something for desert?

On a dark desert highway, cool wind in my hair
Warm smell of colitas, rising up through the air
Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night

That Eagles' song has been riffling through my brain over the last day or so, now we've found a large map of the deserts west of L.A.

It was on a road trip that I discovered the album cover for Hotel California is the Beverley Hills Hotel in Hollywood. Although in my mind I transfer it's geography to Furnace Creek in Death Valley.

And now I'm thinking it's time to hit another dusty road.

I checked with the airline yesterday and have decided to drop into the middle of Arizona.

But not for a few more days.

dawn rushes

I'm away from home at the moment and surviving on hotel food.

It's turned into one of those evenings where the night runs into the morning. That point where the next day rushes in over the top of the previous one.

I'm never sure quite what happens between about 3am and 6am, when, if you are still awake the whole of Time operates at a different speed.

Might as well watch the sun come up now. I don't think I'll be the only one.

crossing the bridge

There’s a ford as well as a bridge and a swing rope at this point on the mill stream.

It covers most eventualities although someone has decided to remove their flip-flops before traversing the way.

I’ve been using the spot as a waymarker on my cycling recently.

If the weather is good then its a great place to pause for a few minutes before deciding the next part of the route.

moving a Wordpress site

This is one of my occasional geeky technical posts (use at your own risk etc.)

It will save me time if I have to do this again.

Simply put, I needed to move a Wordpress site from one directory and url to another. Ideally without having to export it all, rebuild the database and re-import it.

My steps were as follows:

1) Go to the current directory and download the wp-config.php file

2) Add two 'define' lines to it as follows:

/** Temporary lines to redirect the site to the new directory */
define('WP_HOME','http://www.mynewsite.com/newplace');
define('WP_SITEURL','http://www.mynewsite.com/newplace');

3) Copy the existing web site folder to the new place using ftp. I use Yummy FTP for this.

4) Copy the edited wp-config.php file to the new place using FTP.

5) Try the new location. It should now work. Look carefully at the browser to ensure it is actually going to the new location. Also try the Wordpress dashboard. If they work then I suggest using FTP to rename the old web site directory and trying again. If it still works then leave the old directory intact for a few days until certain that everything is functioning.

6) If it's all working, re-edit the wp-config.php and remove the temporary lines and re-upload. Don't try to make this change from within the Wordpress dashboard. It will all go horribly wrong. Trust me.

7) If the new site location doesn't work, it is likely the website root directory index.html (or Welcome) may need to be re-edited to point to the new folder. Download it with FTP. It's only a couple of lines. Look to see if there is a pointer to the oldplace and if so, edit it for the newplace.

8) Time taken to do the transfer (keeping the same SQL database) = 10 minutes plus the FTP copy time of the Wordpress directory (in my case about 15 minutes).

And all happy happy smile smile again at the end.

unpacking the sunshine

A delightful weekend near Cheltenham, mixing city restaurants with countryside walks and spectacular barbecues.

We were with friends and comparing stories from our last year or so. There’d been plenty happening for all of us and the leisure and luxury of a full weekend gave us a chance to unpack each others’ adventures in episodes.

wish you were

Time to meet a few friends for an evening beer at one of our arch destinations by Waterloo.

I successfully turned early into punctual by being waylaid at the seaside scenes along the South Bank.

The sandy shoreline, funfair and beach huts create a mini Southend-on-Sea or Jaywick Sands between the skate board area and the Jubilee Pier.

Doughnuts, anyone?

The Botanist to the Mason's Arms

Thursday evening we met at the bustling Botanist. Our little gang had swapped emails, texts and staccato phone calls as I walked to meet across the middle of Sloane Square.

I'd picked the bar because it is like a crash course in Chelsea people watching. Early evening and the fashionable place was already spilling out across the pavement.

After a suitable pause to catch breath, I led my out of towners for a brief spin around more of the area. We strolled along the King's Road, before stopping for a while in a small place by the Saatchi.

We were discussing new possible residency in the area, so the trip around could have been considered as a form of diligence.

Then a brief bus ride, a wander through the the park, and onward for some home made coffee before heading further south towards a friendly pub where we chatted and made plans.

The Triangle - Kindle Edition

I realised that the last 3-4 books I've read were all eBooks.

Sometime ago I installed the Kindle reader on my iPad and more recently downloaded a few books to save space packing whilst on vacation.

It worked well except when I took the iPad onto a very sunlit beach and decided that wasn't such a bright idea.

But for general reading it is very useful and compact enough to be an easy choice to take along. It also caters well to the 'reading many things at once' habit and always remembers the right page.

So, what more natural thing than to test down load a copy of 'The Triangle'? An absolute bargain at its $2.99/£2.13/€2.40 eBook price.

Naturally I will still recommend this to everyone as a 'good read' for the summer and , who knows, maybe I'll get around to publishing Part 2 sometime soon?

lady of the lake

A short morning bicycle ride. I realised that I'd started early when I cycled past a couple of people and said "'afternoon!" and they looks slightly puzzled.

I'm telling myself its because of the longer days.

They can't look too oddly at me though, not when there's the local lady of the lake being used to scare the big birds away from the ducklings.

Although the heron is somewhat undeterred.

jumping the 'S' curve.

Looking out across the city from the south bank, there's that shifted perspective, with the illusion to hold the city in the palm of one hand.

Look at the picture above with one eye, hold out a palm and you have the whole city before you.

Sometimes these other-views can be insightful. A way to think differently about what is happening and maybe to set new agendas.

I'm starting a few new ideas. It will force me to manage time in a different way.

Some things have to give way in order for new things to start.

My last 2000 flickr snaps in 4 minutes

Its fun to create one of these flashbacks every so often.

Even at high-speed I can recognise most of the events and even spot the 'oops' where things were not quite as they seem.

I expect the capability to do this will be built into mobile phones soon.

birds were singing to calm me down

It's 03:34 in the morning and already the first signs of the new dawn.

If I walk around with the house in darkness, there's a white light shed across rooms with open doors from what is starting to happen as the sun climbs towards the horizon.

And some of the birds are already singing.

Welcome to tomorrow.