woodpecker - I know where you live

Jack Frost had done the rounds this morning and I decided that long fingered gloves would be best for cycling. There was a sharpness in the air and I could see the steam from my breath even before I'd started any pedalling.

A combination of sunshine and the icing sugar frost sprinkled across the landscape will probably guarantee the hasty departure of leaves now, although my route was still through more green than orange, rust or yellow.

Part way along, I spotted the swooping flight of a woodpecker and for the next kilometre or so it darted along the trees by the side of me flashing a red head and green body as it clung high up to the sides of trees.

I'm back indoors now, with its noticeable temperature change from outside. Next on the list is some report writing before I get myself organised for my flying visit to Dublin.

maybe not

We were chatting today about a possible car trip to Paris, in the near future.

I was a little reluctant on the idea because of the recent troubles, what with the petrol supplies being cut off and the various protests in major cities about the latest actions from the Sarkozy government.

I'm probably just unlucky in that the last two trips have both been at times when there's been some sort of major industrial protest and the tunnel and/or sea ports have been blockaded, so I've had to weave around 'Operation Stack' on the M2, just to get into France in the first place.

Come to think of it, one of the trips was also the day after my own car's front springs decided to snap, so we had to make a last minute swapover.

If we go ahead it will either be the 'rule of three' where I'm due another anxiety based visit or else everything will go completely fine.

Maybe I'll tune into TV5monde or koreus.com for a check on what they are saying about it all.

glow in my eyes

Outside, the hookahs were being passed around as we headed into this evening's venue to enjoy meze and hummus.

Inside, the dance tracks pulsated with arabic influence as the room quickly filled as more people were sucked in from the busy street.

I've spent the most time in Saudi Arabia where there's no alcohol in such places and segregated eating, so the wine list displayed prominently and the western attired Lebanese at the next table ordering champagne aperitif took a moment to register.

Otherwise the spices and flavours were a familiar flashback, as, later, was the cardamon spiced murrah coffee in the tiny cup, whisking me to middle eastern memories of clattering trains, desert picnics and mysterious meetings.

replacement

The car service department is becoming a little too familiar over the last few months.

It has pleasant seating, coffee, Wi-Fi, television, lifestyle magazines and various exhibits around the edges to view.

I've reviewed whole documents whilst sitting at the little round tables and had telephone conference calls with different parts of Europe.

They've loaned me cars whilst mine is under repair and in idle moments I've even looked at their shiny shiny cars on display in the adjacent showroom.

I suppose that's the subtle ploy to get me to realise that my current vehicle has reached the end of its fully dependable life-span. It's in until Saturday this time, to have the pipey bits re-twoggulated or something.

a late lunch and an old friend

Back on the road this week, although on Sunday we were on the way to a Jamie Oliver late lunch via an unexpected cushion shop.

The latter gave me the opportunity to slip away to an adjacent bookstore. I

t was only a few minutes before my disappearance was registered, but enough time for me to spot the little George Orwell title which I've had with me this week.

It was quite a surprise, because I thought I'd read all the readily available Orwell titles, so this was similar at a personal level to those discoveries that we read about where a new Ted Hughes manuscript or Vaughan Williams choral work is discovered.

To me, the essays in this Orwell selection come across a bit like a letter or conversation with a comfortable friend after quite a long gap. You don't have to agree with everything, but its great to hear from a strong point of view.

Actually, as I was handing over the cash, the shop assistant was equally animated about it - "Ooh - you've found that - I just read it a few days ago - its really fascinating..." etc. I'm also sure it wasn't mere salescraft but that she had already found it to be an interesting extension.

So I'm rationing my reads of it, in amongst the commercial stuff that I'm working on this week.

10/10/10 10:10:10 - cycling moment

Its one of those odd moments where I realised today was 10/10/10 and also by co-incidence I happened to take a photo at around 10:10.

I'd been out cycling and a few minutes earlier had been overtaken by a modest peloton of other and somewhat faster cyclists, led by someone who was explaining a route nearby that could be used for races.

I then turned onto the New Short-Cut which leads to the Very Steep Hill which I'd have to climb a few minutes later. The short cut is a way of missing out a big main road and substituting a leafy lane with squirrels, so pretty good news really.

Thats where the hastily grabbed photo was taken, just before The Climb Where Others Walk (they know who they are).

There's a later picture of my quick pineapple and ginger Torq Bar stop, in a small village, just before starting the homeward leg of the journey. I think I'd already taken a bite, judging by the picture.

it's got a basket, a bell that rings and things to make it look good

I popped briefly into the bike show in Earl's Court today for which they'd set up a big bicycle park outside.

Inside there was a strikingly blue carpet (more or less the main colour of the rashbre central background) and large numbers of people roaming around looking at the various equipment on display. It's ages since I've been to an Earl's Court exhibition, and I suspect the last time was for something to do with information technology.

The format seemed identical, though, with the stands, a few larger areas and some exhibits - in this case of mountain bike trails and a commuter circuit where the latest folding and fixie bikes were being pedalled around. The edges contained snack bars which I'd place in the 'absolute emergency use only' category.

There were plenty of exotic bikes on show, and lots of high tech gears and gizmos.

I'd wondered if it was going to be a small affair, but there seemed to be a largish part of the Hall set aside and in some places the crowds completely blocked the walkways.

Perhaps the combination of improving cycleways, green agenda, London Hire Scheme and similar is moving more people back onto two wheels?

five times around the earth leads me to a green teapot

So much for my big mouth.

The car's annual inspection took place today and confirms my suspicion that an ostensibly still lovely car can reach a financial break even point. I've spent quite a lot on its recent services not to mention the £1000 brake thingy that they threw in for 'free' as part of the last service.

Today's little encounter with the testing department could have cost about £50, but instead I fear it will be some higher order of magnitude.

I suppose in fairness the car has done around 120,000 miles now (thats about five times around the earth at the equator) so I guess it may need a little extra TLC (tender loving care).

Unfortunately, I don't have time for that so I suppose once it's repaired it will have to go.

I shall be driving the rashbre central green tea-pot now, until I can get a wiggle on and the other one fixed.

M3-M25-M40-M42-M6T-M6-A57

A pleasant and surprisingly traffic free round trip to the North West of England.

It was one of those occasions where I achieved mastery of the jam. I usually switch my sat-nav on for long journeys, but often choose my own route sections and let it's eternal patience reselect the route.

This journey worked well in both directions with a total of about 440 miles of UK roads without jammage.

There, I've said it, which pretty much confirms that my next journey will be a difficult one.

taxi

The water taxi was the only real time I touched the surface of the town.

It was very fast in the way that an old style Mini coupe seems fast because of the closeness to the road. In this case the speed was both spatial and temporal, because I don't think we'd have got from the harbour to the restaurant in even four times as long by road.

It turns out I wasn't the only one that hadn't been here before. Other than the local folk, it was a first for almost all of us, except my travelling colleague who'd approached the place from the sea, and carrying armaments.

The grey mists didn't help to get a sense of the geography. I could see a few cranes and tall buildings in the medium distance, and was aware that the area near where I was staying had been modernised. But apart from the evening restaurant, I didn't get a sense of the location before I bundled back into a taxi and out via a distant airport.

Fuji X100 form factor - analogue digital?

I noticed this camera a few days ago.

Its a brand new digital design, but looks like an old Trip 35 or rangefinder. It has a fixed wide-ish angle lens and has the analogue style aperture and shutter controls.

I've been musing about this form factor for a while because the latest generation digital cameras have moved the most basic parts of photography to somewhat less intuitive control surfaces. Thats reasonable for a phone where the photography is a secondary component, but I'm less convinced for proper cameras.

By comparison, this high specification camera is very traditional in the way it uses the main controls (it looks like a repackaging of the considerably more expensive Leica X1), and I suspect it will be easy to use.

But the camera seems to have divided opinion between those that like the idea of simple controls and those who think this looks like a throwback to the 1970s.

I like the idea of the simpler interface and can't help wondering if someone needs to take the old Olympus OM2 or an equivalent as a new design point for a modern SLR. But I suppose that would be contrary to the modern direction towards digital mirrors and even more ways to insulate the photographer from the photographic process.

Actually, I realised I'd better put a picture of this type of SLR camera next to a modern one, to help get an idea of the difference in relative size. I've put a zoom lens on the Olympus to make it bigger.

Update: I spotted the DigitalRev tabular comparison of the X100 vs a couple of the digital Leicas and thought it's worth a link: Click the picture below for the jump.

wired again

I've been playing around with some of that personal area network software over the last few days. The kind that runs at a very local (body) level. Its really an extension of the cycle iPhone applications and I've been interested to see what is available for a few quid that boosts insight and maybe works with stuff I already own.

My old Polar Heart Rate Monitor is an example, as is the cadence detector and wireless speedometer on my hybrid bike. Add the GPS detectors from the iPhone, plus maybe a digital blood pressure reading and there's a lot of data available which can be fed through into the SportsTrackLive type of applications.

Maybe the embedded skinplex system and 6LowPAN options need to be ruled out at the moment; suitable for arctic predator monitoring but it involves physically implanting chips - I'll only do that in combination with a fish supper.

Wireless Body Area Networks(WBAN) running at 10 to 20 Mb per second are already faster than the design of early 2000 office networks. Thoughtfully, FCC Part15.209 has drafted radiated emission limits to stop us all from overheating with this stuff.

However, I suspect this technology will diffuse into the next generation of iPhones and similar. The ant + technology is -er- small and embeddable into the various monitors to then commune with items like gym equipment to track personal readouts.

Plus the emerging generation of applications like iBike Dash and iBiker , which will look so much neater with the receivers embedded like Bluetooth.

I shall be "monitoring" this body of work.