Bird Brained

Where does the time go!

2011-05-25T20:47:00.002+01:00

Wow! I cant believe it was in 2009 that I last made a change to my blog, where does the time go? I don't seem to have achieved much.
Looking forward to the 4x championship in Afan this weekend, should be an interesting day, just hope the weather holds. Time to get the battery charger out and camera and flash into fully working order!

Bike in the shop!

2009-06-04T22:21:00.002+01:00

Finally bit the bullet and pulled my finger out, bought a new Hope QR seat post clamp, got a 2009 Camelbak Mule ordered and booked my Kona Kula into Tredz for some TLC. The Hayes 9 brakes are a little on the unhealthy side, with the read pads clamped together, to the extent that I can't even fit the disc between them.

Bit late for my 'loose weight - fit suit' campaign, but it's cycle to work time soon!

Big Welsh Weekend

2009-05-30T22:24:00.000+01:00

Managed to make it to the last hour or so of the Veteran race on Saturday. It was a gorgeous day, maybe a little to nice, as there were some pretty red faced looking people. Got some pictures from the race, I've popped some of them up onto flickr.

Plain stupid!

2009-05-13T22:03:00.003+01:00

The recent spell of MP Expenses claims which has been in the news has left me feeling sick. If you or I did what they have done we would be sacked and probably be arrested. If you accept that what they have claimed as been innocent oversights or accidents then, really, are they competant enough to be running the Country? You decide, I know what I'll be doing come the next election, well, no I don't really, as the worrying part about it is, who can you vote for?

Oh Cruel Sandman!

2009-05-12T12:59:00.000+01:00

Only hunger is preventing sleep - oh cruel sandman, why do you mock me so!?

Another early start, is it worth trying to sleep?

2009-05-07T01:01:00.001+01:00

One other had dropped out, so there are 6 of us now. We're still going, meeting for the mini-bus at 4.30am to Bristol Airport, is it worth going to bed?

The Stag isn't coming!

2009-05-06T22:57:00.000+01:00

Just had a telephone call to inform me that the Stag has dropped out of the Stag do tomorrow due to a family bereavement.

Out and about up North!

2009-04-24T22:05:00.003+01:00

First (and only) full day in the B&B, had a full day of activities planned. A trip up to Lake Windermere and a nice long walk, then popping into a Staffordshire Bull Rescue centre to see if Diez' would get along with Molly, finished off with another possible walk and then to try and find the Royal Oak for food.

The weather was a bit overcast, but it was dry and as my friend and Diez' certainly don't like it been to warm for walking and a car journey it wasn't to bad. We had a nice breakfast at the B&B then set off at about 9am, traffic not to bad, but it did take a little longer than planned to get to the Visitors center. We had a quick look around and then decided on a walk, we bought the guide for it and set off, after a little debate and about an hour of wasted walking (to and fro) and a slightly annoyed looking friend, I bit the bullet and did the thing that no man likes to do... ask for directions. We walked back up the hill and I went back to the visitors center, I checked with the woman behind the counter with whom we had discussed the walk. I explained that we'd followed the guide, turn right from visitors center etc but I couldn't see the farm mentioned and where the guide said ascend, we were actually descending. There was then the "Ah" from the lady, it's not this Visitors Centre - well, you could have mentioned that earlier. So back to the car and off to the correct center. After the confusion of the start location, the fact the rest of the walk wasn't to clear shouldn't have been a surprise, but none the less it was enjoyable, with beautiful views. The only hiccup was when a Golden Retriever came bounding along and jumping round Diez, upsetting him and causing my friend to twist her ankle. Why do people who have no control of their animals let them off the lead?!

Heading back to Garstang and the B&B, quite by accident we found one of the Restaurants I'd Google'd when looking at the hols, The Kenlis Arms (http://www.kenlisarmsgarstang.co.uk/). Ironically, if we'd turned right yesterday instead of left we'd have found it. I went in to get a menu to have a quick look at in the car with my friend, they only had the laminated ones to hand, I asked if could take it anyway as had the dog in the car. He said not a problem, if the dog is well behaved, he's welcome. That decided it, we'd have food here. My friend, been vegetarian, had a cheese and onion pie and I went for the Scampi and chips, washed down with a glass of pear cider each - mmm, Diez had 2 dog chews courtesy of the pub. The food was very nice and the people and staff friendly. We headed back to the B&B then for a nice cuppa and to discuss the next days activities, unfortunately I'd dropped my wallet, I rang The Kenlis Arms and thankfully it was on the floor where we had been seated, they put it behind the bar and I set off at speed to collect it - I was a lucky man!

I hate packing!

2009-04-22T19:55:00.001+01:00

Early night, all packed and ready to go! - woohoo!

Glorious Weekend.

2009-03-30T20:16:00.011+01:00

Well I'm a miserable, grumpy sort of person, as you can tell from my blog. But, I've had a really good weekend, very busy, but most enjoyable. There was a chance of a bike ride at some point over the weekend with MrP and some members on a MTB forum, but he wasn't to sure due to ill health. So when I was woken early on Saturday morning (6am!!) by a txt from my friend, alerting me to the Next sale and asking if I fancied coming along and then going for a walk afterwards along Swansea sea front, I took the opportunity. I thought it'd be a perfect day to try out my new camera, a Canon Ixus 82 IS in daylight, I've not quite got used to it just yet, so slightly disappointed by the results, but then I am comparing the pictures to those taken with my DSLR. The sale wasn't great, but the walk was really fun, fortunately the beach was still open for dogs, so MrD the Staffie could have a mad hour of running about after his toy. I had a little wager on the Aussie Grand Prix, thanks to Quidco, I had money on Lewis Hamilton to have a podium finish - the odds were 80-1! So was slightly gutted to hear that he as forth, and then overjoyed to hear that it was because he was overtaken illegally so was promoted to third. Only to find that the bookmakers would only pay on the result at the race end. Bugger!! Ah well, easy come easy go. But to brighten the Sunday, went for another nice walk with MrD and his 'mum', then gave helping hand (though some would argue I just got in the way and eat all the biscuits) to repair the fence to prevent his 'great escape' - he's a bit of a Charles Bronson.

Washing Day

2009-03-20T22:52:00.000+00:00

With a bike ride on the cards for tomorrow I gave the Kona Kula a quick wash down and check over after the previous chain problems. Generous amounts of Muck-Off and a soft brush did the trick and got the sandy mud of Whites of the bike.

The rear pads needed changing, so I've ordered a set of Clarks on a "ring & reserve" from Halfords to collect tomorrow morning. As for the chain, well, I put the wheel back on and with the Kula upside down turned the pedals, the chain was sitting awkwardly on the teeth of the largest rear cog. Hmmm, inspected the setup and noticed the rear wheel wasn't sitting quite correctly. The small spring which made up part of the rear QR mechanism was a bit mangled, I replaced it with one off an old spindle and the wheel sat in correctly. Gave the chain a further clean and an oil and hey presto, running sweetly! All ready for tomorrow (bar the breaks! just waiting for the pads).

It's snowing!

2009-03-08T19:22:00.003+00:00

It's fairly brass monkey's out! It snowed for about 15 minutes earlier. As a side note, discovered some more bruises from yesterdays little accident, right on my finger where the handle of my coffee cup rests. On the plus note, it might reduce my caffeine consumption.... I think I'll put the kettle on.

....and that's why I don't carry any bike tools with me!

2009-03-08T16:30:00.006+00:00

Had a busy (and wet) morning, went for a walk with my friend and her dog, got soaked! From there onwards to my second home, or B&Q as some people call it, picked up some bolts for project Saw-Stool. Then home to Mum's for food. When parking, two young Ladies, well I think they were Cardiff Uni Students (oh God I'm getting old! when people start to classed as 'young', then you're definitely getting older), were pushing their bikes up the hill, one of them called over to ask directions. She'd had some trouble with her rear cassette and chain, the chain had managed to come off the top ring and wedge firmly between the spokes and the ring. Very effectively braking the back wheel, in typical Welshman style, I provided completely confusing directions on how to get back to Afan Argoed, via Penhydd Farm and Pontrydyfen. It's always difficult to give directions when you just 'know' the way. In mind that it's a long push back I attempted to free the chain, but without any success and that's why I don't carry any tools with me. I'm no mechanic, curse you cruel lack of mechanical skill, why let me down now, in front of two attractive ladies! In my defence, I think the cassette would probably have to be removed to free the chain or at least the chain split to try and get the leverage to remove the wedged chain. After some brute force and ignorance, they were probably worse off now! I didn't want to do any damage to her bike by making anymore attempts, and they looked like they were starting to get cold, and fed up! (as now, the tire was flat - I had to deflate it as it was wedged up against the bottom bracket) I offered to put their bikes in the car and drop them over to AA, but they were going ring a taxi to collect their car, In typical misfortune, my bike lock is still in work. Just wish them good luck at getting the bike sorted!

White's today - could have been nasty.

2009-03-07T17:11:00.003+00:00

Feeling a bit battered and bruised this afternoon, did the whites level today with MrK. Talk about rain! it tipped down, I've not been as muddy since I played football. MrK's tires were a truly impressive 2.7, made mine look like elastic bands! Made pretty good time despite the rain, we were spurred on by the weather as much as hindered by it. I'm not a fan of wearing a rain jacket, I had three T-shirts on instead to keep warm. An extra encouragement to do well on the climb was due to a sarcastic comment regarding my choice of attire from a member of a group of five cyclists who were ahead of us. All was well, until halfway through Energy, my chain locked up on the front granny ring and I came to a complete stop. Checked it, and it appeared to be OK, from what I could tell from under the mud. Further along the trail it seized again, once again bringing me to a dead halt. The third time it locked was slightly more dangerous, cycling up a hill on a narrow section of trail the chain locked once again. Yet again bringing me to a dead halt, this time however it was at a point where I had a drain gully either side of me. Oh down I go! I just about managed to turn the crash into a jump to get clear of the frame and land on my feet (just about). It was a close call though, and will have to get the bike checked out, I was lucky that I more or less managed to get clear, but if it had happened on some of the other sections of the trail if really could have been nasty. I just ended up with a few sratches, as did my bike, but I can heal, she can't! - noooo! I decided that discretion would be wise on the boardwalk section and I carried my bike, and I had to complete the remainder of Whites with just the top two rings in the front.

I feel like I've been hit by a brick 'The' Wall.

2009-03-01T18:05:00.000+00:00

I did The Wall for the first time today, myself and MrP (plus his shiny new bike, a Specialized Pitch Pro) decided to take advantage of the sunny weather. It was a gorgeous day to be out in the hills, a real Spring like feel in the air. I found it a real struggle though, I blame it having food to soon before setting off. The climb was a nightmare and to be honest, the downhill wasn't much fun either! I've still got vibration white finger! I really do need to find my gloves or bite the bullet and get a new pair (and a Camel-back and a pair of glasses and.... well the list just goes on and on!) The Pitch is a good looking bike, a tad heavier than my Kula, but certainly handled the terrain well, with only a minor problem with the rear shock. This looked likely to have been caused by an over tightened bolt, once MrP had loosened it and re tightened the shock appeared to behave correctly without any sign of the creaking noise or lateral movement.

“Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway”

2009-01-24T21:48:00.004+00:00

Well, I'd love to say I've been busy, but I'd be lying, I've done nothing, except eat. Other than my birthday - woohoo, oh wait a minute, that's not right - boohoo, ah, that's what I meant. Another year older and oh God, after today don't I feel it. For the first time in four months I set off on my bike. After a quick "...where to then?" discussion we decided to tackle Penhydd. Myself and Mr P set off to a none to spectacular start, but through a certain level of gritted teeth we completed the trail. This evening however I am feeling worse for it, my back is in half and I have an air of John Wayne about my walk.

Here comes 2009

2008-12-31T18:53:00.002+00:00

Oh how I hate New Year!

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-25T12:37:00.004+00:00

It's that time of year again, excess food and well not drink, but you get my drift. This is the first Christmas in many I year where I have actually managed to save some leave from work to enable me to take some time off, but unfortuantely I have been struck down with manflu for the second time this year. The good thing is, as you can tell by the fact that I am writing this at lunchtime on Christmas Day - it's got me out of giving a hand! - I offered to solider on and help, but the excessive amounts of mucus I am producing seems, for some unknown reason, to have put people off me handling food! hoo hum! So there is nothing left for to do other than wish you a Merry Christmas and I hope that Father Christmas brought you what you deserved! (deep uh?!)

WRGB 08, Shakedown.

2008-12-09T20:56:00.003+00:00

Setting aside my annoyance at the seemingly 'anti-spectator' attitude of the organisation of this years rally, generally I enjoyed it. As I have done for the past few years, I again went to the rally shakedown in the woods near penllergaer, this year however, involved a long hike to the spectator entrance from the Junction 47 services. A helpful lady showed the way into the stage from the housing estate, so my thanks to her, as I'd probably still be wandering the estate now.

Argh! Dents and rallying.

2008-12-03T22:35:00.004+00:00

Looking forward to the start of the WRGB 2008, I popped to Tesco to give my Fiesta ST a quick bath. Was then I noticed the dent and chip on the bonnet, in the centre of the dent was a 5mm square chip back down to the metal and below that an inch long split in the paint. I'm not a very happy chap.
As an aside, I've got my tickets for the rally, well mostly! Decided not to go for the full rally pass, but to get tickets for the Thursday, Saturday and Sunday. (I'm in two minds about the Friday, especially if the weather is bad). As it turned out, they'd sold out of the Shakdown tickets. Hopefully get some nice pictures this year, a little snow would be nice!

Sanding, sanding and more sanding

2008-11-24T23:04:00.005+00:00

My arm and shoulder have just about given up now, only when it comes to sanding the woodwork do you realise just how much there is. It's starting to take shape now though, but time has ran out. The window company are arriving tomorrow to install all my lovely oak. I've got a door and a few windows totally sanded and preservative painted on, I'd hoped to have been able to paint a quick coat of varnish to the underside to help protect against any moisture which may get under the wood. My own fault, if I had a coat of arms my motto below the shield (probably written on a piece of sandpaper) would be something along the lines - I'll operor is cras. I've got some photograph's of the windows and the ready to install sills, but sticking with my crest - I'll post them tomorrow! *translation courtesy of http://www.translation-guide.com/free_online_translators.php?from=English&to=Latin

Out of the frying pan and into the fire.

2008-11-22T13:20:00.003+00:00

Rushed about like a headless chicken yesterday evening to get to TopStak near Llandow to have a look at some multifuel stoves. As is the way with most things, you start off with a price in mind, find a model that fits your budget and specifications and then see a much better one for not that much more. Using this process i'd identified the Stovax Stockton range (the 3,4 or 5 models) as the stove for me, so armed with my wallet, my Mum and an empty boot I headed down there again today buy one. I'm every sales persons dream, after about half an hour of sales pitch I'm now looking at a Franco Belge stove. Which you guessed it, is a much better stove at only a little bit extra in price. So it's now a chioce between the belfort or montfort models, back to the calculations....

Energy Saving Bulbs - not a bright idea?

2008-11-02T08:32:00.007+00:00

Flicked the light switch and 'pop', a small flash of light, then darkness, my energy saving bulb (ESB) had given up. The bulb had only been fitted for a couple of years, and definitely not the six years or 10,000 hours life stated, when taking into account the fact it was a bedroom light so wasn't heavily used this doesn't seem like good economy to me. Putting aside my personal preferences - I don't like the light from an ESB and the fact they take a while to warm up, if their in real day usage lifespan is far less than stated, then are they really that environmentally friendly? I'm yet to be convinced, now I've got to drive to the council tip to securely dispose of the mercury time bomb of an expired ESB.

You are feeling very sleepy.....

2008-10-29T18:42:00.002+00:00

Reading my blog it would be a fair assumption to make that I don't do much with myself, but you'd be o so very, very wrong. In fact the main reason that the pages of my blog remain uncared for and empty is that I'm very busy at the moment. Ah I hear you cry, if I'm so busy there must be a whole raft of interesting entries waiting to be typed up and yet again, you'd be o so very, very wrong. Because my evenings and weekends, although not having a spare minute to draw breath are as boring as watching paint dry and in fact to a certain degree that's exactly what I have been doing, well, not strictly true, it was wood preserver.

However, today has been slightly different, I took a half days holiday, partly due to still suffering from BST lag, like jet lag, but not involving warm and sunny places, just that summer has now officially ended and the clocks have gone back an hour. They say that this gives you an extra hour in bed, which is true, however I spend that hour awake, because in reality my body clock thinks 6:30am is still the BST 7:30am an hence I'm awake and ready to eat.
Besides the chronic lack of sleep, I also needed to meet with the surveyor from the company who are installing my lovely new windows. At last (mostly, well entirely, due to me dragging my feet) the completion my window install which has been on hold for the past few, uhem, 9 months is now within sight! Woohoo!
I must now leave you, I've got to do some hunting to find a good deal of Fallout 3 for my brothers birthday present. Just think, if you're bored reading this, how very bored I must be to have lived it and then to write it in a blog! But panic not reader, those thrilling events which I haven't yet chronicled will be typed up and available in the not to distant future.

Rumors of my demise have been greatly exaggerated

2008-10-14T20:38:00.005+01:00

To calm the fears of the hoards of avid Bird Brained followers - the Rumours of my demise have been greatly exaggerated! It has been a while since I posted last, I was brutally struck down by Bird Flu earlier in the month (well, before the scientists with the rubber gloves and the probing come racing my way, it was really man flu, but bird flu fits in better with the name of the blog.)