging. Setting it must be a nightmare Tim: I've done a few, and overall it seems it's going to be too easy. (I think there are too many clues and not enough need to sudoku it.) nick: I suppose if you know that the answer to any question has to be a single digit, and it's often going to be a choice of fewer than 9, then it *ought* to be straightforward Steve: OK I'm back, and got through my work emails (mostly).Was excellent with very good weather. Do we want a campervan? Not sure!
At the moment I do feel cured of watching TV and prefer to read or get nowhere with the i crossword. I guess that will wear off though.
nick: Do we want a campervan? Not sure!oh dear! I thought you'd come back convinced one way or the other. Looks like you had good weather and I was very nostalgic for the places you mentioned because I think when I cycled Dundee -> Inverness I had excellent weather and glorious views for quite a while and I really liked it.
I've got the day off tomorrow for last minute prep before leaving on Saturday. I have been very lazy about route planning: in previous years it took me weeks to sort out using street view and writing down a list of directions; last couple of years I've relied on the hiking app to do the planning, and am assuming I can get that all done tonight/tomorrow. Looks like weather may be OK at least to start with.
Steve: I think if I got one it would be the same as the one we drove, i.e. no need to pay £1000s more for a VW (it was Toyota).Driving home we saw the ruined castle thing near the A9 and the quiet road beside it from JOGLE - one of the best bits I thought, before my backside started to dominate proceedings.
One of the best bits of the holiday was the Scott museum and actual wooden ship at Dundee. Need to read his books then.
V&A is a load of pretentiousness with very little actual content, good job it's free.
Several orange markers added to our UK map!
Tried an Albert Hall live disk from the TD set and will have to edit it to remove John Peel's useless intro which you do not want once, let alone every time. Good quality and enjoyed it, would have to compare with the bootleg set I have. Faffy stuff though.
Tim: Apparently the Rubycon Extended Introduction recognisably ends with the beginning part of Rubycon Part 1, and likewise Oedipus Tyrannus Act 3 turns out to follow on from Rubycon Part 2. Therefore it's possible to make a 60 minute version of Rubycon. Steve: I strongly recommend this: 8 Days to the Moon and Back.I'm not a fan of dramatisations but in this they lip-synced to the actual comms channel.
Excellent music as well.
TD: Oedipus Tyrannus is very promising so far.
Steve: Oh and Deborah got picture of the week in the Luton News this week for the "wild" flowers on a road verge. I've taught her well. Steve: Could people please send in their timetable for the forthcoming wet weekend?I have access to our car on Saturday if required.
And I'm already getting angry about the cashless system where the onus is on you to reclaim left-overs within a one-month deadline. So no donuts this year.
With the advent of contactless cards, this smacks of a rip-off.
Tim: Er yes, I was wondering what's likely to happen - and what to wear. I can probably have our car if needed, or I'll be on a train to wherever is convenient, whenever.Nick's the one with complications, I expect he'll be back in a couple of days to fill us in on the plan :-)
Tim: Sounds fine to me of course, but possibly Nick might want to go straight from and back to Bstoke, who knows.Any idea what time anything is on? I can't spot any schedule. Probably doesn't really matter tbh.
Steve: No, the app appears to be the key to times. Although I see from last year stuff started at 12. nick: Hi, yes I'm back. Coming up Friday evening and then travelling to Jodrell Bank on Saturday sounds OK to me. I would like to get back to Basingstoke for Sun 9am for Big Wheel but I realise not everyone might want to do that (not sure how much I want to actually, but I feel I need to keep the record unbroken).So how about I collect Tim from BSK on Fri afternoon/evening and drive to Luton?
If you are intending to come home Saturday evening then we could go in one car: I don't mind driving up to Macclesfield.
I have the Blue Dot app so can see the lineup for Saturday includes
* 10:45 Clangers 50th anniversary screening+Q&A
...
* 12:35-13:20 Henge
* 13:45-14:30 Crystal Stormtrooper
* 13:45-14:15 Tony Njoku
* 14:45-15:45 Radio Science Orchestra
* 15:00-16:00 Robert Newman: Total Eclipse of Descartes (!)
* 15:00-16:00 Ryan Paul
* 16:00-17:00 Clangers DJ Set
* 16:40-17:25 KOKOKO!
* 17:35-17:55 Sean Morley
* 19:05-20:05 Jarvis Cocker
* 20:00-21:37 Screening of "Moon"
* 21:20-22:50 Kraftwerk 3-D
there is other stuff in parallel. I don't recognise most of it (including most of the above!)
Tim: Great. I won't make it to BSK until 18:15, if that's too late I can train it all the way, no problem. I assume we're all coming back Saturday night. I might scrounge a lift back to BSK depending on timing / sleep deprivation. Steve: I started thinking get there ASAP, then a day of standing around in the showers had me thinking not. So I have no idea. Take carrier bags for our backsides?Henge is good music until the vocals start (often the way) - as far as I got with the line-up.
Did anyone ever see Robert Newman in the end?
Tim: Yes, we did. It was good, and I can't remember any of it, so ideal to see again. Especially if it's indoors. Steve: I got the app as well. I forgot, it's a science festival, so there is crap-loads of stuff on the go. nick: Right well I'll collect Tim from BSK at 18:15 and then straight to Luton. Yes there's tons of stuff on as well as music. BBC Breakfast were broadcasting from there this morning (I only saw the guy doing the end of the weather forecast)
nick: I couldn't quite work out the cashless thing, there don't seem to be any details of it in the app. One of the emails I had talks about charging credit to your wristband? Maybe we should take packed lunches Steve: See this link: https://discoverthebluedot.com/connect where you can use the ticket # to register. I wondered if we can scam £5 by loading £100 (get £5 free), spending nothing and getting £105 back.I simply do not trust it.
We can sort it out later but I am prepared to take food in - we've got rolls.
nick: Great concert thanks very much for sorting that. I was even more impressed than I had expected with Kraftwerk and have been listening to them since! Got home just after 5am this morning, had an hour and a half sleep then did Big Wheel, which all felt a bit dreamy but went OK. John and Geoff also did it. I rode most of the time with John: he beat me home (see positions 79 and 80) but I assert that is because I was letting him go first because it was his birthday today.
Tim: Well done.I had about 4 hours solid kip, which was a lifesaver, and caught the 10:30 from Luton.
But I checked the remaining members of Kraftwerk and your man is Hütter.
Steve: I held out all day and went bonk at 9:30 last night. I had forgotten that Nick had not seen them outside and would have been a long time ago anyway. nick: I see there are also uploads to youtube of the bluedot concert itself.Steve, I didn't give your water bottle back. I think I may have another of yours as well. So we need to organise another meet up to get sorted out (Tim has one of my water bottles too)
Steve: So I could call your bluff and say Saturday for a ride thing. I would train it wherever. Is the Reading thing feasible or BSK? A heatwave is coming apparently and D is at camp. nick: That Reading ride we did was lovely. Although often the second time you do a trip you enjoyed it doesn't live up to the memories so perhaps we should try something different. Since Tim is busy Saturday, we could do Sunday instead? Steve: I knew it was worth having children! Paul gave me some brand new unused 10-speed wheels that I can use on my Dawes (the rear gave up the ghost recently), already fitted with Marathon Plus. Had already got a new friction shifter to allow for any number of gears so quite an upgrade from 7-speed. Tim: Let me rephrase that: I can't do this weekend. Lots of potential in August except maybe 10th/11th. Steve: Got my money back from Bluedot. Was fairly painless in the end, the app alerted to say the refund site was up and after entering the wristband #s and bank details I see it got repaid. Now I can delete the app - my phone is forever short of storage. nick: Got my money back from Bluedot. great!Cycled in this morning and it was pretty hot, and the shower room was like a sauna: I had to dry myself four times. Coming into the air-conditioned office was amazing
nick: Just had a mail saying that tickets for Bluedot 2020 are now on sale. Doesn't say who's lined up to play though. So do we feel lucky? nick: Is it the same weekend as the Big Wheel?Almost certainly.
They put some BW pictures up, including one of Geoff and me. You can see bluedot mud on my legs!
Steve: As Tim said to me on Sunday, we can't think of anyone that would tempt us up there can we?We've done it all!
BTW I went to that Lehmans play trilogy screening last night. Was excellent (if long) and Simon Russell Beale outstanding. Every character played by 3 people (no costume changes).
And oh the aircon :) I cycled.
It's still running Nick - you love live theatre.
Interestingly (also Nick) I overheard someone saying that Hopkins' King Lear was awful. I thought so!
nick: we can't think of anyone that would tempt us up there can we?Klaus?
I'll have a look for the Lehmans thing, thanks
Steve: Nope not even Klaus, he'd not be headlining anyway.And oh dear 10 years, I'd've said 5 but then should have used my double-it rule.
Steve: BTW Nick you might be interested in the Prom last night - PSB with choir and orchestra doing the Space album. Pretty impressive what I saw of it.So I put the first track of Encore on to see if it's any good, hmm and have ended up adding the other three...
Tim: I've played a lot of TD over the last few days, thanks to Steve's rips - about 3/4 of everything from Ricochet to Poland (including a couple I only ever had on vinyl). Looking at them from this distance there are quite a few peculiar albums in there, significantly more disjointed than I was expecting. Interesting though. nick: BTW Nick you might be interested in the Prom last night - PSB with choir and orchestra doing the Space album. As it happened I did come across that just before your post and did watch it. That's *twice* they've played at RAH recently and I've missed them! Steve: Re TD: the proper Coventry Cathedral track is excellent and a good 34 mins length.I play the seemingly dodgy Optical Race and Lily on the Beach quite a lot, I'm guessing Melrose (the next option) is terrible?
And thinking I might get the rest of the Kraftwerk in but go used on the cheap old versions. Discussions on the 2004 and 2009 Catalogue releases are not complementary. And due to the proliferation of duff tracks I'm not going to play them much.
£3 TE Express on its way. One coffee :)
nick: I've got Melrose and listen to it every now and again. OK but not amazing from what I remember.In other news Lesley is away next weekend (3/4) so I'm definitely available either day for a bike ride. Saturday looks nice weather at the moment. I'm busy the following weekend (10/11) though - Ella's baby shower
Tim: A ride Saturday could well be poss, I'll keep an eye on the weather. It might be handy to start a bit earlier, 11 or 12, if that fits in with you. Maybe.I found Melrose, and also a couple of others of that era that you might not have Steve and therefore should be subjected to: Miracle Mile and Canyon Dreams.
Steve: Can't wait for those iffy disks!Not sure about weekend yet (D away).
BTW I just put on DSotMoog I and was looking at the sets which all seem to come with a 5th disk of alternate versions of various tracks. Did we know this?
Tim: Yes, they are:The Evolution of TDSOTM compilation/mix, originally released as AW 023.
Tracks from Disc 2 of Are You Sequenced? that were mixed by Pete.
The full live set that TDSOTM8 was edited from. Except TDSOTM8 is longer (?no idea).
nick: I filled in my "what did you think of Bluedot" survey, which puts me in the draw for a pair of free tickets to next year. In the box "who'd you like to see", I put Klaus. So if that all comes together, you two might be able to see him doing Mirage etc. next year (I'll probably stay home so I can get to Big Wheel) Steve: I wouldn't go all that way for 45 mins of Klaus or even 90 mins. His live stuff is not that great any more is it? Have you seen the Lisa Gerrard stuff.He doesn't tour as he has dialysis I believe.
And how come I haven't had a survey?
Did you slam them on the cashless thing?
nick: I was imagining he'd be on stage with all his synths, and also a drip and dialysis machine.I get loads of emails from them, don't you? They did ask about whether I got on OK with loading money on to the wristband and I just answered "n/a".
this is the URL for doing the survey but I don't know if it'll work again because it's got ids in it that I would imagine identify me, and I've already done it
Tim: Maybe we should buy Nick a copy of Big In Japan, from Klaus's last gigs. It's only a double (+DVD). Steve: Hmm some Mirage stuff on there, is that why you mentioned it Nick?And one Amazon reviewer has Virtual Outback as his best ever!
nick: Saturday weather still looking good, and availability ok, esp middle of the day...OK. Yes I'm still up for it; don't think I've got anything else on for Saturday
Steve: OK I have a pass so will drive down for the day. When can I turn up Nick? I am giving our neighbour a lift to the airport at 5:30 AM :)D has a ton of post-camp faff to do.
nick: That would be great Steve. Do you want to aim for 8AM onwards? I'll duck out of any 7AM Saturday ride tomorrow (they've not done one for the last couple of weeks and I don't know if there's one tomorrow). [Unless of course, you want to get here at 7am and come on that ride].I can have some breakfast ready for you
I think the MTB would be the best bike to bring for the Micheldever->Hedge End ride (Tim usually includes a bit of off-road).
Tim: Just checking then in case you want to start riding earlier - I can rejig things this end if you do, and line up some lunch. You might even prefer to ride back too in the afty, who knows? Steve: Yeah lets make a full day of it but not the 7AM ride (too risky timewise) and MTB noted thanks. Good to use it. So I'll aim for 8AM arrival. Exciting. nick: ok 8AM great. Tim I guess that means we could do MIC train at 10.05 or 11.05 if you fancy it. Or you could get 8.05 and come and have breakfast Steve: Well done yesterday lads.Just remembered to say that Music Magpie are also on eBay and the prices can be slightly different.
nick: I had a look on Music Magpie and when I checked "Man Machine" they said they didn't have any left, but I'll keep an eye out, thanks.Busy next week end but am free Saturday 17th (although not Sunday 18th) so maybe we could do something then?
And in case you thought I was making it up, here's the note I use, based on previous experience, when buying Blueberries (there are quite a lot of varieties, and I don't know if I've got them all!):
- good: Aurora, Darrow, star, brigitta, maya, duke, blue crop, ozark, legacy, azul, blue two, Spartan, rocio
- ok: jewel, emerald, kirra, liberty
- poor: misty, mayra
Steve: There are loads of copies available, just depends if you want 2009 or older version. I see an old one for £3. 10% MM voucher code should be easy to find.This article is useful for comparing old and new: http://5against4.com/2009/11/08/kraftwerk-a-remastered-retrospective/
Steve: Is OK - my legs ached Sunday - they do after every ride, very annoying.Finally got the Mission 700s back working in the "office". Need to dig out the Audiolab instead of the cheap Cambridge I'm using. Got some Air on...
Steve: I think I'll miss anything w/e 17th as it's Paul's last weekend here in the UK for a bit.I'll check other weekends but D seems to have booked stuff in for a lot of them!
Tim: For comparison these are my upcoming Saturday home fixtures:Sep 7, 28
Oct 12
Nov 2, 16
Dec 7, 21
Definitely missable though, especially with notice.
Tim: Tim Hecker's Love Streams has been growing on me, so now I've finally ordered a cheapo copy off ebay like you told me to ages ago Steve. Steve: Well done although I suppose you have a lot more of this sort of thing than I do so I wasn't expecting you to buy one. nick: Any chance of something happening next (bank-holiday) weekend? I think I can be free on Sat, Sun pm and Monday.Has Paul gone to Italy now?
Steve: There is a very strong possibility I can do a repeat of my last visit if this suits?Weather is looking good.
Steve: Oops forgot, has anyone got any speaker stands they no longer want? I think I maybe hoovered up yours Nick already. Taller is better.Since I spend so much time WFH I might as well make it nice.
nick: Last time you came down on the Friday until Saturday evening is that right (I can't quite remember)?Only thing I have on is eye test at 9am on Saturday morning in town but other than that am available any time over the weekend.
I have two sets of speaker stands but both are in use (in that there are speakers on top of them; I don't listen to them as much as I ought to)
nick: other than that am available any time over the weekend. - ah, except Sunday morning, I'm on duty again Steve: No I think I came early 8AM Saturday morning til evening :) So I can come later this time.But will you have eye-drops and not be able to do anything afterwards?
Steve: Hmm if we are cycling with the wind I will need panniers then!And yes Paul went on Tuesday, Genoa area first.
nick: But will you have eye-drops and not be able to do anything afterwards? It's just a regular eye test so I'm not expecting drops. I guess if they think the floaters need looking at again they'll call me back and tell me to be ready for eye drops.
I've been putting off the regular test in case they do say things are getting worse: I still see the floaters quite a lot but it's very hard to know if they're changing because you notice them more when you're thinking about them
