Holiday round-up

24th — saw a neat grey Beetle with plates L33T VW.

25th — Karen took a tumble, sustained a messy scalp wound, and spent hours in casualty, instead of going to the in-laws for lunch. So I picked up the enhancement request for CTClib that had been sitting for 6 months and started coding.

26th — had enough of the pond heater tripping the circuit after a few minutes (leaking nastily to earth according to a meter check. Do they all assume a non-RCD supply?) and deployed bubble-wrap covering instead.

27th — snow, but the bubble wrap did the job.

Apart from that, lots of coding, and the first DVD of Planetes, which captures some of the spirit of the manga, but insists on adding office-work sit-com bits too; and the incredibly silly-but-fun Kung-fu Hustle…

Like, “Season's Greetings”, man

So what's been happening?

Well, we now have new foundations and footings instead of a conservatory and part of the garden. The weather was mild and dry yesterday, so I did cycle to work, denim jacket over T-shirt, and bare feet in sandals, discovering that cycling doesn't keep feet warm the way that walking does. And, homeward bound into the only bit of sunshine for the day, that the 10 rolling miles or so to work are a bit more wear and tear on the posterior than the six flat ones into town (again).

And it was still mild enough to be T-shirt weather when headed into town for a little bit of greengrocery (and brunch) today; too warm for the heavier jacket I'd put on to cycle in.

So, another years survived at work; and even a bit more enthusiasm for hobby coding.

Hedgehog's dilemma

Where the conservatory and patio were is now a set of trenches that were filled with concrete this afternoon, and the near half of the garden is full of bricks, rubble, paving-slabs, and bits of conservatory; and there is a skip and piles of bricks on the drive. Oh, and we can't actually get to the back yard except by climbing out the garage window and slipping between piles of stuff.

First thing this morning, Jemima, the tortie, insisted on going out in the just about getting light pre-dawn and was sniffing around in the trenches (about 4' deep), for quite a long while before heading off down the garden. Then I saw why — there was a hedgehog had fallen in and gotten trapped.

So I had to get out to the greenhouse for gloves and overalls, climb into the trench, and try and corner it. At least it turns spiky by curling up into a ball (unlike cats); so I could pick it up and lift it out, then carry it down to the end of the garden.

So now I have gloves that will attract the cats, being well doused in hedgehog piss.

Funny old weather

A fortnight ago, we were having hard frosts, and the ground was frozen, with parts of the garden staying white all day — and I was wrestling the unwanted holly-tree out of the ground, sliding in a thin film of mud on the icy ground.

Today, out in the garden, it was T-shirt weather. And the apple trees are barely beginning to acknowledge the changing of the seasons.

Bramley apple tree

Milestones

Odometer on 9999 miles when I parked to go to the gym today, wound over to 10000 as I set off back to work.

Sunday lunchtime 4-Dec-05 : 10089 miles

The world turned upside-down

On Monday, driving into town for a work-out, I was stuck behind a young bloke in a high-end Vauxhall who didn't get above 45mph (even on the dual carriageway where I overtook him). Later I was followed closely by a driver who clearly didn't care for my staying a couple of mph under the limit — and he was an old guy in a flat cap!

And we have finally managed to engage builders for some work on the house and things will be chaos from now until whenever!

There was a marvellous red sunset on Monday, too.

Anime — Elfen Lied

It's a comedic harem anime with the same motif as Love Hina — the male set up as a guesthouse caretaker, and the guesthouse fills up with girls. Only this time some of them are telekinetics with the habit of blowing people up in gory explosions, when not being delightfully clueless, in a manner reminiscent of Chobits trainwrecked with Scanners.

It's a wonder this hasn't garnered the nickname “Love Lucy”, based on the name of the main telekinetic girl character.

Conspiracy, violence, gore, and nudity — only in Japan (the Yanks would have blurred out the nipples).

Anime — Jinki Extend

A title that crossed my radar as being associated with a whiff of shoujo-ai; though when I'd picked up the first volume of manga, I just found it incoherent and incomprehensible, not knowing who these people were (or being easily able to distinguish the b&w line drawing girls). The anime was slightly more coherent, though the ragged fade between the two parallel storylines was not well handled, failing to introduce the characters in Japan, or even make clear that this was a bit later and the look-alike of Rui and Ryohei were the characters from the South American thread. The viewer wasn't told as much as any of the characters would have known about what was going on, even.

In the end, the plot was just about explained and resolved, but with a mass of unexplained loose ends (who were those beast-headed people in the early episodes, and why didn't they have anything to do with the ending? Where did the jinki-tech (and Ancient Jinkis) come from?

It was redeemed by very catchy J-pop endpieces, though.

[Later] the incomprehensibility of the manga is apparently explained by Jinki:Extend being a follow-up/complement to an earlier title, Jinki, which followed the South America thread.

Book — Accelerando — by Charles Stross

This is more like it! Iron Sunrise doesn't compare.

The book comes over as an uneasy — edgy — mix of Gibson and Baxter. The post-Cyberpunk ideas flow thick and fast to the Singularity and immediately after, into the ruins of an alien Singularity. And then there is the phase transition, imagination fails. the left behind humans — weakly posthuman — are presented in a straitened state, for all the alien magitech they have to hand; culturally impoverished, retreating to hearth and family.

Not since Star Maker does the experience of the transcendent, or recounting it, seem to have enriched anyone; the authors seem scorched by the flame as they draw back. But at least I felt drawn to devour it in a single sitting.

Soft Southern Jessies

I cycled into town yesterday for the usual brunch and shopping. It was cool early, but by the time I parked my bike, the sun was out and the wind had dropped, so it was perfectly fine for walking around in a T-shirt. I was boggled by the number of people dressed in heavy jackets and scarves — what will they do if it ever gets cold this winter?

On the way back, I stopped for a beer (and to avoid a shower); but apart from that it was amazingly mild as we went out to glorify the 400th anniversary of an attempted terrorist outrage.

Teeth

Went to Sycamore House on Friday, and bumped into Neil and Angela who had had the same idea. Come dessert time, I choose the blackberry and apple cake and do my usual rant about ice-cream and teeth when it comes accompanied by ice-cream rather than, say, custard. I'm eating, and I find what feels like a large pip. Actually, it's the inboard quadrant of a molar that is one of the ones that have been sensitive to cold.

At least it's not been painful, and it will be patched up again this evening. But what I'd really like is an upgrade.

Into the darkness

A ridiculously mild weekend, but windy; sun and dark cloud alternating, but never quite getting the rain we were promised. Still T-shirt weather.

Visited Neil and Angela yesterday to see the kittens again, and on the way spotted my first 55 reg Smart.

It felt very strange today in the mild (16C still at 17:20!!) ) setting up a pond heater ready against the promised chilly winter. But even in a normal winter it would be useful to keep the ice melted a bit.

Had to re-set the glazing on the greenhouse automatic window again. I think it must be a cat's landing pad from next door's summer-house.

And the clocks went.

To Shingle Street and home again

Breakfast was relaxed here — no buffet, 08:30 start; so I had yoghurt, juice and croissant, before heading off about 09:30.

The full tour would have concluded at the end of the road at Bawdsey, allowing the speedy, or those able to make use of the Butley Ferry, to have a quick nip across to Felixstowe. As this was not a weekend between Easter and the end of September, I had to do the extra four miles walk in warm and windy weather.

The cross country was nice, but the levee was exposed, wet and slow going. I eat apples I'd packed from home, and the occasional blackberry that still remained on the pathside brambles.

Shingle Street

Arriving at gone 14:00, I had just enough time to stretch the tired muscles in a warm-down, when my lift arrived. An hour saw us back in Southwold, and to avoid the contraflow and other tedium east of Bury, I headed across through Diss and Thetford — to be stuck in traffic as the A11 was closed at Thetford; and Brandon was locked solid: in all an hour at about walking pace.

Home, chores, crash.

To Orford

At breakfast (muesli, porridge, fruit), the BBC website forecast was attached to the menu - it promised light rain; but the sky was almost cloudless, and the radio had agreed it would be dry.

The path started out along the road towards Snape (noticing my first 55 reg car), before diving across country, through woods, and marshy bits to Snape, and then to the crossing at the Maltings. The path then follows the coast to Iken, and here a lot of people were walking, bird watching, I guessed, and the path was churned to quagmire, unlike other parts of the way. On road a while to Iken High Street, before plunging into almost virgin territory. There is a footpath, with signposts, but not very travelled — in places overgrown with nettles; or under low-hanging sloe (damson?) trees needing to crouch; or simply having to wade through grass or reeds more than knee deep

This was an easy bit to spot!

before finally getting four hours in to the point where I was just across the river from Aldeburgh where I started.

From then on it was an increasingly numbing slog into sun and wind along the levee to Orford, as I pushed myself to see if I would be able to make the rate of ground needing to be covered the next day for a 3pm pick-up.

As I shuffled slowly up the main street to find the hotel (cunningly disguised as a restaurant, with reception in a stables round the back), I decided I would only do 12, not 16 miles to finish with.

The Crown and Castle is a seriously foodie place; dinner was buffalo Mozzarella and tomato salad, chicken breast with spinach and green salsa risotto (to which I added a side of chips!), and hot chocolate mousse.

To Aldeburgh

Having provisioned myself with cheese at Nutters, and pasty at Temptations, I set out in the grey morning, just after 9.

The route follows the coast for a lot of the route today, starting just back of the actual front along to the river, then along the riverside to a footbridge. Here rain started, and carried on as I headed back along the river to the corner at Walberswick. By then it dried out enough to shed the waterproof, and just be in T-shirt and shorts again.

You could just follow the beach all the way, but I took the path back of the waterway, past the abandoned mill

and along the edge of Dunwich forest, before looping past the Ship inn (not yet open) and across Dunwich heath to the coast, and by now the sun was out in almost cloudless sky. Then it was a long slog into the wind and sun on often sandy path, past Minsmere, and the reactors at Sizewell. By the time I got to Sizewell village, my feet were hot enough to want to change into sandals to walk along the beach, seeking the firmest stretches of sand.

By now the sun had dried the beach enough that it was being blown in the wind; uncomfortable enough that I was glad to get up the cliff at Thorpeness, and on the fairly packed shingle path before getting to the really paved track to Aldeburgh.

The Britten Memorial was proving popular with the kids to scramble on and beat like a steel drum.

As the nice place I ate at last year had been replaced by a pizza place, I ate at 152 - their menu of the day offering sticky toffee pudding being the clincher. Starter was chicken liver parfait with bramley apple jelly, then for main course a vegetable risotto, just for fuel. And then an early crash!