Babylon 5 is a space station 5 miles long. The adventures of this ship are chronicled in the TV documentary Babylon 5. Using interviews, memoirs, video messages and data harvesting a company managed to recreate what life will be like on Babylon 5. There are some stark warnings from the future for the current political elite.
Babylon 5 series 1 episode 1. Goodbye life. Hello escapism. See you in a year or so.
So this tweet was dated 4th April 2014. That’s when I started working my way through Babylon 5. If I had paid more attention to when I started watching this then I would have tried to tweet the following two days earlier:
Babylon 5. Season 5. Episode 22. “Sleeping in light”.
So, it took me three years and 2 days to complete the series. I don’t think that’s too bad. There’re 120 or so episodes and that averages out at one episode every ten days. It was a damn enjoyable experience. Jase gave me the box set a long time ago and I’ve been using them as a way of stabilising thoughts and also watching sci-fi. I haven’t stayed exclusive to this series and I have watched others along the way.
The stories are excellent and this show deserves the accolades it gets. I really enjoyed it. Obviously some episodes aren’t as good as others but overall this was a great TV show.
I am currently working through the spin-off series, Crusade, but there is only one series of that. Then there will be the B5 films.
Sunday afternoon is meant to mean a walk and a roast dinner. I think. I don’t really subscribe to this view as I don’t really like roast dinners but I am happy to have a walk. There’s a wood near where I live called oxymoronically Bushey Wood. Bluebells grow in there.
I’ve written about the wood before but have spelt the name wrong. See here and here. I’m not going to correct those. One of the guiding principles of this website is that it is how it is. There is very little I have altered. If I have altered stuff then I use the strike through symbol.
On the way to the wood there were lots of people dressed in high-visibility red/orange suits. They were Kent Rescue taking part in an exercise. I think I have found something extra I can do. I just need to work out if I can afford the time.
On Exercise
The footpath through the wood revealed a glorious covering of bluebells.
Spring Time
Spring time is here. Let the sun come out and warm our glorious lands [and other rubbish like that]. But, seriously, some sun would be nice, it’s cold here!
Since April 2013 I have tracked my daily movement. I started using the rather stylish but shit Up by Jawbone. I bought this while in Washington DC and I loved it. The problem was that they don’t last long. I had three within a year, all replaced by guarantee.
Up by Jawbone
My general thoughts are that this was a new company and reasonably new tech. It seems necessary that their early models would be rubbish to force improvement in the product. The early iPhones were shockingly bad in terms of the technology involved but at least the product worked as advertised.
To see previous communications about the Up by Jawbone, click or touch here.
In October 2015 my final Up band died and I switched to a Garmin Vivofit. Eventually I stopped wearing a watch because the Garmin on my right arm had a clock which pretty much negated the need for a separate timepiece on my left wrist.
Vivofit
At the end of March 2017 I had to replace the batteries in the Vivofit. They had lasted over two years. I don’t recall replacing them before and probably would have written about it within these esteemed communications. The replacement procedure was easy. The device worked within acceptable parameters after syncing with my phone.
While I was in Cyprus I swam in the sea twice in two days. I didn’t take my Vivofit off. I failed to remember that the seal may not have created a seal post battery replacement. On the penultimate day of the trip the Vivofit slowly drowned. I took it off.
When I got back to Blighty I took the Vivofit apart and let it dry out properly for a few days. In the mean time I had started wearing a watch again. I’m not young enough to want to look at my phone for the time. I like my watch. It is a nice looking watch.
I also ordered a Garmin Vivomove as I wanted to track my steps. When this arrived the clock face was too large for my tastes. I didn’t like it. for what it was it seemed quite expensive too. If it had been a third of the price I probably would have kept it and used it occasionally. But the look/price ratio wasn’t the correct magnitude.
Vivomove
When I put the Vivofit back together it seems to work fine. There will be some salt ingestion and I pondered rinsing it out and drying it thoroughly again but I think I won’t. I’m trying to be brave, I’ve taken the batteries out and the Vivofit is currently in a drawer in the bedroom. So, I have decided to give up counting steps.
This unnerves me greatly. But the arguments are sound:
I haven’t increased my steps/movement over the last two years. I do try to walk around work a few times a day but that’s not changed for two years.
I know roughly how far I have moved because of the years of tracking.
I like wearing my watch.
Being aware of my steps hasn’t changed my behaviour for a long time.
I use different apps for measuring my running and calorific intake.
If I feel too unsettled I can always put the batteries back in the Vivofit and start wearing it again. But overall, I consider this a positive thing. I managed about forty years of my life without a fitness tracker and maybe I can manage some more now. It’s always worth challenging yourself, even if it’s the obsessive part of you.
I spent a great ten days on the island of Cyprus over the Easter break. It was a cadet camp and there were 56 cadets and associated staff. We stayed at Troodos and ventured out from there to undertake various activities some of which are listed below.
Approaching Larnaca
Saturday
Those travelling from Heathrow met inside T5 on the Saturday morning. The group were herded together and then we passaged through check-in, security and passport control. Reasonably soon we were on the flight to Larnaca airport. After arriving in Cyprus we had food delivered to us and we boarded a coach to Troodos. There were various meetings and briefings and these completed the day.
Sunday
The morning started with breakfast, but from now we will take that as a constant, I’m not going to mention it every time. If I did you may begin to think I am obsessed with food. We had briefings about some local issues and then drove down to the coast to get lunch once there. It’s about an hour’s drive to the coast from Troodos. The roads are very nice and the towns and villages along the way are small. I had a massive hayfever attack on the way down the hill, my eyes streamed for about an hour and it was only after spending some time in an air-conditioned building did it start to clear. My head felt as though I had been crying for hours. Fortunately this was the only time it happened.
After lunch on base we went to develop the leadership and initiative skills of the cadets. We were working in an area overlooking Lemesos bay and the weather was a little blowy but still warm.
Cyprus – a view
We then went to have the official camp photograph taken and drove back up the hill. The cadets then did some contract setting exercises in the sports hall.
Gate Guardian
Monday
First thing we visited the guardroom and had a talk from the chaps there. They explained their careers and the equipment they used. After that I had to get to the transport place and sign documents allowing me to drive the vehicles. This was on the coast so we drove down with one of the main camp staff. Because we were already on the coast we had tea and collected some lovely rolls from Lady L’s tea bar.
Clay pigeon shooting was next on the agenda and we did this at the Egg Club on a slightly different bit of the coast. There was some alarm when a dog walker appeared over the top of the range and whistles were blown to stop the shooting. The man’s dog had run into the clay pigeon area and had to be retrieved before the competition could start again.
Danger Flag
After we had driven back up the hill I managed to get to the gym. It was very nice as the view from the running machine looked out over the valleys from close to the mountain top.
Tuesday
Our morning session was for swimming tests at Episkopi swimming pool. We also had a demonstration of life rafts and survival equipment from a member of staff who used to be a Survival Equipment specialist.
Swimming Pool
It’s always nice to have a cup of tea and we managed a quick one just before lunch in the tea room at Episkopi. We also looked around the Officers’ Mess and saw plenty of their memorabilia.
Waterloo Colours
During the afternoon there was a round robin of activities and I was stationed inside the DCCT building, helping out and keeping score. It was good fun.
We drove to the south peninsula and, after dinner, the cadets went to the cinema and as I had already seen Logan I offered to not be in the cinema. This was granted and a few of us went bowling not that far away. I won, which was pleasing!
Obviously after that we had to drive back up the hill.
Wednesday
We had an early breakfast and heading straight away to the coast to see the dog section. Immediately after that we saw some other areas close to the airfield near the olive harvest. A quick trip to some S-61 helicopters and it was off to watch explosive demonstrations right out on the tip of the island.
Lunch was at the beach club although the weather wasn’t great. It was windy and quite cool. I had a baguette and chocolate.
Palm Trees
The afternoon meant we had more chats from the EOD guys and played a bit with the robots. It rained while there, I sheltered in the bus. The harbour looked exactly as it had 29 years ago when I was last there!
Bomb Disposal Anyone?
We had a brief from the station and spent a little more time with the S-61 helicopters. I got to sit in the cockpit which is always enjoyable. Before heading to Sylvana’s for dinner and traditional Greek dancing we spent a little time in the shade of rotor blades.
The meal at Sylvana’s was great, there was way too much food. The dancing was enjoyable and watching someone move around with 12 glasses balanced on his head was a highlight. Seedy had a little initiation while here.
Thursday
High ropes tend to be dangerous when there is a chance of thunder and lightning so that was canned. So we played dodgeball instead. Good fun and all kids seem to know the ADAA rules. Because we skipped the ropes we had a little while to catch a coffee in the mall the other side of the plantation.
On our return to the coast we visited the rescue helicopters of 84 Sqn while an aircraft did some practice landings not far away from us.
Griffin
There is a small chance that I may have flown in the gate guardian for the rescue helicopter as I definitely had a flight in a Wessex when I was last in Cyprus!
Wessex
After the midday meal we visited the Met Office, ATC and the fire section. A voyager landed while we were there. It’s a lovely aircraft.
Voyager – reverse thrust
We then had another briefing about Operation Shader and then we saw a large version of Heracles, the Greek divine hero.
The runway was quite busy that evening. The cadets went bowling and we ate pizza for tea. Another drive up the hill was required before bed.
Friday
Laser tag and target shooting with paintballs was on the menu this morning.
Mountains
The views across the mountains were lovely from the Adventure Park. Lunch was a nice roll with bacon and cheese, served with chips. We had to cancel the dragon boating for safety concerns and went again to the beach club where we had a BBQ for dinner. A few of us staff played Cards Against Humanity for about twenty minutes and they were moments of sheer joy and delight at how bad-taste we could be.
My Ride
After food the cadets and some staff, me included, took part in a bush-tucker trial. I am glad it provided amusement. It wasn’t very tasty and the gherkin nearly made me throw up. I had eaten quite a large quantity of BBQ though!
The runway was again quite busy that evening. We returned up the hill.
Saturday
After a slight lay-in we sauntered to Agia Napa to spend time at the water park there. I think we had about four hours and I went on most of the slides with Vicki. It was quite a laugh and I was also pleased that I didn’t get sun burnt. I hate sun tan lotion and I hate burning. This means I spend a lot of time in the shade. I can still get burnt from the reflected sun light though! Sensitive skin, me.
Standard View
On the way along the motorway my phone logged in with a Turkish cell tower. EE text me to say “Welcome to Turkey” and then promptly charged me a fiver for using a little bit of data in those few miles. Bugger.
For dinner we went to the Lady’s Mile restaurant which required driving along a sand road. Lovely.
Lemesos
The weather was good. The food was great.
Food
The kids had a disco. I had a whiskey. Obviously I didn’t drive back up the hill that night. There was more runway traffic heading off into the night sky.
Sunday
Who can resist a day on a party boat on the Med? We took the bus down to Pafos to get on the Wave Dancer 1 boat. This took us, in just under a 2 hour rocky ride, to Lara Bay. I had a walk along the rocks with excellent company and then went swimming in the sea.
Head
Lunch was served shortly after leaving Lara Bay.
Beach Walk
The boat [or ship or whatever] headed to Coral Bay where we had an acrobatic display on the gently swaying ship. Two chaps were entertaining us while motoring with some classic rock songs. The bar was free. I drank coke and coffee.
A Wreck
Deep Blue
St George Island
Pafos Harbour
Jumping off the front ramp into the Med was great fun and I did it a few times. After returning to shore we had dinner and a disco at the Captain’s View restaurant. The food was plentiful and we had an awards ceremony congratulating the best cadets and groups etc. The disco got everyone jumping and we returned up the hill late after needing to refuel the buses.
Monday
Our final day but still plenty to do. A quick-ish drive down the hill to the Need For Speed Go Karting centre and all the cadets had plenty of laps of the track. Staff were on last and I have to say I found it exhilarating and I went fast. It was great. I lapped all but one of the other drivers on the track, some multiple times.
Bloody Determined
The thrill of speed is something I have missed since I gave up motorcycling.
I didn’t have long to gloat because we needed to get back up the mountain to join the coach that would take us to Larnaca airport. A four hour flight later and collection of my car and I get into bed about 0100 Tuesday morning. Obviously I was bright and refreshed for teaching on Tuesday.
Plants of Cyprus
Upon my return my camp duck has been placed on a shelf in the office at work that is endearingly called “The Shelf Of Shit”. Every item on there has been lovingly collected. You can see my duck, it is placed next to my F5 model.
Spot My Duck
This communication does not and cannot give you a full appreciation of just how much hard work this trip was and all the things we did. Consider this a highlight reel. It was also a brilliantly funny, if not belly-achingly funny, time and I made great friends. I do hope to go next year.
Along the course of this camp I licked three planes. Apparently that is a thing people do, but I am going to try and not lick any more.
I earnt [?] the nickname Gollum.
I didn’t get burnt and I didn’t put on any weight.
I wore my hat a lot. I love my hat. I’m worried what I’ll do when it dies.
I saw things I can’t mention in this forum. But I can mention I can’t mention them.
I woke up every day to this view from my veranda, snow, sun and coffee [in my hand]:
There’s not much better than having a cake and cuppa at Lashenden Airfield when the weather’s lovely and warm. While it wasn’t lovely and warm yesterday it was a nice time to watch the coming and goings of this little airfield in Kent.
There were people learning to fly, people having pleasure flights and people falling at an acceleration rate of slightly less than g from 11,000 feet.
No, I don’t mean Bluebirds of the Clan Campbell variety, they are entirely different and not covered in this communication. This communication deals with the rare communication device of the Second World War where the country listened to a female sing propaganda about the White Cliffs. This is the sort of jingoistic bullshit we see our country faced with at the moment. All this Brexit shit. Anyway, here are some photographs of a recent trip to Dover to see the port.
Handbrake Turn
It was foggy and so a wonderfully bad day to visit the cliffs. I was hoping to see France but, at times, I couldn’t see my hand!
HM Coastguard
Now for a view of some calcium carbonate.
White Cliffs
While in the area I also went to see the Louis Blériot Memorial. I didn’t get a photo of it, but I did take this one of the castle in the mist.
Dover Castle and Bora Horza Gobuchul
Finally, here’s a photo of some collected chalk pieces. It’s quite a satisfying photo but I am unsure why.
I’ve noticed this apparition a few times recently. I’ve been out running to the east of the village and nearly fallen over past this tree. Well, it’s a mug tree, isn’t it. Any idea why?
Mug Tree
I have to say that it looks a little better in the winter and the mugs stand out more, but you get the idea. How very strange, but also, quite cool. I think that one of my mugs will end up on it soon.
Mug Tree
I am sure that some people could be convinced that this is a rare form of tree. One that grows mugs. Most major china exporters have more of them. Obviously.
I went to see Monster Trucks at Rochester Cineworld Cinema. It’s a kids film. I rated it (surprisingly high) on IMDB and you should read this before taking my ratings seriously.
You know what? This film was alright. It was a bit like an earthly version of Transformers. There was a young man who was obsessed with trucks but also quite intelligent and a young woman trying to impress him. I’m not really sure. There was also some step-dad stuff along the way with Danny Glover playing a scrap metal merchant in a wheelchair.
There were monsters. But, of course, they were mostly friendly. Apart from the physics of crashing down a hill and crushing your vertebrae this film was mostly good fun.
I went to see Ghost In The Shell this afternoon. I booked a 14:30 showing. As is custom I went to the Cineworld at Rochester. Maybe one day I’ll change my “usual”.
So, the thing with the ratings is that you should read this communication.
I enjoyed what I saw of this film and I thought it was good. I recently watched the original anime version and thought that was brilliant. I don’t care for comparing across the genres. The only film I would get touchy about is that tour de force Akira.
I did “rest my eyes” a few times during this film and so I think it would be sensible for me to go again sometime when I am feeling more awake. A short and sweet review this time!
I recently had a day trip with the cadets to RAF Brize Norton. We visited three main areas of the base:
TMW – Tactical Med Wing
GEW – General Engineering Wing
47 Sqn
Allison AE 2100D3 and composite blades
I learnt a lot and saw two types of aircraft I hadn’t seen before. The weather was quite grey and so the photos are a bit of a washout, I don’t do Photoshop. The low cloud base did mean that the aircraft would take off and about fifteen seconds later they would climb through the cloud.
This is the final push. The operators cab and safety railings is built. Along with adding lights and ladders this now completes the Bucket Wheel Excavator.
Model Complete!
This was probably another hour and a half so total build time is roughly 11 hours. I would argue it was worth every penny.
Some detail photos for you now:
Operator’s CabBucketsPower Unit and Gear BoxReady To Dig
This part of the Bucket Wheel Excavator is to build the power section. This includes a motor, battery pack and the gearing system to turn on and off different drives.
Motor Unit and Gear Box
This was another hour after a few mistakes were made! Then I had to connect it to the main bucket wheel arm.
Bucket Wheel Arm
A top view:
Bucket Wheel Arm with Motor and Gear Box
Then this arm had to be connected to the main body.
Initial Mating
Then the bucket arm was secured and the top superstructure was built.
I recently ordered a day-sack cover from a company using Amazon. It arrived and I was somewhat shocked.
Packaging!
The rest of the box had that paper-stuff in it to hold the rain cover in place. I have written about this before in this communication.
While this sort of packaging excess does seem a waste I’ve got some other ideas. Fuel use for transporting goods is largely dependent on the mass of the object. So although the box added something to the mass it was still reasonably light and so not a huge carbon drain. If the box is recycled then it doesn’t really matter about how much cardboard there was. There’s probably more carbon used in making the plastic wrapper of the item than in the box, as long as the box comes from a sustainable source.
So, upon reflection this excessive packaging may not be as bad a first thought.
I do think that eventually everything will be labelled with a “carbon factor” to make people aware of just how much carbon they emit and how well we are fucking the planet. Because we are. It is fucked. Utterly fucked. I am glad I will be dead in one hundred years. There are going to be wars over water, food and power. I am just very sorry that my children, or potential grandchildren, will be involved in that and the people to blame will all be dead. My parents’ generation and mine have screwed this planet over.
I could be calmed, I guess, by fluffy cat or dog pictures. But they don’t distract me from the bullshit. They reinforce our collective ability to ignore all that is going on.
This latest in the occasional series of the Bucket Wheel Excavator build chronicles my building of the bucket wheel arm, although only the first half. This took about an hour and an half so the total time so far is 7 hours 15, I think. I did make a mistake on this one, I put the buckets on facing the wrong way and was too tired to work out if it mattered and so I wasted about ten minutes refitting them correctly.
Bucket Wheel
Another view, showing more of the mechanism.
Bucket Wheel
Now, for completeness of record, here is a view of my working space:
This next section of the bucket wheel excavator is the main conveyor belt from the body to the truck. This was about an hour to build. So far total build time is 5.75 hours. I think I’m over half way now.
Bottom Conveyor
I was really tempted to start the bucket wheel part of this but it was feeling late in the evening!
Bottom Conveyor
I think I’ll be sad once this has been finished. It really is quite therapeutic building this stuff.
This one marks a change as this is a model I bought from EBay from a charity. All money to good causes then. While I didn’t have all the pieces in this kit there was enough to make the orbiter.
Orbiter
And a view with the cargo doors / radiators shut:
Doors Shut
This kit was released in 1993. It amazes me how basic it seems to be!
