Vague – where should it go? – Page 24 – Fooyah

September 10 2012September 26 2012

Paralympics

On Saturday the 8th of September the Parish family went with the Whites to watch the Paralympic Road Cycling at Brands Hatch. It was a baking day and the racing was already underway when we got there. We weren’t allowed to take our drinks into the venue and we weren’t allowed to take in some dinner knives I had packed for cutting our bread but they did let us take our pop-up sunshade which was nice as the sun was scorching that day.

We set up camp on the bank overlooking Clearways and Clark Curve and could see the cyclists every 15 minutes or so as they completed another lap. The children didn’t really understand what was going on and the adults couldn’t really watch what was going on because they had to look after the children.

None of this mattered as the atmosphere was excellent and we all had a lovely time. The children did get slightly over-exposed to the sun though and I still feel guilty about that. #2 son has now walked on the gravel trap of Clark Curve and stood on the tarmac of the Brabham Straight which is very pleasing to know.

This is the view to the start line of Brands Hatch with the track set up for road cycling.

This is the view looking back towards Clearways with the track set up for the paralympics road cycling.

September 8 2012

Early Morning

Although being woken at 5:20 this morning was a bit harsh thanks to #2 we had a lovely time playing. I took this shot once #1 had woken and I saw the fog settled over the fields in the south of our grounds!

September 7 2012

Rip Off

So, while watching the Paralympics last night there was an advert for a weekly magazine that gives you the parts and instructions to build a toy warship. I can’t remember which one it was. I didn’t even see the “introductory” price offer. What staggers me most is the total price you would have to pay to finish the model.

£5.99 times 135 issues and you get a grand total of £808.65

Now even in these financial times I reckon you could buy a real warship for that price!

August 25 2012August 25 2012

Chance

I’ve been watching Human Target on Blu-Ray with WW. It’s, surprisingly, a well constructed and brilliantly scripted tv show. It’s a little quirky but funny and subtle. Anyway, in episode 3 of the first series the main character, Christopher Chance, says:

That sounds like a tomorrow problem.

This is a wonderful way of looking at particular issues and it’s something I’ll be saying in the future, possibly tomorrow.

August 15 2012October 2 2012

UXB

There were interesting times in Eccles over the summer. WW went for a run one evening around the sports field but was stopped by some youths claiming they had found a bomb. She was rather incredulous about this but they insisted and said they had called the police. She decided to run elsewhere.
When WW got home she explained what had happened and we didn’t really think much more of it until . . . .

About 9 that evening there was a LOUD bang. It shook the windows in the house. It didn’t wake the children though which was good.

WW ran back down to the sports field to see half the village looking at nothing and asking the police what had happened. When asked why we weren’t told that they were going to detonate the bomb the police replied “because you would all have come to watch and it would have been far more dangerous.” Fair point.

This bomb wasn’t as loud as the two I heard when I lived in London. Check out this post here.

August 15 2012June 22 2018

4 Meals In A Day

I accidentally ate four meals on Monday 13 August. WW and I took the boys to Mote Park in Maidstone and let them play in the playground. After we fed the ducks at the lake we went and ordered some food. My order was as follows:

Two sausages and chips and a sausage roll and chips please.

My intention was to buy chips with two sausages for #1 and the the sausage roll and chips was for #2. What I received was two plates of sausages and chips and an adult plate of sausage roll and chips. All in all far too much food for my children to eat! Obviously I just helped out and ate the adult plate of food. As it happens WW and I had already planned what to eat later in the day and so I had:

breakfast
lunch
accidental tea
dinner

This is a little extreme and when I looked at my calorie count for that day it was 3041 kCal. Even with a run I was over my daily target.

August 15 2012

The Limits of My Tolerance

After a day spent at a major theme park near London (Thorpe Park) I have to announce that I am officially disappointed with my body’s physiological reaction to rides. I have known about this reaction for many years (since I was about 14) but I have never really analysed it much before.
Many years ago I spent lots of time in the Air Training Corps and during that time I got some Air Experience Flights in a DeHavilland Chipmonk. After my first go the instructor always asked if I wanted to do aerobatics and, of course, my answer was yes. Every time my reaction was to turn a gentle shade of green and feel very sick and disorientated for about 3 hours afterwards. Eventually I would become very hungry and then finally I would be ok.
When on a trip to the Kennedy Space Centre in 2004 I experienced time in a multi-axis spinner designed to throw the best of the best out of kilter. With me I experienced about 4 hours of green and sickness with clammy skin and finally I grew extremely hungry.
The most recent trip to Thorpe Park confirmed that I am useless at roller coasters and similar rides. It’s such a shame as I do enjoy myself, it’s just that I feel like crap for ages.
Shame.

August 3 2012August 15 2012

Poor Design

Here’s a picture of my toilet seat. It’s a special one with two seats. A seat for adults and a seat for children that attaches to the lid via a magnet.

This communication regards the poor design of this seat.

After my children’s bath I sit on the seat lid to dry #1. If you see the supports that transfer my weight force through the seats onto the toilet you will notice that they are NOT aligned. This results in a moment affecting the adult or lower seat. Over time and with my weight force this results in the lower seat bending and breaking at the point indicated. It’s a lovely seat, but it doesn’t take much to design it properly.

July 24 2012

Back In Time

On the way to the leisure centre I saw this beauty parked in the car park. Now, it’s not a DeLorean but it’s close and it looks great. I don’t think you’d customise a DeLorean this much! Sciroccos are much easier to come by.

July 3 2012March 11 2014

Lancia Delta

This had to be added to the communications because it’s just not that often you see one of these beauties. I also like the stock version in Gran Turismo 5.