Friday, March 05, 2021
Comments:
nick: When can we ride again - the lockdown countdown for cyclists! - some of these dates seem quite a long way off though
Steve: Funny coincidence, I finished that book and one of the further readings apart from Robert Harris's Enigma is The Shell Seekers!
nick: I was surprised at how good "The Shell Seekers" was. I think I'd heard of it and assumed it was a bit schlocky/chick-lit, but I was very impressed. Similar to how I felt about "Peyton Place" (although I don't think the books are very similar)
nick: This review of Maquette made me want to play the game: intriguing idea (which you can see a little bit of in the video) - you move little bits of scenery around in a model, and huge versions of those things simultaneously move "outside", where you can then go and navigate them
Tim: It just looks like every other "first-person recursive puzzle game" to me :-)
Might give it a go.
Tim: I just finished last week's guardian prize with only mild cheating. Oh look it's Saturday again...
Tim: Actually, today's prize xword is a Paul so maybe I'll leave that one in case we do a team effort.
nick: Just had mine at Superdrug in town. No symptoms yet, which means I think I'm going to have to do some hoovering after all
nick: 22 hours later and no vaccine after effects at all, not even sore arm. I hope they gave me the real thing and not a placebo.
nick: I am busy this evening so can't participate in zoom but I think I can set one up that you can join without me if you want - let me know
Steve: We are both feeling a bit off-colour headachy today. Was the Oxford one.
Can skip a Zoom no problem.
nick: We are both feeling a bit off-colour headachy today. Was the Oxford one.
Yes, mine was Oxford AZ too. Of the eight people I know who've had that one, Tim and I are the only ones who've been side-effect free. My arm feels *very slightly* tender today if I press it, but that's all
Steve: The flu jab had no effect.
I was complaining with Agnes about our terrible work systems where you have to manually duplicate data. She taught me a new phrase "usine à gaz". The nearest equivalent I could think of was Heath Robinson, which would mean nothing to younger generations.
nick: "I am writing to you to confirm that we are once again required to postpone Wolfgang Flür (Ex-Kraftwerk): 'Musik-Soldat' on Saturday 10th April 2021 to Saturday 27th November 2021 at 7.30pm, at Winchester Discovery Centre. If you would like to attend the new date, you do not need to do anything. All allocated tickets for all previously listed dates (4th April 2020, 3rd October 2020 and 10th April 2021) will remain valid for the new date."
nick: Watching "The Serpent" there was a little bit of music they played and I thought "that sounds interesting" - it reminded me of Pierre Moerlen. So I rewound and replayed with subtitles to find out what it was (the subtitles did say, luckily). It was this song. Not sure how much I like the "song" but the percussion is really catchy. And when I searched a bit more, quite a few people have covered it, including The Orb (although I don't think their version is as good as the original)
Steve: Listening to Tim's Can LPs, that percussion is equally "out there".
Maybe you need to get into the drum 'n' bass genre Nick.
Having another classical phase here currently.
Steve: Gotta love a short symphony.
This is why I struggle with Mahler and Shostakovitch, but I will have some more goes.
In my youth I managed to learn and love Mahler's 1st and 2nd, maybe it's an age thing.
Or it could be the "more of the same" problem.
And as for 12-tone stuff, I have tried and tried, but it's just too jarring to be of any use.
nick: OK friday's good, I'll send invites by 8pm tomorrow evening.
Have a day off today and am trying not to think about work, having been unable to get to sleep last night worrying about stuff that I'm meant to be doing - or really stuff that people in my team are meant to be doing, but just did a 50 mile ride which made me feel a lot better.
nick: Interesting discussion of vaccine side-effects on R4 Inside Health: they said that the initial auto-immune response to the injection is driven by a fairly primitive mechanism which goes into overdrive when a perceived threat arrives: this causes side effects but doesn't actually do much in the way of long-term protection. After that, a more directed auto-immune response generates antibodies and T-cells etc. that will specifically recognise and attack the virus: this response likely won't have any noticeable effects on you. So having or not having a "bad response" to the vaccine isn't any indication of whether it gives you long-term protection. They also said that they think people who have a significant reaction (the "primitive" response going into overdrive) are the same ones who would suffer more when they get real flu etc.)
Steve: Yes I heard some of that program but generally I've stopped listing to R4.
And as for a 50 mile bike ride, how do you not spend the whole time reliving the worries? Time for you to retire and spend it with the grandchildren.
nick: I still have ebay alerts for Whyte bikes and a Suffolk went last week for £825. Today another one's appeared. Both have been 56cm frame which is my size! I'd definitely have gone for this if mine hadn't been fixed, and am a bit tempted to go for it anyway! But ~£800 is getting quite pricey really
nick: ...but it is Amersham which I think must be near Steve - at least, I think he and I rode to Amersham once, when I was cycling back to Basingstoke and he took me part way.
Steve: Hmmm 11-speed so pretty recent I guess, £1300 new. About 25 miles away from me.
But we are still in lock-down so I'm not quite sure how people are selling used items that require picking up.
nick: Are you tempted then Steve? It claims to be 2016 model so it's about 2 years newer than mine, but nowhere near brand new. Given the interest in the one last week I suppose the price one this one will go up a bit.
Anyone fancy a zoom tonight? My zoom subscription just auto-renewed without sending me a reminder mail, which was a bit irritating: I *would* have renewed anyway but it would have been nice to have had a mail "we're about to take your subscription". I put an alarm in my calendar so I won't be taken by surprise next year.
Tim: Next week you can socialise in someone's garden, so that helps a bit. Bike shops are open, so I suppose they are essential items?
I'm about tonight if anything's going on.
Steve: I think my bike buying days are over, unless I get a summer Mercian...
I plan to stick at 10-speed or lower if possible, I have spare STI levers.
We are out delivering church-related items (on foot) tonight so maybe later in the week?
Tim: Yep great. It took me quite a while to remember that in WWHT we've got those knights to sort out.
Steve: In case you were planning something, I have a work call after hours so maybe tomorrow if at all thanks.
Last night: Bruckner's 5th which was excellent but too long!
Pretty sure I never got further than 5 so more work to do there.
nick: OK I can do an invite for Friday evening if people are up for it.
Trying to work out what the lockdown exercise rules are at the moment. I had assumed that the current rules say "once per day" for exercise, and was trying to find out if that gets relaxed on Mar 29. But I can't actually see anything in the current rules that mentions the once per day stipulation. It just talks about minimising the time you're away from home. So maybe I've been limiting my bike rides to once per day unnecessarily.
Tim: I don't think once per day applies.
It's England v San Marino tonight, unmissable. Should be around tomorrow.
nick: 76:14 will now be Sat Sep 18, 2021 at 7:00 PM - which is the same date as my postponed Steve Hackett concert in Basingstoke, so assuming neither of them gets postponed again I'll have to miss one.
Steve: Possibly get Paul to fill in if he will go in a crowd situation (which even I don't want to any more).
Steve: There have been some great ones, maybe need to have seen Austin Powers for this one: https://twitter.com/i/status/1374831260011388933
nick: The Whyte in Amersham eventually went for £627 which I reckon is not a bad deal. They're coming thick and fast now: another one went for £550 last week, and today yet another one just appeared (54cm though so the wrong size for me). Where were all these bikes when I needed one?
Steve: I looked at how much my frame is now, starts at £1400.
Pretty sure I paid £1100. Supply and demand I suppose.
Worth getting resprayed when I can't bear the chips and scratches in the future.
And yes, the handlebar clock is right again!
I have meetings preventing a lunchtime ride, but I can do one at teatime.
nick: Looked at the Mercian website, maybe I need one of those next. Perhaps I should get my order in now, so it'll be ready for when my Whyte frame next cracks in five years time.
John is still mulling over getting a Titanium bike - one of the ones he was looking at was a Reilly, but things might have slowed down there
nick: The other brand he'd been eyeing was Ribble but there's a long-ish wait time on their Ti bikes - I think they were quoting September, and he doesn't want to miss the summer. But I'd guess he's going to have trouble whatever make he goes for now.
Re: helping UK workers - there've been several stories like this in the Guardian about how companies are struggling following Brexit but I find myself thinking actually this feels like it might be a good thing, if it reduces the amount of animal products criss-crossing the channel, and overall makes people think twice about moving materials around Europe to build stuff. Like Steve said I think that the idea that our well-being is tied to ever increasing GDP is not such a good thing after all.
Steve: I had to wait a long time for my Mercian (11 months?) and that was normal times.
And I see that even Ribble is pretty expensive for Ti bikes when they must import those frames.
The Brexit paperwork stuff does seem horrendous and I feel terrible for those businesses, but yes, there is too much stuff generally being shipped about and consumed.
Steve: The BBC slide continues as the Guardian reports "BBC Four is to cease commissioning new programmes and become an archive-focused channel..."
If the stuff is on iPlayer (which it must be), the broadcast can only be useful for people without Internet TVs.
I tried to find Brand X gig info and can find no mention of the Southampton one, even on their official Facebook. 1865 says postponed, but only if you Internet search to find the page.
nick: Yes I saw that report on BBC4 - which I'd heard no whisper of before so it was surprising to me. Seems like the BBC is suffering death from a thousand cuts.
I appear to have four BrandX tickets at £28/each. I have no idea who might still owe me money for these I had a mail from 1865 club on Mar 27 last year saying it was postponed but have heard nothing since.
Looks lovely out today - good chance to meet Neil, Tim? I will try a ride this evening (was pretty chilly this morning) and will be wearing shorts
Tim: Yep, Neil is on his way. He likes a hike so he (should have) got off the train at Fareham about an hour ago and be getting towards half way here. Might be a bit thirsty on arrival.
nick: He's walking to your house from Fareham station? That's about 9 miles - on the hottest day of the year so far: respect!
Tim: He routinely does huge walks. Originally he was talking about walking all the way from Portsmouth, but that was when we were planning on a Thursday and apparently Tuesday is too early in the week for a massive walk. Fair enough.
nick: Now here's a good one I fancy doing: the Cathedrals Cycle Route taking you nearly 2000 miles across England’s landscape between cathedrals..
"Cyclists aren’t expected to ride all 42 cathedrals in one go..." they say. No kidding. But on the other hand it would be a good challenge. Just seeing all those place names (many of which I've not been to, although I expect Steve has) makes me itch to get out there
Steve: Not done many of them, but have been to a lot of the cities.
Probably busy tonight BTW.
Bandcamp Friday tomorrow. Trying to resist, but more and more people are on there.
nick: Think I'm around tomorrow so will do an invite for a zoom in the evening
I like Télégraphe by d'Voxx. What's my next recommendation for Bandcamp Friday?
Steve: Well I see Susumu Yokota is on there pretty cheap, sample-driven ambient. I have several already, try before you buy, but maybe Symbol or Grinning Cat or Sakura.
Sadly he died a few years ago, so the money is not going to him!
Does that mean it's better to buy on a different day to support the site???
Something by Ochre? such as Project Caelus which I got last month and have played a lot. Or a Midsummer Nice Dream.
Tim: After your last mention I listened to my Ochre album (Like Dust of the Balance), not bad. Got it on again now.
Steve: I've got 4 Ochre albums including that one and they are all good. Very musical for electronic music.
nick: Been a bit off-colour this week - was off sick yesterday for the first time in two years and missed my daily bike ride, breaking my nine-month run of cycling every day. But spent most of yesterday asleep and feel loads better today so am up for a zoom this evening if anyone's around
Not sure if I'll be able to get to Tim's next Friday but maybe I can get the afternoon off
nick: There's a re-issue of Laurie Anderson's "Big Science" and reading the Guardian article about that led me to watching some stuff on youtube - including the full length concert film "Home of the Brave" she did (feat. Adrian Belew). Looks like it would have been a pretty good concert to go to.
But there are a couple of tracks in there I know very well, even though I don't appear to have them in my library - specifically Smoke Rings ("Iceberg or Volcano?") and Language is a Virus ("That's what I think" came from there, and I used that as my nickname for while). Did one of us have that album? I've got "Big Science" and "Mister Heartbreak" but I can't remember ever having "Home of the Brave" so how come the music is so familiar?
Steve: Blimey, off sick, must be Spencer germs.
Home cooking and not eating meat guarantees no stomach issues.
I only know Laurie Anderson from So, but I see I have Tim's Home of the Brave LP so will give it a go this weekend.
Yes we can meet tonight if you are up to it.
Tim: Those tracks sound familiar, but I wouldn't have been able to tell you I had that album. Also I recently rediscovered that she's on Zoolook.
Should be around later.
Steve: Hmm there seems to be a second Voices album coming out.
I've stuck with the non-voice one so far btw.
Tim: Well there's a thing. Also a new Jarre album Amazonia - but it's a soundtracky whatever rather than a "proper" album.
nick: Only a small thing, but encouraging nonetheless: French MPs have voted to suspend domestic airline flights that can be made by direct train in less than two and a half hours, as part of a series of climate and environmental measures.
Tim: Postie just rang the doorbell and when I saw the big jiffy bag I thought What the hell have I ordered? Aha, water filters, cheers. Our current one was well out-of-date so that's very handy.
nick: Won't be as interesting as the routes Tim plans but I think this is fairly direct To Tim's house
Steve: That Laurie Anderson album sounds excellent BTW. Far out men, and great audio from Bob Ludwig!
nick: I bought it on download (sorry)
You should check out The full-length film of "Home of the Brave". The music isn't the same version as the album (maybe a different performance?) but it's worth watching. I think it would have been great to see live - she really puts a lot of effort in to making the show interesting
nick: Tell me it's not MP3! - it might be, why? They sound indistinguishable from WAV files. But I do take issue with your comment about the audio quality for Home of the Brave - it sounds pretty muffled to me.
Is there a chip shop near Tim? Now you're talking
Steve: Next time you are here I will put the LP on.
This looks like a project, and some of it looks pretty familiar: The Line art walk.
nick: This looks like a project, and some of it looks pretty familiar: The Line art walk. yes some familiar pics there
Pretty bad UX on the website though: once you scroll down to the map, the URL gets changed to https://the-line.org/map/ and you can't scroll back up (scrolling zooms in/out of the map) and you can't use the browser "previous page" button to go back either because they just replaced the URL rather than pushing it on to the history. I maybe have been reviewing too many UI changes lately.
Tim: Chips, good idea, why didn't I think of that? But you're too late, sorry, a bizarrely mismatched vegan nosh assemblage is already underway.
Steve: Well done Tim.
I can't wait to see the upside-down pylon, and I've not been to the Olympic Park.
I was also puzzled I could not hit Back.
We also fancied visiting Eltham Palace, you could see your old haunts Tim.
nick: Just had a mail alert from eBay based on my saved search for a Whyte Suffolk which isn't exactly what I was after but it is a relatively low price
nick: Great to see you all and thanks for hosting and food and books Tim.
Took me nearly 2 hours to get home vs. 1:38 on the way down: it is more uphill going back.
Here's the Holy Hand Grenade scene I mentioned. "Five is right out" is what someone said in a meeting and it made me laugh but I think part of that is because there were lots of people there and I was the only one who picked up on the reference
Steve: Yes well done Tim, we all know the effort required just keeping teas topped up!
The "Five is right out" is pretty funny. I watched that film maybe once 40 years ago so have no clue if it's any good.
And anyone could have taken those photos!
nick: So, Tim, is there anyone making the argument that the new football league thing is a good idea?
Steve: Loads of people in far away countries who will tune in on "cable TV"?
Bit odd without France and Germany.
Tim: Here's a so-called Sports Reporter: Opinion: Reasons why a European Super League would be great for football
nick: Ella forwarded me a link about vegan pork pies. She said maybe I would like them with a little bit of pickle. I must have said that phrase to her quite a bit!
Tim: I don't have an Instagram account, but yes Tina mentioned those (Higgidy?) from her Vegetarian mag recently. Hunted for them in Sainsbury's last week but no joy. Also the mag had Kestrel lager, blast from the past.
Steve: Higgidy or whatever are the best I've had so far.
I just checked the Quorn patent status and it did expire years ago so others can sell the same protein thing with another name. I find their prices high. But if we have the generic soya from Holland & Barrett I get bad stomach aches if it is not well-cooked!
nick: Tried the Moretti 0% alcohol and it's pretty good! So I may as well switch. Coincidentally I listened to an interview this weekend with Lee Mack who gave up alcohol a while ago: he said what he really liked was the first glass of beer after a hard day's work, but that the alcohol doesn't actually hit your system for several minutes, so he realised that what he was enjoying was the taste of the drink rather than its effect. And by the time he'd had the first one he wasn't starting to get a buzz and craving one more drink, so he could happily stop after one. He said he'd bought a load of different 0% beers to test and his favourite was Free Damm so perhaps I'll give that a go if I see any
nick: I read about this in Saturday's Guardian and thought "that name sounds familiar". Turns out it is the sister of someone I work with. She's got a crowdfunder and it's pretty encouraging to see how much support she's getting
Tim: OK so maybe last week the Bs were saying they're already booked up for tonight.
An alternative chat possibility is in my back garden tomorrow pm if you wanted to fit in the same (solo!) ride and pick up some more Churchill.
nick: That rings a vague bell - can't remember whether they might be around tomorrow or not
Cycling to HE sounds appealing except it looks like it might be raining (forecast earlier on was saying rain here all afternoon, but that's now changed to rain early evening, but HE still says showers from 3pm). Don't mind risking cycling in the rain but sitting in it doesn't sound so great
Can still do a zoom tonight or could switch to tomorrow evening if S+D are around then (I'll drop them a text)
Steve: I did see that, looks epic but so far away. It's off-road and I have broken two (more) spokes in my MTB rear so am looking to get that fixed and maybe replaced. I'm guessing the wheel is end of life as Specialized would have put some cheap stuff on there. It's 11 years old.
But yes in principle, something shorter than JOGLE is a must.
Need to do IoW and maybe the Wessex Way.
nick: Ah, I hadn't clocked it was off-road. I think I might need a new MTB as well - my Specialized is 20 years old now and the blistering around the headset looks a bit worrying.
Randonnee ought to have been this Sunday just gone, but it was cancelled again. But I think a summer ride over there this year looks like it's feasible. I think I've not been to IoW for about 18 months now!
Andy, who normally comes on our Saturday AM cycles, is the guy who broke both elbows when he came off his bike (it was because he put his hands out and the shock when he hit the floor broke the elbows). Nurses were impressed when he first went in "normally people only break one elbow: you've done both!". He's still not back in action (6 weeks later). Apparently he broke a bone in his forearm arm too, but they didn't notice that until he went to the hospital to have the casts off his arms (he'd been in two slings, with his wife having to feed him etc.).He's got at least another four weeks recovery.
Steve: Well I'm "just" thinking new hand-built wheels which should see me out til I die, or have to give up cycling due to broken elbows etc. It's got a rack so can carry clothes. And Marathon Pluses do not have much drag on tarmac if there are road sections.
I'm going top have spare holiday for sure.
And for Tim there is a new The Grid/Fripp album coming out.
The Youtube track sounds like soundscapes with sequences over the top. So I'm not sure of the merit.
Tim: Yes, that sounds dull.
I expect Deborah will volunteer to be Camp-Let support driver for the W. Kernow?
Steve: It's not the sort of thing you want to put up/down every day!
But yes she did offer for the South Downs Way a while back.
I did read that they want to demolish the Derby Assembly Rooms which have been empty for a while after a fire. Happy days.
Tim: I've seen the video - it takes 6 minutes to put up a trailer tent. And I expect a bit of practice helps.
Steve: You will be getting the "you're not too big to be smacked" treatment.
In theory it arrives near you tomorrow so I'll let you know when we will be cruising past again.
Do say if you want your vinyl back. I have Nick's TT, and I have a spare phono stage you can have. Now that you have more time :) A while back you did seem to say you were thinking about playing some.
nick: BBC weather forecast for HE on Sunday is currently overcast but dry, although it has been pretty inconsistent recently, changing its mind a lot about whether it's going to rain or not (last week it was saying the bank holiday weekend would be a washout, and in the event we had a bit of a shower on Monday evening)
Tim: Yes and it says Saturday is filthy - at the moment. Give it a couple of days then we can see about a plan?
Steve: I notice that the 8CD Kraftwerk 3D is about £40 now, is it any good?
Not sure I would get it as I find the tracks on their albums veer from awesome to awful. And a live version of The Mix seems a bit odd.
Steve: Also Tim, how many of these artists would you recognise, being more into ambient than us two?
BBC Sounds Ambient Focus
Tim: I think I recognise the same number as you, i.e. 4.
Wasn't the 8CD always about £40? I don't rate it. ISTR that The Mix on there is mostly the same versions but Headphone Surround mix. I trust you've got Min-Max?
On the vinyl front I think it's safe to say I won't do anything with them. (They can go back in my garage when you want to get rid.) I've still got a million CDs to rip and I expect a lot of those will never make it out of the drawer.
Tim: Looking at camelcamelcamel it was £50 or less, then out of stock for a year or so - must have recently had a repress.
Steve: I got Min-Max so yes I feel like I'm sorted.
I'm happy to keep the vinyl here, I do play it occasionally, was feeling bad about it is all.
nick: Stopped at the polling station this morning on my ride. Three ballot papers, not a single green candidate on any of them. Maybe I should have stood for one of them!
Steve: We did postal.
I can certainly see Labour never getting in as a government again.
Hartlepool (nothing has ever happened there) will be interesting.
Tim: I've got a pile of classical vinyl you can "look after" too!
We did postal too. One green in there.
I suppose an issue in Hartlepool is where the xenophobe vote goes this time.
Steve: I managed Green here OK.
Hmm, classical vinyl, not sure about that, although chamber music can sound pretty fab if crackle-free.
nick: Just had a recommendation on one of my bike apps to visit "Eling Harbour" which is "one of only two remaining operating tide mills in the United Kingdom". Is it any good Tim?
nick: Don't really know much about Van Morrison but I found this review of his latest release laugh out loud funny
Steve: Oh boy the comments are brilliant as well. Such as: "Masks and Lockdown. What a hill to choose to die on."
Tim: I've never been to Eling. The other one is in Suffolk, apparently - so there's a themtic bike route for you!
Tim: Saturday's forecasted filthy weather has moved quite a bit earlier, a.m. only, which is the right direction.
Tim: I also bought a download "Buchla Tunes Vol.3" by Lyonel Bauchet (further to his DiN DL album which constitutes a selection of tracks from the first two vols).
Steve: Yes please.
There is a great piece in The Guardian about annoying things in TV. It's not just me that sees these things! Be warned though, I saw something new that I am now going to have to check every time I watch something.
nick: Just listening to extended edition of Crises which has live stuff on it. The CD is "Mike Oldfield - Crises (2013 remaster)" and I initially thought "oh, not so bad, good that he was touring 8 years ago". Then saw the track title "Taurus II (Live At Wembley Arena/1983)". Which seems a depressingly long time in the past
Steve: Well done for turning up and the teacakes etc Tim.
The trailer is snug in the garage, some serious bike rearrangement to be done.
Very easy to move about on its wheels and jockey.
And when Deborah was talking about holiday quotas to August, she said this as I have moved my plan forward a year. So maybe in 3 or 4 months...
Tim: I woke up wondering about how to reverse a trailer, couldn't compute how you get the back and front of the trailer and the front of the car all lined up at the same time.
Looked at a few guides and some of them say that the back of the trailer turns the opposite way to your normal steering, so hold the bottom part of the steering wheel instead, eek!
Steve: Also you need massive swing on the front of the car for a small change to the trailer.
So here is a question. The trailer follows the car. If you go around a bend and stop then just go into reverse, do you follow the same path?
Paul got headaches about this and thinks you would not replay the path.
Maybe you do if the pivot point is exactly in the middle.
nick: The trailer follows the car. If you go around a bend and stop then just go into reverse, do you follow the same path?
Is that one for Matt?
If you're pushing the trailer rather than pulling it, I'd have thought that there's a good chance it would go in a different direction.
Tim: So you couldn't push one and pull one at the same time, because they'd go in different directions?
nick: Tubular Bells live at the RFC in August. I don't think MO himself is actually playing. Tickets are not that expensive - at least, there seem to be quite a few left at ~£33. It says this is a "prelude to the celebration of the masterpiece’s 50th anniversary in 2023" so maybe he'll play it himself then and would make a good 38th anniversary present for Deborah!
Steve: Well the 7th is David's (Tracey) wedding weekend.
Then I see it goes on quite a bit after that.
Is it safe to book anything? I'm not feeling it.
Shall I try to book Friday 21st off and we wing it?
nick: I'm not bothered about seeing TB - if Oldfield were playing then maybe, but I don't think he is.
Fri 21st May good for me - I have booked as holiday. Leaves me with 28.5 days until the end of the year
Steve: Hmm well I said try to book. It will clash with someone else here, so no good, but I can do Saturday/Sunday. 27 days left I think.
Steve: So Monday is a possibility yes but a public holiday in France (same person clash). Let me think about it.
Steve: I'm thinking I train with bike Friday evening to Sunday.
First train from Waterloo ASAP after 7PM.
nick: OK with me - you can stay at ours any nights you want Steve, if you're doing WAT->BSK. We could cycle and/or train to HE which could mean Tim doesn't have to get the bike out at all. I can collect you from BSK either in car or on bike (should still be light enough at that time).
Steve: A plan - fantastic!
Sorry for the day off mess-up.
Yes I was intending to ride to yours in the fading light thanks.
Steve: BTW we are camping in the rain from tonight so no crossword for us. Let's hope assembly is quicker this time.
nick: Are you in Lincolnshire then?
Forecast in Basingstoke is pretty much non-stop rain until next Friday
nick: ...or you could call into a zoom just on a normal phone line (we've had people doing that on zooms I've done)
Tim: I listened on Bandcamp to one of the people off the Ambient Focus Steve mentioned above - Elenia (album) by Floating Points. Seems like he's primarily a jazz-ish keyboardist, it mostly seems quite good but there's lots going on and it's really not ambient. Except the title track, i.e. the one they used, which is a mild arpeggio/sequencer type thing.
Tim: Gia Margaret was up next, and her album (Mia Gargaret) wouldn't seem too out of place on the sort of ambient labels I've been listening to in recent years. It's 11 mostly-keyboard/piano tracks averaging 2.5 minutes though, so it neither gets going nor settles down. Apparently she's normally a singer-songwriter but lost her voice for a bit so did this in the meantime instead.
Btw hopefully Steve will come back with another good photo.
Steve: Impressive music research Tim!
Esp the Mullaney.
New post, and the weather looks a bit wet for the foreseeable (weekend).
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nick: When can we ride again - the lockdown countdown for cyclists! - some of these dates seem quite a long way off though Steve: Funny coincidence, I finished that book and one of the further readings apart from Robert Harris's Enigma is The Shell Seekers! nick: I was surprised at how good "The Shell Seekers" was. I think I'd heard of it and assumed it was a bit schlocky/chick-lit, but I was very impressed. Similar to how I felt about "Peyton Place" (although I don't think the books are very similar) nick: This review of Maquette made me want to play the game: intriguing idea (which you can see a little bit of in the video) - you move little bits of scenery around in a model, and huge versions of those things simultaneously move "outside", where you can then go and navigate them Tim: It just looks like every other "first-person recursive puzzle game" to me :-)Might give it a go.
Tim: I just finished last week's guardian prize with only mild cheating. Oh look it's Saturday again... Tim: Actually, today's prize xword is a Paul so maybe I'll leave that one in case we do a team effort. nick: Just had mine at Superdrug in town. No symptoms yet, which means I think I'm going to have to do some hoovering after all nick: 22 hours later and no vaccine after effects at all, not even sore arm. I hope they gave me the real thing and not a placebo. nick: I am busy this evening so can't participate in zoom but I think I can set one up that you can join without me if you want - let me know Steve: We are both feeling a bit off-colour headachy today. Was the Oxford one.Can skip a Zoom no problem.
nick: We are both feeling a bit off-colour headachy today. Was the Oxford one. Yes, mine was Oxford AZ too. Of the eight people I know who've had that one, Tim and I are the only ones who've been side-effect free. My arm feels *very slightly* tender today if I press it, but that's all
Steve: The flu jab had no effect.I was complaining with Agnes about our terrible work systems where you have to manually duplicate data. She taught me a new phrase "usine à gaz". The nearest equivalent I could think of was Heath Robinson, which would mean nothing to younger generations.
nick: "I am writing to you to confirm that we are once again required to postpone Wolfgang Flür (Ex-Kraftwerk): 'Musik-Soldat' on Saturday 10th April 2021 to Saturday 27th November 2021 at 7.30pm, at Winchester Discovery Centre. If you would like to attend the new date, you do not need to do anything. All allocated tickets for all previously listed dates (4th April 2020, 3rd October 2020 and 10th April 2021) will remain valid for the new date." nick: Watching "The Serpent" there was a little bit of music they played and I thought "that sounds interesting" - it reminded me of Pierre Moerlen. So I rewound and replayed with subtitles to find out what it was (the subtitles did say, luckily). It was this song. Not sure how much I like the "song" but the percussion is really catchy. And when I searched a bit more, quite a few people have covered it, including The Orb (although I don't think their version is as good as the original) Steve: Listening to Tim's Can LPs, that percussion is equally "out there".Maybe you need to get into the drum 'n' bass genre Nick.
Having another classical phase here currently.
Steve: Gotta love a short symphony.This is why I struggle with Mahler and Shostakovitch, but I will have some more goes.
In my youth I managed to learn and love Mahler's 1st and 2nd, maybe it's an age thing.
Or it could be the "more of the same" problem.
And as for 12-tone stuff, I have tried and tried, but it's just too jarring to be of any use.
nick: OK friday's good, I'll send invites by 8pm tomorrow evening.Have a day off today and am trying not to think about work, having been unable to get to sleep last night worrying about stuff that I'm meant to be doing - or really stuff that people in my team are meant to be doing, but just did a 50 mile ride which made me feel a lot better.
nick: Interesting discussion of vaccine side-effects on R4 Inside Health: they said that the initial auto-immune response to the injection is driven by a fairly primitive mechanism which goes into overdrive when a perceived threat arrives: this causes side effects but doesn't actually do much in the way of long-term protection. After that, a more directed auto-immune response generates antibodies and T-cells etc. that will specifically recognise and attack the virus: this response likely won't have any noticeable effects on you. So having or not having a "bad response" to the vaccine isn't any indication of whether it gives you long-term protection. They also said that they think people who have a significant reaction (the "primitive" response going into overdrive) are the same ones who would suffer more when they get real flu etc.) Steve: Yes I heard some of that program but generally I've stopped listing to R4.And as for a 50 mile bike ride, how do you not spend the whole time reliving the worries? Time for you to retire and spend it with the grandchildren.
nick: I still have ebay alerts for Whyte bikes and a Suffolk went last week for £825. Today another one's appeared. Both have been 56cm frame which is my size! I'd definitely have gone for this if mine hadn't been fixed, and am a bit tempted to go for it anyway! But ~£800 is getting quite pricey really nick: ...but it is Amersham which I think must be near Steve - at least, I think he and I rode to Amersham once, when I was cycling back to Basingstoke and he took me part way. Steve: Hmmm 11-speed so pretty recent I guess, £1300 new. About 25 miles away from me.But we are still in lock-down so I'm not quite sure how people are selling used items that require picking up.
nick: Are you tempted then Steve? It claims to be 2016 model so it's about 2 years newer than mine, but nowhere near brand new. Given the interest in the one last week I suppose the price one this one will go up a bit.Anyone fancy a zoom tonight? My zoom subscription just auto-renewed without sending me a reminder mail, which was a bit irritating: I *would* have renewed anyway but it would have been nice to have had a mail "we're about to take your subscription". I put an alarm in my calendar so I won't be taken by surprise next year.
Tim: Next week you can socialise in someone's garden, so that helps a bit. Bike shops are open, so I suppose they are essential items?I'm about tonight if anything's going on.
Steve: I think my bike buying days are over, unless I get a summer Mercian...I plan to stick at 10-speed or lower if possible, I have spare STI levers.
We are out delivering church-related items (on foot) tonight so maybe later in the week?
Tim: Yep great. It took me quite a while to remember that in WWHT we've got those knights to sort out. Steve: In case you were planning something, I have a work call after hours so maybe tomorrow if at all thanks.Last night: Bruckner's 5th which was excellent but too long!
Pretty sure I never got further than 5 so more work to do there.
nick: OK I can do an invite for Friday evening if people are up for it.Trying to work out what the lockdown exercise rules are at the moment. I had assumed that the current rules say "once per day" for exercise, and was trying to find out if that gets relaxed on Mar 29. But I can't actually see anything in the current rules that mentions the once per day stipulation. It just talks about minimising the time you're away from home. So maybe I've been limiting my bike rides to once per day unnecessarily.
Tim: I don't think once per day applies.It's England v San Marino tonight, unmissable. Should be around tomorrow.
nick: 76:14 will now be Sat Sep 18, 2021 at 7:00 PM - which is the same date as my postponed Steve Hackett concert in Basingstoke, so assuming neither of them gets postponed again I'll have to miss one. Steve: Possibly get Paul to fill in if he will go in a crowd situation (which even I don't want to any more). Steve: There have been some great ones, maybe need to have seen Austin Powers for this one: https://twitter.com/i/status/1374831260011388933 nick: The Whyte in Amersham eventually went for £627 which I reckon is not a bad deal. They're coming thick and fast now: another one went for £550 last week, and today yet another one just appeared (54cm though so the wrong size for me). Where were all these bikes when I needed one? Steve: I looked at how much my frame is now, starts at £1400.Pretty sure I paid £1100. Supply and demand I suppose.
Worth getting resprayed when I can't bear the chips and scratches in the future.
And yes, the handlebar clock is right again!
I have meetings preventing a lunchtime ride, but I can do one at teatime.
nick: Looked at the Mercian website, maybe I need one of those next. Perhaps I should get my order in now, so it'll be ready for when my Whyte frame next cracks in five years time.John is still mulling over getting a Titanium bike - one of the ones he was looking at was a Reilly, but things might have slowed down there
nick: The other brand he'd been eyeing was Ribble but there's a long-ish wait time on their Ti bikes - I think they were quoting September, and he doesn't want to miss the summer. But I'd guess he's going to have trouble whatever make he goes for now.Re: helping UK workers - there've been several stories like this in the Guardian about how companies are struggling following Brexit but I find myself thinking actually this feels like it might be a good thing, if it reduces the amount of animal products criss-crossing the channel, and overall makes people think twice about moving materials around Europe to build stuff. Like Steve said I think that the idea that our well-being is tied to ever increasing GDP is not such a good thing after all.
Steve: I had to wait a long time for my Mercian (11 months?) and that was normal times.And I see that even Ribble is pretty expensive for Ti bikes when they must import those frames.
The Brexit paperwork stuff does seem horrendous and I feel terrible for those businesses, but yes, there is too much stuff generally being shipped about and consumed.
Steve: The BBC slide continues as the Guardian reports "BBC Four is to cease commissioning new programmes and become an archive-focused channel..."If the stuff is on iPlayer (which it must be), the broadcast can only be useful for people without Internet TVs.
I tried to find Brand X gig info and can find no mention of the Southampton one, even on their official Facebook. 1865 says postponed, but only if you Internet search to find the page.
nick: Yes I saw that report on BBC4 - which I'd heard no whisper of before so it was surprising to me. Seems like the BBC is suffering death from a thousand cuts. I appear to have four BrandX tickets at £28/each. I have no idea who might still owe me money for these I had a mail from 1865 club on Mar 27 last year saying it was postponed but have heard nothing since.
Looks lovely out today - good chance to meet Neil, Tim? I will try a ride this evening (was pretty chilly this morning) and will be wearing shorts
Tim: Yep, Neil is on his way. He likes a hike so he (should have) got off the train at Fareham about an hour ago and be getting towards half way here. Might be a bit thirsty on arrival. nick: He's walking to your house from Fareham station? That's about 9 miles - on the hottest day of the year so far: respect! Tim: He routinely does huge walks. Originally he was talking about walking all the way from Portsmouth, but that was when we were planning on a Thursday and apparently Tuesday is too early in the week for a massive walk. Fair enough. nick: Now here's a good one I fancy doing: the Cathedrals Cycle Route taking you nearly 2000 miles across England’s landscape between cathedrals.. "Cyclists aren’t expected to ride all 42 cathedrals in one go..." they say. No kidding. But on the other hand it would be a good challenge. Just seeing all those place names (many of which I've not been to, although I expect Steve has) makes me itch to get out there
Steve: Not done many of them, but have been to a lot of the cities. Probably busy tonight BTW.
Bandcamp Friday tomorrow. Trying to resist, but more and more people are on there.
nick: Think I'm around tomorrow so will do an invite for a zoom in the eveningI like Télégraphe by d'Voxx. What's my next recommendation for Bandcamp Friday?
Steve: Well I see Susumu Yokota is on there pretty cheap, sample-driven ambient. I have several already, try before you buy, but maybe Symbol or Grinning Cat or Sakura.Sadly he died a few years ago, so the money is not going to him!
Does that mean it's better to buy on a different day to support the site???
Something by Ochre? such as Project Caelus which I got last month and have played a lot. Or a Midsummer Nice Dream.
Tim: After your last mention I listened to my Ochre album (Like Dust of the Balance), not bad. Got it on again now. Steve: I've got 4 Ochre albums including that one and they are all good. Very musical for electronic music. nick: Been a bit off-colour this week - was off sick yesterday for the first time in two years and missed my daily bike ride, breaking my nine-month run of cycling every day. But spent most of yesterday asleep and feel loads better today so am up for a zoom this evening if anyone's aroundNot sure if I'll be able to get to Tim's next Friday but maybe I can get the afternoon off
nick: There's a re-issue of Laurie Anderson's "Big Science" and reading the Guardian article about that led me to watching some stuff on youtube - including the full length concert film "Home of the Brave" she did (feat. Adrian Belew). Looks like it would have been a pretty good concert to go to.But there are a couple of tracks in there I know very well, even though I don't appear to have them in my library - specifically Smoke Rings ("Iceberg or Volcano?") and Language is a Virus ("That's what I think" came from there, and I used that as my nickname for while). Did one of us have that album? I've got "Big Science" and "Mister Heartbreak" but I can't remember ever having "Home of the Brave" so how come the music is so familiar?
Steve: Blimey, off sick, must be Spencer germs.Home cooking and not eating meat guarantees no stomach issues.
I only know Laurie Anderson from So, but I see I have Tim's Home of the Brave LP so will give it a go this weekend.
Yes we can meet tonight if you are up to it.
Tim: Those tracks sound familiar, but I wouldn't have been able to tell you I had that album. Also I recently rediscovered that she's on Zoolook. Should be around later.
Steve: Hmm there seems to be a second Voices album coming out.I've stuck with the non-voice one so far btw.
Tim: Well there's a thing. Also a new Jarre album Amazonia - but it's a soundtracky whatever rather than a "proper" album. nick: Only a small thing, but encouraging nonetheless: French MPs have voted to suspend domestic airline flights that can be made by direct train in less than two and a half hours, as part of a series of climate and environmental measures. Tim: Postie just rang the doorbell and when I saw the big jiffy bag I thought What the hell have I ordered? Aha, water filters, cheers. Our current one was well out-of-date so that's very handy. nick: Won't be as interesting as the routes Tim plans but I think this is fairly direct To Tim's house Steve: That Laurie Anderson album sounds excellent BTW. Far out men, and great audio from Bob Ludwig! nick: I bought it on download (sorry)You should check out The full-length film of "Home of the Brave". The music isn't the same version as the album (maybe a different performance?) but it's worth watching. I think it would have been great to see live - she really puts a lot of effort in to making the show interesting
nick: Tell me it's not MP3! - it might be, why? They sound indistinguishable from WAV files. But I do take issue with your comment about the audio quality for Home of the Brave - it sounds pretty muffled to me.Is there a chip shop near Tim? Now you're talking
Steve: Next time you are here I will put the LP on.This looks like a project, and some of it looks pretty familiar: The Line art walk.
nick: This looks like a project, and some of it looks pretty familiar: The Line art walk. yes some familiar pics therePretty bad UX on the website though: once you scroll down to the map, the URL gets changed to https://the-line.org/map/ and you can't scroll back up (scrolling zooms in/out of the map) and you can't use the browser "previous page" button to go back either because they just replaced the URL rather than pushing it on to the history. I maybe have been reviewing too many UI changes lately.
Tim: Chips, good idea, why didn't I think of that? But you're too late, sorry, a bizarrely mismatched vegan nosh assemblage is already underway. Steve: Well done Tim.I can't wait to see the upside-down pylon, and I've not been to the Olympic Park.
I was also puzzled I could not hit Back.
We also fancied visiting Eltham Palace, you could see your old haunts Tim.
nick: Just had a mail alert from eBay based on my saved search for a Whyte Suffolk which isn't exactly what I was after but it is a relatively low price nick: Great to see you all and thanks for hosting and food and books Tim.Took me nearly 2 hours to get home vs. 1:38 on the way down: it is more uphill going back.
Here's the Holy Hand Grenade scene I mentioned. "Five is right out" is what someone said in a meeting and it made me laugh but I think part of that is because there were lots of people there and I was the only one who picked up on the reference
Steve: Yes well done Tim, we all know the effort required just keeping teas topped up!The "Five is right out" is pretty funny. I watched that film maybe once 40 years ago so have no clue if it's any good.
And anyone could have taken those photos!
nick: So, Tim, is there anyone making the argument that the new football league thing is a good idea? Steve: Loads of people in far away countries who will tune in on "cable TV"?Bit odd without France and Germany.
Tim: Here's a so-called Sports Reporter: Opinion: Reasons why a European Super League would be great for football nick: Ella forwarded me a link about vegan pork pies. She said maybe I would like them with a little bit of pickle. I must have said that phrase to her quite a bit! Tim: I don't have an Instagram account, but yes Tina mentioned those (Higgidy?) from her Vegetarian mag recently. Hunted for them in Sainsbury's last week but no joy. Also the mag had Kestrel lager, blast from the past. Steve: Higgidy or whatever are the best I've had so far.I just checked the Quorn patent status and it did expire years ago so others can sell the same protein thing with another name. I find their prices high. But if we have the generic soya from Holland & Barrett I get bad stomach aches if it is not well-cooked!
nick: Tried the Moretti 0% alcohol and it's pretty good! So I may as well switch. Coincidentally I listened to an interview this weekend with Lee Mack who gave up alcohol a while ago: he said what he really liked was the first glass of beer after a hard day's work, but that the alcohol doesn't actually hit your system for several minutes, so he realised that what he was enjoying was the taste of the drink rather than its effect. And by the time he'd had the first one he wasn't starting to get a buzz and craving one more drink, so he could happily stop after one. He said he'd bought a load of different 0% beers to test and his favourite was Free Damm so perhaps I'll give that a go if I see any nick: I read about this in Saturday's Guardian and thought "that name sounds familiar". Turns out it is the sister of someone I work with. She's got a crowdfunder and it's pretty encouraging to see how much support she's getting Tim: OK so maybe last week the Bs were saying they're already booked up for tonight.An alternative chat possibility is in my back garden tomorrow pm if you wanted to fit in the same (solo!) ride and pick up some more Churchill.
nick: That rings a vague bell - can't remember whether they might be around tomorrow or notCycling to HE sounds appealing except it looks like it might be raining (forecast earlier on was saying rain here all afternoon, but that's now changed to rain early evening, but HE still says showers from 3pm). Don't mind risking cycling in the rain but sitting in it doesn't sound so great
Can still do a zoom tonight or could switch to tomorrow evening if S+D are around then (I'll drop them a text)
Steve: I did see that, looks epic but so far away. It's off-road and I have broken two (more) spokes in my MTB rear so am looking to get that fixed and maybe replaced. I'm guessing the wheel is end of life as Specialized would have put some cheap stuff on there. It's 11 years old.But yes in principle, something shorter than JOGLE is a must.
Need to do IoW and maybe the Wessex Way.
nick: Ah, I hadn't clocked it was off-road. I think I might need a new MTB as well - my Specialized is 20 years old now and the blistering around the headset looks a bit worrying. Randonnee ought to have been this Sunday just gone, but it was cancelled again. But I think a summer ride over there this year looks like it's feasible. I think I've not been to IoW for about 18 months now!
Andy, who normally comes on our Saturday AM cycles, is the guy who broke both elbows when he came off his bike (it was because he put his hands out and the shock when he hit the floor broke the elbows). Nurses were impressed when he first went in "normally people only break one elbow: you've done both!". He's still not back in action (6 weeks later). Apparently he broke a bone in his forearm arm too, but they didn't notice that until he went to the hospital to have the casts off his arms (he'd been in two slings, with his wife having to feed him etc.).He's got at least another four weeks recovery.
Steve: Well I'm "just" thinking new hand-built wheels which should see me out til I die, or have to give up cycling due to broken elbows etc. It's got a rack so can carry clothes. And Marathon Pluses do not have much drag on tarmac if there are road sections.I'm going top have spare holiday for sure.
And for Tim there is a new The Grid/Fripp album coming out.
The Youtube track sounds like soundscapes with sequences over the top. So I'm not sure of the merit.
Tim: Yes, that sounds dull.I expect Deborah will volunteer to be Camp-Let support driver for the W. Kernow?
Steve: It's not the sort of thing you want to put up/down every day!But yes she did offer for the South Downs Way a while back.
I did read that they want to demolish the Derby Assembly Rooms which have been empty for a while after a fire. Happy days.
Tim: I've seen the video - it takes 6 minutes to put up a trailer tent. And I expect a bit of practice helps. Steve: You will be getting the "you're not too big to be smacked" treatment.In theory it arrives near you tomorrow so I'll let you know when we will be cruising past again.
Do say if you want your vinyl back. I have Nick's TT, and I have a spare phono stage you can have. Now that you have more time :) A while back you did seem to say you were thinking about playing some.
nick: BBC weather forecast for HE on Sunday is currently overcast but dry, although it has been pretty inconsistent recently, changing its mind a lot about whether it's going to rain or not (last week it was saying the bank holiday weekend would be a washout, and in the event we had a bit of a shower on Monday evening) Tim: Yes and it says Saturday is filthy - at the moment. Give it a couple of days then we can see about a plan? Steve: I notice that the 8CD Kraftwerk 3D is about £40 now, is it any good?Not sure I would get it as I find the tracks on their albums veer from awesome to awful. And a live version of The Mix seems a bit odd.
Steve: Also Tim, how many of these artists would you recognise, being more into ambient than us two?BBC Sounds Ambient Focus
Tim: I think I recognise the same number as you, i.e. 4.Wasn't the 8CD always about £40? I don't rate it. ISTR that The Mix on there is mostly the same versions but Headphone Surround mix. I trust you've got Min-Max?
On the vinyl front I think it's safe to say I won't do anything with them. (They can go back in my garage when you want to get rid.) I've still got a million CDs to rip and I expect a lot of those will never make it out of the drawer.
Tim: Looking at camelcamelcamel it was £50 or less, then out of stock for a year or so - must have recently had a repress. Steve: I got Min-Max so yes I feel like I'm sorted.I'm happy to keep the vinyl here, I do play it occasionally, was feeling bad about it is all.
nick: Stopped at the polling station this morning on my ride. Three ballot papers, not a single green candidate on any of them. Maybe I should have stood for one of them! Steve: We did postal.I can certainly see Labour never getting in as a government again.
Hartlepool (nothing has ever happened there) will be interesting.
Tim: I've got a pile of classical vinyl you can "look after" too!We did postal too. One green in there.
I suppose an issue in Hartlepool is where the xenophobe vote goes this time.
Steve: I managed Green here OK.Hmm, classical vinyl, not sure about that, although chamber music can sound pretty fab if crackle-free.
nick: Just had a recommendation on one of my bike apps to visit "Eling Harbour" which is "one of only two remaining operating tide mills in the United Kingdom". Is it any good Tim? nick: Don't really know much about Van Morrison but I found this review of his latest release laugh out loud funny Steve: Oh boy the comments are brilliant as well. Such as: "Masks and Lockdown. What a hill to choose to die on." Tim: I've never been to Eling. The other one is in Suffolk, apparently - so there's a themtic bike route for you! Tim: Saturday's forecasted filthy weather has moved quite a bit earlier, a.m. only, which is the right direction. Tim: I also bought a download "Buchla Tunes Vol.3" by Lyonel Bauchet (further to his DiN DL album which constitutes a selection of tracks from the first two vols). Steve: Yes please.There is a great piece in The Guardian about annoying things in TV. It's not just me that sees these things! Be warned though, I saw something new that I am now going to have to check every time I watch something.
nick: Just listening to extended edition of Crises which has live stuff on it. The CD is "Mike Oldfield - Crises (2013 remaster)" and I initially thought "oh, not so bad, good that he was touring 8 years ago". Then saw the track title "Taurus II (Live At Wembley Arena/1983)". Which seems a depressingly long time in the past Steve: Well done for turning up and the teacakes etc Tim.The trailer is snug in the garage, some serious bike rearrangement to be done.
Very easy to move about on its wheels and jockey.
And when Deborah was talking about holiday quotas to August, she said this as I have moved my plan forward a year. So maybe in 3 or 4 months...
Tim: I woke up wondering about how to reverse a trailer, couldn't compute how you get the back and front of the trailer and the front of the car all lined up at the same time.Looked at a few guides and some of them say that the back of the trailer turns the opposite way to your normal steering, so hold the bottom part of the steering wheel instead, eek!
Steve: Also you need massive swing on the front of the car for a small change to the trailer.So here is a question. The trailer follows the car. If you go around a bend and stop then just go into reverse, do you follow the same path?
Paul got headaches about this and thinks you would not replay the path.
Maybe you do if the pivot point is exactly in the middle.
nick: The trailer follows the car. If you go around a bend and stop then just go into reverse, do you follow the same path?Is that one for Matt?
If you're pushing the trailer rather than pulling it, I'd have thought that there's a good chance it would go in a different direction.
Tim: So you couldn't push one and pull one at the same time, because they'd go in different directions? nick: Tubular Bells live at the RFC in August. I don't think MO himself is actually playing. Tickets are not that expensive - at least, there seem to be quite a few left at ~£33. It says this is a "prelude to the celebration of the masterpiece’s 50th anniversary in 2023" so maybe he'll play it himself then and would make a good 38th anniversary present for Deborah! Steve: Well the 7th is David's (Tracey) wedding weekend.Then I see it goes on quite a bit after that.
Is it safe to book anything? I'm not feeling it.
Shall I try to book Friday 21st off and we wing it?
nick: I'm not bothered about seeing TB - if Oldfield were playing then maybe, but I don't think he is.Fri 21st May good for me - I have booked as holiday. Leaves me with 28.5 days until the end of the year
Steve: Hmm well I said try to book. It will clash with someone else here, so no good, but I can do Saturday/Sunday. 27 days left I think. Steve: So Monday is a possibility yes but a public holiday in France (same person clash). Let me think about it. Steve: I'm thinking I train with bike Friday evening to Sunday.First train from Waterloo ASAP after 7PM.
nick: OK with me - you can stay at ours any nights you want Steve, if you're doing WAT->BSK. We could cycle and/or train to HE which could mean Tim doesn't have to get the bike out at all. I can collect you from BSK either in car or on bike (should still be light enough at that time). Steve: A plan - fantastic!Sorry for the day off mess-up.
Yes I was intending to ride to yours in the fading light thanks.
Steve: BTW we are camping in the rain from tonight so no crossword for us. Let's hope assembly is quicker this time. nick: Are you in Lincolnshire then?Forecast in Basingstoke is pretty much non-stop rain until next Friday
nick: ...or you could call into a zoom just on a normal phone line (we've had people doing that on zooms I've done) Tim: I listened on Bandcamp to one of the people off the Ambient Focus Steve mentioned above - Elenia (album) by Floating Points. Seems like he's primarily a jazz-ish keyboardist, it mostly seems quite good but there's lots going on and it's really not ambient. Except the title track, i.e. the one they used, which is a mild arpeggio/sequencer type thing. Tim: Gia Margaret was up next, and her album (Mia Gargaret) wouldn't seem too out of place on the sort of ambient labels I've been listening to in recent years. It's 11 mostly-keyboard/piano tracks averaging 2.5 minutes though, so it neither gets going nor settles down. Apparently she's normally a singer-songwriter but lost her voice for a bit so did this in the meantime instead.Btw hopefully Steve will come back with another good photo.
Steve: Impressive music research Tim!Esp the Mullaney.
New post, and the weather looks a bit wet for the foreseeable (weekend).
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