The Official website of Ricey Recounts

Oh what a lovely garden....

2012-01-08T10:13:00.000Z

Sadly, not mine. Not even something I could aspire to in my garden workings, but very pleasant and tranquil nonetheless.

Excellent service deserves recommendation....

2011-11-11T17:16:00.003Z

A couple of years ago I bought a Topfield 5800 Personal Digital Video Recorder, all was fine until a few weeks ago when it just died, I checked fuses etc., but nothing doing. After a bit of research I found a repair business. I called them & got some great advice & agreed to send my unit to them for repair & upgrade of a common fault that would have affected my unit at some time in the future as well.

Graham Robinson of Goldstar Computers is the business I found, he does SkyHD & Humax repairs & upgrades as well, I cannot fault his service & frankly the £45 he charged me was in my opinion not enough & has saved my going out & buying a replacement PVR for hundreds of pounds.

Website link is here - http://www.free-sat-tv.co.uk/

Wine find of the month....

2011-10-10T13:21:00.002+01:00

Casas del Bosque - if you can find this in your local independent off license then buy some, for under £10 it's amazing wine and excellent value.

Locally I found it at Grape Expectations, it's also stocked by the Dorset Wine Company.

I think I was in it momentarily!

2011-09-17T17:57:00.001+01:00

Le jardin aujourd'hui

2011-08-24T18:22:00.003+01:00

The current status is as follows...

1. Lawn looking better - red thread treatment working. Growing well, needs cutting every other day!

2. Fruit tree's doing very well, lot's of apple's & pear's still hanging.

3. The new extended section of the garden is work in progress.
a. Fencing done.
b. Concrete bases for summer house & workshop completed, potting area base to be done next.
c. Oak sleepers have arrived for raised beds. Bank holiday weekend project!
d. Grass seeded a test area & it's sprouted!

The machines have taken over.....

2011-08-22T15:39:00.000+01:00

How the hell did they get up there?

Recent visit to Longstock Water Gardens

2011-06-20T16:29:00.002+01:00

Whilst my brother was over from Sydney, a few days out were had. Sunday was one of the nicer days weather wise & so after a pleasant lunch at the (newly extended & highly recommended) Three Cups in Stockbridge, a short wander around Longstock Water Gardens was had. It's not open all year round, so if you want to see these beautiful gardens you need to look here for opening dates. The gardens are part of the John Lewis Partnership & open in aid of various charities throughout the year.

Click on the images for full size versions.

An urban fox in London....

2011-05-31T15:23:00.000+01:00

Spiders nursery....

2011-05-10T09:26:00.004+01:00

Spring Rhubarb - Roasted with vanilla

2011-04-17T19:05:00.000+01:00

If you have lots of rhubarb in the garden - like my neighbours.... (thankyou Phil & Sally!)and you have gone through the Rhubarb Fool, Syllabub, Compote, Flan, Chutney recipes, then try this one, it gives a much better flavour and can be used as is or as a base for better Fool\Syllabub\Compote etc...

Cut into 1" pieces, arrange as a single layer in roasting dish, add 1 split vanilla pod, sprinkle with 2 tablespoons golden granulated sugar, roast for 25 mins at 200'C, stir halfway through.

Anyone seen a small German chicken?

2011-01-20T14:41:00.000Z

Back to the Future in Andover.....

2011-01-05T13:12:00.001Z

Freezing rain.....

2010-12-17T10:36:00.000Z

... it's the start of something cold!

A small part of my mother's legacy to me.....

2010-12-04T14:31:00.004Z

... is being able to make wonderful things like these! As well as a thousand other recipes. Pearls of wisdom that I will treasure forever.

Let it snow.....

2010-12-02T11:27:00.001Z

You take photo of me, I take photo of you.....

2010-10-19T18:55:00.003+01:00

I presume a student of some description was taking digital video in a car park in Winchester when I went back to my car, so I put my camera out of the window & returned the compliment.

The erections continue

2010-10-03T12:47:00.002+01:00

Latest photo of the development next to my house. Things appear a lot closer than when viewed on a piece of paper!

Autumn has arrived...

2010-09-29T18:53:00.000+01:00

... with a splash of colour in both vegetation & in the sky. An amazing rainbow tonight over my house & fantastic dark skies with changing light, sadly all over too quickly.

The first of many erections......

2010-07-23T17:47:00.007+01:00

.... that will be appearing in the garden of my next door neighbour over the next 8 months.

Yesterday the builders developing the 1.5 acre site into 8 "desirable" (not in my world) homes, installed this fucking huge orange & blue monstrosity on site, so large it can actually overhang other gardens outside the site, particularly when the boom is extended to it's 30 metre maximum!

They have promised that it is at least nearly silent in operation & doesn't have a cab with operator at the top looking over all he could survey from it's 27 metre high point!

Mr Evans & his amazing Ferrari collection....

2010-07-02T19:47:00.004+01:00

I popped over to Thruxton airfield today to see the Chris Evans Charity Ferrari run arrive & for the lucky (and wealthy) participants to be driven around in Mr Evans lovely red Ferrari Enzo by none other than The Stig!

Over the past couple of years Chris Evans has built up quite a collection of Ferrari cars, the most recent that was known publically was the 1963 Ferrari 250 GTO that he bought in May 2010 for a reported £12m. Today he had a bit of a surprise sprung on him at the circuit when he took delivery of the first UK Ferrari F458. With the registration 1 FAB applied, it really does look fabulous. He has FAB 1 on his Rolls Royce Phantom.

The Stig was thrashing the Enzo around the circuit when I was there, it looked very quick and sounded absolutely fantastic. Later on Evans drove the airfield owner Henry Pelham around in the £5m James Coburn Ferrari 250 GT California Spyder - FER 1.

UPDATE 23/07 - photo of actual F458 now finally uploaded.

The sign at my front door....

2010-06-06T20:36:00.002+01:00

This has been up at my door for a couple of years, but it has of late caused great hilarity amongst visitors to my house, including delivery drivers and other bona fide callers. Even to the point where some have made a note of the text, so that they can get their own made up.

It works for the most part, apart from mute Polish artists selling their crappy artwork door to door. It certainly keeps the Jehovah's away!!

Self inflicted drinking challenge!

2010-06-02T20:16:00.004+01:00

I've had an idea..... I'm going to consume alcoholic beverages from one of the countries playing in the FIFA 2010 World Cup on the days they are playing - hopefully whilst watching the game - the time difference & schedule is kind for a change.

I plan to Google the national beverage\drink of each country, so for Uruguay it will be Grappmiel - a mixture of Honey & Grappa - I feel a trip to a London Department store coming on!? For Mexico it will clearly be either Sol beer or Tequila - probably in a Lime Margarita, for Brazil it will have to be a Caipirinha made with Cachaca, Germany is a Becks beer or 3, South Africa has to be a Windhoek beer, which although brewed in Namibia appears to be very well adopted - but a drop of nice red wine wouldn't go amis either. Japan is easy with Sake or Sapporo, both very easily sourced. The national beer of Argentina appears to be Cerveza Quilmes, they even sponsor the Argentine National Football team!

The only conundrum is what to have for the first match England are playing vs USA, I hate bitter, so the idea of an English beer is currently losing out to a Budweiser or 6?

Suggestions welcome.

Work have made me an offer......

2010-05-30T11:03:00.004+01:00

No, not that kind of offer (yet). The opportunity to purchase an iPhone 3GS for work, I purchase the handset (at a slightly reduced cost) and they continue to pay for my line rental & business calls, with the promise that they will pick up the data costs from Q3 of this year when they roll out work email on Smartphones for all & a load of internal apps.

So a couple of months to get up to speed with the interface & download some apps for me to play with, then hopefully a very powerful & useful business tool with email & instant messaging all built in to a small, handy personal device.

Having had a Blackberry Curve for quite a while now, I would have preferred one of those, but this way I have both Apple & Blackberry devices, I wonder if the next market leader will be the Custard!?

Continuing a theme....

2010-05-11T20:35:00.001+01:00

Do I smell Birthday cake....

2010-05-08T11:18:00.002+01:00

The demolition has started....

2010-05-07T17:33:00.003+01:00

The demolition of my neighbours house for redevelopment has started.

When social networking gets abused.....

2010-05-04T19:23:00.004+01:00

I have just had a lengthy discussion with a friend of mine who does not have any social networking accounts at all, no Facebook, no Twitter, no MySpace, not even a Flickr account.

Sadly a 3rd party has setup a Facebook account in his name and is now using it to maliciously comment on my friends employer Facebook Wall. As you may imagine, getting an email from the Company Chairman with what at first glance to him appear to be facts & an invitation to explain why he has made these comments somewhat perplexed my friend.

Difficult to defend yourself against & prove 100% that it's not you. Sadly the IT Dept of the business appears unable or unwilling to take the speedy action required & report to Facebook central.

So beware, it's not it's cracked up to be when it's abused. Am seriously considering closing down my account.

Early birthday present

2010-05-01T09:05:00.004+01:00

My birthday present has arrived a week early, so I was advised to open it, just to make sure it was intact in the big green John Lewis bag the courier delivered it in. Luckily it was intact and better still when I plugged it all in to test, it looked and sounds fantastic.

First impressions of the Roberts Sound 43 DAB\CD\iPod sound system are very positive, it looks good, the sound is great & it is bursting with loads of features that I will use. The DAB signal is good and it doesn't get interference from my home power system dLAN. Sound wise I think it keeps up with the Bose Wave systems I have, as the Roberts will live in the garage I will have to take a Bose in there & compare with some suitable tunes.

St Georges Day 2010

2010-04-23T14:24:00.002+01:00

The flag is flying over Rice Towers today, as it does every day.....

Mini heatwave

2010-04-18T17:56:00.000+01:00

With the recent mini heatwave, Spring has finally sprung properly. So nice sights like this are commonplace in the local area. This site has been doing something like this for as long as I can remember, sadly the thatched cottage the owners live in burnt down last year, but slowly they are rebuilding it.

Random pic

2010-04-05T19:46:00.001+01:00

Why does my left foot always get more scuffed that my right, even though I am right footed?

Great British....

2010-04-03T16:25:00.004+01:00

... bovine.

Has Willie Walsh recruited some unusual cabin staff for BA?

No, a local farm shop has just installed this on the roadside verge to gain attention, let's hope it attracts rather that distracts.

Adobe Photoshop Creative Suite 5 gets content aware

2010-03-26T13:14:00.003Z

A truely amazing step forward in digital image editing from Adobe.

Take a look at this..... link

German foray into über quality car market fails....

2010-03-24T08:34:00.006Z

Quality goods review website Luxist reports....

"Since its launch eight years ago, Maybach has largely been characterized as a failed venture. The ultra-premium counterpart to Mercedes-Benz never reached the sales figures which its rivals Bentley (part of the VW) and Rolls-Royce (owned by BMW) have enjoyed in the superstrata of the luxury car market."

"In the face of even further lagging sales, however, reports now indicate that Daimler is preparing to wind down the brand and phase it out entirely. But not before the line-up gets a mild refresh. After that, Mercedes hopes to fill the niche with more exclusive versions of the S-Class...."

I've never quite got the idea of the Maybach when there are other very well established brands & models out there which have fulfilled the requirements of the super rich for a long while before the Maybach brand was re-launched. Having seen quite a few up close & driving around London, they look quite un-inspiring & bland, probably why they haven't done that well.

The message at my back door...

2010-02-24T09:56:00.003Z

... should tell you how to act when entering my property.

I quite like the retro series of "Keep Calm...." merchandise, it seems to have become quite popular and now adornes all sorts of things from mugs to aprons to books and now this rug.

New gadget

2010-02-15T16:11:00.005Z

I've just bought a Canon M80 portable Storage Device, secondhand from those nice people at mpbphotographic in Brighton.

It should retail for £570, but I was never going to pay that for a portable storage device.

Demonstrating near unique thinking by a technology vendor of late, I'm very pleased to note that it uses a BP511A battery that so many of other Canon devices use like the 5D, 30D & 40D, so no need for yet another charger taking up valuable desk space.

80Gbytes of mobile storage with built in CF & SD card slots. It supports all types of file formats & has a headphone jack as well, meaning it might get used on the train to watch films or TV programmes as well.

UPDATE 22/02 : what an amazing bit of kit! With one touch and the images on the data card taken out of the camera are backed up and ready to decant onto the PC at my leisure. The screen quality is excellent, just that bit bigger than the camera display and the controls are very similar to an EOS Digital camera, so very familiar.

Microlight pilot dies in charity flight attempt....

2010-01-23T21:06:00.002Z

Martin Bromage a microlight, has been tragically killed on the first leg of an attempt to travel by microlight, 11,000 miles from the UK to Australia. Apparently (and subject to confirmation) Martin encountered particularly bad weather that even forced the rescue helicopter dispatched to assist him to return under emergency conditions. Media reports have stated that he was in radio contact with french authorities who were attempting to assist him and they had suggested alternate airfields for him to land at but he elected to return to the U.K.

Martin died in the English Channel just three hours into his six week charity flight, he made a series of distress calls before he crashed in low cloud and mist, it has emerged. Martin Bromage was due to land at the French coastal airport of Le Touquet at around 3pm but was forced to divert by mist, fog and low cloud and appealed to the French air traffic controllers for an alternative place to land.

Martin’s trip was a charity attempt and he was hoping to raise money for Help for Heroes which supports wounded British soldiers, he has a JustGiving charity page here and if you are minded to do so it would be nice to continue to donate to the charity to support his efforts.

Another film review....

2010-01-20T11:15:00.005Z

This time Guy Ritchie's remake of Sherlock Holmes.

I like quite a bit of the work that Ritchie has done in the past like Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch & RocknRolla so I hoped that this new film might fit into the list of Ritchie films that I enjoyed.

Luckily it does, and comes in at #2 in the Ritchie list behind Snatch which is probably one of my top 5 favourite films ever.

Robert Downey Jr. & Jude Law seem to bounce off each other very well, it is clear that the budget increase by working with Warner Bros. has helped quite a bit in making this a very polished and extremely enjoyable film.

The door is left wide open for Holmes & Watson to re-appear in a further installment to persue the evil Professor Moriarty, let's hope the returns on the first film make the 2nd possible and equally enjoyable.

It was so enjoyable, I will probably end up seeing this again at the cinema, and will definately buy it on DVD when released.

Avatar 3D

2010-01-05T10:56:00.003Z

It seems that yesterday was the day to see Avatar in 3D, purely by coincidence it seems that about 6 of my friends went to see it (in different places) on the same evening.

My 10 simple observations.....

1. It's way too long - 2 hours 45 mins even in a comfortable new cinema chair is too much.

2. Amazing 3D effects work really well, much better than I expected.

3. If you wear normal glasses and have the choice of switching to contact lenses for the viewing do it - I will be going back to watch it with my lenses in.

4. Book early and get the seats right in the middle of the cinema.

5. If you go this week and are driving to cinema take de-icer, because when you come out after 3 hours your car will be iced over again.

6. It does actually have a story and some good characters.

7. George Lucas HAS to make another Star Wars film using the 3D technology.

8. Go the loo before you go to the theatre, even if you don't need to go, just go and try.

9. The switch between live action and CGI works - something that I thought would be difficult.

10. Go see it!

Christmas dinner with a wine older than me....

2009-12-25T21:00:00.004Z

... I finally opened it.

I had cooked an amazing fore-rib of roast beef that I knew would be perfect with a very special bottle of wine.

So I took the 1966 Lynch Bages from the wine rack and proceeded to prepare it, bringing it up to room temperature slowly, but when I started to open it the cork broke in half - bugger I thought, I've left it too long, or it wasn't stored correctly..... all the things race through your mind. Luckily I managed to get the rest of the cork out without issue. I had a quick sniff of the cork and the now open bottle. No it didn't smell of vinegar, nor any sign of mustiness or any other off putting whiff.

I left the bottle to rest for a while, then decided to decant it, just incase there were large sediment deposits, which suprisingly there weren't, just a stubborn streak of sediment down the side of the bottle and a little towards the bottom of the bottle.

Then a little taste pre-dinner, just to make sure it was alright.

What an amazing wine! All the tanins mellowed to nothing, blackcurrants and spice with chocolate were all the aromas and flavours I could think of as I tasted it.

I bought this bottle years ago as it was the closest I could get to my year of birth, I chose Lynch Bages as that was the first really good growth Claret I ever tasted at the age of 17 working in a restaurant.

Sadly the 1966 Krug I bought in Bentalls 15+ years ago hasn't survived as the cork gave up the ghost a while ago, and the level is now below the neck label, so this is probably quite expensive vinegar by now. Luckily it looks like the 1967 Port I found a few years ago in Berry Brothers & Rudd is very much intact and the level is well in the neck still. Win some, loose some.

Today I discovered.....

2009-12-16T22:04:00.003Z

....Costco! A friend took me to the warehouse in Reading by Green Park (next to the big wind turbine you can see from the M4 at J11)

What a place. I've done warehouse shopping in the US before, and Cash 'n Carry in the UK, but never anything quite like this.

Some great deals were to be had, on big ticket items I think a fair amount of research will have to be done, but on everyday household stuff, food & booze it seems that great savings can be had, but everything seems to come in such large quantities!?

Although it was late on a Wednesday and it was cold & snowy & J11 is a nightmare it seemed relatively busy, but still fairly easy to get in, get what you want & get out. Application pending!

If you drive in the UK.....

2009-12-15T21:50:00.000Z

.... you should take a look at this article on the BBC News website.

It details the fatal road accidents in the UK from 1999 to 2008.

Some quite staggering statistics.... "On average, some seven people are killed every day on the roads in Great Britain. Hundreds more are injured, many of them seriously, often with life changing consequences.

In 2008 alone, 2,538 people died and nearly a quarter of a million were injured.

In the past 10 years, the death toll has amounted to 32,298. As such road crashes are the largest single cause of accidental death for people aged between 5 and 35 years."

Take a look at the maps and put your postcode in, the level of detail is quite chilling, it really brings home just how dangerous a simple thing that most of us take for granted really is.

Mein Mercedes ist defekt!

2009-11-20T18:32:00.004Z

Yet again the little A-Class is back at Mercedes-Benz of Salisbury with a problem. This time it's either a fuel leak(!?) or a problem with the fuel tank sensor or gauge. I have been told that if it's a wiring problem it's not covered by waranty which seems odd, whilst I understand that "working" parts such as brakes, valves, motors etc wear out or if there is damage to a fuel line because I have driven over something then it's not covered - but wiring is fixed and it's not covered?

The only thing that made the taking of the car to Salisbury interesting was that there is a Maybach 65 in the showroom! Then on the way home another Maybach was heading into Salisbury - two Maybach's in Wiltshire - what's going on?

Armistice Day....

2009-11-10T18:38:00.004Z

I received this by email today....

The average British soldier is 19 years old…..he is a short haired, well built lad who, under normal circumstances is considered by society as half man, half boy. Not yet dry behind the ears and just old enough to buy a round of drinks but old enough to die for his country – and for you.

He’s not particularly keen on hard work but he’d rather be grafting in Afghanistan than unemployed in the UK . He recently left comprehensive school where he was probably an average student, played some form of sport, drove a ten year old rust bucket, and knew a girl that either broke up with him when he left, or swore to be waiting when he returns home. He moves easily to rock and roll or hip-hop or to the rattle of a 7.62mm machine gun.

He is about a stone lighter than when he left home because he is working or fighting from dawn to dusk and well beyond. He has trouble spelling, so letter writing is a pain for him, but he can strip a rifle in 25 seconds and reassemble it in the dark. He can recite every detail of a machine gun or grenade launcher and use either effectively if he has to. He digs trenches and latrines without the aid of machines and can apply first aid like a professional paramedic. He can march until he is told to stop, or stay dead still until he is told to move.

He obeys orders instantly and without hesitation but he is not without a rebellious spirit or a sense of personal dignity. He is confidently self-sufficient. He has two sets of uniform with him: he washes one and wears the other. He keeps his water bottle full and his feet dry. He sometimes forgets to brush his teeth, but never forgets to clean his rifle. He can cook his own meals, mend his own clothes and fix his own hurts. If you are thirsty, he'll share his water with you, if you are hungry, his food is your food. He'll even share his life-saving ammunition with you in the heat of a firefight if you run low.

He has learned to use his hands like weapons and regards his weapon as an extension of his own hands. He can save your life or he can take it, because that is his job - it's what a soldier does. He often works twice as long and hard as a civilian, draw half the pay and have nowhere to spend it, and can still find black ironic humour in it all. There's an old saying in the British Army: 'If you can't take a joke, you shouldn't have joined!'

He has seen more suffering and death than he should have in his short lifetime. He has wept in public and in private, for friends who have fallen in combat and he is unashamed to show it or admit it. He feels every bugle note of the 'Last Post' or 'Sunset' vibrate through his body while standing rigidly to attention. He's not afraid to 'Bollock' anyone who shows disrespect when the Regimental Colours are on display or the National Anthem is played; yet in an odd twist, he would defend anyone's right to be an individual. Just as with generations of young people before him, he is paying the price for our freedom. Clean shaven and baby faced he may be, but be prepared to defend yourself if you treat him like a kid.

He is the latest in a long thin line of British Fighting Men that have kept this country free for hundreds of years. He asks for nothing from us except our respect, friendship and understanding. We may not like what he does, but sometimes he doesn't like it either - he just has it to do.. Remember him always, for he has earned our respect and admiration with his blood.

And now we even have brave young women putting themselves in harm's way, doing their part in this tradition of going to war when our nation's politicians call on us to do so.

So tomorrow at some point and maybe every day, please stop for a moment and if you are so inclined, reflect on the plight of our armed forces in the trouble spots of the world.

IKEA - the only good thing.....

2009-10-27T18:54:00.005Z

..... is the meatballs.

Why on earth I suggested(!?) then agreed to go in half term week beats me.

Meatballs for lunch in the restaurant\canteen and then buying a bag of mini Dime bars and some Cloudberry conserve in the shop were the highlights of the day.

I don't like any of the furniture or furnishings, the cookware is average, the tableware is below par, the lighting is at best quirky and the customer service is pretty poor - apart from the woman on the food checkout who was a. Swedish & b. very helpful.

Cleaner car....

2009-10-11T16:28:00.003+01:00

... I have been wanting to get my car valeted properly for a while. I keep it fairly clean, but of late have thrown it through the car wash occasionally just to keep it tidy, I know the damage they can do to paintwork, but I thought a decent car wash would do less damage.

I had noticed that some of the paint had gone slightly flat in places, so I tried waxing the bonnet, even with Autoglym Super Resin polish & Autoglym Paint Restorer nothing worked.

Years ago I saw some work a chap had done to a friends Range Rover - it was stunning, it came back as new. He was based in Weyhill, so when I tried looking him up he had moved... twice. I persisted and eventually found him and got him to do my car last Friday & Saturday - yes it takes him 2 days. He is not cheap, but he works wonders - he has brought up the flat paint shining like new, the interior is just as when it came off the production line and the leather is soft & supple.

I cannot recommend him highly enough - Mike McPhee - Auto Valeting Services - Unit 135, The Commercial Centre, Picket Piece, Andover, SP11 6RU. Tel. 01264 335000‎. Mike is a busy man, so it might take you a while to get a booking date, but if you want your car looking super smart, it is well worth the wait.

Another gardening success.....

2009-09-29T20:29:00.003+01:00

.... in the Strawberry department.

After the success of the Pear crop, I let the Strawberry plants run a bit in the last month or so and have managed to get 20 new plants so far from the runners. I should have another 10 or so by the weekend, so a bumper crop should be had next year with 10 x 2nd year plants and 30+ of 1st year growth plants.

It's easy when you know how!

This weekend it is apple harvest time.

A day out in London....

2009-09-27T09:53:00.005+01:00

..... was had today.

Just strolling around doing the tourist thing. Southbank first for breakfast in the excellent Le Pain Quotidien.

Just outside the Royal Festival Hall was this structure, made of paper tubes.

Then along the Southbank for a while, then over Westminster Bridge and a wander about Whitehall, Horseguards & St James's in time for lunch at Fortnum & Mason.

Then at 2pm I embarked on a guided walk - The Intelligence Trail. At 2.5 hours it's a bit longer than I expected, but a very interesting and informative time was had.

Tart....

2009-09-26T09:46:00.002+01:00

... of the Pear variety, made by me. Pastry was a bit chunky, but I threw it together in 5 mins.

Pear puree in the base of a part blind baked pastry case, topped with half pears and filled with sugar\cream\egg\vanilla mix.

Twas very nice with a scoop of Green & Blacks Vanilla Ice Cream!

Underneath the seat of power...

2009-09-22T17:46:00.006+01:00

Over lunchtime today, I had a tour of the Palace of Westminster, hugely interesting and many thanks to the friend who took me around. Wandering through both Houses was fascinating.... Underneath the palace though is this hidden gem.

St Mary Undercroft is just off St Stephens Hall.

The day got off to a bad start when the trains through Andover were disrupted as one had hit a car on a level crossing at 5.30AM. So I drove to Basingstoke in the hope of getting parked in the works car park and then a choice of trains. Sadly concrete repairs in the multi-storey works car park meant I had to squeeze the A8 into a teeny tiny space next to a fat arsed 911, which I did but with about an inch to spare either side. The trains were then ram packed full of grumpy, smelly & hung over commuters who were generally bemoaning the fact that interlopers had come onto their normally quiet Southampton Parkway to Waterloo train.

To add insult to injury the customer meeting today got cancelled when I was in the office just getting ready to go. So the morning chat to old friends from Lotus days in IBM Southbank, the tour of Westminster (with another old friend from Lotus days) & beer (with old friend from Lotus days + ex boss from Lotus days!) made my day rather better than it looked like being early on.

What a lovely pear.....

2009-09-12T17:02:00.003+01:00

.... or really what a lovely glut of pears!

I harvested the cordoned pear tree today, best crop ever of juicy sweet perfect pears. I am convinced that the addition of a leaf cutter bee (or Mason bee) shelter for the last 2 years has paid dividends in the fruit tree pollenation stakes, all of the fruit trees have done so much better this year, providing an abundance of lovely apples & pears.

So tonight (and tomorrow) I have pears for my dessert. A stewed compote made from peeled, cored & diced pears, butter, sugar, a little lemon juice & a fat Madagascan vanilla pod. I've allowed that to cool & then beaten 2 egg yolks through it. Put into ramekins and topped with meringue and then baked until golden brown. The rest of the fruit will be eaten fresh or made into compote & frozen.

First day back and all that...

2009-09-01T20:43:00.003+01:00

I snuck last week off to use up some leave, still have loads to fit in, so the occassional week will be had between now & March. So today felt like first day back at school (sort of - but without the preceeding 6 weeks off!)

TTT (Train To Town), interesting conversation on train with a Corporate Lawyer, amazing who you bump into - last month it was a private investigator who I twigged was following someone back to Basingstoke!? A quick Latte & Blueberry Muffin in Starbucks at Triton Square was had before a couple of meetings about things we can do together with potential Business Partner. Agreed to meet up at a conference next week and discuss more.

Diverted on way back to Waterloo to M&S Marble Arch as I thought they would have bigger range of suits than other branches - I was wrong - Hedge End has better selection\more stock. Yes, I still buy M&S suits for work, they last a year & then get thrown out, saving my better suits from the wear & tear of commuting to town too often.

In my mind....

2009-08-30T18:52:00.003+01:00

.... tomorrow is the last day of summer. No more Bank Holidays until Christmas, a month of Q3, then the slog that is Q4 where more than a weeks vacation is frowned upon, plus the clocks going back on October 25th.

After a day of miserable grey skies and drizzle whilst working in the garden, I hope that tomorrow brings some sunshine at least.

The garden is almost ready for winter with most of the veg. harvested, nearly all the garden lights fixed, pots weeded and shuffled, bark renewed (20 bags worth!), trees pruned, lawn fed, watered, edged and weeded. Luckily haven't had to put BBQ away as it never came out this year! Just a few more odds & sods left to do outside plus a little tidying in the garage and it should all be finished.

It's just dawned on me.....

2009-08-23T17:06:00.000+01:00

.... how small the world is now communications terms.

Phone calls, emails, Twitter & Facebook from all over the world this weekend. Brother in Sydney, friends in Boston, Abu Dhabi, Spain & France all been in [very easy] contact.

Plus the devices I'm using to stay in touch are many and varied too from Blackberry to PC with Skype or browser and best of all... apart from ISP costs all of what I am doing is FoC.

Slingbox is next on the technology acquisition list, then Internet enabled LCD TV for living room.

A weekend of nothingness.....

2009-08-16T18:37:00.002+01:00

... I did the sum total of f*ck all this weekend. No gardening, no DIY, no retail therapy, nothing. I didn't even get to watch some DVD's that I had planned to view. Don't know where the weekend went....

Let's hope next week is more productive.

Life in a parallel universe?

2009-08-10T17:36:00.002+01:00

Uncanny isn't it? It could be a scene from work.

I just wish I knew the girl in the red dress, as usual the secretary looks to be a bit bonkers.

Thanks to Cali & Carl for pointing me at the website to create these.

After staycation, been busy at work...

2009-08-09T19:15:00.004+01:00

.... but good busy, rather than just busy or bad busy.

Loads going on, reviewed twice, but all went well. Customers are responding well to suggestions and ideas. Much the same next week, but without the reviews - so I can get more done.

Spent weekend in garden doing loads of stuff, wiring up patio heaters (pictured right), cutting hedge, mowing lawn (twice!), edging lawn, repairing wiring to garden lights (I cut through them with hedge trimmer!) even managed to get a bit of photography in around Longparish and saw 2 Herons, on way back I saw a Bugatti Veyron, 6 Lambo's an Aston and a Nissan Skyline all belting down the A303 at breakneck speed.

I enjoyed the staycation so much I've booked another at the end of the month for a week, so much holiday to use, so little time to use it in!? A little shooting, hunting and fishing is in order I think.

Moth!

2009-07-29T13:41:00.003+01:00

It appears to be a Poplar Hawk-moth (Laothoe populi) common in Europe, and very large!

Noted by the front door light today.

Click on the image for better (full size) view.

Time off.....

2009-07-20T18:29:00.001+01:00

.... for good behaviour?

I am taking 2 weeks staycation. Having travelled quite a bit in the past I have to say I liked the idea of staycations way before they became the thing to do in the credit crunch. It allows me to catch up on all the trivial things I never get round to doing, like getting little car niggles fixed, DIY, going shopping off the beaten track, lunching with friends and generally wandering about on day trips.

Various trips to car specialists to get things fixed or tweaked and maybe look at a different car - Bentley GT test drive perhaps? I'll go to Orvis to look at some fishing gear and clothing and maybe Harry Potter beckons on a rainy afternoon. I will also take the Sigmonster out for a walk or two.

Trainers...

2009-07-16T18:45:00.003+01:00

... I have recently ordered and taken delivery of a new pair of trainers from NikeID. Starting with a base product of the Nike Zoom Structure Triax, I had the opportunity to customise the colour scheme of the component parts, and even add a personalised ID on them.

On some of the products you can even choose different widths, so very comfortable they are, and unique to me.

The Sigmonster cometh.....

2009-06-30T19:21:00.002+01:00

..... done deal. On the way next week is a Sigmonster.

EF600mm has gone - not different enough to lighter EF500mm and the 1Ds Mk III had to go - it's a terrible camera - replaced with a 1D Mk III which will be happier stablemate to existing 1D Mk III.

free email.....

2009-06-27T14:42:00.008+01:00

..... then outage.

It appears I have been receiving a free email service from my provider for a while now - I didn't realise this until my email stopped working overnight when they did a bit of an upgrade, so a quick online chat to Customer Support (where they very strangely asked for my credit card details in a web based online help chat session - they assured me it was quite secure - I declined!) the problem was fixed.

Of course there was a knock on effect to my Blackberry and email client from the Dark Side - as the email provider has changed password policy my numerical string password wasn't acceptable, so I had to change to a more complex one containing upper and lower case characters and at least 5 numerical characters!?

The upgrade by the service provider includes spam filters so good that very little is getting through..... sadly thats very little email at all is getting through.

UPDATE 29/06 : Further interupted service today, the upgrade appears to have had some effect on the ability of the email servers to stay up for any period of time. Fingers crossed they sort their lives out before I name and shame them...

UPDATE 07/07 : no email getting through since last week, I can mail out, but zero coming in. I've been onto Register.com support again & again - they are utterly crap and full of empty promises of it being fixed "tomorrow", "soon" and "in hours" - no-one will call me back despite numerous requests for someone to do so. They have several tag lines which are really quite wrong "Experience the difference great service can make" not with this lot & "Don't just make a website - make an impact" in my experience a detremental one.....

Rearrange the following - Insult....

2009-06-20T11:51:00.003+01:00

.... Injury, Add to.... I wrote about Audi in May and how they wanted £837.20 to replace my cambelt "One of the hardest working components of the engine...." - oh set my mind off and scare me into replacing a part that doesn't present any symptoms why not!

Well, on the way to a meeting yesterday the car suspension started knocking on the front right whenever I went over anything like an uneven road surface. I took it into Audi on the way home and left it with them to investigate.

At least it is a problem that has presented itself and actually has a symptom, rather than the spectre of the unknown as with the cambelt.

Luckily it appears to be a control arm & rubber bush, so relatively cheap. I thought whilst the car is in I may as well have the cambelt done as well, get the whole lot done and dusted - then they tell me "we recommend that when you get the cambelt done that you replace the water pump at the same time as the renewal of the cambelt can put a strain on an old water pump..." - another £250 please!

Looks like the beer budget for the summer has just been blown away by Audi.

24/06 UPDATE : Picked up car today, and not as bad as I thought it might have been, in the end they didn't replace water pump and a few F.O.C. items appeared on bill, so a few beers can be had this summer! I will also probably be able to afford the Audi wheel that has appeared on ebay to replace the one I buckled earlier in the year! Hopefully getting car back to 100% as I want it.

ISIHAC - It's back!

2009-06-15T22:01:00.002+01:00

Long awaited, with some feelings that it wouldn't be anything like as good as when Humph was at the helm. With Stephen Fry as guest chairman, it was no suprise that Samantha was otherwise occupied, so the rippling (if not somewhat effeminate perhaps?) Sven was sat on Mr Fry's left hand keeping score.

Overall very good, with the same writing team still in place, with quite a few laugh out loud moments in the 30 minute programme. I did miss the dead-pan delivery of Humph though.

My wheel man.....

2009-06-04T19:22:00.003+01:00

.... has been.

A little bubble of corrosion on the two rear wheels and a small kerb mark (unusually for me) on the front left wheel on the Audi have been fixed by my wheel man.

He was gainfully employed all day on mine and my neighbours cars, restoring the alloys back to perfection. The cars always look so much better when the wheels are 100%. If you live in north Hampshire - I can highly recommend him.

Not quite as good as Springwatch footage....

2009-06-02T17:35:00.002+01:00

.... but it will do as a start for me.

Seen over the airfield at Thruxton today, one of three Red Kite's in the summer sunshine, hunting on the abundant dead rabbit population, it was a nice sight to behold.

The place gets a bit congested sometimes, not with aircraft but with a huge number of raptors like the Red Kite & Buzzards galore.

I will re-visit and take a more prepared approach to photographing them soon.

Big bird....

2009-05-30T15:50:00.001+01:00

... well birds actually. About 6 or 7 of these gulls (I think they are probably Herring Gulls) were circling over the house today.

After a bit of reading, it seems that it's not unusual to see them inland, they are Ominivorous - aka a scavenger. Acording to the RSPB website they are to be seen inland all year round "especially at rubbish tips, playing fields and reservoir roosts" As they were circling as high as they were, about 800ft or more, it was probably all of the above.

The Hanging Baskets.....

2009-05-28T17:26:00.001+01:00

.... of Hampshire have arrived.

The annual splurge on hanging baskets from Choice Plants at Romsey has resulted in them arriving today, instant gardening!

They are looking quite good already with the early heatwave, much better than last year when they were knocked about by the rain within days of being put up. Here's hoping for a good display of summer colour for 4 or so months.

One of those days....

2009-05-27T19:36:00.003+01:00

.... a good day, but a long day. Sadly the M3 wasn't at it's best this afternoon, just when I thought I would get away at a reasonable hour and a quick zip down the motorway [it's half term and things are normally quiet on the roads] an accident closed 2 lanes of the M3 near Fleet services, so the journey home was slow, long and arduous.

Stayed awake just long enough to see the disappointing football match, then retired to bed.

A day of plotting and planning.....

2009-05-26T21:34:00.002+01:00

... back to work, and a day of plotting & planning was had at my office in Basingstoke with a colleague and Industry Expert. A load of good work was completed, but a load more to be done. I let the train take the strain today as I couldn't be bothered to fight for a parking space - they have closed the top floor of the car park as it has concrete rot!?

Came home and did a couple of conference calls that could end up with some decent business as a result and then at 5:00 a local colleague suggested via Sametime that a stroll to the local pub for a beer was in order - who am I to say no? So at 6.02 we converged on the Southampton Arms and I partook of a couple of pints of Irish export. Nice end to a good day.

Troglodytes troglodytes....

2009-05-25T20:22:00.004+01:00

.... also known as the Wren. After a better night sleep, I awoke at 6:00 and decided that although it was overcast, it was probably still worthwhile heading for the lakes early to see what wildlife was out & about.

No Kingfisher, but an unusual number of Mute Swan, Mallard Ducks with loads of ducklings, plus the Great Crested Grebe pair - feeding their ever growing youngsters. [How does such a small bird eat such large fish?] A very noisy, but unseen Warbler, Chaffinch and finally this Wren and a youngster flitting about.

Came home at 8:00 for coffee, toast & honey then went to local council tip, sorry Amenity Waste Recycling Centre! to get rid of defunct patio table, then Thruxton to deliver (now redundant, but intact) garden benchs, plus deliver ebay sale to collecting buyer from Plymouth and pick up some cash!

Yet more jet washing of patio was done (nearly finished) and the day was rounded off with yet another Harvey Wallbanger made with Absolut Citron Vodka, then rare fillet of beef Teriyaki & green salad washed down with some very nice La Montesa.

Back to work tommorrow, ho hum.... but luckily only a 4 day week - hurrah!

Happy, Sunny day....

2009-05-24T21:15:00.005+01:00

... slept very badly last night, so planned early start didn't happen, ended up spending the majority of the day in the garden power washing the patio (and then re-pointing the cement where I washed it away!), hid from midday sun by watching F1 Monaco GP, deciding to condemn the patio table & chairs when they fell apart as I moved them, mowing lawn and watching bird life in garden.

Finished the day with a couple of Harvey Wallbangers in the evening sun.

Ended the evening listening to newly acquired Gary Numan CD's - mostly live stuff from recent tours such as Replicas Live, Fragment, Telekon Live and the interview series Replicant 1 + 2.

If they are good enough....

2009-05-21T20:33:00.005+01:00

..... to be selected to act as personal protection for a member of the Royal family serving for 10 weeks in Afghanistan, then it's only right that we recognise the entire Regiment as brave as any other soldier that has served in our armed forces and let them live here.

Justice at last for a group of people that has served my country for two centuries.

My father served with some Ghurka's in Malaya, he always told me they were truely fearless fighters who would take no prisoners in combat.

Hat's off to Joanna Lumley, clearly motivated by her family connections, it's good to see people power work for a change.

Talk to Kevin....

2009-05-18T22:37:00.007+01:00

.... it's better than being put on hold by a Customer Services Advisor.

I have for years subscribed to Virgin Media Broadband\Telephone\TV services, initially it was ntl: who provided the service, but then Virgin came along and rebranded the services they acquired from Telewest, ntl: and others.

The actual service of broadband\TV\phone is great, very little if any downtime, but their customer service if you have a query is awful.

A couple of things of late have annoyed me, an example being a telesales call to my Virgin phone line offering me a great deal if I took up Virgin TV & phone services to go along with my existing Virgin Broadband service. When I told the caller they were calling me on my Virgin provided phone line and I was sitting in front of my TV watching Sky Sports via my Virgin provided TV services they were somewhat perplexed, needless to say my complaint that they were incompetent idiots fell on deaf and unconcerned ears.

Today tipped me over the edge when I got some mail shots from Virgin offering all sorts of services, sadly to an address in my name, but next door. When I called the Customer Services (haha!) Centre to rectify the address issue (which I thought I had done 5 years ago after many, many attempts) they too were incompetent idiots who put me on hold for minutes at a time, then tried telling me that they were clearly providing the services I pay for to 2 different addresses and that was quite OK.... I got bored after 35 minutes and hung up.

So I decided to call the man who signed the mail shots - Mr Kevin Elliott - MD of Customer Service for Virgin Media on the main switchboard. Now you may think this was a pointless and probably fruitless course of action, surely the MD of Customer Service wouldn't take the call of a mere customer.... well, you are right he didn't. But the switchboard is clearly so well prepared for such calls that I got put through to the UK Executive Group Complaints Dept. where they take ownership of the issue. I actually had a phone conversation with someone who understood what I was talking about, agreed there was a problem, empathised and explained what they were going to do about it.

So my advice, don't bother calling Customer Services, just try calling Kevin - 01256 752000.

19/05 UPDATE : Virgin Media called me back today - twice! To tell me they had fixed the billing\address problems and wanted to give me a discount as I now qualified for a combined tariff! hmmm something I tried last year, but failed miserably at doing, so Virgin have back dated the discount and given me a mega saving on Broadband - more than 50%. They even then gave me a BIG discount on a V+ box as a gesture of goodwill, and agreed an installation date there & then. Amazing difference between calling the normal Customer Services line that should have dealt with my problems and short circuiting the normal channels by calling Kevin directly - even if I didn't get to talk to him.

So, in summary the bog standard Customer Support of Virgin Media sucks, the UK managed Customer Complaint section of Virgin Media are very, very good. So good in fact that they have kept me as a customer, something that wasn't on the cards 24 hours ago. Given my latterly positive statements, I hope they let me off for using their logo!?

Vorsprung Highway Robbery....

2009-05-18T22:07:00.003+01:00

... by Audi.

In the post today, a card from Audi UK. Not "Dear Mr Rice as a valued customer we would like to invite you to dinner with Elle McPherson......." instead it just said "Time for a cambelt change on your Audi A8"

Having then read the advice on the Audi UK website "The cambelt is one of the hardest working components in an engine. It should be replaced in good time to avoid damage to the engine. Please refer to your Audi Dealer for guidance."

So I duly call up my local trusty dealer (Dick Turpin Audi) where they merrily advise me that it will set me back £837.20! The thud that Dick heard was me falling on the floor, luckily I fell on my back, that way at least he couldn't come round and take advantage and bugger me at the same time! This could be my last Audi, well maybe an R8 could be tolerated!

Dodging the showers for a walk.....

2009-05-18T21:54:00.003+01:00

.... I went to the local nature reserve again this evening and spotted a couple of Buzzard's scouting the area from on high.

Luckily the EF500mm & EF1.4x converter were attached to the EOS 1DIII, so I managed to get this shot, even though they were quite a way above my head.

Not a lot else around, but it's very windy, and a bit colder than expected, so maybe everything (apart from the rabbits!) are in hiding.

Some people have the ugliest kids.....

2009-05-17T21:47:00.001+01:00

.... if you compare the beautiful Cygnet I photographed last year to this young Coot photographed today, there really is no contest in the beautiful baby stakes!

Still, it at least it's Mum loves him!

Noisy....

2009-05-12T21:50:00.002+01:00

Haven't been to the lake for a while....

2009-05-11T21:24:00.000+01:00

..... and how things have changed.

Everything is overgrown (apart from the foliage that has been hacked back), new benches everywhere and little animals have been produced.

Including this clutch of Great Crested Grebes, on the (very choppy) lake this evening.

Smell the flowers.....

2009-05-04T22:10:00.002+01:00

... they, like us are only here for a short while.

The Yellow Azalea in my garden is just about coming to the end of it's flowering season.

It smells amazing, particularly in the late afternoon\early evening. During the month of April it's something I try & do every day - go and have a sniff, it's free, and it's wonderful.

Sick....

2009-05-03T16:39:00.004+01:00

... still ill, with an ailment the likes I have never had before, never hope to have again (but the re-occurance within 90 days rate is high) and the effects of are grim, painful and generally unpleasant. Have been signed off work for 2 weeks, with another week more than likely.

I have been stuck in front of TV & PC, so I can tell you most of the snooker news and that my helicopter database is 100% up to date. I have pottered in the garden when feeling slightly better (albeit for very short periods of time), taken more paracetamol than is good for me plus a cocktail of various Dr's prescribed medications that I hope never to take again!

I have sort of managed not to fall into the trap of online retail therapy, more through feeling like crap than anything else, but a long desired sniper scope from Blackpool Air Rifles did arrive on the doorstep last week, it is made by Edgar Brothers who made my first parallax scope the 5-20x50 which has been a workhorse since purchase. So I'm now looking at increasing the arsenal with one of the following... a brown laminate stocked Air Arms S510 or a Theoben Rapid Mk II FT but if I can find a mint Theoben Rapid Mk I 17/17 FT with adjustable stock (if you have one for sale and you are in the south of UK, contact me!) I could have yet another expensive dilemma!

Just when I think....

2009-04-28T19:22:00.005+01:00

... I have all the gear and no idea!

But I suppose he is at least making a living from photography, which is more than I am.

I have over the years wondered about doing some press\pap work. I watched the TV programme on Big Pictures headed by Darryn Lyons. I saw the mostly feckless camera weilding ex lorry drivers snapping away at celebs at various locations - most memorable was when Madonna jogged past the pap's van with her bodyguards on a road less than a mile away from her (now ex) residence Ashcombe House. The pap's initially couldn't even find the house and weren't ready - the bodyguards came back and offered for Madonna et al to run past them when they were ready with camera's in hand! Whilst I realise it isn't an easy job, a lot of it is based on tip off's and there is a huge amount of rivalry and mis-trust between them, can it really be that hard to do? Sadly, I don't think I've got the balls to give it a go.

THE lens - part II.....

2009-04-27T19:06:00.007+01:00

.... about a year or so ago I wrote about the Sigma 200-500mm f2.8 lens.

I knew at the time that Canon had made to special order a fixed focal 1200mm f5.6 lens, but it was so rare that I didn't mention it. I never thought that one would come onto the market, but it did - B&H Photo Video of New York had one last year, the price tag - a cool $99,000 - believe it or not, it sold pretty quickly.

Never again did I think I would see another one available.... but yet again B&H Photo Video have one for sale, this time it's $120,000! It's an amazing lens weighing in at 36lbs, it's 3 feet long. With the current exchange rate and import tax to the UK it would set me back £95,000, I'm not sure if there is one of these in the UK yet - I can but dream!

As usual a brilliant review can be found at The Digital Picture.com website, looks like B&H got Bryan Carnathan to come and have a day with the lens, a video review is here.

Blackberry market dominance....

2009-04-24T12:06:00.003+01:00

.... not sure what the big numbers are, but in my mobile phone selection I have become a Blackberry convert. For years and years I was a Nokia fan, they did everything I wanted, the menu structure was familiar, the car kits were good, the battery life was excellent and they were mostly bullet proof.

But, a couple of years ago I was offered a Blackberry Curve as an upgrade on my Vodafone account and I took it, worked out well as it did loads of things that I wanted to do really well (like personal email), the qwerty keyboard was fabulous and little things like the camera\storage were also very useful and useable.

I was then given a Blackberry Pearl with my work contract - crap, big step backwards, shared character non-qwerty keyboard, no email integration (my employer wants me to pay £20 a month for the priveledge of getting work email on my Blackberry - so no thanks!)

With my personal Vodafone contract I have now got a Blackberry Bold, even better than the Curve, and a lot better than the Storm that they sent in error first (and have yet to pick up after a week or so!)

All I have to now is find a good quality 3.5mm over the ear headset - seems more difficult than I imagined!

Some idea's are simple.....

2009-04-19T21:08:00.005+01:00

..... and it seems others are making a living from it.

I have said for most of my life "do the small things really well and build success"... reading an ex-colleague [Tony Cocks] blog at Stuff-O-rama it sounds like Seth Godin has similar ideas... "The future is about doing small things really well and growing from there"

Maybe I should become a life coach\mentor\agent of change? Sadly I don't have the mental capability to carry it off and make a few simple lines of knowledge, experience and wisdom into a book or 2 hour presentation. But the basic principles are there - keep things small, simple, easy to understand and then execute - it should then work.

Sick, but still laughing.....

2009-04-18T09:55:00.004+01:00

.... didn't get to see Barry Cryer last night as I have been off work all week, I really didn't feel up to going out at all. So have spent some of the week finding and listening to ISIHAC downloads from iTunes, some of which I had bought on cassette for the car 10+ years ago when I spent a huge amount of time driving around the UK demonstrating Lotus SmartSuite.

To me they are hugely funny, and the one-liners are brilliant. I have to assume that parts of the show were written well beforehand, but hope that some were genuinely off the cuff lines from very funny people like Willie Rushton, Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden & Barry Cryer.

Whoever wrote Humph's lines is\was a genius - I have a sneaky suspicion it may have been Barry Cryer. Some gems can be found here.

The last word has to be the closing line of Humphrey Lyttelton on his last ISIHAC show......... "And so as the loose-bowelled pigeon of time swoops low over the unsuspecting tourist of destiny, and the flatulent skunk of fate wanders into the air-conditioning system of eternity, I notice it's the end of the show..."

Upcoming cultural events....

2009-04-10T20:47:00.004+01:00

.... I have seen a couple of upcoming cultural events that I am considering. It's a while since I have been to see anything live, but these might just get me out & about.

April 17th - Barry Cryer at the Haymarket Theatre, Basingstoke

May 17th - I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue hosted by Jack Dee at the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton - as I write I find it's already too late as the show is SOLD OUT [so I may have to trek to London to see Stephen Fry host it, but will probably find that that is SOLD OUT as well]

July 27th - Gary Numan at the City Hall, Salisbury

Canon admit problem, but they are going to fix it......

2009-04-07T07:45:00.005+01:00

Canon have admitted to a problem with their flagship EOS 1Ds Mk III camera, even beyond the initial problems of the sub mirror fix for the 1D Mk III this appears to be a major problem for some users - me included.

I have to confess, I have never been 100% happy with the 1Ds Mk III since I bought one. All of the images were soft, was it me not using the camera properly or was it worth considering sending my lenses in for service and re-calibration at huge expense. Ongoing tests with the same lenses and other bodies such as a 5D & 40D (which I know how to use v well) infuriated me as they were nearly always better and the 40D outperformed both "higher end" bodies.

It wasn't until I tried the same setup of lenses & 1.4x extender with an EOS 1D Mk III that I realised how bad the 1Ds Mk III really was, at about the same time I got an email from Canon offering free collection, repair & delivery back to me of the camera to fix a couple of things - soft focus being one of them - see here for more details.

So, hats off to Canon for addressing the problem, they picked it up yesterday and I look forward to it coming back to me before Easter to try out and finally be happy with it.

UPDATE : arrived back on 9th, so a very quick turnaround - thankyou Canon. Very nice letter, thanking for me for my commitment to Canon products... lets see what the weekend tests bring.

Big Brother has started....

2009-04-06T11:45:00.004+01:00

.......at last! As of today European ISP's will start capturing and then store the url's their customers visit as part of an EU security directive.

The BBC reports "All ISPs in the European Union will have to store the records for a year. An EU directive which requires telecoms firms to hold on to telephone records for 12 months is already in force.

The data stored does not include the content of e-mails and websites, nor a recording of a net phone call, but is used to determine connections between individuals.

Authorities can get access to the stored records with a warrant. "

Long overdue IMHO, activists and terrorists have been technology users for a long time, it's about time the bat was put in the other hand to uncover those who appear to be regular people going about their daily business as something else.

If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to worry about.

Spring chores.....

2009-04-05T20:48:00.003+01:00

Lawn cut (twice), gutters cleared & cleaned, ponds drained, cleaned and refilled, garage doors washed & polished, plants re-potted, broken pots replaced, plants in border dug out & repositioned, plus visits to tip.... a busy weekend it was.

Still more to do, hope long weekend brings nice weather.

Mauled by a fox?

2009-03-22T17:35:00.006Z

A swan at the local lakes appeared to have had a worse night than me. I didn't sleep well, hence the early visit to the lakes, but the swan appeared to have been mauled by something - at first I assumed a dog off the lead, but given the feathers and blood everywhere behind a fence & away from public access, I can only assume it was a fox, or there is a remote chance of a mink.

RSPCA were called and it has been taken to a swan sanctuary for some treatment and rehab. much to the annoyance of it's mate. I hope they are reunited soon.

Gone fishing.....

2009-03-06T20:13:00.003Z

.... the last day of my week off, and I chose to go to Rooksbury Mill Lakes wildlife reserve again, this time more to see.

Kingfisher was out at his usual spot at 4:30 on the dot, sadly the perch has a twig obscuring the bird from the most convenient vantage point, so another will have to be found.

On the lake, a Great Crested Grebe has returned for the spring & summer seasons, today it was tucking into Perch and baby Pike!

Something good.....

2009-03-05T18:55:00.004Z

.... or something bad is going to happen, which will it be?

Is this light emerging from the cloud in a god like ray? Or is it a dark cloud of gloom descending upon us?

I suppose we will just have to wait & see.

If I read my Horoscope (which I used to do every day, but really never believed any of it and have now given up wasting the time reading them) then something good is about to happen....

Solace......

2009-03-03T18:27:00.004Z

..... in a tree.

Seems the only place this Heron could find peace and quiet away from the dog walkers and kids on bikes at the weekend at Rooksbury Mill Lakes was in this tree.

Not the best light, but I thought a nice silhouette would be interesting.

Canon 1Ds Mk III + EF600mm f4 + EF1.4x Extender.

Old kit for new....

2009-03-02T19:12:00.005Z

I have traded in a load [and I do mean a lot!] of old\not used that often kit to acquire one of these.... a Canon EF600mm f4 L IS USM lens. So gone are the old EOS digital bodies that I couldn't bare to trade in for crap money in the past on smaller items, gone are the TS-E lenses, the EF180mm macro lens and the very old EOS 5 film bodies and associated flash units.

Once again I have assured myself that if turns out to be too heavy to lug around [it weighs in at 11.8 lbs!] or I find I don't put it to good use often enough it can be sold for very good money. I have done the usual refurb with Canon paint to cover up the inevitable chips, so it looks like new again. I will endeavour to find a manual on ebay, it will then be complete & as new, probably making it worth quite a bit more that I paid for it.

So far I have found it to be an exceptional piece of kit, it does weigh a lot more than the EF500mm, but with the 1.4x Extender attached the EF600mm comes in at fully functioning autofocus 840mm f5.6 on a 1Ds Mk III or close to 1100mm on an EOS 40D.

The new weapon of choice.....

2009-02-28T19:46:00.006Z

Having re-kindled my liking for shooting air weapons, I have recently acquired a Weihrauch HW100KS.

Weihrauch made my 2nd ever air weapon at the age of 16 (less said about the 1st - an Anshutz the better) a Weihrauch HW35E in .22 calibre. It was an absolute mega weapon, and like so many things from the past, I should never have traded it in for something less memorable.

So, the new PCP HW100KS is the latest in technology, being the carbine version it is smaller, shorter and lighter, also as it's a Sporter version, it looks fairly normal versus the thumbhole stocked version.

Results are very good, very accurate and almost silent in operation thanks to it's amazing standard fit sound moderator and pretty near silent trigger and action. So far Mr Squirrel has been targetted very successfully, and with the lighter evenings on the way, I might even undertake some rabbit control.

Harking back to my fondness of the HW35E, I might even start a crusade to find a decent one 2nd hand for my mini collection.

UPDATE : The Weihrauch doesn't hold it's charge very well, filling it to 200 bar, it then levels out at 150 bar pretty quickly, and then drops off. It performs fine, but for a lesser number of shots than I would like. So I am now looking at the regulator upgrade from Ben Taylor & Son in which he replaces the whole workings that are under pressure with his own. The results are a massive increase in full power shots per charge - the downside is that it costs £300 making the gun a substantial investment!

Spring has sprung......

2009-02-22T20:24:00.004Z

At Rooksbury Mill Nature Reserve late this afternoon I caught up with a Kingfisher, not ideal as the branches were in the way quite a bit, but at least I now know the patch.

I will take some time off work and sit down in a hide and see if I can get some better shots.

Currently negotiating on a Canon EF600mm lens, so will be able to get even closer.

Fighting Moorhens.....

2009-02-15T17:11:00.002Z

I never knew that such a small bird had such huge feet\claws and that they fought like demons!?

As usual this looks like 2 males fighting over a female, same old story as most animals of this green and pleasant earth.

Not as sharp as I would like, but still a useful capture of the behaviour.

Con of the Year... again

2009-02-04T15:01:00.003Z

Once again the High Street has thrown up a complete marketing con for Valentine's Day.

Wine Rack\Threshers\Victoria Wine group have released a voucher offering "40% Off All Champagne and Sparkling wine from 4th-14th February".

Sadly for them, all the comparisons I have done with other wine retaillers works out with them being considerably more expensive from the start - and even with the 40% deducted, only slightly cheaper in some cases. If you are wanting a dozen or more bottles I suggest Virgin Wines in most examples.

Example 1 - Taittinger Brut NV 75cl
Wine Rack - £36.99 less 40% = £22.19
Sainsbury's = £31.99
Virgin Wines = £21.99 (in a mixed case of 12)

Example 2 - Moet et Chandon Brut NV 75cl
Wine Rack - £38.99 less 40% = £23.39
Sainsbury's = £25.84
Tesco = £25.84
Virgin Wines = £21.99 (in a mixed case of 12)

Example 3 - Veuve Clicquot Brut NV 75cl
Wine Rack - £44.99 less 40% = £26.99
Sainsbury's = £29.73
Tesco = £29.73
Virgin Wines = £25.99 (in a mixed case of 12)

Example 4 - Bollinger Special Cuvee NV 75cl
Wine Rack - £47.99 less 40% = £28.79
Tesco = £33.98
Sainsbury's = £33.98
Virgin Wines = £29.99 (in a mixed case of 12)

Example 5 - Lanson Black Label Brut NV 75cl
Wine Rack - £29.99 less 40% = £17.99
Tesco = £25.90
Sainsbury's = £25.90
Virgin Wines = £18.99 (in a mixed case of 12)

Everything stops.....

2009-02-02T19:53:00.002Z

... a little bit of snow, and everything stops.

But in some cases, it also allows for some photography trials.

Bench in garden covered in 4 inches of snow.