I worked at home on Thursday and it was the first time I’d been at the house in the daylight for more than a week. Just took a few photos whilst there was a bit of light about of my lovely daughter and my silly but lovely dog.
Our lounge carpet was fitted on Tuesday and we’re in the very satisfying position of bringing about the end of almost two years without a ‘real’ living room. Lily, somewhat predictably, took the opportunity for a good run around, as did Elvis.
Well I wouldn’t say that it was a waste of time, but it was approaching it. Two and a half hours of travelling each way for a course that was just abysmal and form that just didn’t materialise on the day. I finished 35th out of a field of 49 starters, and after a pretty good first lap, i soon succumbed to just not being able to keep myself rolling smoothly and went into the red somehow, not seeming to recover.
Again, I couldn’t close down small gaps on the riders in front after ten minutes of racing and again a cycling god from the low countries came and made the UK cyclocross scene look so amateurish. This time is was David Willemsens, Belgian Amateur champion who rode round the (exceedingly dull) Leicestershire course with ease, lapping most of the field.
After a win in the North West league last year, and wins in two of the four NW races I’ve ridden so far this year, the natural thing to do seems to progress to the top level of competition in the country (and it’s the right thing to do, given the generous sponsorship we’ve had from Wheelbase, SIS and Gore bike wear), but this step is so big, and it’s frustrating that there’s nothing in between!
It was a good chance to catch up with my team mate (and lift share) Lewis, who, conversely, seems to be really getting it together this season in the national trophies. Good on him.
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It’s not that often that I look at art these days and think “wow”, but for some reason, I’m just intrigued by these cut paper creations, all from A4 paper. They’re maybe amazing because I’ve got such wobbly hands that I could never ever get near making them. Wow. |
New Shoes! Lily had a little treat going shopping to Asda with Katie today
I had the psychological uplift of another cyclocross win on Saturday at the Liverpool Century ‘cross Otterspool Park.
Adding to the euphoria was riding my new frames, Columbus X-Wings, (click on image, right) which felt very nice indeed (though, of course, it’s not about the bike).
As if that wasn’t enough, a total cycling hero Ben Greenwood was riding cyclocross for the first time and finished in third spot. Now I’m not deluding myself about being better than him, no way sir, but I was in this discipline on the day. What an amazing feeling!
As with my previous wins, you sometimes feel like it’s more about who didn’t turn up to race than who I beat, but you can only beat who’s there.
I love them and have always been amused by good palindromes. This whole paragraph is a palindrome (well, it’s not, but it got you looking didn’t it).
This site has a pretty exhaustive collection of them, including:
A Toyota’s a Toyota
Lid off a daffodil
No, it is opposition
Was it a car or a cat I saw?
… and other gems
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Our (currently antipodean) friends James and Katy have just had a massive 9lb baby boy. Congratulations to them both on the birth of the upside-down little Finlay James Metcalfe-Gibson, pictured left, aged five minutes. Finlay is an Irish name, anglicized form of “Fionnlagh”, which means “white warrior” from Gaelic fionn “white, fair” and laogh “warrior”. “James” means just James.
Someone shot me with an air gun when I was riding home from work last week. I pondered going to the police but then quickly (and I think rightfully) assumed that nothing would be done and i’d end up getting involved in all sorts of manic bureacratic hassle. It didn’t pierce the skin – in fact I had the tiniest of bruises, but it just made me annoyed.
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A dry night and lots of excitement for Lily who was lucky enough to have all her grandparents on hand.� Most of the piccies were not much good but the sparkler ones came out okay. |
Some photos taken by mum when Lily spent a bit of time with her on 5th November. Cheeky face!
I’ve rung a few changes recently and slimmed down the audio effects and gear that I own. I hardly ever play any gigs any more so it was a bit of a luxury owning expensive guitar effects. Having sold some stuff on ebay, I treated myself to the only real studio essential in this day of computer recording, a compressor.
Without going into any more technical stuff, compression helps get a much warmer and more natural sound on acoustic guitars and on vocals that can often sound hollow and false on ‘dry’ digital recordings. I had a quick mess about with it at the weekend and pretty quickly recorded an acoustic version of Plasticine, a fairly recent song.
Have a listen…. Plasticine (acoustic)
Comments always appreciated.
Oh, and the ‘original’ version’s here if you missed it.
