deadmanjones

2014-06-29T12:01:00.001+01:00

Well hello there.

This is a blog. Back in 2002, they were totes amazeballs, because you could use the interwebs to stay in touch with your chums. Here in the twentyteenies, they've invented social media.

My posts from the Jurassic era of the interwebs are still here, hidden in the archive, but otherwise use the links to find me on other networks.

Meeting Ernest Borgnine

2012-07-08T23:51:00.001+01:00

Meeting Ernest Borgnine,
originally uploaded by deadmanjones.

Farewell Marty: Oscar-winner Ernest Borgnine dies http://bbc.in/OMq5gZ

what a difference a day makes

2012-06-13T08:49:00.001+01:00

what a difference a day makes,
originally uploaded by deadmanjones.

Owl chainsaw carving on Stockport's Bell Paddock arranged by Cale Green Park Residents and created by Tim Burgess

Losehill June 2011

2011-09-09T00:02:00.001+01:00

Back in June we spent a couple of days in and around Hope, staying at the Losehill House Spa and Hotel.

We had a grand old time.

Losehill June 2011, a set on Flickr.

Norfolk April 2011

2011-09-08T23:03:00.001+01:00

Back in April we visited Norfolk again.

We had a grand old time.

Norfolk April 2011, a set on Flickr.

Mr And Mrs James Crosswell

2011-03-26T15:45:00.001+00:00

Mr And Mrs James Crosswell,
originally uploaded by deadmanjones.

Pedal MCR

2010-12-22T22:37:00.000+00:00

Every Christmas myself and the Zoe don't send cards to work colleagues (or many other people), but instead give a donation to charity and then email our chums to tell them how wonderful we, and probably they, are.

In the past we've always donated to Water Aid, and will continue to support them in the future.

This year though we've donated our Chrimbo Card money to Pedal MCR. Pedal MCR are opening a new community cycling centre project in Manchester that is committed to promoting the benefits of bicycling as an energy efficient, economical, non polluting form of transportation, and as a healthy lifestyle choice, providing access to affordable equipment and education. Broadening access to bicycling and it benefits through hands on programmes, volunteer projects and a neighbourhood bike shop.

They'll only get our cash if they reach their target of £1650. So feel free to join us in supporting them.

Glastonbury 2010

2010-11-27T00:44:00.000+00:00

Glastonbury 2010 - a set on Flickr

Budapest May 2010

2010-06-13T23:19:00.000+01:00

So the Norf's Stag Do was in Budapest. We did a few uncultural things, but here's some photos of the cultural things.

Norfolk Cycle Tour, March 2010

2010-06-06T23:40:00.001+01:00

So me n the Zoë cycled round Norfolk between March 15th and 21st, anti-clockwise favouring the coast, starting in Norwich and finishing in Ely. Here's 194 Photos and here's the full My Tracks Google Map.

March 15th Day 1
We arrive in Norwich early afternoon and start cycling hell for leather to Great Yarmouth's Travelodge. Whitlingham Country Park and the Wherryman's Way provide a few audio tour diversions, and the White Horse in Chedgrave provides some Tim Taylor, the first of many Woodforde Wherry and a 1/3 of Adnams witbier. That night we eat at Tides restaurant, Gorleston.

March 16th Day 2
After a hearty full ernglish at the breakfast bar on Gorleston Quay we take in the scant delights of dreadful seaside town Great Yarmouth. We briefly take a peek at Caister Roman Fort & Caister Castle, before heading through Filby Bridge and Ranworth Broad, briefly stopping at the Ship Inn in South Walsham. We had planned to take the Ferry to Horning, but it closed a year earlier and no one's taken its website down. This results in an extra 8 mile slog via Hoveton, but we stumble upon the Woodforde Brewery and tap which more than makes up for it. We stay at the lovely Swan Inn in Horning.

March 17th Day 3

After a buffet breakfast at the Swan, we wind a leisurely path to Happisburgh via Hickling Broad. Happisburgh ("Haze-brough") is probably the fastest eroding bit of coastland in Britain, but has other delights, not least the Hill House. This spendid pub has spendid beer, splendid food and is presided over by a splendid landlord. They have a beer fest at Summer Solstice, wehich we hope to return to. We then cycle straight to Cromer, where we're staying at No 4, with Stuart and family. The family includes many friendly pets, including Butch the not at all butch dog. We stroll along the pier, eat at Number 9s and drink at The Wellington. We finish the night off with cards in the Major's Snug in the Cliftonville.

March 18th Day 4

We head off late after a very hearty breakfast from Stuart. Following a national cycle route we head for Cley-next the-Sea via Felbrigg Hall. Cley ("Cly") and it's neighbour Blakeney is a lovely tranquil coastal town with a much photographed mill nestling amongst the reeds of the broads.We then head inland to the magnigicent partial ruin of Binham Priory, through the new age nuttery of Walsingham (via the lovely Bull Inn) and spend the night at the very isolated White Horse Inn, East Barsham.

March 19th Day 5
After a cooked breakfast we're up early enough to see a Barn Owl as we speed back to the coast via the Branthill Farm Real Ale shop. We place an order for delivery and pick up a few bottles for later consumption. Then it's onwards and downwards into Wells-next-the-Sea. Wells is a gorgeous little seaside town with a bustling quay and a huge sandy beach which stretches on to nearby Holkham. We spend far too much time here watching seals, and save a toad from being squished under my wheels. Then it's on to Burnham Market, sometimes referred to as Chelsea on sea because of its fame amongst the famous. We spot a Black Cab in the Jockey, and jump to the obvious conclusion that Stephen Fry must be in the pub, but we fail to spot him. We have a gorgeous Stilton Rarebit from Lucy's and generally mill about on the village green.
Having spent so much time in Wells and Burnham we now have to really push the boat out cycling to our lodgings at the Queen Victoria Snettisham. We don't have time to take in much at Hunstanton, but it seems like a generic seaside town that we wouldn't like anyway. That night we drink the beers we bought from Branthill - a humpty dumpty brewery's cheltenham flyer and an elveden ales' 10% arctic ale.

March 20th Day 6

Our first and only day of rain.We stop off at Sandringham's gift shop to try and wait out the rain to no avail. We haven't time to taken in nearby Castle Rising, though it looks well worth a visit in drier weather. King's Lynn is a nice enough market town with not a lot going on. The weather worsens as we follow the river inland towards Downham Market, but the Aquapac protects my handle bar mounted HTC hero fine. Downham Market again doesn't seem that interesting, so we only have a quick breather and then get back on the road for Oxborough. It is dark well before we arrive, but this is actually all for the good because it means we arrive to the fantastic sight of an eerily illuminated Oxburgh Hall. We stay at the Bedingfeld Arms, a lovely local which lets us hang our wet gear in front of their roaring fire.

March 21st Day 7

We get up early to explore Oxburgh Hall, only to find the hall doesn't open till later. So we go on an 8 mile detour and arrive back for opening time. By coincidence, it's free entry day for the National Trust, although we do end up joining the National trust at a discounted rate anyway. Oxburgh Hall is a magnificent red bricked Elizabethan manor, and we spend a good number of hours here. Eventually we carry on to Weeting Castle, which isn't really worth your bother. As we leave Norfolk for Suffolk we come across Lakenheath Station, and a quick scan of the timetables tells me we can stop cycling if we want, so I do. This gives us plenty of time to explore the beautiful Ely and it's awe-inspiring Cathedral. We end the day with some lovely real ales (daleside spring frenzy & an oakham jhb)and a quiz that we lose at at the Townhouse.

Summary

Photos

My Tracks Google Map

#beer

Woodforde Wherry, Woodforde Nog, Adnams Bitter, Adnams Witbier, Wolf Brewery hero, Flankers Tackle, Cromer Wellington's Old Welly, Humpty Dumpty Cheltenham Flyer, Elveden Arctic Ale, Yetnams, Daleside Spring Frenzy, Oakham JHB

Stilton Egg at Hill House, Happisburgh

2010-03-28T15:50:00.002+01:00

Stilton Egg at Hill House, Happisburgh,
originally uploaded by deadmanjones.

The Hill House at Happisburgh is a fantastic pub. This was my lunch, a Stilton Egg - a poached egg with Stilton Cheese melted on top. It was gorgeous, and fantastic to dip bread into.

Beer was a Wolf Brewery Hero, followed by a generous half of Westgate/Greene King seasonal Flankers Tackle. Hero was good, but Flankers Tackle was great.

If we return to Norfolk for no other reason, we will return to it for this pub.

A full blog post on our 230 mile Norfolk Cycle ride will follow.

Geek Cycling

2010-02-07T23:13:00.000+00:00

For Christmas, Mr & Mrs Poade got me this hunk of plastic

I hasten to add that I did actually ask for the hunk of plastic, because it's a Herbert Richter Device Holder For HTC Hero and attached to my bike it enables me to do this

With a GPS equiped HTC Hero attached to my handlebars, I can use Google's free My Tracks app to show my speed, elevation and whereabouts as I cycle, so it's a handy free bike satnav tool. I can also upload tracks I record straight to Google Maps, like this:

View 20100206 in a larger map

You can click on any red line to see the distance for that section of recorded track. The red pins denote an end point, and clicking on them gives you all the speed and gradient averages, along with an uppity downity graph.

It's not infallible; click the red pin for the first stage and you'll find I covered 500 miles at an average speed of 1200 miles an hour. The lesson from this is to stop recording a track when you nip into a garden centre to buy bird food, or lose GPS signal for any other reason.
Also, if it rains, I'm obviously fucked, although Dahon BioLogic have a waterproof IPhone mount.

The overall lesson is that if you want to get a man to exercise more, give him some gadgetry.

Candelabra in the Snow

2010-01-06T23:18:00.005+00:00

Candelabra in the Snow,
originally uploaded by deadmanjones.

On Tuesday January 5th we awoke to more snow than we've ever actually seen in our lives in Stockport. This was our garden first thing in the morning, as captured by Zoe. The red candled candelabra has yet to be brought in from New Year.

Mordant Orange

2010-01-04T00:36:00.000+00:00

You've probably noticed I share a fair few Mordant Orange cartoons via Google Reader. When Mike Bannon announced a published collection, I bit his hand off, and my copy was inscribed as shown on the left. It would be quite in keeping with Mordant Orange if it weren't actually true that I was first, but I'm still very proud to have this inscription, and you should all celebrate by buying the book for yourself. Mordant Orange is very, very funny.

The Tour According To You

2009-11-03T14:59:00.001+00:00

Los Campesinos! have used a dreaful photo I took on the flashless HTC hero to illustrate their Deaf Institute gig. Which is a shame, because it was far from the 'sad and bleak' event the picture suggests. Ellen Los Campesinos!' summation of my life is utterly accurate however. I feel a t-shirt coming on.

Alan sent us this one from The Deaf Institute in Manchester, there is something rather overwhelming sad and bleak about this picture, like he is but a voyeur who will not allow himself to participate in the event known as “gig.” Or he just couldn’t be bothered to stand up. He kindly pointed out that Neil’s mum was sat in front of him.