Ache day

I woke up aching. I barely managed to walk at first, but soon worked out how, though not without considerable pain. I don't normally try to cycle the day after the Dun Run but I had few options. Breakfast was excellent as usual here with bread rolls, croissants, cereals, and bits such as jam and butter. Then the cooked bit. And limitless tea and coffee.
I ambled into Aldeburgh. Stopped to look at pigs.

pig village

piglets

neighbourhood watch

I discovered short cut onto main road. Clever me - only took four years! Was in Aldeburgh by 11.

Beach; scallop; coffee; bookshop; fish and chips; pub for 2 hours while it rained heavily and I was done.
Found out what Broadside is supposed to taste like.
Was some serious way towards being drunk when I headed home in truly awful weather. I'd only had two, and it soon wore off. Didn't like it. Just don't like getting drunk any more, unless I'm somewhere safe.

I had an audience when eating my lunch

Something strangely Hitchockian about this bird

The controversial scallop

a rare plant

I sat and watched the waves, until a girl arrived with her three legged dog, then I felt too self conscious to keep hanging around, especially as she was rather nice looking - the girl, not the dog

parking facilities for one bicycle

rather interesting flooring material - a bit hard work for walking on though

Aldeburgh, just hanging on to land

There was only sporadic wireless all day and none at all now and I was enjoying an email correspondence with S. Oh well...

Blaxhall

After leaving Dunwich yesterday I wandered off southwards. Last year I went through Dunwich woods. This year I went across the Heath. The weather, which had been great suddenly turned violent and dark. Winds threatened to blow me into the sea at times as I wound a path between dunes and wetlands, getting ever closer to the shadows cast by Sizewell power stations A and B with C being built.
Barely moving as I forced my aching body to work the bike against the wind, inland, to Leiston.
In Leiston, where S and I once bought a pristine original Spong, the heavens opened. I took shelter in the doorway of a disabled loo.
It took me while to get to Snape Moatings past the pig farm and along the main road. The sun came out and then went in; more rain as I drank. My two pints of Wherry.
Arrived at the YH around 5.30. Lots of cyclists here and I recognised one. I was put in a family/disabled room even though I'd booked a bed in the dorm, though I'm not complaining.
It wasn't long before I was asleep on my bed. Two hours on the beach just wasn't enough.

I arrived at Dunwich Beach shortly after 9 this morning. Therby making this a 12 hour ride. In 2006 I did it in about 9 hours, but today's time is more usual. Weather was perfect. Tailwind. Friendly but not as friendly as previous rides.
A guy. Got run down fairly early in the ride. He wasn't dead, and remained conscious but was braced and strapped in which I assume means spinal injury might be an issue.
I got through a whole pack of Neurofen Plus. My wrists and ankles hurt, hip pain early on but then cleared, bad throat, sore bum and running out energy towards the end, but I didn't flag out like previous years and kept reasonable pace throughout.
I was quite nervous as to how my asthma condition would respond to this. Early on I was breathing very self consciously and testing - especially on the way out of london which is quite a long slow climb up to Epping Forest. After epping I was kind of in the swing and enjoying it. cool air was nice, diminshing light - good. Not too much harrassment from drivers and none from pedestrians or drinkers.
I put all my learned stuff into action - keep topped up with water, keep snacking, have the high energy sweet stuff ready for any dip in energy.
Every year i wonder if this was the one where i'd get my first puncture. I came close on the last one, suffering a slow puncture in the last stretch of the ride which i didn't even notice until well into Sunday afternoon and managed to go a further couple of days before i had to repair it.
What was instantly noticeable was the massively high number of riders. I estimated that it must be at least the one and half thousand thye had last year, while others reckoned a bit less. But it meant that the lonely stretches of the ride, which i enjoy most, were fewer and farther in between, and it took much longer into the ride before i was finally on my own.
Some rode with music playing - which i didn't like. One guy was riding for charity with his two dogs on the bike - I'd never noticed people doing it for charity before. I'm starting to think it's only a matter of time before it becomes indistinguishable from the London to Brighton. some did in wacky or eccentric costumes - brightly coloured party dresses, or in tweed. There was the usual amount of odd bikes - a few less recumbants, a couple of tandems, and a "Boris" bike.
Thankfully though a lot more "normal" bikes and less semi professional racer types (as a proportion) than in previous years. I swear I was the one riding a hybrid in 2005.
The food stop was only 50 odd miles into the race and I couldn't justify stopping. Just went in to take a look and wondered about filling up with water. Probably should have.
Then it started to get light. My favourite bit. Now it was as lonely as it has ever been. Cyclists meeting at this point usually chatted a bit. I rode alongside a few different people before i finally made my first wrong turn. GPS had been doing me proud up until then, but after my batteries had run out I went wrong immediately. By using my old world map I was able to get back to the correct route within about 5 miles - into Peasnell and then it was fairly easy route, though i did see one guy go completely wrong ahead of me - he went too fast and too far for me to catch him.
Now I was beginning to suffer: sore bum, aching knees, beginnings of a headache, though nothing compared to two years ago and i could still turn on the speed when i wanted to, and make it up the little hills that felt like mountains by now.
Then i was finished. Couldn't believe the numbers on the beach - it was nearly completely covered. Grabbed breakfast - the works this time - and two hours sleep on the beach before it started to rain. Then came the storm!

Bonkers Noah & His Mental Ark

http://www.google.co.uk/search?tbm=isch&hl=en&source=hp&biw=1260&bih=866&q=johan+huibers+ark&gbv=2&aq=1&aqi=g5g-m2&aql=&oq=johan+huibers

--
And that's What I Say!!!

Lying Cheating Bastards & the News Of The World

While I expect the press to behave like complete scumbags - because they are - i thought the police were supposed to be upholders of the law, not behaving like the worst sort of low level organised criminals.

Read this article above and now go to this blog and read that too. then come back and tell me what you think about the Met Police now. Try not to use the 'cunt' word too often though.

My original Blog entry

Woolwich: Union St. School Being Demolished

I took these pictures back in April but didn't have a good enough web connection to upload them

Just Say Noam

Have finally broken the 660 barrier. It took a month of pretty solid Tweeting including coming up with interesting original material that got retweeted and recommended for follow friday.

It's nice to know what I have to say is actually read by people. but it does mean I have to be careful what I say at times too.

Hope Not Hate

"Over 5,000 people have already signed our petition in less than three days and now a number of organisations are throwing their support behind our campaign.


The EDL want to whip up racism and terrorise the local Muslim community. There can be no other explanation for their provocative march. They are coming to East London looking for a confrontation. This is the last thing the people of Tower Hamlets want or need.

Will you join us in calling for the EDL march to be banned?

http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/ban-eld-march-of-hate

From Tower Hamlets we have the support of the leaders of the Altab Ali Foundation, Bangladesh Welfare Association, Brick Lane Jame Masjid Trust, Brick Lane Business Association, Collective of Bangladeshi School Governors, Bangladesh Udichi Shilpi Gosthi, Soytten Sen School of Performing Arts and the Bangladesh Youth Union. The campaign has the backing of the Convenor of the Association of progressive Bangladeshi women and the Pir Habib Memorial Foundation.

The trade unions Unison and the GMB have signed up, as has the Greater London association of Trade Union Councils. The LGBT groups OutEast and IMAAN have added their names, as have the local LGBT sections within Unite and the regional TUC.

Last night Tower Hamlets council unanimously backed the call for a ban.

Will you add your name to theirs?

http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/ban-eld-march-of-hate

The campaign is gathering pace but we need your support. The greater the opposition to the EDL's march of hate the more likely we will get them banned."

Reminder

Reminder to myself to update some of the links on my sidebar - it's well out of date.

Might scrap the events section entirely - it's not something I find easy to maintain.

Latest on the Thug Who Attacked Bexley cyclist

New Scotland Yard press office stated that John Nicholls, 29, of Edwin Road, Dartford has today, Thursday 14 July, been charged with common assault following an incident in Bexley Village, Bexley on Sunday 15 May.
He has been bailed to appear at Bexley Magistrates' Court on Monday 25 July.

For further information please contact the MPS Press Bureau on 020 7230 2171 or visit their website at www.met.police.uk/pressbureau 

If you haven't seen the video, I'd check it out
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-14127823

It's a concern to me because I do chance upon such thugs from time to time, especially around the Bexley/Dartford. I hope this guy gets properly punished and that it works as a deterrent to other violent bastards who think they can take their frustrations out on the nearest road user who doesn't happen to be shielded by a metal box and travelling at 40 mph.

AccuWeather.com - Dunwich, England - 15 Day Weather Forecast - Local Weather Forecasts

AccuWeather.com - Dunwich, England - 15 Day Weather Forecast - Local Weather Forecasts

Weather's looking better already for the DD. Forecast has gone from rain to showers and now to just cloudy and with the wind blowing from the south west just to give us a nice 25 kmph boost.

she lives in the castle

another day not on the bike. arrived at work in a frenzied state after becoming frazzled from horrendous bus/DLR/tube journey from Welling to Earls Court.

I was discussing what specific things I would be saying in a talk with some of our frontline managers, to explain our company environmental policy, acheivements, etc. and what we are doing, what they need to do, and how i can support them.

I plan to talk between 30 and 45 minutes. I've done this sort of thing lots in the past so it should be a doddle. I might get a bit of a hard time, some guys sneer in the face of environmental management, but i try to keep it strictly relevant and once i explain the advantages to doing it the right way, including costs, and staying legal, they usually accept what i have to say. some become positively enthusiastic. Well it happens from time to time. And they become a useful contact for me.

then the Picc Line back to Holborn for catching up with emails in the office. interesting stuff today. A procedure for changing chemicals that we use is being written and it just wasn't robust enough in environmental terms - so i requested that they beef it up, gave them the specifics, and quoted the bits out of the company handbook which were relevent.

The badger work will probably have to be postponed now. This is due to Natural England taking an age issuing a simple license, whcih is more or less a duplicaion of the license issued last year.

Heard that two dead badgers turned up on the Met Line today. Not my badgers, but a young one at Rickmansworth and another at Hillingdon, both killed by walking on the power rail. it's a real hazard for a young badger, and another reason why excluding them from the railway as much as possible is a good idea.

Just thinking about the benefits of putting in artifical tunnels and setts for them - leaving this in as a reminder to myself to check it out. a well designed sett might remove the need for them to cross the line at all.

Apart from that it was following up on bits and pieces, such as my response to trialling a pigeon scaring device and letting rlevant peeps know that I had so far failed to get a license for the badger work.

Two more days to go before my holiday - my harduous and soggy holiday cycling around the east of england for a week. The details of which will be posted here, with photos tweeted, to be found on my LaughingNoam account.

My podplayer at the moment has "Bleak House", and "War and Peace" on it as well as albums by Felt, Roxy Music, David Bowie, Jesus and Mary Chain (Peel Sessions), The Fall (Peel Sessions and Extricate), Catatonia, Housemartins (Peel Sessions), Smashing Pumpkins (Peel Sessions) and podcasts from Mark Kermode, Richard Herring, Danny Baker, some Radio Four stuff, and a John Peel show from the late 80s.

The Cat's Comment Is Free in the guardian

Been on Youtube quite a bit checking out the old tunes from my student days:
stump; fuzzbox; sugarcubes; jesus and mary chain; the fall; etc.

Recent Watches:
Lexx - series 3
15 Storeys High - series 2

Freddie Mercury in his ground-breaking transgendered role as Xev

Recent Buys:
Buffy The Comic

    The Scoobie gang - like they've never been gone

Digger's Demise

Murdoch: Like the saggy old family spaniel, but EVIL and POWER MAD

I'm only glad that the old cunt has lived long enough to see his empire go down the pan.

If it finishes him off, I won't be upset.

Guardian today:
Government backs Labour call for Murdoch to ditch BSkyB bidMPs from all parties to support motion calling on News

Gloomy Prospects For Dun Run 2011

Only 5 days to the Dun Run 2011. Am in preparation. Five days arduous not using the bike. I have found that resting my cycling muscles prior to a long ride works best. Fitness remains - I easily managed a 40 mile ride a couple of weeks ago which I know from past experience means I'll be OK.
This year I have GPS - on my phone, mounted on the handlebars in a waterproof holder. I've checked that battery will last me several hours and I have two so should do me I hope. Have a map and directions too just in case.
Have also got new bigger panniers. In them I will carry food, drink, and the odd necessity for a week on the road: waterproof jacket, one spare set of clothes, bank card, cash, batteries, water, camera, small towel, map, MP3 player loaded up with talking books (war and Peace; Bleak House; Richard Dawkins), phone charger. It sounds like a lot but it should easily fit in one pannier. The other pannier will be filled with 3litres of water, 2 flapjacks, 2 small choc bars, a rice based meal, a packet of jelly babies, some energy snacks.
This week I was hoping to pick up my badger work from last year. However, Natural England, reeling from government cuts, are taking an age issuing me a license. I've still got an outside chance of getting it going if the license is issued today or tomorrow. Otherwise it will wait till the week after next.
Its a good example of where government savings will knock on and actually cost public money somewhere else. These cuts just aren;t being properly thought through, though why should I be surprised by that?

AccuWeather.com - Sudbury, England - 15 Day Weather Forecast - Local Weather Forecasts

Weather's looking iffy for Saturday's Dun Run. on the plus side, it should keep numbers down, and the wind is vaguely in the right direction too.

Think I'll get the waterproofs out of the cupboard for this one!

This message went out earlier - for those who intend to join the Dunwich Dynamo at the weekend:


From: Alex Crawford11:27am Jul 10
Stating the obvious but to those of you doing Dunwich Dynamo next weekend please circulate the following far and wide...
On the road to Dunwich, remind yourselves and fellow riders not to make unwelcome noise in villages, not to drop litter and to offer help to anyone in difficulty.

Read our FAQs too :) http://www.facebook.com/l/bAQBxYLUrAQA-hqWmeIwDH8sXVxOevivGUgPqGWdCmdqWYw/southwarkcyclists.org.uk/content/dunwich-dynamo
If you’ve read these before, please read them yet again for minor changes and darwins.


See you next week
Dunwich Dynamo
southwarkcyclists.org.uk

Why thorium nuclear power shouldn't be written off | Environment | guardian.co.uk

I posted a brief paragraph a while ago about thorium after skimming through an article in the Ecologist.

Here's Labour Peer Byrony Worthington arguing in favour of investing in an untested technology, presumably so we can avoid investing in other renewables such as solar and wind.

Haven't read this yet - but hope to sometime today. [Have read it and there is little of substance in this article; not surprising, it was written by an MP]

To explain my previous comments - I was really reacting against the simple minded unsupported beliefs of climate change deniers, rather than the considered science based opinions of, say, some environmentalists who happen to be pro-nuclear.

They latch onto any old piece of nonsense, and though thorium is beginning to be taken seriously, I would doubt that it is the magic bullet for energy that so many claim.

But for the moment I will reserve judgement...it's not like my opinion really counts in this debate or anything. I'll wait for the scientists and the engineers to make their judgements.

But i still think we should be investing in sure fire technology like solar and wind way before we go off on speculative stuff like this, which might take decades before we get any benefit. And decades is just too slow I'm afraid. We need it now.

John Peel Lives Forever

montage care of Atilla The Stockbroker

#KeepingItPeel

Keeping It Peel is a site that aims to keep John Peel's legacy alive. I've downloaded some of the podcasts with the aim of giving them a listen so I can report back to you dear reader.

Watch this space. Though really you should just jump in and find out for yourselves.