Month: November 2016

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Virtual Radar

A while back I wrote about setting up an ADS-B detector in the loft. There are six communications I think.

And this one makes seven.

What’s the point in having an ADS-B receiver if you aren’t going to use it when you are out of your house? So, I managed to set up some wizardry on parts of my home network and now I can see the display from outside the confines of my wireless network. I’ve done some port forwarding and other lovely stuff which is easy enough if you are adept at googling, which I am.

So, I now have a Virtual Radar Service for the area around my house that I can log in to from anywhere in the world. I did have to set up a Dynamic Domain Name Service for my modem as I am not lucky enough to have a fixed IP from my broadband supplier. My router even informs the DDNS service what its new IP is whenever it restarts and because this just seems to work it makes me happy.

I did have some minor issues with the radar service as it uses Google Maps to provide a nice background and because I was using this outside of my home network I needed an API key to make this work. That was reasonably easy to set up but then it turns out that Google recommend you secure the key to a particular site so that other people can’t use your key and steal your Maps data, which would then mean Google would charge me.

It took a little while to get the formatting of this securing correct but I think I finally managed it. I guess I’ll soon find out if Google send me a massive Google Maps API bill soon!

So, I can log in to my radar server from anywhere and view it on a desktop or mobile device. That way I can see what my home system sees. It doesn’t catch all planes because some won’t be broadcasting position, see the MLAT communication. Below is a picture of a browser with my radar server running.

Virtual Radar Server
Virtual Radar Server

If you want access I can allow it to you. Just let me know and I’ll arrange a login and password and also give you the URL.

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Weekend Musings

It was a weekend of many happenings. I usually try to keep weekend happenings to a minimum and then I can use all the spare time to see a film, exercise, mess around with technology of various forms and play the PlayStation.

This weekend was the end of my relationship with the Beast. But, it was also the start of my relationship with the Not-Beast, which has yet to be named.

Not The Beast
Not The Beast

There’re a lots of differences between a diesel turbo six speed manual and a petrol hybrid automatic! I will probably bore you with these over time so I won’t go into the detail here. My main current issue is that I don’t know how to hill start this car. Oh, and sometimes I forget to take the “handbrake” off because in this thing it’s a “parking brake” and operated by the left foot.

The new car isn’t named yet, but will be soon. Suggestions welcome to @iparish. This purchase does now mean that the only manual driving experience I will get is either the school minibuses [limited to 100kph] or my Playstation. I’ve upgrade to a six speed manual stick for the PS4. I had been pretty good at heel-and-toeing and matching engine revs to new gears when selected. Now I’m worried my left foot will whither away through lack of use in the new car.

I spent some time in Essex this weekend and I can never be sure if I feel like I am home or whether Kent is now my home. I’ve been down here mostly since 1996 and so while not all of my life it certainly consists of quite a bit of my life. I don’t think I identify as an Essex-boy any more, but I’m not sure I was to start with.

I had a very nice run along the A1060 while in Essex.

It was good until the last mile when my left knee decided it didn’t really want to run and all I could do was hobble along keeping that leg straight. While it continued to ache through the day it turns out that a day later the upper part of my right foot hurts a lot climbing stairs. It is quite possible that my body is starting to fall apart due to age and wear and tear.

While running I spent some time directly under the flight path for the approach to Stansted Airport and I have to say I stopped twice to watch the aircraft fly overhead. It’s a lovely sight. I’m not sure why I like planes but I do.

EGSS Approach
EGSS Approach

Since I got home I have learnt of an update to No Man’s Sky. I am looking forward to seeing what that is like. I really enjoy a good hour of time exploring planets. I’ve tweeted a few things from this game, it’s nicely relaxing [as long as you don’t die].

So I am currently waiting to decide a new name for the car and enjoying the knowledge that I should get 70mpg, because, you know, the planet is fucked.

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Obit – The Beast

There always comes a moment when it is time to retire a vehicle or sell it on. For me, it is time to retire The Beast. It’s a rather sad moment. The Passat and I have been a large number of places and I’ve had to spend quite a bit on surgery to keep it going safely.

The Beast Retires
The Beast Retires

While this technically wasn’t the first car I owned it was the first one I actually wanted to own. Before I needed to transport p>2 around I had always owned motorbikes. There was a temporary period in my life when I owned a Nissan Micra, this lasted about five months and I’d rather not talk about it.

The Beast arrived in my life in 2006. It already had 90,000 miles on the clock and I think it was used as a rep’s car. There were a couple of odd things about it where paint had been redone poorly and there was evidence that gave rise the to suspicion that it had had a small side impact at some point. Anyway, mechanically it was sound and had a nice “pull” to it.

See this communication for a discussion of repairs and general things Beast related.

The Beast has transported me to the following locations:

  • Hildesheim, Germany (twice)
  • Le Mans, Carrouge and the beaches of Normandy
  • Bordeaux
  • Liverpool
  • The Kingdom of Fife
  • Carlisle
  • The Lake District (four times)
  • Lincolnshire
  • The Midlands
  • Cornwall
  • The ‘Folks, Nor and Suf
  • London town many times
  • RAF Cranwell

It feels like a sad thing. Retiring this car. I’ve owned it for over ten years now. It’s seen me through many phases of my life. But it is now time to move on. To accept something newer.

The Beast In The Lake District (Honister Pass)
The Beast In The Lake District (Honister Pass)
The Beast from Moss Force
The Beast from Moss Force

I know I have a video from inside the Beast travelling around the Le Mans circuit in 2008. I will continue to look for it and post it below when I find it.

So after taking the total to 215,000 miles I will say: Sleep well, Beast.

The Beast At Glenridding
The Beast At Glenridding
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Ghosts – Nine Inch Nails

These two albums are instrumental calming albums from the beast that is Nine Inch Nails. I listen to these when I’m writing reports at work or marking stuff. It makes a very good background noise to block out other distractions. I would recommend these albums to anyone. It’s just good stuff.

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Girls, Girls, Girls – Mötley Crüe

I grew up in the 80s. I remember the 70s but from the age of 8 to 18 the primary decade was the 1980s. Those formative years when music tastes settle in and I was living through the 80s! You know when you get a “Greatest Hits Of The 80s” album or CD or stream that stuff now and you think, “Wow, what a decade to live through music”. Well, I’d like to remind you that you have 30 of the very best songs and maybe a couple that are a bit shit. If that’s the best a compilation compiler can come up with then it really is evidence that the rest of it was shit. As an example, Vienna by Ultravox didn’t make number one in the once relevant charts. It was held off by John Lennon (which I guess is fair enough) and then Joe Dolce’s song “Shaddup You Face”. You see, it was shit.

Music tastes change bit by bit but the stuff that still affects us is the stuff we obsessed over as teenagers. People ten years older than me at work love Pink Floyd and easy 70s rock. People ten years younger than me look back in fondness at the utter shit that was Oasis. And so it’s clear I can’t help liking 80s rock. I’ve written about my descent into metal. It started with Bon Jovi, headed through Mötley Crüe into Iron Maiden, AC/DC, Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer.

I have change recently and it’s weird. I’ve headed to industrial. Electronic stuff with a nasty edge. I wouldn’t be too fussed about attending a metal festival although I’d go if the right bands were playing.

Looking back at the 80s rock scene now and thinking about what they were actually saying about women and I am horrified. You could argue that it was just the scene and in reality they were nice people but the misogyny was rife and that enters culture and then behaviour. Perhaps the world was more misogynistic then anyway, I don’t know, whatever it was it shouldn’t have been. I don’t think I ever really thought I was sexist, or that I could be like that but I endorsed a culture of that behaviour by buying the music and playing the songs and liking the music.

I really like this album. I can’t help it. I’m programmed to like it. It’s such a part of my youth. I saw the Crüe once at Wembley Arena and it was a great concert. See this page for the concert list. I love the sound of the guitar, I love the galloping bass, the drums and even Vince Neil’s voice. It’s just a fucking shame it’s all sexist. I still like it. Damn [exasperation].

Wild Side – fantastic, upbeat, riff-tastic.
Girls, girls, girls – so good and so bad. In the video they had a hot tub in the back of a limousine.
Dancing on glass – good.
Bad Boy Boogie – good “rocky” song, but AC/DC already have a song called this and it’s better.
Nona – There is ALWAYS an incredibly shit song on every Crüe album. This is the one here. Perhaps they let the butler write a song?
The rest are all pretty good songs although the ballad they wrote for the charts is pretty poor “You’re All I Need”, bleaugh.

So, when I saw them at Wembley Billy Idol came on at the end, clearly off his face, and they sang Jailhouse Rock. There’s a live version of it on this album and it seriously starts with Vince saying:

We’re recording live right here tonight. And I think you’ve got to fucking jive. ‘Cos we’ve got some bad beat boogie woogie for you boys”

They actually kept that on the album! Metal it isn’t. 80s rock it is. I wish forgiveness for the decade in which I matured and the shit I like listening to now.

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Brooklands

This particular communication is very delayed. I went to Brooklands in between christmas and new year 2015. It was great. There are plenty of wonderful aircraft, some lovely cars and also motorbikes.

I didn’t take any photos of the planes, which is weird for me, but I did have my kids and so that probably stopped me being as free with a camera as I would have liked to be. I did take some shots of them in cockpits, but they don’t get published here.

I really want to talk about the stratospheric chamber!

The chamber is a “room” that will simulated the conditions at high altitude. This type of research was really important just after the Second World War. Fighters and jet planes were being designed to fly higher and fast and they needed to be tested safely under these conditions.

The Stratospheric Chamber looking like a Star Destroyer
The Stratospheric Chamber looking like a Star Destroyer

It’s the largest in the world and quite fantastic to visit if you know what you are looking at. Just the idea and audacity of building something so large that can simulate those conditions. It is quite a remarkable piece of engineering and well worth seeing. I have a feeling it was only recently declassified and that makes it that much more interesting.

I would love to write loads of stuff here giving details and very interesting things but, unfortunately I don’t have the time at the moment. Also, as this is only eleven months late, I can’t remember the plaques around the design!!

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Broadband Move

At some point this year I decided to change my broadband supplier. The main reason was to get a higher bandwidth and then, with this bandwidth for viewing moving picture content I could get rid of the dirty money I pay to Murdoch’s media empire.

Over the years I have watched less sport on TV and much less “normal” TV. I am pretty sure I can live without those things. I do still watch Formula 1 races but I either watch them live on C4 or there are always sites that aggregate the streaming content. So I took the step to get rid of Sky TV and broadband and move over to BT Broadband and Netflix along with the NFL GamePass.

The audio-visual entertainment is now mostly Freesat which I don’t really watch, Netflix, Amazon Prime or catch up TV services. There’s enough content on all of these that I don’t have to record anything on a HDD or similar. I don’t miss live TV and although people at work seem to like talking about it I am happy not knowing who managed to operate an oven correctly.

My broadband service has moved over to BT and my village has FTC (fibre to cabinet) which means I get much improved bandwidth but without the need for cables into my house. As I live in a small village it would never really be economical for a cable company to connect the place up. So my internet traffic travels down copper from the cabinet in the village. I am getting a pretty decent 50Mbs which is far better than the 5Mbs I was getting before.

It is now possible to stream music services to all the rooms in my house and also video to the PC and TV while at the same time play games on one of the consoles. This is great news. I no longer have devices buffer or cut out while I am doing stuff elsewhere. The PC used to max out the bandwidth when uploading files to OneDrive and I never quite figured out how to limit that. Films I download take 5 minutes instead of over an hour. It’s a rather grand new world I inhabit.

I also have no money directly leaving me and heading to the evil media corporations. It wouldn’t surprise me if the Dirty Digger has shares in many companies and I still use them, but for direct contributions he gets none. I don’t pay anything to Sky and I most definitely do not pay any money to his newspapers (scum of the Earth).

I am currently watching a few series on Netflix:

  • Scorpion [terrible “spy” / “homeland” series]
  • Archer [brilliant spy series]
  • Black Mirror [brilliantly odd series]

I watch plenty of NFL and have seen all the Saints games so far. I do have to cope with american adverts but these are quite amusing and I can see how the ex-colony has dumbed down, although I see us heading that way very quickly at the moment.

I still have to finish Babylon 5.

I play the Playstation and I am so looking forward to the latest Gran Turismo version. I am quite disappointed that GT6 never really included all the features they said it would. I was hoping to record my own race tracks using an app on my phone, I guess I’ll just have to wait for that in a later full version of GT.

I am watching Haven on Amazon TV when I exercise on the erg.

I will NOT be watching the Grand Tour. Mostly because I don’t care for low key “acceptable” racism. I reached a point early on with Top Gear when I realised it was childish and silly. It coincided with a set piece on the “boys” camping in a caravan and setting it alight. So scripted, annoying and purile. I’ll give it a pass.

So, overall the broadband move went well. The new equipment / router is OK although I had to re-route the power cable for it. All the wired and wired connections seem to be generally OK. The router doesn’t seem to like me trying to set Static IPs for my devices so unless the device can request it, I let the DHCP do its job. I turned off the 5G channel as its range was quite restricted and a normal channel has enough bandwidth for the mobile devices in the house.

There are a few features of the router that are silly. Why do I want to control the lights on the front? What purpose does that serve? It’s just an extra layer of firmware that can go wrong. Every now and then the router blocks out the wireless devices for connecting. I first noticed this when my iPhone couldn’t join the network. This seemed strange and because the router claimed it was working fine I ended up resetting my iPhone wireless settings. This was not necessary as in the end I figured out it was something to do with the router. I don’t know what but turning off the wireless, rebooting the router and then turning the wireless back on seems to work.

I have a Raspberry Pi working away in the loft sending data to a Multilateration Client for aircraft ADSB signals. This is connected wirelessly and I also have a Dynamic DNS pointing to it. This way I can see what the Pi is recording and check the aircraft flying overhead. When the router needs to be reset the external IP is changed and the router automatically updates my DDNS, which is nice.

Overall, I am happy with the change. No Sky makes me feel superior. The series on Netflix aren’t really watched by others so that makes me feel more exclusive and the NFL is great in HD, streamed, on a big TV.

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Sometimes, It Happens

I’ve become quite philosophical about traffic jams. Rather than get annoyed and irritated I now realise there’s little I can do and so I relax. It is highly unlikely that I will lose lots of money through a traffic jam [being late for an appearance on Dragon’s Den maybe] and it is also rare that I have to be somewhere at a very particular time. As I work in education you might consider that I should be at work for the start of the day and normally I am there with plenty of time to get a coffee, do some photocopying and prioritise my emails.

This morning was a little different. Maidstone is updating and improving the bridges gyratory  in the centre of town. This means that occasionally they have to close the roads overnight so they can get the work done. This morning they failed to get the road cured on time and so there was a delay in opening Fairmeadow, possibly the most important through road in Maidstone.

This delay meant the two lane traffic was heading around the prison which is a single lane carriageway. Thus there ensued chaos. Well, not literal chaos but lots of cars going into not a lot of space and therefore lots of congestion.

It took me ninety five minutes to drive eight miles, the first four of those I covered in about ten minutes, the rest was Maidstone. I am happy to accept these delays as the improvements to the junctions will be worth it. Also, the extra time in the car gave me more time to listen to the Skepticrat podcast. Warning, there’s swearing a-plenty in this podcast and it’s political with a liberal bias. What else would you expect?

My general thoughts on traffic jams are that they normally mean someone is having a far worse day than you. Relax, there’s nothing you can do.

To give you an idea of the traffic chaos here’s a shot from Google maps:

A Bad Morning
A Bad Morning

I am going to find another map for you, possibly a larger version with a little more detail, but it would serve you well to see a version of a “normal” morning to compare, so I intend to do that also.

So, having said that here is a map of today, the next day, a day when the roads are working “normally”. Here you go, enjoy:

Maidstone Traffic
Maidstone Traffic
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Nocturnal Animals

Last night I moseyed to the Cineworld cinema at Rochester. I went to the Nocturnal Animals. When I booked this film I didn’t know anything about the film, I hadn’t seen a trailer and so took a punt with this one. There were two possible options for a film to see, Nocturnal Animals and The Accountant, upon inspecting the IMDB critics scores I decided to see the better one. I pay no attention to the scores given by cinema goers, oh the irony, it is clear that the public have no idea what is good for them as recent events will attest. Whenever the shout for power to the people is raised you just have to remember that Mr Blobby was christmas number one once. So, here’s my IMDB rating:

As is expected you should see this communication for an explanation of how my scoring system works.

I enjoyed this film. It was the second recent film to be set in West Texas and I’m now not sure if it is a place I would want to visit. Everyone out there seems strange. The opening of this film was interesting especially as I didn’t know a thing about it. The film was billed as a stylish and absorbing psychological noir thriller. I’m not entirely sure it was all that. It seemed more to be about a very sad woman who hates her life. The film was clever but not brilliantly so and the book that the main character reads comes to life in the film we see.

I’m going to do my best to not give any spoilers as I write this. There wasn’t any particular part of the film where I thought it was stupid or wanted to moan about it so that’s a good thing. I need to try and see real films more often, I think I have seen too many action or super hero films and they are a strange distortion of the cinema world. I don’t mind science fiction so much but they often do too much, they bend the rules so far [fine] and then SF films tend to do something silly and break the rules. I’m not sure that makes sense, whoops.

I probably would watch this film again. Amy Adams is pretty good and manages to show emotion without a great deal of verbal communication. The naked bum was a major motif throughout the film and the graphic matches were well done. It was a well made and constructed movie. I would like to think I would spot more “clever” stuff the second time around. Assuming there is a lot of clever stuff.

At one time the writer says that all writers write about themselves, what else can they know. It turns out this film director, Tom Ford, used to be a fashion designer. The film clearly states that this world and the world of art is superficial and bollocks. That seems perfectly reasonable to me.

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PSVR

On October the 13th the Playstation Virtual Reality headset was released and I had ordered a set. I wanted to experience an immersive game and be able to look around the world properly.

I was very excited although it took a little while to set this up as there was a new unit to be powered and cables. None of the cable work was onerous which was what a BBC report had suggested, in fact the BBC report was bollocks, very annoying. The reporter ended with the statement “I just wish it was wireless”. This in a device that needs power and two sets of HDMI cables for the screens. Anyway the experience was pretty good, the headset was comfortable and the headphones worked fine.

PSVR Headset in action
PSVR Headset in action

There was a mild sense of unease and sickness but I thought that would pass so I bought the game Drive Club VR. This downloaded and I was looking forward to driving around in the headset. I managed about 2 laps of a 3 lap race and the sickness hit me. Badly. I felt rough. Now this coincided with a bout of quite harsh cold so I decided to wait a couple of weeks and see how it affected me once I was better.

It was the same. I felt ill after about two laps. Now, I am quite susceptible to motion sickness; I don’t like ferries and aerobatics can make me incredibly ill but is always worth it. However, this time I knew I wouldn’t get any better at the PSVR and so I decided to get rid of it. There is no point me having this reasonably expensive piece of kit when I can use it minimally.

However, GT Sport will be released soon and my steering wheel set up isn’t PS4 compatible and so now I had some cash to buy a new wheel. There was only one to go for and that is the Logitech G29 with gear shift stick. It arrived today.

G29 and Stick Shift
G29 and Stick Shift

This took a short while to set up on the steering wheel system but was completed and then some GT6 played. The stick shift doesn’t work with GT6 but the flappy paddles were fine. There is quite a refined feel with this wheel.

I then connected it to the PS4 and played Drive Club and used the stick shift and clutch. That was good fun and I am looking forward to playing some more when my USB extension cable comes. The one connecting the wheel to the PS4 is a little short.

G29 Driving Force Wheel
G29 Driving Force Wheel
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Dodd

This is another in the occasional series of mountains conquered. On a Sunday morning I awoke and headed out from Keswick to Dodd Woods to the east of Bassenthwaite Lake. This peak is a western foothill of Skiddaw range and not too high at 1612 feet or 491 metres which makes it number 174 of the Wainwrights.

This peak had a very clear footpath all the way and was a nice little walk. It is one of the last strongholds of the red squirrel and a good vantage point to see ospreys of the feathered kind when they are in this country.

View from near the summit of Dodd with Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake
View from near the summit of Dodd with Derwentwater and Bassenthwaite Lake

There’s a monument at the top of Dodd to two scout leaders.

Memorial on Dodd and Bassenthwaite Lake
Memorial on Dodd and Bassenthwaite Lake
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Mille

This is communication number One Thousand. This one kinda snuck up on me, I had noticed over the summer that I was close and then forgot for a while but I have been thinking about what to write here for about a month and had absolutely no clue. A lot of this communication is repeated somewhere else within this site as it seems sensible for some reflection of: Operation Parish On The Web.

I am often amused by the response at work to the phrase “on my website”. The response is often “you have a website?”. I’m not entirely sure why the response is phrased that way, because, as becomes clear, the responder often uses Faceshit loads. What is Faceshit other than a way for everyone to have a presence on the web. A method for letting their friends know what they are up to? A way of publicly displaying the version of us who we want people to see. Faceshit is easy. It’s something I don’t really do.

I started editing web pages in 1994 when I was involved with Imperial College Union. I maintain the pages for the student union for about six months. After that I did nothing until around 1999 when I decided to have a web site. I have owned the following domains over the years:

www.ianparish.me.uk

www.iparish.org.uk

I used those in the days before social media. I have used various programs for creating the code including Frontpage, which I hated. Over time I wanted to have a domain name that actually meant something to me rather than just my name. Hence Fooyah.net you can see why I chose that here. This website was started in June 2011. Initially I tried to use Joomla and while I could see how it worked I couldn’t spend that amount of time to get it right and wanted something a little more user friendly. I chose WordPress and have used that ever since. My very first communication is linked here it’s not very interesting.

My general policies on this website are:

  • Write stuff about what I do
  • Write stuff about what I think
  • Write whatever I want about nerdy stuff
  • Not to include “state of mind” information
  • Not to write about emotions and shit
  • Not to delete anything, but to openly edit if necessary
  • I will use the language that reflects who I am

As with all web-based stuff this site only really shows the part of me I am happy having in the public domain. I am acutely aware of the fact that anyone can look at this site and draw whatever conclusions about me that they want. I don’t really include family stuff directly, I don’t really moan about work and I try not to slag off individuals. I will try to defend my position on things but I’m not very eloquent at that. Reading this is like reading the stream of my consciousness and that doesn’t often make for easy comprehension. But, what you see is what you get.

Sometimes in the history of this site my general well-being can be inferred by the type and number of communications but then sometimes I don’t publish much because I just don’t have the time. I am able to look over this site and see how I have been and those close to me can figure it out. Everyone goes through rough times in their life and this public web thing means we don’t show that. You can read this and figure out my quite obvious views on religion, science and politics but you shan’t know me!

Earlier I wrote the word Faceshit. That particular social media site is one that I don’t regularly use. It disturbs me somewhat at how ubiquitous it is. There’s an awful lot of information out there on people who possibly wouldn’t want that out there. I like to think that I’m reasonably with it, and when a new service starts I tend to investigate it and then decide if it will add anything to my life, normally it won’t so I don’t bother with it. I have communication routes with my friends through different methods and these work for me:

  • Rich – twitter, Fooyah and meeting up
  • Jase – phone and meeting up
  • Jim, Andy and Daryl – Whatsapp
  • Andy – Twitter and Fooyah
  • Jo – Twitter
  • Mazza – meeting up
  • Andrew – text

[Not all friends listed, don’t be offended if you aren’t there] A lot of my friends aren’t on Faceshit I guess that makes it easier [also, I have too many friends named Andrew perhaps I’ll have to cull one!]. I do have a Facebook account, not in my name but I use it to follow a couple of groups who don’t have a presence anywhere else. This annoys me a little but I guess FB is convenient for a lot of people. My twitter account was started to follow more information about Formula One and it grew for me into a more political resource.

So, more stuff, about me. My views, my thoughts [edited for public consumption]. When I started this site I wrote this about me:

Geeky maths teacher who likes motorsport, NFL, cricket, film, proper music and PS3.
Like Battlestar Galactica and West Wing, Megadeth and AC/DC, New Orleans Saints, Miami Dolphins, Essex and England cricket.

This is what my Twitter profile said originally and I didn’t update it for a long time. I have recently changed it to the following:

Geeky, sweary, skeptical maths teacher who likes NFL, motorsport, aggrotech, PlayStation, running, planes and science. Kinda fascinated by everything.

This seems more appropriate for the recent me. People and tastes change over time and this is me at the moment. I’m sure it’ll change again, slowly as I discover more about this world. I am currently an angry atheist, politically left leaning humanist. I try to live my life by the following principles:

  • Look after yourself
  • Be nice
  • Speak openly about what you believe, discuss with people
  • Try to do good [as defined by humanist principles rather than religion]
  • There are RIGHT answers and you can find them

Time to stop this particular stream of consciousness now. I will probably look back over this and try to make sense of it and maybe edit it. If this page is edited then I will use strike-through to show where that happens, apart from spelling and grammar mistakes. If I change my mind, it will be published.

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Emperor and a King

A recent trip to the Lake District prompted me to head northeast slightly and visit Carlisle Airport. After a short while there nerding over aircraft I headed to see a wall and a tower. Before regaling you with that story I want to point out that this is communication 999. Which means the next one published will be my 1000th communication. Although technically I only decided to call them communications a while after I had started publishing so the 1000 isn’t exactly accurate.

The guys at the Solway Aircraft Museum suggested visiting Lanacost Priory as there was a nice tea room there. As it wasn’t far I tootled over and had some lunch. I could have walked to the priory and had a look but to be honest I wasn’t bothered, the pictures showed it to be some ruins so I left and headed up the road to see Hadrian’s Wall. This was one of those things that is buried in the consciousness of people in this country. We hear from a young age about the wall and I’m pretty sure the Scots go on about it as though they are a proud and pure race [see the “No True Scotsman” fallacy]. I only wanted to see a little of the wall, to say I’d seen it.

Hadrian's Wall
Hadrian’s Wall

It was actually quite impressive to stand on something roughly two thousand years old. At least I can now say I’ve been there and seen it.

On Top Of The Wall
On Top Of The Wall

Not that far away was the chance of a tantalising look at RAF Spadeadam, which was also mentioned by the Solway guys. Spadeadam was where the UK based its rocket research during the 1950s and is now used as an electronic warfare centre. As you can see from the wall photo the weather was quite foggy and suitable for visiting this part of the world. I knew Spadeadam was in a forest and so I drove following Google Maps, my signal did die at some point! The fog drew in closer and I passed a sign warning of no trespassing, then finally there was this sign:

RAF Spadeadam [nearly]
RAF Spadeadam [nearly]
I chose to turn around. I decided to visit another time. I didn’t want to get arrested and explain I was just driving there for a look and a selfie at the gates. This was the only road in the area and it ends at Spadeadam. Time to head to Scotland.

Scotland
Scotland

You know you are in Scotland when there are coach loads of US tourists and a massive thistle staring at you. I snuck over to Gretna Green and luckily managed to avoid getting married [only £35]. I wandered slowly around the Blacksmiths Shop in Gretna completely aware that it was a tourist trap and nothing particularly special. It was pretty poor in all honesty. I didn’t like it. Next time I escape England and head to the land north of us I will go to the Devil’s Porridge museum and try to see a different part of the Land Of The Brave [didn’t the Scots have that before the USA?].

If you go to Gretna you will see a wedding.

Wedding, of course
Wedding, of course

After a brief invasion of Scotland where else is there to go apart from a memorial to a King who is known as the Hammer Of The Scots [although he didn’t succeed]. Also, he is the baddie in the film Braveheart, but that is mostly bullshit so not worth worrying about. Longshanks died of dysentery while encamped in the marshes of the Solway and there is a memorial to him there. This memorial is in England and perhaps, if it was in Scotland, it wouldn’t be in such good condition. It is meant to mark the exact spot he died which more than likely means it doesn’t.

Memorial to Edward I
Memorial to Edward I

It’s a bleak place, but also gorgeous. The clouds were low and the mist was covering the hills in both directions. Is it worth a visit? Not really, only to say that you’ve been there and seen it.

There we are, a day’s tour of the north west of England and a little bit further than that. I now have to go away and consider what my 1000th communication will be about.

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XJ823

This is the second communication in an occasional series about the Avro Vulcan there are other communications here and here. In January time I went inside XM655 and saw it was good. While in the Lake District recently I decided to sneak to Carlisle Airport and the Solway Aviation Museum. It was a foggy cool day, quite the opposite from the previous day when I had walked Helvellyn.

There were a couple of buildings with the usual paraphernalia nicely set out and some interesting stuff on the UK Space Programme and RAF Spadeadam. Outside the aircraft were nice but they do need to be inside, it’s a shame to see these beasts getting weathered, if only we had access to a warm dry boneyard.

Phantom
Phantom

The people running the museum were chatty and interesting. They pointed me to the Devil’s Porridge Museum which I will visit another time!

The photos would more more alive if the sun had shone a little! There were two planes which allowed access to the cockpits, the Canberra and the Sea Prince. The Sea Prince was used as a navigation trainer for the Royal Navy and that is why the seats in the cabin are set out that way.

Canberra Cockpit
Canberra Cockpit

There’s a certain smell that emanates from inside aircraft, a mix of oil, electrics and age.

Sea Prince Cabin
Sea Prince Cabin

Once I had toured these I was allowed to get inside the Vulcan which is always an enjoyable experience. I think people who make films about aircraft need to get in a real plane. They quite often make their planes with plenty of room to move around without realising the claustrophobic nature of cockpits.

Vulcan Cockpit
Vulcan Cockpit

If you are into aircraft then the Solway Aviation Museum is well worth a visit. Good value for money and the chance to get inside some of the planes.

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Doctor Strange

I sauntered out to Rochester cinema last night to see Doctor Strange. I have to admit the trailer didn’t really fill me with anticipation but it was recommended at work. Of course I rated this film on the IMDB and tweeted the result. You should probably read this communication about the rating system.

So, what did I think? It was alright. OK. Nothing special. Better than the trailer set out.

There were moments of humour.

I have some advice for film makers though. Just because your special effects can kaleidoscope a city that doesn’t mean you have to. I say that having never read any of the comics.

The fighting scenes were a little “Paul Greengrass” and could have been filmed better.

Oh, and the “mystic east” infuriates me. It just adds extra credence to those fools who peddle bullshit in the real world.

There, it was OK.

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