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Walking in Cornwall Dec’09

Sat, 30 Jan 2010 06:54:02 +0000

Hi All,

Sorry I’ve not been updating this blog as often as I used to.

There’s a couple of reasons. The first is that, like a lot of people, Facebook has become my defacto way of keeping in touch. Basically because I’m lazy. The other being that, because of money and time, I really haven’t been up to much lately except work.

Anyway, I did spend two weeks down in Cornwall with my family over Christmas and New Year. I am really getting the walking bug again and did a few long walks while down there. I took a few pictures which you can see by clicking HERE or on the photo above.

Cholmendeley Pageant of Power 2009

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 18:36:10 +0100

Just got back from the Pageant of Power.

Pictures by clicking on the photo above.

Shot in the eyes with Lasers!

Sat, 18 Jul 2009 17:58:18 +0100

After years (8+) of thinking about it, I’ve finally had my eyes corrected by laser surgery.

I had the op just 8 days ago and apart from a bit of red bruising which will disappear over the next few days, I now have better than 20-20 vision.

I cannot believe I didn’t do it earlier.

Some pictures can be seen by clicking the picture above. I’ll add some more as the bruising goes down.

Answers to questions I am always asked.

Who with?

Optical Express. And, yes I would recommend them - very happy with the way it was all handled.

How much?

First consultancy was free.
I had two options: Standard at £1,300 and the best at £3,300. I went for the top flight stuff because, well, they were going to cut a flap in the front of the eye and shoot lasers in them. Why risk it and why not have the best done? Also, the standard only fixes the centre of the eye and because I have (had!) astigmatism in both eyes, the top level one cures that as well and reduces glare at night.
I had LASIK, Intralase and Wavefront. (click on the names for explanations)

How bad were your eyes before hand?

Worst eye was around -2.5 but I had astigmatisms (click for explanation) in both eyes.
Two people having it done at the same time were -7 and -7.5.

Did it hurt?

No, and I have been very lucky in having no pain afterwards. I had a headache towards the end of the day on my first day back at work (the Monday after the op on the Friday) from using a computer all day.

However, the experience is very strange. They put a suction cup on your eye and press fairly hard on it, which is a bit scary. Also, there is a point when you can’t see (black) out of both eyes for about a minute. That was VERY scary and my whole body was tense. But, when the actual correction was happening, I could see the lights coming into focus as the laser did the business.

How long does it take?

The free consultation took about 1.5 hours with a fair bit of sitting around waiting for your turn on different bits of machinery and testing equipment.

The day of the op, they say make 3 hours available. I was in and out in 1 hour. The time from walking through the door of the op room was less than ten minutes. The actual physical correction per eye takes 15 seconds to cut the flap and 36 seconds to do the correction with about a minute of the surgeon replacing the flap accurately.

For about 3 hours after the op my eyes watered a lot and I kept them shut. By the evening I could read!

My vision was hazy for the first 5 days and then got progressively better. I still have a small halo around lights, but this will disappear soon.

I was back at work on the 3rd day.

I will have bruised (red) eyes for about 2 weeks after the op.

There are 3 types of eye drops to take regular during the day for the first seven days, one of which you continue to use to keep your eyes moist for up to a month.

You also have to wear some natty goggles for the first week for bed to stop you rubbing them or pressing on them when rolling over.

Any other questions - email me.

Goodwood 2009

Fri, 10 Jul 2009 01:08:20 +0100

Wehay! Totally forgot to post this. I went to the Goodwood Festival of Speed again this year. I absolutely love this event. You cannot get closer to such a broad range of the most historic bits of petrol head heaven anywhere else in the world.

Didn’t take as many photos this year, but what I did take is HERE.

Let There Be Deck

Wed, 3 Jun 2009 00:22:06 +0100

Two years ago, Damon said to me (when we were both fairly pissed) “You know what? I reckon we should dig into this slope and build a deck!”. Now this seemed like an excellent idea and thoughts went round my head about how it would take, maybe, two weekends and cost about £800.

Well, almost exactly two years and £2,300-ish later, I have a deck!

And it is good.

All built, by hand, by myself and Damon - wall, tiling, deck the lot.
 Actually, I am very, very chuffed at how it has turned out. Just got the rest of the garden to do now (i.e. level off about 10-15 tonnes of dirt that we had to shift to build the deck and re-turf).

Many thanks to Damon for the initial idea and unwavering help and support, Chris for a weekends hard graft and my parents for endless loans of tools and for a solid days work helping me with the deck boards.

A full selection of pictures of the project can be found HERE

And a short time interval recording video of the tiles going on the wall can be found HERE

ROLL ON SUMMER!

Hawkstone MX Mar’09

Sun, 1 Mar 2009 21:15:06 +0000

Blimey, I’ve finally done something worth updating this Blog for.

I’ve been to the International Motorcross meeting at Hawkstone Park. weather was great and the racing was tops.

To see photos, click on the picture above or HERE.

You can also see a short film wot I vidoe-ogrified wif my camera fingy HERE.

Christmas in Cornwall

Tue, 30 Dec 2008 18:45:08 +0000

Click on the photo above for pictures to go with this blog entry.

I went down with my parents to see Sherry and David in Cornwall for Christmas. The weather was fantastic for the four days we were there. And it was really nice to spend so long together as a family again.

The weather was so good we took the horses to the beach on Boxing Day. As I wasn’t driving and relaxing (and therefore not making any decisions or paying any attention) I have no idea which beach it was, but it was gorgeous.

I even had a small ride on Havannah, but have completely forgotten how to ride and cracked my nuts a couple of times.

On the Saturday, the weather was still fantastic, so I decided to go for a walk in the country. I had no plan, but took an Ordnance Survey map in case I decided to go for a long one. I went over the ridge north, into the next valley all cross country, made it up the other side of the valley and got lost in a field where reality disagreed with the map on where the path left the field. I saw what I thought was Wadebridge in the distance and headed off for that. Somehow I got back on the right path and actually made it to Wadebridge (must take a compass next time). The town I had seen in the distance wasn’t Wadebridge so I’m amazed I made it to the right place.

Anyway, I was totally annoyed to find that the best bakery in town was shut and had to settle for a Cornish Pasty (very good) and a coffee (bloody awful) from Spar.

I realised the back of my legs were hurting as I’d been walking for about 3 hours across country and was going to run out of light if I couldn’t find a more direct route back.

So, I stomped off down the Camel trail next to the river Camel. The route was tarmac and flat until I had to cross the river to aim back to Retire where Sherry lives. Then I was off onto the little country roads winding up and around the hills. It was at this point, my legs really started to hurt, being 15 years older since the last time I had done any serious walking. The last 2 or so miles were very slow with my right knee all but locking solid. But, I wasn’t going to be defeated and managed to crawl back in about 5pm (I’d left at 11am).

Having a measure on the map later, I’d done somewhere between 13 and 15 miles of mainly cross country walking. Now, I wouldn’t have seen this as much of a challenge 15 years ago. But, it looks like I’m going to have to do a bit of exercise and training before I try that again. My legs wouldn’t work properly the next day and it it was about 2 days later before there were no twinges.

I’ve bought some maps for the local area where I live and will be trying to get a walk in every couple of weeks. I’ll build that up just before I go down to Sherry’s again, so I can really enjoy the beautiful Cornish countryside.

Daily Kermodian Rants

Sat, 13 Dec 2008 15:00:18 +0000

Mark Kermode is my favourite film critic and I usually agree with his reviews of most films.

Mark is well known for his “Kermodian” rants . If you like films, you’ll probably enjoy this link which is an advent calendar with some of the Good Doctor’s best rants.

Movie Advent Calendar

You can also get more of Mark Kermode HERE

Embarrassed

Mon, 8 Dec 2008 20:47:48 +0000

The picture above is an example of the totally random stuff you see behind the scenes at the bike show.

I’m really annoyed that I’ve let this blog slip. But, fact is the new job is very demanding and I’ve very little time at the moment.

However, a little update is that I’ve just come back from the big bike show. It went really well apart from a few electrical problems with the stand.

I’m really knackered now but caught up with loads of old friends and made some new ones.

Didn’t take any pictures this year but a highlight was going to the German market in Birmingham one evening and eating lots of Ham and drinking German beer before hooting like a little child when I went on a Helter Skelter for the first time since I was a wee boy.

More news soon XXX

Hammered in Cornwall

Thu, 25 Sep 2008 19:00:17 +0100

It was my Dad’s birthday on the 19th Sept, so Mum, Dad and I went down to see Sherry and David for a long weekend in Cornwall.

I really don’t get to see my sister enough and must make more of an effort to get down there.

We had fantastic weather so we took advantage and spent Sat and Sun making good progress helping build the stables. It was great to wield a hammer and help Sherry and David with the build and they paid back in kind with great food and lots of wine so I could get hammered in the evening (see what I did there ?).

Slight bummer was getting a splinter in the eye on Sunday which was really painful and I was still seeing double on Tuesday afternoon - all fine now though I am very relieved to say.

You can see some photos of the weekend by clicking the photo above or HERE.