Big Figures

Drinking beer at the Met, and Mark Radcliffe finally showed up for a gig with the Big figures.

Brilliant Dr Feelgood tracks, and a superb improvisation of "Route 66" which Mark re-worded for his "tour" up the "M-66".

 

I managed to steal another three hours on the Boat on Friday, and I have most of the feeds finished from the fuse panels to the main connection points.

The sun was belting down, and the metalwork of the boat was almost untouchable during the afternoon. Great weather!

Beer, Flags, Music and Climbing (but not in that order)

I have some great little chrome light switches for the boat, but by the time I have crimped spade connectors on the back, and the curvature of the cable, they will be too deep.

Plan B.  I will re-splice all of the switch connections, bringing the cable down to 2.5mm.  This will not be a problem as I am only using the 4mm and 6mm for the long runs to avoid voltage drop.  A short length of 2.5 at the switch should not matter.  2.5mm will be plenty for the current capacity.
  The 2.5mm tails will be more flexible to allow easier fitting of the switches, and I have ordered some "flags".  These are 90 degree spade connectors, and this will reduce the overall depth to about 30mm, which should be ok.

Langdale Charity Folk Festival time again.  I drove up to the lakes in brilliant sunshine, and decided to find a deserted spot to climb something.









  It is two years since I climbed a mountain, so I decided to cheat by starting from the top of Wrynose pass, and climbed up to Black Crag, on the way up to the summit of Pike O' Blisko.

 Half way up there is a small crag which was a great climb.  The rock here is volcanic and you get a fantastic grip - just what I need to get some confidence back after a break from climbing.

 As soon as I had cleared the top, the wind from the west dropped the temperature dramatically, and there were dark clouds in the distance (plus the 'Old' was a-calling!).

Going down is always harder than going up, but after a bit of scrambling I could see the car!

 The views driving back over to Langdale were fantastic...

 ...and then I was back in "the Valley".

The folk Festival was great, I love the sign over the bar "Sorry, We do not serve Mead".

Eleven O'clock and the place was still busy outside and in,

Several pints and the odd whiskey later, and it is the familiar stagger back to the campsite...
     ....zzzzzzz

20cc

On Wednesday I decided to have a (birth)day off and have a couple of beers.  Random idea: A couple of beers in Edinburgh with a trip up the East Coast mainline, which is a great journey.  Once you get north of York the train heads through the towns and cities that were big in Victorian engineering, Darlington, Durham, Newcastle...

Once past the great curved platforms of Newcastle, the line continues to curve to the east, giving one last view of the bridge, then heads off to the Northumbrian coast.

As I was travelling First Class, I got fed on the journey, and the Fish pie was superb, washed down with a glass of Pedigree.

As you approach the coast, you can see Lindisfarne in the distance.

Berwick is the border town, and you sweep over the great viaduct and get a view of the town from above.  I have never been to Berwick, I must do someday.

After arriving in Edinbirgh I wandered up the long stairs from Waverley Station to Princess St, and along to Hanover Street.  Here there is an underground bar called Milnes, serving 7 or 8 real ales along with a great atmosphere.

Edinburgh Castle in the distance.

The Assembly rooms stand proud accross the valley, and I walked accross the Railway and around the Art gallery to climb the mount to the Royal Mile.

St Giles Cathedral Dominates the start of the mile, which has all sorts of nooks running off the sides.






  I wandered past John Knox House where the Scottish Literary movement started.







I continued to the end of the mile to find the Tass, but it has been changed and is no longer a real ale bar.  I plagueishly avoided the aptly named "End of the World" across the road. From the end of the mile you can see accross to the Royal Terrace.

Just down one of the "nooks" there is are two pubs which seem to sit on top of each other, Jinglin Geordie and the Half Way House, great beers in both.

Walking back down to the Station, and you can see that the backs of the terraces have turrets and towers and all sorts.

Thursday I was back in London to the Royal Albert Hall.  I've never seen a concert here before.  I had a couple of pints of Skinners in the Queens Arms just around the corner, which is a great pub.  Next time I am here I will have to try the food.

10cc in the Royal Albert Hall.  It doesn't get much better than this.  As usual they did an accoustic first set.

Followed by a 10cc hits second set, joined by Kevin Godley on a couple of songs.

I may be some time...

Wednesday evening I went to Bridgewater Hall to see 10cc.  I haven't been to bridgewater Hall before.

Opposite what used to be Central Station, there is the impressive Midland Hotel. There is still plenty of this architecture remaining around Manchester but I still can't believe what idiot thinks that some of these modern glass monstrosities like the one to the right "fit in".

10cc were great, but I don't like the hall.  The sound was very echoing where I was in the third tier.  I think the room is too "squared off" for good accoustics, I think the people at Bridgewater Hall agree, because there were sound muffling blankets thrown over many of the surfaces.












At the end of the concert, to celebrate 40 years since "Donna" was a hit, they performed a superb acappella version.





Mayday bank holiday weekend we went down to Sherwood Forest for a show at the start of the Robin Hood Festival.

Even the knights have to have time off to walk the dog...

There was afantastic set-up of a blacksmiths forge, demonstrating making nails, hooks and all sorts of bits and pieces, there was an archery demonstration, but all to no avail.  Mayday weekend, the snow, the sleet, the high winds, rain, sub-zero temperatures and freezing fog destroyed any chance of a large public turnout.

It was that wild, we decided to set up the tents inside the beer tent!