Archive for the 'Rambling on…' Category

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Posted by on May 5th 2010 in Annual Wildie, Bargains, Great Escapes, In the garden, New tricks for an old dog, Plugins, Rambling on..., Shiny new kit, Wildcamping

In no particular order...

 

  • The AKU Crodas are wearing-in nicely, they should be ready for a decent walk at the first opportunity. The soles are quite grippy now that the as-moulded shiny slip-on-yer-arse finish has worn off, and the uppers are now a fair fit to my feet.

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  • The Trezeta Peaks are now past their best, the toe-rand having worn through down past the membrane. These superbly-comfortable boots never did make it on a proper hike, but they've served well as wear-dailys for all sorts of duties.

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  • The Scarpa SLs, of course, are always on stand-by. Like dependable old friends, they're always there when you need them.

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  • I've broken a long habit of not wearing any socks other than Thor-Los... I've been trying some cheapo Crane Trail walking socks from Aldi. Tactel-lined and with a light sprinkling of Lycra, they seem to be doing rather well considering the £2.99 price-tag. I doubt that they'll cover the same mileage as my standard KXLs, but that's to be expected when they cost about a tenner less. The STs have been stashed in the kitbox awaiting the next outing of the winter boots.

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  • I'm still managing to resist the temptation of a pair of MSR Lightning Ascents in readiness for next winter. What's the betting that when the snow's back, I'm still snowshoeless?

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  • Likewise, the acquisition of a Scarp 2 has been resisted, not least because I'm still waiting on the availability of a UK-version fly as per the Scarp 1 changes detailed by Martin. Now that Alpkit are on the subs' bench in the tentage game, I'll have to wait and see what their two-person and geo offerings are like.

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  • Talking of outdoorsy stuff, we'll be off for our Annual Wildie together sometime in the next month, with the intention of bagging a few more Wainwrights. Expect details in due course.

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  • Furthermore, two family-rooms have been booked at Buttermere YHA for an autumnal weekend. This worked out quite well, as we're paying with Tesco Clubcard Rewards Tokens, our stash having been boosted by 1218 due to the purchase of a new washing-machine from said emporium.

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  • There's been much ado in the garden - the snowdrops and daffs have retired, giving way to bluebells and to the blossoms of the pear, the cherry and the plum. Remarkably, I've even got off my butt and done my bit - the lawns have been cut twice and even the hedge has been shorn. The old willow-tree is sending out new growth from where we had it hacked, so there's still hope for it.

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  • House-wise I'm back to the hell that is known as plastering. Ella's room needed a revamp, but it seems that the only thing holding up the walls was the wallpaper. Oh well, at least it keeps me off the streets...

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  • Blog-wise there are a few new things, not least the addition of a few user-options for comments. Feel free to test them.

 

All that and no mention of elections, volcanic ash or oil-slicks. Hardly news, is it?

Holy sh1t, it’s Viper!

Posted by on March 5th 2010 in Camera kit, Rambling on...
Tags: , ,

It's a bit bigger than a Crumpler bag and a bit smaller than a shop...

and definitely NOT for Jessiehiking with cameras...

More details here.

You'll have got the movie reference, eh?

(Late edit: just wanted to reassure you that I didn't acquire one of these megapacks.)

Venerable Beading

Posted by on February 16th 2010 in Rambling on...
Tags:

Yup, it's time to rejuvenate the DWR on all of those tech-fabric bits of kit. I took one look at the family's huge gear-stash and decided that a 1-litre bottle wasn't going to cut the mustard.

It was time to "go large"...

 

 

Ordered yesterday afternoon from Webtogs, at a reasonable price (and with free delivery), received this morning. Great service!

Oh, and if you're into carbon/green issues, they have an optional Carbon Neutral Delivery scheme.

Oddly, they felt the need to put the boxed product inside another box, a practise that must desaturate some of that greenness.

At the Sign of The Prancing Pony

Posted by on January 14th 2010 in A bit of a rant, Rambling on...

I went into Lloyds Bank today to close my 34ish-year old account, considering it to be no longer needed as for the last few years I've entrusted my spondulix to a building society with better rates, more flexible conditions and excellent customer service.

I'd just about forgiven the bank for their refusal to give me a the benefits of a student account way back in the 80s (which meant that I had NO overdraft facility at all, unlike my peers), but I never did figure how they worked out their overdraft allowances. While I was earning a good salary I was allowed a maximum of £300 overdraft, but when I was made redundant back in 2002 and had no income whatsoever they immediately offered to increase my overdraft facility to £4k! WTF???

Anyway, of late their service had slipped too far behind that of other similar services, and I'd had enough.

The customer-care woman didn't try to talk me out of the closure, which was a relief. After the standard ID process was over, she worked out the interest and told me the final balance of my account. Then she told me to use my Visa card to withdraw the cash from the cashier. Now I didn't want to carry a few thousand quid around in my pockets, so I asked for the balance to be transferred to my building society account. It could be done, I was told, but it would have to be a CHAPS payment and I'd have to pay £30 for it. I could have a bank-cheque, but that would cost too. Yes, I'd have to pay to move my own money. I declined.

Having not used the account for several years, I couldn't remember the bank Visa card PIN number anyway. The only way forward was for me to produce extra ID and use the old-fashioned bank-slip method to get the money from the cashier. I produced my passport and the process continued as the woman went off to the tills, signed bank-slip in hand.

Five minutes later she reappeared with a wad of notes and some small change, declaring it to be the full closure balance of my account. Without even counting it out for me, she stuffed it all into a plain white letter envelope which was obviously a used reject as it was tatty, wouldn't seal, and was produced from the waste-paper bin. It had to be double-folded to stop the cash from falling out - she wouldn't provide any tape. This shoddy package, and a receipt, was given to me and the deal was done, or so she thought. I made a point of opening the package and counting out the contents for myself, it took seconds and should have been done by her, but what the hell, I was almost free!

As I turned to leave, she asked me why I didn't want to continue banking with them.

Hmm...

Crap customer service?

Poor treatment in the past?

Or the fact that the total interest earned amounted to less than one penny for each year the account had been open?

All three, obviously.

0.5 mph

Posted by on January 9th 2010 in Pics, Rambling on..., Shiny new kit, Weather
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Geoff called in on Wednesday, he had no work on but couldn't stay at his place because his wife was working from home due to the snow. By strange chance, I was in the same boat, but I aced him by virtue of the fact that my girls were both off school due to snivelly colds, AND Chris was working from home due to the snow.

After a cuppa we both managed to "remember" that we had parcels that needed taking to the post office. Rather too conveniently I was then asked to buy and deliver a paper for the Outlaws and to return with some milk. Naturally, I grabbed the chance to get some fresh air and to try out the new Quechua Bionnassay Trousers that Chris gave to me for Christmas.

We only did a short loop around the village, but after delivering the paper and sending the mail we got sidetracked and somehow ended up in The Anchor. We managed to take four hours to walk the loop, which is less than a couple of miles. Now how did that happen?

Of course, there are some mandatory clickable snow-based pics...

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, we've not had much snow here although there are places within ten miles where they've had over ten times as much.

As for the new trews, they were great. I'll concoct some sort of initial review after a few more days of use.

Planes, Trains & Automobiles

Posted by on January 4th 2010 in Great Escapes, Rambling on...
Tags: ,

I've been thinking of the impending trip up to the Lakes for me and Ella to do some more winter-walking. In particular, I've been considering the financial costs of the "green option" - leaving the car at home and using public transport instead. There's a bit of maths involved but it's not too arduous...

 

By car: The "there-and-back" trip is usually 400 miles or thereabouts, depending on exactly where in Cumbria we head for. Suffice to say that I've never failed to get there, get around and get back home on one full tank of petrol, and usually there's some to spare. The cost of this is variable due to fluctuating fuel prices, but right now we're talking £55 tops. Factor in insurance and servicing costs and we'll call it £60. For this princely sum we can leave here after school on a Friday and return at any time on a Sunday, which means that we can fit in another half-day or full-day walk. Oh, and we also get the flexibility of travelling wherever and whenever while we're there. Food-stops, toilet-stops and fag-stops are taken as required, not as scheduled. The main journey time is about 4 hours each way.

 

By National Express coach: Tickets for the two of us to travel from Coventry to Windermere and back will cost £72.65, not too much more than the car option until other elements are factored in, elements such as 2x transport between home and Coventry, 2x transport between Windermere and destination, and probably transport between destination and walk start/end. Altogether it'll top £100. The main journey times are 6hrs 17mins out, 6 hrs 30 mins back. The outward journey starts at 12:40 on Friday which means a half-day of school must be missed, and the return starts at 08:55 which means no walking on the Sunday. Oh, and I don't get to play The Cure, The Blues Brothers, The Macc Lads, the B52s, The Sex Pistols or Beethoven's Pastoral at window-rattling levels either. Not good.

It doesn't help that I've had bad experiences with National Express, the worst one being on a return journey from Snowdonia. The coach stopped at Oswestry Station to set-down and pick-up. We asked the driver if we had time to nip off and go to the station toilets, he said we had fifteen minutes. We were back in five but he'd pissed off and taken his coach, his passengers and all of our gear with him. We had to pay again to get back to Brum by alternative means and pay some more to get our gear out of the "Lost Property" vault at Digbeth Station. What we didn't get was an apology, and we didn't get a refund. Arseholes.

 

By Train: Nuneaton to Windermere and back will cost us an incredible £98.55 and there are still the same getting-about costs to be added on as per the coach option, so we're looking at £125 minimum. Times are a bit more flexible and it is possible to do an after-school outward journey, but there's still no realistic chance of getting in a decent walk on the Sunday. Journey-times are just under 4 hours each way, and each trip has at least two changes of train, which means much potential for missed connections. It's hassle we just don't need. There is good news, though - there's no need to get off to use the loo!

 

So, we're talking more money for more hassle, less pleasure, more time and more chances of it going tits-up. If I'm going to spend that sort of cash on a weekend away, we might as well fly somewhere more, err, um, exotic. I can get two tickets to Zurich and back and a free taxi to and from the airport this end, all for less than £98.55, or there's East Midlands to Cork - two returns for less than £94 with more-or-less guaranteed free pickup, transport and digs over there from my uncle and aunt.

No, I think we'll stick with the car. It's the only working public transport system in this country. It covers almost any route at almost any time, and it'll do detours if necessary. It's made for going where you point it.

We'll point it northwards sometime soon.
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