Friday, 26 December 2014

Many Dimensions

Currently reading: Many Dimensions by Charles Williams 📚

The flyleaf of a hardback book, with a handwritten inscription: 'From Charles Williams, 26 Jan 31, in friendship.

This is the first Williams I've managed to finish! Well, I find him hard going. Lots of characters to keep track of, lots of talking. Most of the action takes place in dreams and visions, and it can be hard to tell what's meant to be happening sometimes. I get the impression that the plot is secondary to metaphysical or mystical considerations, so if I knew more about Sufism or whatever I'd get more out of the book. Now, you could say exactly the same about e.g. Alan Garner's adult novels, but somehow Garner terrifies and engages you; Williams, not quite. On the plus side, it's very evocative of its era, and it's good to read a book by an Inkling that has an adult female character in a major role, although ultimately passive.

He's worth a look though, if you find any of his books anywhere. At his best he reads a bit like Harriet Vane battling Satanic forces rather than solving crimes. He just doesn't reach his best often enough for me.

Wednesday, 24 December 2014

A Christmas Story

Once, when I worked at SanScrip, round about this time of year, I was testing an interactive training exercise which my colleague had written.

I thought there was something a little odd about the names he'd used in his example database. But anyway, I followed the steps, ran the query, then glanced at the report I'd generated:

Dee Holly
Andy Ivy
Wendy Arbroath
Phil Groan
Ophelia Trees
Katerina Wood
Dee Holly
Wesley Crown

Tuesday, 23 December 2014

Grammatical terminology for schools
— Linguistics Association of Great Britain

Wednesday, 17 December 2014

Manchester ceilidh is (just over) 10 years old! Good to see they're still going strong.

Manchester Ceilidh

Parents at my kids' school tell me they used to go to Manchester Ceilidh when they were young ravers... This makes me feel old and proud simultaneously.

Monday, 15 December 2014

Glad to see that the Wythenshawe monorail is still remembered, even if only by internet satirists.

Sunday, 7 December 2014

I've got to admit I just can't understand why anyone would be offended by breastfeeding. Just can't put my head into that mindset.

Claridge's Protest Would Probably Be Classfied As 'Ostentatious' Breastfeeding

Friday, 5 December 2014

Typography and science fiction. Aw man. This pleases me a lot more than it should.

Typeset In The Future: Typography and Design in Science Fiction Movies

I just love the bit about localisation errors in the instructions for the Nostromo's self-destruct mechanism.

Wednesday, 3 December 2014

-2°C this morning, not the coldest I've ridden in by a long way, but you do get a bit chilly when you have to stop and pull chunks of metal like this out of your tyres.

Sunday, 30 November 2014

I seem to need to replace the whole drive train every 2000 miles or so. Maybe I need to buy more expensive components.

A Shimano casette, an 8-speed Shimano chain, 2 Shimano chain rings, and two TacX jockey wheels

Good tip: The best investment is a chain wear checker. If you replace the chain at 1% elongation, you can usually wear out 2 or 3 chains before needing to replace the cassette.

Tuesday, 25 November 2014

The things people leave on the trail, part 3

If you can't see what's going on here, this is a plywood board with 2 dozen 25mm screws stuck though it. It's lying on a narrow bit of the trail between two boulders, pointy side up, covered up with leaf litter.

A plywood board with 2 dozen 25mm screws stuck though it ...
... lying on a narrow bit of the trail between two boulders ...
... pointy side up, covered up with leaf litter.

Monday, 17 November 2014

Fascinating article about tradition. What survives? What's lost?

The Ballad of Geeshie and Elvie: On the trail of the phantom women who changed American music and then vanished without a trace

Me: Ah! Nice cup of tea. There's nothing better than a nice cup of tea. Unless it's a great cup of coffee!

Alison (sympathetically): You really miss Martin, don't you?

Sorry, this won't mean much if you don't know the people involved. Made me laugh though.

Sunday, 9 November 2014

Tuesday, 4 November 2014

Tall Stories' production of Emily Brown and the Thing is fantastic for small-ish children, and it's touring until Christmas; grab the chance to see it if it's on near you.

Emily Brown and the Thing

Friday, 31 October 2014

I'm convinced that this circus just goes round and round the M60 stopping for a week at each junction. And even if it doesn't, I'm totally nicking that idea for my graphic novel set in post-apocalyptic Stockport.

A circus big top, signed 'Big Kid Circus', on the waste ground between the M60 and the Portwood Tesco

Monday, 27 October 2014

Thanks to The Willower for the log basket.

A hand-woven wicker basket full of logs, next to a wood-burning stove

Wednesday, 22 October 2014

Out last night to an obscure pub back room to hear lovely vocal harmonies from Laura Smyth and Ted Kemp. Just like old times. And clogging from Laurel!

The Village Folk Club with Laura Smyth, Ted Kemp and Laurel Swift AND The Beech Band

Tuesday, 21 October 2014

Love the way the automated announcement on the metrolink pronounces Didsbury Village with its velarised L. Didsbury Vullidge

that's a non-standard transcription, obvs

Monday, 20 October 2014

The remains of the old Midland Railway bridge over the Mersey, between Heaton Mersey and Cheadle Heath. I ride past this pretty much every day, thought I'd take a closer look.

The remains of a bridge abutment in blue engineering brick, covered with graffiti and vegetation, beneath a bright blue sky.
A different view of the bridge abutment. The green banks of the river are just visible below.

Sunday, 19 October 2014

A black body is an idealized physical body that absorbs all incident electromagnetic radiation, regardless of frequency or angle of incidence.

A black cat asleep on a white sofa.

We had to put a reflective scotch tape collar on her to have any hope of finding her in the dark.

Wednesday, 15 October 2014

Urgh. For all the bike commuters out there.

These are the days we must suffer to deserve days like these

Tuesday, 14 October 2014

Happy Ada Lovelace day!

Finding Ada

Monday, 6 October 2014

How I dry my gloves. Plus, you get coffee!

A piping hot, stainless steel cafetiere. Two black gloves are tightly wrapped around it.

Monday, 29 September 2014

Didsbury graffiti.

Black spray paint on red brick wall: 'Constant clouds occupy my mind. I only feel present half the time.'

Saturday, 27 September 2014

Access control for cats. Only one access group, and no time / mode profiles either. On the other hand, it claims you can power the reader, the controller and the lock mechanism with four AA batteries for a whole year ;-)

A cat flap set into a kitchen door.

Saturday, 20 September 2014

Lost Streets of Stockport

There's a whole warren of abandoned streets between the Tame, the M60 and the Portwood Tesco. This was Portwood Place, I think.

An overgrown abandoned urban landscape.

Another abandoned street in Portwood. This was probably Richard Street.

The houses are gone; only streetlamps and broken pavement remain.

Hatton St, Heaton Norris.

A cobbled street leads away between trees and vegetation.

Talbot St. Now an alleyway leading to the bus station.

Bike handlebars and cobbles.

Sorry for the state of my bar tape. Tsk.

Saturday, 13 September 2014

she loves the mouse toy!


A black cat is curled up asleep on a red blanket with a fabric mouse toy between her paws

Sunday, 7 September 2014

Lovely afternoon. Oh look, The Railway's open...

A bottle of Brooklyn Lager on a pub table in the sunshine

Tuesday, 2 September 2014

How on earth did my darling girls get me to agree to this? :-)

A young black cat sits on my windowsill, gazing directly at the camera with green eyes

(TBH this might have had something to do with it.)

Sunday, 31 August 2014

Oof!

A Point of View: Why Orwell was a literary mediocrity

I would happily concede that Orwell wrote second-rate literature, but Will Self seems to be attacking him because Orwell advocated plain, direct writing. Hmm...

Saturday, 30 August 2014

Observing an interesting kind of diglossia: English kids putting on American accents when they play. This is not a new thing. I remember my own brother doing the same thing.

Friday, 29 August 2014

Firefox Responsive Design View is fantastic.

Wednesday, 27 August 2014

Die Entscheidungsproblem

I'm going to this party in September, don't ask me how or why, and it turns out that it has a 1940s theme. So I've decided I'll go as either George Orwell or Alan Turing; probably Turing, because I'm not sure I can be bothered to grow the moustache.

So I need the clothes of a scruffy boffin. Currently scouring the second-hand clothes shops of south Manchester for a tweed jacket (leather elbow patches a bonus) and / or a sleeveless woollen pullover.

I think I can manage the Brylcreem, Oxford bags and brogues. Accessorise with a slide rule and a printed copy of Turing's paper on the Entscheidungsproblem to complete the look.

Friday, 22 August 2014

Gwerful Mechain

Wow. Fantastic rude medieval Welsh poet.

Gwerful Mechain

I wonder if Gerard Manley Hopkins ever read her. He learned classical Welsh poetic meter when studying theology at St. Beuno's. I've always thought he was trying to incorporate cynghanedd into his own poetry — sheer plod makes plough down sillion shine. And his poems are all about religion and (in his case, intensely suppressed) sexuality.

Wednesday, 20 August 2014

Today's xkcd.

xkcd: California

The new wheels are good.

New Mavic 700c bicycle wheels on my Revolution Cross bike

Monday, 18 August 2014

Great drying weather!

Socks hanging on a washing line to dry. None of them are in pairs.

Wednesday, 13 August 2014

Damn! Popped a rim. I knew it was getting worn but I didn't realise it was that bad.

Close up of a bicycle wheel. The metal rim has split.

Tuesday, 12 August 2014

St Cwyfan's

In a bay of the sea, a white chapel is visible on a small island
The tide is out. A rocky causeway is visible leading to the small island.
The campanile of a white-painted chapel against a blue sky
A leaded window of the chapel.
Looking back from the small island past the walls of the chapel to the mainland

Those Celtic saints just loved building churches in hard-to-reach locations.

Sunday, 10 August 2014

Aberffraw

Capital of the kings of Gwynedd for 400 years. There's not much there now.

A wild, flat landscape of wetlands and sky. A few grey houses are clustered on a rise next to the water.
Under a blue sky, silver sands stretch off towards a narrow arm of the sea. Mountains are visible on the other side.
An ancient stone drinking trough in the shape of an altar.
A fishing boat is moored in a narrow river in the midst of a wide flat landscape.

Also the site of Branwen and Matholwch's wedding. She is still remembered.

Grey 1960s terraced houses. The street sign says, Bro Branwen, 16-25.

Barclodiad y Gawres

The interior of an ancient burial mound. The rocks appear purple and green in the dim light.
The interior of an ancient burial mound. The rocks appear purple and green in the dim light.
The interior of an ancient burial mound. The rocks appear purple and green in the dim light.
The exterior entrance to an ancient burial mound.
The interior of an ancient burial mound. The rocks appear purple and green in the dim light.
The interior of an ancient burial mound. The rocks appear purple and green in the dim light.

Wednesday, 6 August 2014

Finished reading Put Me Back on My Bike: In Search of Tom Simpson by William Fotheringham 📚.

I had no idea that Harry Hall (of Harry Hall Cycles, Manchester) was Tommy Simpson's engineer on the Tour when he died. The more you learn the more you realise you don't know.

Sunday, 20 July 2014

Richie Porte is 16 mins 19 seconds down. Well that's that for Team Sky, I guess. Can't help wondering what would have happened if they'd selected Wiggo this year.

Nibali looks unstoppable.

Sunday, 6 July 2014

Ooh Cav. Oh dear.

Tour de France 2014

Stage one of the tour, as it passed through Chapel Allerton

A peloton of road cyclists racing along a suburban street in Leeds

The sun is shining, the sky is clear with few clouds.

Crowds of spectators line the streets, behind temporary fencing

The riders are in brightly-coloured lycra

Team Sky are wearing black

In one of the photos you can see Chris Froome (in Team Sky jersey, wearing no. 1), Richie Porte (wearing no. 7), and Niki Terpstra (in Omega Pharma Quickstep jersey, wearing no. 78.

Saturday, 28 June 2014

Staying in, watching Frozen with daughter â„–2

Speaking as a musician, I think the quarter finals should be called demisemifinals. And the round of sixteen would then clearly be the hemidemisemifinals.

Wednesday, 25 June 2014

how is it possible that this mouse has eaten all the peanut butter off the mouse trap and yet not triggered the trap? I think we're dealing with a higher form of intelligence here.

Just to show that the BBC does occasionally cover issues of social importance </irony>

A craze for 'loom bands'

Monday, 23 June 2014

Sweeping up glass on the bike paths.

Broken glass scattered on a bike path
My gloved hand, wielding a brush to sweep up the glass