 |
It’s not that often that I look at art these days and think “wow”, but for some reason, I’m just intrigued by these cut paper creations, all from A4 paper. They’re maybe amazing because I’ve got such wobbly hands that I could never ever get near making them. Wow. |
Red shoe day
New Shoes! Lily had a little treat going shopping to Asda with Katie today
New entry at number 1
I had the psychological uplift of another cyclocross win on Saturday at the Liverpool Century ‘cross Otterspool Park.
Adding to the euphoria was riding my new frames, Columbus X-Wings, (click on image, right) which felt very nice indeed (though, of course, it’s not about the bike).
As if that wasn’t enough, a total cycling hero Ben Greenwood was riding cyclocross for the first time and finished in third spot. Now I’m not deluding myself about being better than him, no way sir, but I was in this discipline on the day. What an amazing feeling!
As with my previous wins, you sometimes feel like it’s more about who didn’t turn up to race than who I beat, but you can only beat who’s there.
Palindromes
I love them and have always been amused by good palindromes. This whole paragraph is a palindrome (well, it’s not, but it got you looking didn’t it).
This site has a pretty exhaustive collection of them, including:
A Toyota’s a Toyota
Lid off a daffodil
No, it is opposition
Was it a car or a cat I saw?
… and other gems
.
Welcome to Finlay James Metcalfe-Gibson
Our (currently antipodean) friends James and Katy have just had a massive 9lb baby boy. Congratulations to them both on the birth of the upside-down little Finlay James Metcalfe-Gibson, pictured left, aged five minutes. Finlay is an Irish name, anglicized form of “Fionnlagh”, which means “white warrior” from Gaelic fionn “white, fair” and laogh “warrior”. “James” means just James.
Shot in the back
Someone shot me with an air gun when I was riding home from work last week. I pondered going to the police but then quickly (and I think rightfully) assumed that nothing would be done and i’d end up getting involved in all sorts of manic bureacratic hassle. It didn’t pierce the skin – in fact I had the tiniest of bruises, but it just made me annoyed.
Bonfire Night at Ingleton
|
|
A dry night and lots of excitement for Lily who was lucky enough to have all her grandparents on hand.� Most of the piccies were not much good but the sparkler ones came out okay. |
Some snaps from Devil’s Bridge
Some photos taken by mum when Lily spent a bit of time with her on 5th November. Cheeky face!
Pulling the plug out.
I’ve rung a few changes recently and slimmed down the audio effects and gear that I own. I hardly ever play any gigs any more so it was a bit of a luxury owning expensive guitar effects. Having sold some stuff on ebay, I treated myself to the only real studio essential in this day of computer recording, a compressor.
Without going into any more technical stuff, compression helps get a much warmer and more natural sound on acoustic guitars and on vocals that can often sound hollow and false on ‘dry’ digital recordings. I had a quick mess about with it at the weekend and pretty quickly recorded an acoustic version of Plasticine, a fairly recent song.
Have a listen…. Plasticine (acoustic)
Comments always appreciated.
Oh, and the ‘original’ version’s here if you missed it.
National Trophy round 2: Chantry Park, Ipswich
The second round of the highest level of cyclo-cross competition in this country and I travelled down to Ipswich a bit nervous, but also a bit resigned to my form not being where it was last year.
Had an overdue bit of bonding with my Wheelbase team mates Rob, Stuart and Lewis (thanks for the lift!) and managed to keep it down to four polite pints of Guinness on the evening before. Rob and Lewis didn’t snore: my luck was in !
The race day itself was very, very enjoyable. I’d never turned up so early to a national trophy event so preparation was very relaxed and subdued. The course itself was an absolute cracker – some testing technical bits but all pretty fast if you kept your concentration up.
The ‘other’ races (Juniors, Veterans, Women, etc) were good for the North West riders, which helped to make the day rewarding.
My performance in itself was still pretty lacklustre. I had one of the slowest opening laps I’ve ever had at this level, which didn’t help, despite having a good warm up. By the time I got myself motoring I’d ‘missed the train’ and could only make up a few places. On the whole, my performance was better than Cheltenham and I was right on the nail with skills and technique, I just wasn’t fast enough. More structure to the training will follow! 33rd in the end and a lap down on German winner Malte Urban.
Links:
British Cycling website race report and photos
Lots more photos
North West cyclo cross association website report.Â
Short seaside break
|
|
We had a cracking stay in a caravan for two nights at Reighton Sands near to Filey, N Yorkshire. Managed to do just about everything you could wish to do by the seaside in three packed days and still came home feeling relaxed and refreshed. Three places featured in the photos are Filey, Scarboroiugh and Bridlington – all classic northern seaside towns in their own way.Thanks to the Bartletts for the kind offer of the caravan and to Fiona for sorting it out for us – shame about your fan belt (she never quite made it to see us)! |
Hidden hole.
A simple, but a very very funny prank on youtube.