a run in the rain... and mud... and sand...

Sunday 2nd December saw Dan, Chris and me standing somewhat huddled against the wind and rain on the start line for the Helly Hanson Hawley Winter Wonder Adventure Race. The weather was the worst seen so far in the year with warnings up and down the country for high winds and rain, and here we were about to race out in it.
The race was pretty much the same format as before - 'Warm up' run, two lap bike circuit, a short kayak section and a final run (or waddle...). Had the weather been better, I have no doubt the scenery would have been stunning, but as it was my main memories were of sticky yellow sandy mud, stinky slippery black mud, gloopy brown mud, tree roots and water. It rained so hard at points that I don't think I could have been any wetter sitting in a bath, but at least I would have been cleaner!
Anyway, enough sounding like it was a horrible experience, because it wasn't - we had a great time! It was very challenging, at times rather cold, definitely wet and muddy, but otherwise fantastic! On top of which we came 51st out of 222 so again in the top 1/4. Now next time, I will try to train before hand and maybe we can knock 20 minutes off! I have a feeling that we can get into the top 20 or so places...

It's an odd thing, but when working hard my mind tends to wonder - maybe it's to take itself away from the discomfort of it all - and I came up with a number of observations that I am now going to share with you, like it or not!

• Go through the puddle not around it. You're going to end up wet and muddy anyway
  
• The route through the puddle is usually less slippery than around it however be aware of unseen obstacles in the water!
  
• Follow the route most travelled. Human nature is such that it will naturally take the most efficient route. Plus, they are compressing down the mud so somewhere at the bottom of the sticky morass is traction!
  
• Don't ride to close to the guy in front - he is about to do something unexpected: fall off, stop, slip, turn, spray you in the face with mud...
  
• Getting into a kayak after 2hrs on a bike is going to give you cramp. Shit happens
  
• Wear lycra shorts - they don't get water logged and chaff. Now there's a painful lesson to learn
  
• Wear padded underwear - not only does it keep you warm, but 2 hours on a mountain bike is a long time. The annoyance of the pad when running is nothing compared to the bruising...
  
• Finally, remember you are meant to be having fun!
  

It looks like that's the last adventure race for the year, and the new season doesn't start until spring. It's been an interesting few months and I think I've found a sport that really suits me.
Roll on 2008....

psychosomatic...?

The last few weeks I've been feeling steadily more lethargic and run down - no real symptoms of illness, just a lot of 'bleugh'! On Tuesday I went to a circuits class - something I do regularly - and found it extremely hard going. I wasn't knackered, just unable to perform at my usual level, and reaching failure much earlier. On top of sleeping badly and lack of concentration I'm beginning to think that I'm suffering from Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). To compound this theory, yesterday and today were both quite clear and sunny for much of the days and I'm feeling generally 'better' :)
I decided to take that as a hint to go running - something I haven't done for a couple of weeks - and was pleasantly surprised at how easy I found it. Admittedly I only went for 5km, and took a couple of minutes longer than usual, but it was an extremely comfortable and almost nice experience! Now I just need to keep that positive frame of mind and get a lot more exercise in - I have another adventure race next weekend.
A run too far perhaps...

apples...

I was out veg shopping a couple of days back and spied the most delicious looking, deep red apples. Yesterday lunchtime I tucked into one of these apples - it was supremely crunchy and full of juice but with no flavour whatsoever. Sweet yes, but taste of apple? No. Such a disappointment; I was so close to finding the 'perfect' apple.
Actually, this seems to be a bit of a recurring theme with apples. Russets are another example - they smell fantastic and when fresh are beautifully tasty, but they just don't store - a month or so after they first hit the shops and they are floury and dull.
Thankfully Cox's are easy to come by and nearly always delicious...

favourite weekend...

It may be getting dark earlier, it may be colder and wetter, but the first weekend in November is my favourite of the year. Why?
Fireworks.
Pure and simple, I love them! The sounds, the colours, the physical thump as the blast hits you... it all excites the primitive caveman in me. Uggg!
Perhaps surprisingly then I have only been to two 'events' this year. The first was on Saturday at Ravenscourt Park, near Hammersmith. There was actually two displays - the kiddies one at 1900hrs which was a pretty impressive 10min display in it's own right followed by the lighting of the bonfire (an enormous affair with 100m high flames!) and then the main display of the evening at 2000hrs (well actually 2020hrs as they had to wait for the fire to burn down to a safe level!). This was set to a selection of tv and movie theme tunes which nearly worked.
Hunting for food afterwards I found myself in Mahdi - a Persian restaurant. It was very good food and excellent portions! The Iranian tea they serve is absolutely gorgeous.
The second fireworks party was organised by a friend's (Laurie) mum in Hackney, sorry, 'ackney. A great evening of food, wine and fireworks... although I would have to say that perhaps the fireworks should have happened before the food as I'm sure a level of inebriation may have been a contributing factor to a firework being buried upside down! Fortunately the soil it was buried in was soft and stone free, and the firework was a one-shot, not multiple, so the very small garden wasn't filled with exploding bomblets. I would just like to say now that I had nothing to do with the fireworks other than watching!

Happily everyone left with all their fingers and most of their eyebrows...

a run in the woods...

last weekend I took part in the Helly Hansen 'WEAVERS DOWN AUTUMN ASSAULT' adventure race at Longmore Camp in Hampshire. I was a very last minute entry filling the space left by a friend of mine who had to pull out. As it happened one of the other team mates dropped out on the morning too, leaving us as a pair.
The day started pretty early for me (0600 hrs!) in order to grab a lift from my other team mate, Chris, in Wimbledon. I was very pleased to find out that we both live on parts of the underground system that will accept bikes. It would have been a very chilly and dark ride otherwise!
So we arrive in time for a 1000hrs start with frost still on the ground (Checking when I got home told me that most of the race was sub 10c!), and clear blue skies - it was going to be a beautiful day. The gun went and we were off , first on a 3km or so run which gave us a good idea of the terrain for the day - lots of sand, water and wooded hills. Into transition we swapped woolly hats for cycle helmets and were off on a 25km ish two lap bike route. It was an awesome ride through a whole variety of country side - water, hills, lumps, bumps and mud! For some reason though my lower back started to ache quite considerably, but could be eased with 30 seconds of stretching every 10-20 mins or so. Rather frustrating for Chris I'm sure, but he was very accommodating. Worryingly my gears also started to slip from quite an early stage. It's a new bike (less than 6 months and only my second proper trail ride) so I was rather annoyed that they needed to be adjusted already. It was only when I got home at the end of the day that I noticed that one of the chain links was actually broken! What would have happened if it had given up completely doesn't bear thinking about. Happily wiggle have now replaced the chain for free :)
Back into transition and it was on to the next run section. A roughly 5km route through what seemed to be a mogul field of bumps down through a giant sand pit, gorse shrubs and finally a marsh to the inflatable kayak section where we had to paddle a lap of a small lake, then back onto the last 5km run to home. By this time we'd been on the go for nearly 3 hours and sitting in a puddle of cold wet water for the 15/20 minutes or so that it took to negotiate the lake had left my quads far from impressed and I was fighting some pretty bad cramp on the way back up towards transition. However, I was far from the only one - there were people all around me having to stop and stretch out.
The last time through transition and it was onto the 'challenges' in another giant sand pit including a three legged race around a hill. Finally we ran to the finish line, but could only cross after crawling under netting in 8 inches of muddy and sandy water (ensuring that anywhere that had remained dry or free of grit, now wasn't!) and over a steep 6' high slope covered in vegetable oil... which was nice.
We finished in 03:29:42. Unfortunately as we were now only a pair we didn't actually place, but would have come 56th out of 237 if we had counted.

Happy with that... :)

beautiful morning...

Following on from my previous post, I have just had one of those 'perfect moment' runs.
Normally I find running hard work, heavy on the limbs and generally an unenjoyable but necessary part of my fitness regime. However this morning was different. I went out early for a change and found myself running under clear blue skies with a lovely cool breeze. The run seemed easy and comfortable and was infact a genuine pleasure. The trees were an amazing range of colours, their was an abundance of wildlife and few people. I've been feeling genuinely uplifted all morning as a result.
A sharp contrast to yesterday where I was suffering from a migraine for most of it. Very unpleasant...

autumn cometh...

I went out for a couple of short runs last week to break in my new shoes and judging by the amount of slippery rotting leaf on the paths, Autumn has definitely arrived.
It's my favourite time of the year for running - the colours, smells, coolness... all great reasons to be outside exercising. The flip side to that is the mud and rain! I think this cartoon by a wonderful and very talented friend of mine sums up my last run very nicely!
Talking of breaking in running shoes, I've just confirmed my place at this weekends' Adventure Race in Hampshire. Again it's a bit of a scratch team, with the place becoming available rather at the last minute as a friend of mine dropped out (probably so he wouldn't have to worry about the post rugby hangover on the Sunday!). I rather suspect that the last vestiges of newness in my shoes will have disappeared by Monday morning!

I went to see an extremely funny play at the weekend - Cooped by Spymonkey. The show can probably be best described as the bastard offspring from Monty Python and The Pink Panther, indeed one of the actors looked remarkably like the great Peter Sellers. The play featured farce, slapstick, nudity and fart gags. Right up my street! Although, it could be argued that there was rather too much nudity at times... infact it was probably the all-male nude ballet that took it over the edge! However, I would say if you can get the chance to see the group, you should...

London rat race...

After weeks of trying to put together a team for the two day event and with a last minute drop-out I found someone to run with on the Saturday Mean Streets event - Sam Phelps, a member of the Serpentine Running Club.
I was a little disappointed that I wouldn't be competing in both events, but as it turned out that was a blessing in disguise!
The race started at 1700hrs on Saturday in the park between Tower Bridge and the Mayor's office. We had 2.5 hours to cover as much ground as possible including up to 39 checkpoints around London. In the end we completed 20 checkpoints over 18km in 2hrs 33 minutes gaining 241 points. The results are a bit ambiguous at the moment, but it looks like we came in 8th place amongst those just running on the Saturday, but doesn't place us in comparison to the other 200 or so teams who did both events. I shall keep you posted!

The checkpoints were either just a matter of 'dibbing' our race chips in a cunning widget, or completing a particular task, which ranged from climbing the ice wall in the Covent Garden Ellis Brigham (which made for a refreshing pit stop!) to completing a Sodoku and Sumo rolling....

Suffice it to say we had a lot of fun and the organisation was superb. The next day however, my left foot was in a right mess. I've been having physio on it lately to complete the recovery from a hit-n-run accident nearly 4 years ago but for some reason it took great exception to the running despite not hurting at all at the time. Sunday saw me sat on the sofa, watching movies and eating crumpets whilst my foot saw the attention of a number of hot water bottles to reduce the swelling. I suspect that had I been booked into both days I would have had to drop out. I guess my physio still has a long way to go. I also think a new pair of runners would be a good thing - my current pair have over 400 miles on them and the sole has split...!

So, my goal for next year is to sort out this bloody foot and get a team together to compete in the full two day event :)

Any takers...?

sweeny tod...

I had the most bizarre experience this afternoon.
I went the the barber shop to get my hair cut... as one does, and at the end of the trim the barber used a razor to finish off around the edges. To be honest I've never really liked this as I find shaving with even an electric razor uncomfortable, let alone a three inch blade. Oh... yeah and of course the fact that someone you don't know is holding the blade at your neck!
Anyway, the barber was working away at the back of my neck and nicked a spot that I'd had there for a while - it was one of those spots that is perfectly placed so that I couldn't see it or really do anything about. After a brief apology the he took a second look at it (I thought to make sure it wasn't bleeding too profusely) and announced with some satisfaction that it was an ingrowing hair and he was going to do something about it... The next thing I know, he's doused his blade with some antiseptic and is hacking away!! A second or two later he puts down the razor, and starts squeezing. (Honestly, not a word of a lie) Finally he gets some tissue paper, wipes up the blood, and charges me £7.50 for the hair cut.
I walked out of the shop feeling ever so slightly strange but happy in the confidence that I no longer have an ingrowing hair in the back of my neck...

I hate clothes shopping...

I wouldn't say I was a particularly tall person, or unusually shaped, but I am finding it increasingly difficult to find clothes that fit. I have been hunting for a pair of work trousers since the end of last year, but for some reason the shops that I normally frequent no longer stock my size, or when they do, the cut is so tight it could only fit a skinny teenager! I find this astounding at a time when the populace is supposed to be getting fatter - surely the trend for clothing manufacturers should be for making bigger clothing not slimmer fit? Also, the longest inside leg measurement is now 33" for some bizarre reason. I need at least 34. A couple of years ago there was plenty of 34w 34l trousers around, now - few and far between.

Anyway, yesterday I getting so desperate that I went into a store that I normally would never do - it was playing loud RnB and all the staff were funkily coiffured and only seemed to sell Armani, Versachi and all the really expensive names. However, needs must, so in I went. I was instantly amazed - they supplied a range of sizes in a range of fits! Within minutes I had a pair of smart dark work trousers that were the right size and loose enough that I could sit in without fear of bursting a seam! Even more amazingly, they didn't require a mortgage to afford them!

The only negative side of course, was the disdain in which I was looked down upon by the staff for having the affront to walk into their trendy shop in my slightly scrubby jeans , non waxed hair and un-branded t-shirt...

a big day out...

Last weekend was my first ever experience of 'Adventure Racing'. Not really knowing what to expect I was a nervous bunny before the start. Infact I'd not really slept well at all the night before, but I needn't have worried - the event was extremely well organised, and I was certainly fit enough.
The first event was a circular trail run, followed by an orienteering mountain bike section, followed by an orienteering run and finally a quick blast back on the bike.
Dan, Sioned and I started the run pretty much at the back of the pack and headed out into the wilds on a hilly course of loose gravel and muddy track. We went out expecting up to a 10km run, but due to the heat, it had been cut back and we found ourselves back in transition less than 30 minutes later. Surprisingly it seems we'd moved up during the run and were probably in the top 20-30 people! So, all was looking good.
Unfortunately then came the bike section - Whilst not being an experienced mountain biker I do possess a certain lack of regard for my own welfare, so was quite happy to throw myself at the hills. Sioned on the other hand has a very sensible attitude to her own safety and appreciates the fact that she's totally inexperienced on a mountain bike, so understandably took things slowly. Our position was quite rapidly eroded and we shifted our attitude from that of 'Competing' to 'getting around in one piece'. This was probably not a bad idea as it happens, as there were three hospitalisations on the day with at least one fracture.
Anyway, all said and done, I had a very enjoyable day out, my bike performed extremely well and I didn't ache at all the next day.
The next challenge is the London Rat Race at the end of September. Dan and I are looking for a spare body if anyone wants to join our team!

right out of the box...

My Linksys modem and wireless router finally gave up the ghost last week after several months of me nursing it along. It kept dropping connections and eventually I couldn't connect to it at all so it was time for a new one. I was going to stick with Linksys but the reviews of their latest modem/routers aren't that good. It seems dropped connections is a common and continuing problem. So I've gone for Netgear's DG834G. It's pretty much all singing/all dancing with a 'double firewall'... whatever that means. However, what really impressed me was the ease of setting it up. I plugged everything together, went to the admin URL and on the setup page is an 'auto setup' feature. All I had to do was enter my ISP username & password, the box worked it's magic and was up and running in a matter of seconds. A few seconds later and I'd set up WPA2 security and was surfing safely behind my fancy firewall.
A truly plug and play device...

out on the bike...

With one week to go before the Swinley "Forest" Adventure Race I have finally managed to put some mileage on my bike.

It turns out that Swinley Forest has another, more familiar (to me) name - Barossa; the training grounds out the back of Royal Military College, Sandhurst. A place I got to know very well back in 2002...

I did a 25km road route from home out to Richmond Park, around and back again. The weather was fantastic with clear skies and a light breeze and I found I could keep a good pace despite not having ridden regularly for well over a year, completing the route in 1hr 10mins. Not outstanding, but definitely not bad. I was also trying out my new 3 litre Camelbak which proved extremely comfortable and a blessing in this heat.
The roads from South Ealing to the Park are very straight forward and by keeping mostly off the main routes was not too heavy with traffic despite it being mid afternoon on a Saturday. The park is excellent for cyclists (of which there are many) as the speed limit is restricted to 20mph. The scenery is lovely too which helps to distract from some of the nastier hills which could best be described as 'emotional'! There were herds of wild Fallow Deer lying out in the open quite undisturbed by the passing cars and wheezing cyclists. Many of the bucks were 'in felt' with some very impressive antlers developing. I will have to go back with my camera when the rutting starts.
I'm slightly concerned that I haven't quite got my bike set up correctly yet as my lower back became very uncomfortable on several occasions and I actually had to pull over and stretch out for a bit. I suspect it's all down to saddle height - I will play with this over the next few days.
Anyway, all in all a lovely ride except for one small gripe - why is it car drivers believe that they have complete priority on the road and that bikes have to obey a different set of rules? I stopped at the last set of lights before home and a driver pulled up to the left of me, opened the window and cursed me for not 'indicating with my arm' when I pulled over to the right hand side of the lane. I'm sorry, but since when does moving across a lane (but staying in it) require indication? Not only that, but it's a steep uphill section, so if I am to remain in control of the bike I need both hands on the handle bars. It's not as if I ride in the gutter either, so the driver wouldn't have been able to 'overtake' me anyway. Bah. Anyway, I just gave a steely 'do I give a f*ck' stare and moved off when the lights changed.

In a final note, team Goldenoeuf have made it to Kazakhstan...

because the world is not an egg...

Yesterday I waved a couple of friends (Robin and Boj) off on a small journey - they are driving to Ulan Baatar in Mongolia! Not quite on a whim, but with a group of some 400 other nutters in a range of vehicles all under 1000cc engaging in The Mongol Rally.
Team Goldenoeuf have chosen a 1984 (ish) Suzuki SJ as their chariot for the event - quite a good choice I think as it is mechanically very simple requiring nothing more than a socket set and a large hammer in order to fix almost any problem that could occur! Saying that though, there are three things renowned for going wrong with the SJ.
Firstly, wheel bearings have a habit of seizing. Whilst it is actually relatively simple to remove the seized bearings, putting the new ones on requires a ten ton press to get the bearings in place. To remedy this, the boys have had two full bearing assemblies (attached to spare axles!) made up 'just in case'.
Secondly, the cylinder head. The SJ was quite revolutionary for it's time by building the engine block from Aluminium. This saves it a lot of weight (so can have a smaller engine) but the nature of the material means that if it overheats the head warps. Permenantly. Being the intrepid chaps they are, they have also sourced a spare cylinder head.
Finally, the Suzuki SJ is rather famous for being top heavy and falling over. Oh dear.

Good luck chaps!

the worlds finest sport shop...

I headed into town yesterday primarily to watch Ocean's 13 at the Apollo West End on Regents Street - one of the best cinema's I've ever visited - there is plenty of leg room, seats like armchairs, a good sized screen and fabulous sound. If you are thinking of heading into town to watch a movie, I would suggest you avoid Leicester Square, and hit the Apollo instead - the price is pretty much the same, but the quality vastly improved. Ocean's 13 is a cracking film too, and much improved on 12. (11 is still the best though).

Anyway, back to my real reason for this entry - I got my ticket for the film with 15 minutes to spare so thought I would pop over to Lillywhites and pick up some new running socks. Imagine my surprise to find that they have none! The running department that once used to take up most of a floor has been condensed to a very small corner on the top floor and not a sock in sight. Actually, that's not strictly true - there was a small selection of socks next to the running shoes: Hiking socks...!
It's a terrible shame to see a once grand store - the sports equivalent to Fortnums - turned into a discount outlet shop. Not only that, but the company that bought it a couple of years back (SportsDirect) has even removed it's web presence. Type Lillywhites into a google search and the first link that comes up is 'JDSports'!
It's a sad sight to see the 'Worlds finest sport store' phrase that is etched above the main entrance out shone by the large, fluorescent 70% discount logos.
Worlds finest? My arse....

a bit of slack time...

Well, quite a lot of slack time to be honest - work has not been busy at all these last few weeks which has been hugely frustrating and very bad for the pocket.
However I finally got around to going through a load of my old pictures and uploading them to flickr. It's rather nice to re-visit some of my old outings and I was pleasantly surprised with some of the pictures I'd taken. Suffice it to say, my flickr account is now rather bulging with new pics, several of which have already been marked as 'favourite' by other users, which is very satisfying!
Not that I'll ever make any money from them of course...

good food

This week I have been fortunate to have some great dining experiences -
Tom Aikens
The multi-award winning restaurant in South Kensington is not cheap - the set lunch menu is £29.00 before adding booze or the optional 12.5% tip, but extremely good and very generous on the portion size!
The after lunch coffee was served with Petits Fours - normally one expects a couple of chocolates and a biscuit, but no, this was a full course in it's own right! There were four chocolates, 5 little sponge cakes and 6 of what can only be described of as pressed sugar sheets of different flavours.
Getting up from the table was a considerable effort and I would have to admit that I did feel a little ill from over eating for much of the rest of the day. My supper was an apple!
However, if you can afford it, I would strongly recommend that you go... or get someone to take you ;)

Nauroz
At the other end of the cost scale, but up there on flavour and experience is this Pakistani restaurant next to Eastcote tube station.
Recently placed as the number 1 Best Cheap Eats in the UK by the Independent it served up a fantastic meal for just over £10 a head including drinks (they're even happy for you to bring your own!).
The food is all prepared fresh and cooked to order - allowing you control over just how much chilli is added. The dining area opens onto the kitchens so you can see everything being prepared... and not a microwave 'ding' to be heard! The menu contains a number of dishes recognisable to the regular curry head, but there's also a good selection of foods you are unlikely to have seen (unless you are into Pakistani cuisine). They will also cook food not on the menu. A cracking place - make sure you try the cheeky Garlic Naan!


And now I must go for a run...

global warming...

So, June was a wash-out and July is forecast to be the same. The weather is definitely acting unusually with periods of sunshine and blue skies interspersed with squalls, lightening and hail - This time last year we were basking in 30°C sunshine and worried about water shortages; the weather is very much in flux.
To me this is a sign that change is not only on the way, but upon us. The equilibrium has been broken and the weather is oscillating until it finds a new stable point. I recall many years ago early global warming warnings (try saying that when you're drunk!) predicting that the UK would get warmer and wetter with rain fall being less regular and more torrential. Hmmm... I see a match here! Of course, a few years of slightly warmer and wetter weather is not conclusive, but could well be prescient of things to come.
Already there is massive glacier losses in the Andes and the Alps and of course the great polar ice sheets which appear to be shedding ice at an increasing rate.

We live in interesting times...

stupid, stupid bastards...

After the recent few days of failed 'terrorist' actions in London and Glasgow I'm beginning to think the Darwin theory can be applied to terrorism.
In a time when suicide bombings are the favored method delivering carnage, success means removal from the gene pool; The knowledge of how to make something go bang dies with them. Great news for the rest of us who appreciate the sanctity of life.
Take the 7/7 bombers - sadly they succeeded in detonating all of the devices. However on 21/7 they failed as did the recent miserable efforts.
In 21/7 it seems they were using up left over material from 7/7 - an explosive that decays over a short amount of time - or just failed to follow the recipe.
Yesterday's pitiful effort proved just how little the would be mass murderers knew about making things go bang. Throwing together a load of flammable material does not make an explosive, you muppets. As the police pointed out, the device was 'potentially viable'. I.e. 'they didn't know what they were doing'.
Today they drove a burning vehicle into the front door to Glasgow airport - a building made mostly of steel, glass and concrete... not a material well known for its flammability.
Honestly, where do they find these idiots?
It seems that MI5 and improved social cohesion is making an impact.

Long may it last...

chuggers and paper touts

I've been heading into the city office quite a lot recently and it's becoming a bit of slalom - chuggers in the morning and paper touts in the afternoon. I don't know which annoy me the most...
As if running late in the morning isn't enough, but you get into the office feeling like a mean sod for not helping out the latest cause célèbre - Feed the Welsh or some such. And then in the afternoon, not only do you have to weave your way through the throngs piling out of offices and onto the buses, but you have to dodge arms thrusting free papers into your face. I counted it the other day - there were 10 paper touts along the 200 meters or so from the office to the tube station. Worse still, they cluster - you dodge the London Lite only to run into The LondonPaper and so it repeats. Surely the fact that I've waved away the four prior touts is indicative of my general feeling - I DON'T WANT A BLOODY PAPER - but no, the fifth paper monkey seems to think they are different and I'm bound to want his copy. NO DAMNIT I DON'T.
Oooh, I feel a rant coming on... I could bang on about the bloody tourists on the tube, or the idiot in my block of flats who thinks the best thing to do with his unwanted junkmail is to just throw it on the ground to blow around in the breeze and make the place look like a teenagers bedroom.
Maybe I'm just getting old, but really, some people have no consideration.

Happy Birthday me. ;)

online banking...

I've had an account with First Direct for a couple of years and I've been pretty pleased with how they've operated. Their telephone and online services have been superb, and setting up money transfers really easy.
However... They've just instigated a new online security procedure. This involves no fewer than four different passwords or questions! Unfortunately I couldn't seem to log in this morning - I must have gotten one of the answers wrong. Luckily their is a re-set feature - just enter four new passwords / answers and then phone up to activate. A doddle you would think.
So, I call up and now have to to go through the phone security procedures. I initially got the password wrong here too - either by remembering the incorrect password or telling them the wrong response to 'letters 3, 5 and 9 of your phone password'.
Their new security procedures means you only get one crack at it! So, I was transferred over to 'The idiots forgotten his password' department to be faced with another barrage of questions. After confirming name, address, date of birth etc, they then wanted to phone me back on my home phone line. This would all be fine if I'd updated my home line to my new London address... So, I've failed to log in online, I've failed the phone password and now I am at a different address to the one they have on the system! The guy on the end of the line, unsurprisingly, was getting more and more suspicious of me by the minute. Fortunately they employ a certain degree of joined up thinking at FD and could confirm my new address and phone number using the BT phone directory (good thing I'm not ex directory).
Once he'd phoned back we could then get onto the business of confirming my other 4 phone security questions. Oddly enough, I remembered these without any problems, however I had to re-set my phone password to another 'memorable' phrase.
In total I now have 9 security details to remember for getting access to my First Direct bank account... When I off-handedly remarked that I'd better write it all down the chap on the phone told me that FD don't recommend that users write down their security details!!! I pointed out that one needs to remember 9 separate and distinctly different pieces of information in order to identify yourself and that perhaps they'd taken security just a little bit too far! I don't think I was the first person to make that comment as he agreed heartily and said he'd add it to the rest of his feedback pile.

So, finally I could log on, except that the website was down...
The collective noun for bankers - a Wunch?

the horror that is talent show tv...

I normally have a severe reaction against tv talent shows and wannabe celebrity nonsense, but I came across this clip that utterly surprised me, and the judges too by all accounts. Not what anyone expected at all - Look out for Amanda Holden's reaction about half way through... what is going on?!

hair by Jupitus

I'm a regular go-er to radio 4 comedy recordings and last night I had tickets to a pilot show hosted by Marcus Brigstock. The premise is that he invites a guest to the show who he gets to experience/do things they've never done before. As they were trying out the format, there was rather a lot of material and the show went on for some 2 hours, but there were some very funny moments. The guest was Phil Jupitus - he of Buzzcocks fame.
The first 'experience' was food related and started with Findus Crispy Pancakes. He then moved on to Fois Gras, which as a lapsed vegetarian he was somewhat tentative about, but seemed to rather enjoy! There was then a probable world first of Fois Gras on Findus Crispy Pancakes, which apparently was delicious! The final taste sensation was roasted pigs trotters, again which went down very well. He then had his palm read, his shoes shined and a colonic irrigation! Fortunately that was not live - we just benefited from a recording of it... Nice.
Phil then tried a very large glass of Absinthe which he really didn't like, but like the consummate professional he is, he downed the lot. Which leads to the final 'experience' for the evening. It turns out that he'd always wanted to cut someone's hair using an electric razor. Volunteers were asked for from the audience, and my friend David was chosen as the suitable guinea pig... Considering the amount of Absinthe consumed, that it was his first time cutting hair, and that it was a grade 2, he didn't do a bad job!
So, despite the lack of leg-room and the 2 hr duration of the show we all had a good time. It will be interesting to see if it gets commissioned...

it's a hard life...

Today I had one of my more unusual assignments as a consultant. It involved taking photographs of sixth formers from an all girls catholic school....
Now, before the police are called and I get my name added to the sex offenders register I would like to clarify some points!
The company I work for are involved in Young Enterprise - a scheme aimed at giving sixth formers a chance to start up a small business in competition with other schools around the country. The group we are supporting have done extremely well and won their regional (South London) finals, so now move on to the wider London finals. To up 'their game' they wanted some 'professional' photographs of themselves and their product, which is where I came in.
Unfortunately I can't publish any of the pictures I took on Flickr, but I was pleased with how many of them came out and it gave me good practice in taking more portraits and group shots under natural light.

revenge of the sock fairy

I live alone, I put all my dirty clothes into a wash basket and when it's full (or just too stinky) I empty the contents into the washing machine. I wash at 40°c using environmentally friendly, bio degradable ecover washing liquid, and hang out on my foldable dryer in my hallway next to the airing cupboard. When dry, I put everything back into my chest of drawers, pairing socks as necessary.
Why is it then, that I can still lose socks? It's not like it's a complicated procedure from foot to drawer. There's noone else who's likely to mistake a sock as theirs and take it by mistake.
Where do they go? Does the sock fairy creep in and steal them away one by one?
In the last year I have gathered 4 lonely socks looking for a partner. And then suddenly, this morning, two socks appeared in the dry laundry I was putting away that matched up with two lonely socks!
What had happened to them over the previous few months? How did they escape from the clutches of the sock fairy, and more importantly, where are the two that are still missing...

a bit miffed...

I went for a quick 5km run this evening - I'm not a that keen on running, but feel it's an essential part of general fitness.
I headed out and immediately felt good - I'd had a horror of a run a few weeks back, so it was a relief. The pace was settled and I got into a good rhythm early on, so upped the pace. I'd been talking about improving my running with some friends who are training for a half iron man and they'd said that a good rule of thumb is that you will keep improving if you train at a reasonable level of respiratory discomfort! So, taking this on board, and with a nice long pace I was hoping to do a good time.
Anyway, the end of it is that I did it in exactly the time as the last five or so runs - 24 mins! Bloody annoying! It doesn't seem to matter if I saunter around barely puffing or push myself so that I'm hanging out, it's always 24 mins. Gaaah!
Perhaps I'll have to bite the bullet and start interval training :(

being ginger...

There's been a bit of controversy lately about ginger bashing.
Firstly, Conservative backbencher Patrick Mercer tried to dig himself out of a hole by comparing racist comments to comments pointed at gingers - actually, what he was trying to say was reasonably sensible, but the media - as always - spun it the wrong way. Then there's the family in Newcastle who had to move house for all the abuse they were getting - I question whether it was because they were ginger, or just complete gits? Surely they weren't the only red heads in the area? Finally BBC News has seen fit to write a magazine article on the rights and wrongs of gingerism.
Now, I've suffered my fair share of 'carrot top', 'duracel' and 'swan vesta' comments but had never thought to equate it to racism until recently. My question is, is there any real difference? Ultimately, both are an 'accident' of birth. In fact, more so in the case of the gingers as it's a gene mutation that gives rise to our rusty locks.
To differentiate against someone due to the colour of their skin is illegal. To make jokes at the colour of one's hair (and pasty skin and freckles...) is perfectly acceptable.
I find it rather strange in the age of celebutantes where children declare they 'want to be famous' when asked what they want to be when they grow up, that someone who genuinely stands out for being in that rare 5% of the population to be blessed with their fiery curls is mocked in the street.

Maybe it's just that the rest of you Hilton/Britney/Jordan Wannabes are just jealous that we are already unique and don't need to have a sex tape released just to be noticed!

a day at the races

It turns out the weather was fabulous on Friday. A little too warm even! So neither BBC or (nor?) Metcheck were right, but I guess Metcheck was 'Less Wrong'. However, weather is a tricky beast to predict, so I'll let them off.

Now, I'm not a gambler of any variety - I don't even play the lottery - so I didn't expect to do well on the horses. I limited myself to £3 a race and came away £80 richer! Beginners luck maybe.

Anyway, the day seemed to go pretty well - clients were happy, the Partners were happy (although we did run out of champagne and forgot the ice!) and there was a good atmosphere. As (un)official photographer I spent much of my day peering through a view finder and shot around 2GB of pictures. My 150mm lense is just long enough that I can stand far enough away from my subject that they aren't aware of the picture being taken. The flip side, however, is that I do have to stand a fair distance away meaning that there are a number of pictures with random people wandering across the foreground!

Talking of lenses, I will admit to a small case of 'Lense Envy'. There was a flock of photographers near the finishing post with some of the largest lenses I have ever seen. However, I do question the logic of such large lenses when you are track side - the animals will be passing at a distance of 2 metres, why have a lense best suited to 300-500 metres?
Answers on a postcard to the usual address...

oh, ok then...

Well, I've finally relented to outside pressure (you know who you are...) and decided to actually make something of the blog. I've not got much to say at the moment - kind of a bit dull here in Ealing Villas (what with being on the bench at the moment) but I've added some nice weather widget to the blog.
Metcheck is my definitive weather source - I used to use the BBC site but they changed their weather models a couple of years ago and haven't seemed to get it right since.
An interesting comparison will be tomorrow - I am going to Ladies Day at Epsom Downs with the company. The BBC suggests heavy rain, Metcheck is for mostly sunshine and clouds with light rain later in the day. Obviously I'm rather hoping that Metcheck has it right...

six months and only one post...

I'm wondering if there's a record there!