Sunrise

That could be the last bit of sun for the day!

Crowds

A crystal clear sky greeted the Gorse Fox when he opened up the doors to the garden. It looked promising. A leisurely breakfast, and a wander through the Sunday papers gave the clouds an opportunity to gather behind the mountain and then sneak up on us whilst not concentrating. It was clear that we would have to move round the coast to follow the sun.

We headed along to Los Christianos where we joined the sea of humanity that was wandering up or down the promenade. We decided to wander up towards Las Americas - taking our lives in our hands as we we dodged motability scooters, cyclists, and Police motorbikes - and that's to say nothing of the various vendors trying to accost us offering sunglasses (we were wearing them), caps (the Gorse Fox was wearing a hat), perfume (the Silver Vixen smelled nice anyway - Eau du The) and cameras (the Gorse Fox had his round his neck).

Near the area known as Veronica's we turned back and retraced our steps, stopping eventually for a fine glass of cold Weissbier and some lunch. The coast had remained sunny, but it was clearly foul inland -with heavy dark clouds dumping their contents on the mountain sides.

We returned to the villa for what was left of the afternoon.

Playa de las Americas

The west coast was fairly clear of cloud as we walked along the edge of the beach near Play de las Americas.

Circuit

The forecast was for mixed showers. Now the Gorse Fox thinks this may be a great idea for saving water and encouraging people to attend the gym... but is not the ideal situation on holiday

It was important that we could find somewhere appropriate to spend some quiet time to remember the Silver Vixen's friend. Many of the local churches are kept locked - except when services are scheduled.

The Gorse Fox suggested a trip to Candelaria - some 30 miles up the east coast. It is a nice town and the home to a major Basilica dedicated to the Blessed Virgin. As we got closer the forecast showers turned to reality as thick clouds rolled across the mountains dumping their contents in short sharp bursts. We strolled through the town and across the main square - guarded by huge bronze statues of the Guanche kings. Passing the Basilica we continued along the promenade to where it ended at a couple of caves - a deep grotto where the image of the Virgin Mary used to be kept and where the Guanche natives were baptised, and the much larger Camel cave which is still used for votive candles, and memorial flowers.

We were back inside the Basilica, inside a small side chapel at the time of the funeral and spent a quiet 30 minute of rememberance.

Moving on, it was clear that it was far from clear - cloud-wise. It seemed that a a bit of touring was the best plan so we continued from Candelaria round the top of the Island and along the north coast past La Oratava, Puerto de la Cruz, Icod de los Vinos, and on to Guarachico. The north coast was pretty clear of cloud and certainly dry so the drive was quite pleasant. We stopped outside Guarachico to take some photos, then headed on. We had to climb over the north west corner of the Island and from Guarachico that meant taking the switch-back road straight up the cliff side to El Tanque. We had climbed back into the cloud at this point and the traverse of the north west pass across to Santiago del Teide was like driving through thick fog. As if a light had been switched on, as we arrived at the west coast the skies cleared and we were bathed in bright sunshine for the rest of the journey back to the villa.

The round trip is only some 108 miles - but it is well worth the effort.

Island Tour

Basilica at Candelaria

Guarachico - which was bisected by a lava flow during the eruption of 1798.

Sssh

Friday is change-over day in Tenerife. The roads can be filled with manic taxi drivers and coaches trying to make as many trips as possible to and from the airport. The Gorse Fox has learned over the years that it is well to steer clear.

Over the past few years they have been building a new marina near the villa, and on Fridays they have a small street market nearby. This seemed like a plan.

The Silver Vixen checked her notebook and we walked down towards the marina stopping in at the market on the way. It was surprisingly busy and blistered holiday makers tried to jostle for position without rubbing their sunburn against the next person. The Gorse Fox is not one for markets - if God wanted us to shop in markets why did he invent eBay. GF stood to one side, out of the way and treated the whole event as an anthropological study.

We moved on towards the marina, turning west along the coastal path. This leads past a number of small developments, up and round outcrops and skirts a golf course. Eventually it leads to a long and wide pebbly beach. When the Gorse Fox refers to pebbles - these are not like those we find on the beaches of Sussex. These are the size of rugby balls - and what isn't clear is whether they are natural (which he assumes they are) or were placed there deliberately. This is as far as we could go as the surface was too uneven for the Silver Vixen to traverse it safely and so after stopping for some photos we turned back.

We followed the coast all the way back to San Blas then turned inland to head back to the villa. After a brief sortie to the supermercado we settled in for a quiet afternoon.

Costa del Silencio

Small lagoon set back from the sea near the Costa del Silencio

Looking back towards the San Miguel Marina

Eh?

None of trips made to Tenerife are really complete without a trip up the mountain. Certainly the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen have done this many times - indeed more than once on some trips.

The mountain only sported a few fluffy clouds and the day seemed perfect. To the uninitated the route up the south face through Villaflor would be the obvious choice. The Gorse Fox would admit it's pretty. However our favourite route is more interesting and involves driving down the spine of the island. We headed up TF-1 towards Santa Cruz, then looped onto TF-2 across to La Laguna (once capitol of the Island and home of its famous University - and Ikea!!!). We then turned south west, passing Los Rodeos airport and heading up through La Esperanza into the Coronal Forest an up onto the spine of the mountains.

As the road loopd first one way and then the other, stunning vistas of one coast then the other open up before you and to the south the peak of El Teide dominates the skyline.

Well, that's how it should be. Actually, we headed up into ground hugging cloud. It started to rain - heavily, and visibility was a few hundreds of metres at best. As the temperature plunged past 4C the rain turned to hail and the car was pounded by huge hailstones. In minutes the mountain road was covered in huge hailstones and driving became "interesting".

We continued to climb, passing the observatory at Inaza and then as we broke through the wall of the crater near El Portillo the clouds dropped away and the skies were blue and the sun shone. The journey through the crater was as spectacular as we have come to expect, and we stopped here and there to take photos... and to get some lunch.

Eventually, we moved on and eschewed the southern route, turning north west at Boca Tauce and heading down towards Chio. This is a gentle and easy drive, and virtually the whole descent can be achieved without a touch of the accelerator and the occasional dab of the brake.

From Chio we headed back along the west coast and back to the villa for a quiet afternoon with our books. All-in-all we had only covered 121 miles but we had seen some pretty unique weather - certainly it the first time we have seen the like in the 20-odd years we have been coming here.

As a postscript - there was heavy rain during the night. Looking up at El Teide this morning many of the slopes of the mountain and those that rim the crater are dusted with snow... yet down here it's pleasantly warm as usual.

El Teide and Las Canadas

Nothing to see

Pass right along now. Nothing to see here.

The exhausting pace of relaxing on holiday caught up with these intrepid travellers. An early decision was made to spend a quiet day reading in the privacy of our garden. And so it was that the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen spent the day without seeing another soul - but demolished books and sewing projects respectively.

The Gorse Fox's mind was getting restless - but this had been catered for. On his iPod nestled a collection of traing videos for some of the more esoteric functions of Excel, Joomla, and Open Office Draw and with his netbook at hand he was able to scratch the intellectual itch.

The evening saw a trip to San Blas to share in the pleasure that is the Chinese buffet before returning to the villa for a flurry of txt msg, email, and telephone activity.

The pace is relentless!!!! The Gorse Fox may have to lie down.

East

Having been on the west coast at La Caleta we decided to hit the east coast and droppped down to Los Abrigos (where they are doing extensive roadworks) and the drove along the coast passing Punta Roja before parking up at Playa del Medano.

We strolled towards the town along the boardwalk. Whilst that was busier than the Gorse Fox would have expected, the beach was quiet. This beach is remarkable for the sandstone dunes that divide it into lots of little private bays, and the way in which the sea has eroded the sandstone leaving precarious overhangs where sunbathers shelter from the wind. (This area of Tenerife is also known for its windsurfing and kitesurfing).

At the far end of town there major pipeworks were underway, forcing a detour from our normal route, but we settled down on the rocks for a while before turning back and retrieving the car. We moved 10 miles further along the coast to the little harbour of Abades. This will become a purpose-built village at some point. All of the roads and services are laid out - but only one third of the houses are built. The rest is silent - waiting for the potential owners to come. There are several beaches at Abades and we strolled past the few souls who were making the most of the comparative solitude. Sitting by the water's edge we watched as the tide retreated from the rockpools and a little fishing boat chugged into the bay.

After a spot of lunch we returned to the villa for an afternoon in the garden.

We received an email for the Silver Vixen telling her that her dear friend had just lost her battle with cancer. A light that had once burned so brightly had flickered and was now gone. It was sad, but at least she is at peace.

El Medano

Punta Roja as seen from El Medano.

Rock pools near El Medano

Geraniums

For some reason the bourgainvillea-lined promenade that runs from Los
Christianos up the coast is called the Geranium Path... and here and there a daisy is etched into the pavement. Confusing really!!

Yesterday we decided to traverse part of this path and so headed some 13 miles along the coast to place where we knew the car could be left and headed down to the shore.

We headed away from the main connurbations - with the Gorse Fox stopping to take photos at various points along the way. The tide was out so the blow-hole that we have watched in past was silent. Eventually after some 3.5 miles we stopped in La Caleta for a refreshing glass of sangria before retracing our steps. La Caleta is a tiny harbour with several nice restaurants perched precariously on the harbour wall. Sitting overlooking the harbour the swirl of the tide of the slabs of bed-rock was hypnotic... and we lingered longer than planned. As we lingered we discussed what we had learned along the way you immediately identify the nationality of all tourists; a) Germans are deeply tanned, and the ladies drip with gold; b) French are well dressed, and the men tend to stick to Chinos rather than shorts; c) Spaniards are identifiable by the gold that that the women wear and the fanciful reds that they dye their hair, whilst the men are always immaculately presented in open neck shirt and smart slacks over loafers; d) the Dutch are distinguished by the walrus-like moustaches (predominantly but not solely sported by the men); e) the Irish are identified by being bright red in colour; and f) the Brits are distinguished by a total absence of dress sense or decorum, the huge expanses of flesh that they share with all and sundry and various bright red strips that indicate that they use SPF-stupid. It makes you proud. (Where are the crisp white shirts and smart sports coats over light linen trousers and deck shoes)

On our route back the Silver Vixen dragged tghe Gorse Fox (under protest) into a Tony Roma's Ribs Restaurant forcing him to try some of the Carolina Ribs coated in honey. Out of politeness he forced himself to finish the aforementioned snack and sat licking his lips whilst the Silver Vixen delicately worked her way through hers.

Near La Caleta

There are a series of interesting coves on the Gereanium Walk towards La Caleta. This first image shows where the tide has undercut the rocks. It booms as it crashes into the shallow cave.

The harbour at La Caleta. It is lined with small restaurants. We sat down to a refreshing drink in one across the bay.

Complex

The complex that the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen call home for 2 weeks each year.

Domingo

Sunday was a suitably quiet day. The sun was up early doing its rounds and it seemed like an opportunity to spend some time getting to know it better. The winds of the previous day had dropped (though experience tells us that they will be back by mid afternoon).

A bit of exercise was order of the day and so the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen donned appropriate gear (i.e. decent trainers) and headed out from the complex.

It is remarkable how little things have changed since our last visit - and yet how much building is under way (though being Sunday it was hard to see if they had been abandonned or were just having the day off).

We ended up at San Blas looking down over the old barranco. This has now been developed and has a hotel, play area, and plenty of houses filling the valley between San Blas and Los Abrigos.

A refreshing cider set your intrepid adventurers for the last stage of the walk - back up the hill to the villa. All done it was just under 4 miles, and very satisfying. A quiet afternoon with our books, iPods, and sewing (no, not the Gorse Fox) saw out a most pleasant day.

Golf del Sur

One of the small beaches at Golf del Sur. The volcanic outcrops are such a contrast to the blue of the Atlantic.

Sssh...so quiet

The first day of a holiday should be quiet and should an opportunity to unwind. This was the plan... and for a change the plan ran to perfection.

We picked up the hire car, popped along to the supermarket to get supplies and then retreated to our villa. Whilst out, the Gorse Fox noticed that he had somehow donned a cloak of invisibility as he had to take avoiding action on several occasions as elderly ex-pats tried to drive him off the road... or infact just walk straight into him in the supermarket. It was like being at home in Sussex on pension day.

We stayed in the villa for the rest of the day (it was probably safer) - fending for ourself from the wide selection of foodstuffs we had collected during the earlier trip.

Acccording to the local paper Tenerife has had the wettest winter for 30 years. You can certainly see that is much greener than usual, and the valleys of the south are looking quite lush. So far we haven't seen any rain, but we are getting the strong winds that tend to pick up in the afternoons here in the south.

Travel

Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes travel can be a pleasure.

Urban-cub dropped us outside the terminal and the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen wandered into a near-deserted Gatwick. Silver Vixen asked - "Are they closed and nobody told us?" But no. Staff were there, but very few travellers.

We went to check-in and dropped our bags, drifted through security - where they seemed interested to have something to do at last... and continued through to departures. Again, it was almost deserted.

The flight was called on time and we were almost the first on the plane and settled. This gave an opportunity to watch the other passengers board. The Gorse Fox is concerned by how many ugly people are being allowed to travel, and how many have been allowed to breed.

Landing early, we queued for a moment or two to get through passport control - then wandered along to the baggage belts to see our baggage there already. From touch-down to the point that we were outside by the taxis was 20 minutes.

When travel is that easy it is a pleasure.

Packed and ready

The Siver Vixen finds packing to be stressful and spent most of yesterday evening, working with Urban-cub to get it right - the right selection, the right distribution, the right folds and rolls, and the right case. She worries that she may have fogotten something vital.

The Gorse Fox is a little more cavalier. He packed this morning and will wake up each morning of the holiday wondering what will be next out of the suitcase or wardrobe. He has no doubt he has forgotten something vital.

Venus and Mars!

Local excitement

The Gorse Fox had a chance to review the local papers. He hadn't appreciated what a hotbed of interest the Littlehampton-Worthing=Arundel triangle could be. Picking a few headlines:

• Pigeon stuck in chimney of Worthing bungalow
• Worthing home-owner fights for fence
  

It's hard to maintain equilibrium in such a hectic part of the country

Up

It may be the first day of the Gorse Fox's vacation, but he was still up and about soon after seven. It was a glorious morning - not a cloud in the sky. It's nice to have a day to settle prior to going away.

Shopping and Currency were orders of the day, and now that is accomplished GF can just chill-out (as he believes they say in the vernacular).

Blogging may be sporadic for the next couple of weeks - depending on internet connectivity. GF will, of course retro-blog on his return if necessary.

Job done

Gorse Fox has finished at Worcester for the day... driven home and started his vacation. He's having trouble wiping the smile off his face.

Grazie

It has been a successful day - many little but significant meetings and many chunks of admin. 

At the end of the day the Gorse Fox met up with colleagues and headed out for an Italian meal. GF is not overly enamourted of Italian food in general. He doesn't dislike it it. In fact he quiet likes it. In reality though, he can always find something he'd prefer. Tonight, though, he succumbed and thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

Decline

The Gorse Fox notices from the BBC that old age starts at 27 with the gradual decline of mental acuity. GF is rather concerned that, based on that analysis, he has been declining for more than half of his life now. 

What hope is there for the future?

Carillon

The Gorse Fox had to be in Worcester for a couple of meetings, but now the day was over and a curry was calling.

The bell ringers of Worcestyer Cathedral are practising and the quintessential sound of British country life made the warm evening wrap comfortably round the few people who were about in the City centre. Winter seems to have finally lost its grip and Spring is beginning to flex its muscle. 

Journo

Gorse Fox was pleased to receive an invite to contribute an article to a new magazine. The magazine is focussed on the South and GF was asked to contribute 800 words regarding a specific walk in the South Downs. Unfortunately this is one route he has not yet tried so had to decline for now... but has offered his services in the future.

Dust and chippings

The Gorse Fox has spent most of the day (which was a stunning spring day of bright warm sunshine)  dressing doors. He should explain that this is not some weird fetish featuring the long dead corpse of Jim Morrison, but rather the process of cutting doors to size, mounting hinges and puuting on the handles and the spring catches. This labour has involved: 

1. Tape measure, 
   
2. Stanley knife, 
   
3. Chisels (freshly sharpened), 
   
4. drill with spade bit and normal bit, 
   
5. screwdriver, 
   
6. workbench, 
   
7. banged thumb, 
   
8. and some soto voce swearing. 

The Gorse Fox has been accompanied in this exercise by the Urban-cub. ALl doors have now reached a stage whereby no further activity can occur until some old holes and chips have been filled and sanded. Then painting can commence.

Easy Peasy

The Gorse Fox cannot get over how long it takes to strip the paint from a fielded panel door. & inset panels each give 4 mouldings to fiddle with and the one and half ddors that he has stripped today took about six hours.

Meanwhile, the Silver Vixen and Urban-cub headed over to the flat and finished painting the kitchen.

During the evening GF has managed to get a distro of Ubuntu called Easy Peasy running on his netbook. He isn't sure if he'll install it permanently, but for now he has it running from a USB stick. 

WAH

The Gorse Fox had the pleasure of working from home. This meant that he was able to have a moderately quiet day and could catch up with some emails and admin as well as the all of the usual stuff.

It would appear that last night's concert by the famous "Cardinal Sin and the Bum Notes" was a stonking success. It appears that they collected over £1000 for charity, playewd a terrific set, and had a very very late night. Gorse Fox is frustrated that he he missed it because he hoped to get to the Parish Council meeting, but in the end was too late for that so missed both.

Parish

The day was successful. The spanner that had been had been thrown into the works at the end of the yesterday was finally extracted again today. A little bit of analysis and thought showed that the approach originally taken had been correct.

Unfortunately the various meetings, discussions and the decisions left the Gorse Fox in Worcester much later than planned - this, in turn, meant the Gorse Fox was too late to attend the evening's Parish Council meeting.

Spread

The day was busy and at times frustrating. Every time the Gorse Fox managed to shave some costs from the budget, another one cost rose. 

He did manage to get his netbook connected to the secure network... so that proves the netbook has no problem with secure networks, so GF will go back and try to reset the security on the network at home. And the fact that he's writing this blog entry shows he's got it working through BT Openzone.

Now GF thinks he can hear a fine Austrian beer calling his name.

Long

It was a long day. The usual Tuesday 0500 start pressaged what was to be a comfortable drive followed by a very intense day. The Gorse Fox was pleased to finally escape and get back to his hotel room by 1930.

 

This gave him an opportunity to try out his netbook away from home. First step was to get connected to BT Openzone... which failed miserably because he had forgotten his password and couldn't be bothered to walk down to the car to check it, nor phone BT to get it reset. He then thought about using his new 3G dongle, but given that it works by the day, ending at midnight, it seemed profligate to fire it up for just a few minutes work. This will be tested on another occasion.

At it

Back at the coal face today... telecons, spreadsheets, and a trip to London to interview a CIO. Not exactly riveting, but then Gorse Fox isn't building a ship. Trip to London took him past this huge edifice in the Horseferry Road - made from umbrellas!

Paintflakes

The work continues on Urban-cub's flat. Much of the day was dedicated to doors... the stripping, sanding, sanding, and painting thereof. Once all of the layers of paint are off, the underlying doors are are an absolutely perfect example of how proper panelled doors should be made. They may be 120+ years old, but they really are exemplars of good joinery.

We tried calling Thailand to speak with Cousteau-cub - and though we tried Skype, JaJah, and the normal phone the only sound we got back was similar to someone playing a radio underwater whiolst being pinged by a nearby sonar station. We gave up after several attempts and will have to try again.

Sawdust

It has been a mixed day for the Gorse Fox whilst the Silver Vixen has been out at with her coven somewhere along the south coast.

Some PC maintenance started the day and was swiftly followed by a saunter through the various blogs that he follows periodically. Then it was on to research mobile broadband providers and to try an find a deal that suited his occasional need.  In most cases he can get WiFi access or make do with his phone - which in turn he can also use as a modem; but once in a while he wants proper access. After much deliberation he decided that the T-mobile pay as you go service is the ideal solution and pottered off into Worthing to get the USB dongle with the HSPDA-capable SIM.

Once back, he went to see how Urban-cub was getting on preparing some doors for painting. In the end it was easiest with team work and he helped by attacking the 493 layers of paint and varnish with a heat gun and scraper before launching at it with a belt sander. The belt sander made short shrift of the detritus that clung to stripped door turning it to dust and sawdust. Though it is probably 120 years old, it looks like new.

The Silver Vixen arrived back from her spell with with the coven having had a good day. A quiet evening is planned for all.

Afield

Once back out in the open we headed past the lake where, again, flashes of colour from cornus brightened the water's edge.

We headed for the restaurant and stopped for a snack. Some cheddar and leek flan and some teas and coffees were quickly demolished and then we headed back across the gardens.


We headed across to another part of the garden. Here there were a number of small sample garden settings. The one that really caught the Gorse Fox's eye was the Japanese Bonsai garden.

Needless to say, at this time of year, many of the specimens weren't at their best. These were the ones that really stood out.

Up on Battlestone Hill Gorse Fox looked through the still bare branches and was entranced by how the underlying skeleton of summer trees can be even more interesting when dormant than the brash colours they don for the summer months.

Under glass

Inside the glasshouse there wer several zones - arid, humid etc.

It was excellent and as we walked about several huge and colourful butterflies fluttered across the scene and darted between one flower snd the next.

On a day such as this - cold, but sunny the glasshouse was warm and sheltered and a very pleasant place to be.



The arid zone had some interesting specimens - and the cactii showed some astonishing geometric patterns.



In the humid zone it was like wandering through part of a rain forest (without the rain, the wild animals, or the creepy-crawlies). In general it was the foliage that caught the eye... but here and there there were some eye-catching specimens.

Glass

It is probably 15 years since GF & the the Silver Vixen have been to Wisley - and there had been many changes. Most startling of the changes was the new glass house.

Colour

You may think that gardens would be devoid of colour and interest at this time of year. The GF, however, has an eclectic taste and was charmed by the explosions of colour that punctuated the dormant surroundings.

Wisley

The final proper day of the Gorse Fox's holiday started bright, cold, and clear. We had arranged to meet up with Betty anmd Barney Rubble at the RHS gardens at Wisley.

We had picked the perfect day for the trip and after meeting up at the coffee shop outside and taken on fluids we headed on into the gardens.

Class

The Gorse Fox is aware that he lives in a very nice area, and is forever grateful that he is so lucky. He still finds it amusing however that his morning paper is delivered by a chap in BMW 3 series coupe.

Clouding over

The Gorse Fox has come up with a great wheeze for managing the diverse computers that rattle around the house.

What are the basic requirements?

1. Any computer must be able to get to the core data and files that the user may want
   
2. Other computers may be switched on
   
3. Any computer must be able to access the data and files whether the network is working or not
   
4. All data is backed up
   

So how was this achieved?

1. The Gorse Fox signed up for a Live Mesh beta account (from the devils in Redmond).
   
2. Each of the computers was added to the Mesh
   
3. Each of the key data repositories was added to the Mesh
   

When a computer starts it tries to join the Mesh; if it succeeds there is a live channel open to the data in the respective folders in the Mesh and a local cache is synchronized with it. If the network is down, the locally cached folders are used instead. Any changes to any file are replicated through the Mesh to any of the other computers that is connected, or will be replicated next time they are connected.

Finally the local cache of these folders (or the live link if the network is up) is monitored by Allway Sync on the main PC (when it is next switched on), and copied across to a further external 500Gb disk.

Probably not foolproof - but pretty close.

Consoling

There were no specific plans. Some physio for the Silver Vixen, and then a couple of members of her coven were coming round to practise their nefarious activities. Then a phone call changed the shape of the day with a call for help from one of her dear friends who is in a savage decline at the mercy of various cancers. Without hesitation (except to get dressed) the Silver Vixen went along to console, give comfort, and to accompany her to a nearby hospice.

Everything else seemed a little trivial. Angus considered charging by the pound as he started to thin out the Gorse Fox's hair, it is so long since it was hacked back.

Then GF returned to his study (or is machine room) and sat between four computer consoles and completed the customisation of the SV's new machine and the development of what seems to be an entirely satisfactory file sharing and vback scheme. More on that in the next post.

Widescreen

It always seems strange to the Gorse Fox how such a tempestuous night of howling wind and driving heavy rain can within a few hours break into a a glorious and quiet morning.

There were no specific plans for the day - but there were a few errands to run. We headed out to Chichester and then onwards to Hedge End. When we got home, the Silver Vixen had a new 17" widescreen laptop that she can use for her quilting DVDs, her emails and so forth. This was our first Vista machine, and whilst it took a bit of getting used to the 3GB of memory seems more than adequate for what we need.

Square Root day

Well if there's a Speak Like a Pirate Day, why shouldn't there be a Square Root day and today is just that 3.3.09

And the Pi day coming up on 3.14 

Middle England

The Gorse Fox was up early. He had to drive up to Worcester for a meeting - not the most common way to spend part of a holiday. It was not the most enjoyable of days - but at least we made some progress in a number of areas.

The six hours spent in the car was an opportunity to catch up with pod casts - comedy, science, scepticism, and technology. Very entertaining.

Shell

Inside, the castle is just a shell. Destroyed by Cromwell's men after the Civil War to prevent it ever being used as a fortification again it bears the scars of time. Rubble shows where walls once stood. Windows, niches and fireplaces punctuate those walls that remain revealing glimpses of what it may once have been.



What made the trip even more pleasant was that The Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen were among a few tens of visitors, at most (and the school party that had been clambering all over the place, left soon after we arrived).

The traditional NT Teas Shop had plenty of free tables - and no queue; and the NT Shop was empty.

Excellent day out.

Welcome

The portcullis hangs above the gateway, but beyond there are the murder holes that allowed defenders to wreak mayhem on any attackers that may breach the outer defense.

Now a kindly NT Steward checks your membership, provides a guide, and points you to where a video loop retells the story of the castle.

Afloat

As if floating gently, competing with the ducks and water birds that surrounded it, the castle rose above the moat. A single walkway carries the visitor across the water, past the barbican and deposits him at the portcullis.

At its best

It may be early March, but it was a lovely day. The sun was playing hide and seek between cotton wool clouds. It was too nice not to do something, and a brief review of the National Trust brochure showed that we had visited most of the properties nearby.

The Gorse Fox is only holiday - going further afiled is not a problem and so we headed east along the A27 and then north to Bodiam Castle, some 60 miles from home, sitting there on a small rise examining its fine old reflection in the flooded mill pond below.

Cards

It looks like the problem on the PC was a built-in multi-card reader. This was meant to allow various CF, SD and the like cards to be inserted and read. It appears that the system was getting controller errors from it (according to the system log), and so (as the Gorse Fox has only used this feature about three times in the past few years) he has disabled it et voila la ordinateur is live.

Methinks..

The Gorse Fox has been watching with interest the furore that has surrounded the size of Fred Goodwin's £690k+ pension. The issue, of course, is that he presided over the debacle that was the RBS.

Why this interests GF is he suspects this is classic misdirection. If everyone is focussed on Fred Goodwin and his pension, nobody is focussing on the pensions that MPs and PMs award themselves... and this PM and his wretched governmment were probably far more culpable for the situation in which we find ourselves than Goodwin. (And he sold the UK Gold Reserves at the bottom of the market leaving us little to fall back upon).

Fix it

Theysay "If it ain't broke, don't fix it"

The Gorse Fox fears it is broke and so far he hasn't found a successful way to fix it. His trusty PC (obviously feeling unloved since the purchase of the Netbook last week) has started to play up. It gets half way through the boot sequence anjd just hangs - like a half-laced trainer.

So far GF has been spectacluarly unsuccessful in resolving the problem but fears it may require the magic touch of a Mr Fixit to determine where it is playing up. System logs point to a controller error for harddrive3 but GF cannot dig any deeper into the diagnostics because the machine won't behave.

In addition to this he has had to expend a further 3 hours or so on work related matters.  

With a mild and dry day and in the spirit of daddy-daughter bonding GF and the Urban-cub have given both the cars a thorough clean and made them all sparkly - this is likely to bring on the rain.

Two halves

The first half of Saturday was a tedious exercise in going back through notes, diaries and so forth to document some material for work. What GF had expected to be an hour's exercise turned out to take over three. The Silver Vixen gave up and went off to Porpoise Place to meet up with Urban-cub and get on with the decorating.

Eventually GF was finished and went over to join in the DIY for the rst of the afternoon.

Weird

Did you know that in Kentucky, it is illegal to carry a concealed weapon more than six-feet long.

Mmmm.

Profession

"You look very professional - do you work here?" 

The Gorse Fox did a double take - "Who me?"

"Yes, do you work here?"

The Gorse Fox had been standing near the entrance to the new IKEA at Southampton awaiting the Silver Vixen and Urban-cub who were busy checking that IKEA plumbing was up to scratch. He had picked up a pencil and a tape measure and it would seem that that is sufficient to make hime look professional. GF explaine he was just waiting for someone - and pointed out the tape measures.

His protaganist picked up a tape measure and put it round his neck and grabbed a pencil. With a smile he said "Ok, I'll take over now" and the Gorse Fox moved away with a grin (It's nice to find someone with a sense of humour).

The trip to IKEA had two objectives - to look round the new store and to find some stuff for the GF's study. The trip was a success on both counts and several hundred hours later we emerged, blinking back into the light. Food was the next priority and after looking about we stopped at a pub called The Quayside. Ciabattas, wings, ribs, chips, tuna, bacon and so forth were laid out in front of us and soon we were satisfied.

Finally we had to head into the town centre to find Maplins and try to get a product that would improve the TV signal around the house. 

A nice day off was somewhat ruined however by the ingress of work issues into the day

All Done

Last day of work for a while... the Gorse Fox has a few days of leave. The day has not been a breeze however. There were so many loose ends to tie up that he hardly had a chance to stop for tea or coffee. 

He thinks it's done now - time to put his feet up.

Well well

The Gorse Fox notices that media haven't made much of last month's report from Japan. Fortunately, The Register paid for its translation and revealed some of the findings. 

Kanya Kusano is Program Director and Group Leader for the Earth Simulator at the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science & Technology (JAMSTEC). He focuses on the immaturity of simulation work cited in support of the theory of anthropogenic climate change. Using undiplomatic language, Kusano compares them to ancient astrology.

Read the article - it's an eye opener

Qualifications

According to Robert Peston's blog, evidence given to the Treasury Select Committee by the head of the FSA reveals "that in the past, when deciding whether someone was fit-and-proper to be a senior banker, almost the only consideration for the FSA was whether the candidate was a crook". The Gorse Fox assumes this information was needed as some form of positive qualification.

Pavillion

The Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen headed off to the theatre in Worthing. We went to see "Totally Looped" which is a travelling show where a number of talented stand-up comedians have to improvise from a number of suggestions given by the audience.

The Gorse Fox's luck regarding theatres continued. As we arrived there was notice that Sanjev Bashar was ill and was being replaced by someone else (this reminds him of the two occasions when he has tried to see Elkie Brooks to be foiled by her illness on both occasions),

Anyway, the show was excellent with some clever improv and also the dubbing of random film clips by the cast based on themes provided by the audience. Great fun - and very clever. Thoroughly entertaining evening.

Statistics

So research published today has shown an increase in cases of Type 2 Diabetes of 75% in the last 10 years. This is being blamed on diet and obesity. The Gorse Fox would point out the following:

• The current government have been in power for the whole of that time.
  
• People were eating before they came to power
  
• It is only since they came to power that this has increased
  
• People are still eating

The Gorse Fox suggest it is not the eating - it is the political regime!

Vote for someone else and cure Type 2 Diabetes !!!

Strange

The day has been strange. The car had to be dropped at the garage and then work commenced.

Phone calls punctuated the morning but one was most unexpected. A nice lady called and said how much she liked the Gorse Fox's photo of Lancing Chapel and could she take a copy and blow it up. GF was more than happy to acceed to the request and enjoyed a pleasnat few minutes chatting.

Late afternoon the car was collected and new tyres installed... and then work continued. The last call of the evening was with New Zealand (not all of it) at 20:00.

Hub

Today is the anniversary of the Gorse Fox's first appearance on this planet (depending on your view of reincarnation, that is). As a result, the house has been the hub or nexus for the world's international communication network today.

Beloved Aunt has been on the phone from the western extremes of the Commonwealth (where it was still snowing), and Cousteau-cub has been on the phone from Koh Phi Phi where she had just finished a night dive and it was in the high 30s-C.

Little and large

You can see the difference in size between a regualr laptop and the new netbook that GF has acquired. It is only a fraction of the size and weight... but still has all the basic function that GF would require. What it doesn't have is a CD/DVD player - but it's a long time since he's used that anyway.

Toys

The Gorse Fox has treated himself to a new toy. 

He has bought a Samsung NC10 netbook. This is small (10.2") screen and an almost normal sized keyboard. Seems like a terrific little machine - but GF did have trouble setting up the wireless connection. For now, the only way he can get it to connect is by removing the wireless network security. Given how remote GF is, this does not pose much of a threat.

This is ideal for travel, having a very long battery life.

The morning was spent on the phone with a schedule of overlapping phone calls. This worked pretty well - in particular the last call which went really well and introduced one of the greenhorns to one of the Directors.

The afternooon was spent reviewing documents.

Mellors turned up in the afternoon to do some tidying up beyond the south terrace. He was by himself this week - no sign of his totty.

Greenhorn

The Gorse Fox brought two new members to the team. One of them, it turns out, went to school with another of his chaps. Much of the day was spent briefing them and showing them round.

He finally got away soon after five and started the long drive home accompanied by discussions on Amazon's Kindle 2, the Palm Pre, copyright, the snowfalls of last week, the brain's response to envy (and schadenfreude), Kangen water, and so forth. A trouble-free, but interesting drive.

Curry

It has been a quieter day than expected - but a lot was achieved. GF has interviewed several more candidates to join the project and made offers to a couple (well, by that he means two - they are not a couple).

After work we met up - The Mexican and his wife, Frodo, Deep Blue and a new colleague - at a restaurant that GF had not tried before. Anarkali (or however it was should be spelled) was a bright and vibrant purveyor of fine Indian food. It was very good and worth a return visit. Deep Blue gave GF a lift back to the hotel in his new Merc. He is very taken with it and GF was impressed.

Inca

It has ben a good day. Gorse Fox has managed to move a number of issues forward - rejected some candidates but accepted others. A new young lady has joined the team and is obviously an Excel guru - and therefore very welcome.

Quite a cluster of us met up for dinner at Pizza Express with plenty of wide ranging discussions and conversations covering film, TV, work, travel, fossils, and pre-Columban America. Very stimulating.

Bits

It has been a day of bits. Loads of bits. Nothing that took more than 30 minutes or so... just loads of them. Not many opportunites to surface up until now, but GF has decided that's it for today. He's back to his usual early start for his cross country trip in the morning.

Visitors

Pleasant day with a visit from Betty and Barney Rubble and much catching up on respective families. Lunch was taken at The Spotted Cow in Angmering which was (as usual) very crowded - but the food was excellent.

Cove

Another day spent at Urban-cub's flat decorating. In here normal organised fashion she had a list of tasks to be performed and a subset documented specifically for the Gorse Fox. Most wer completed quite quickly, but one posed a conundrum. How to hide the space at the top of a partion wall which was too big for a simple filler? GF had run out of filler anyway. He headed to the great orange DIY emporium to re-stock and whilst there saw some coving.

Back at Porpoise Place he showed effect. It was evident that U-c and the Silver Vixen were underwhelmed. However, it would look good if the coving crowned the whole hallway, he was told. He headed back to the great orange emporium and loaded up with 9 more lengths of coving, and some pre-formed corners... and several hours later the hallway was complete.

U-c was going out for the evening so the Gorse Fox and Silver Vixen went to a restaurant in Littlehampton that they had not tried before. The food was very good and good value too. The restuarant itself was, however, family friendly. This apparently means that you can bring your family and allow the children to run riot whilst you shout at them from behind your beer glass. GF is evidently getting older (or it may be that he had a pounding headache from the paint and adhesive fumes) but there are times when he longs for a family-hostile restaurant.

Originally uploaded by Gorse Fox.

Pitching in Another day at Stamford Bridge. It had been a quiet evening and GF had an early night. A leisurely start to the day was spent reading the brief for the morning's exercises. The course kicked off with a Starfleet update and then it was back into role play. It is a while since GF has been on a course, but he must say that it was exceptional. It was a little galling to find oneself at Stamford Bridge - but at least it wasn't the Emirates (in which case he obviously could not have attended).

CFC

The Gorse Fox was on the first train out of the village this morning -
he had to be at Stamford Bridge for an early start to a two day
course on negotiation techniques. (He supposes that if he was any good
at negotiation he'd have arranged a later start).

There are a couple of hundred Starfleet captains on the course making
sure they have sufficient training to deal with Klingons and other
carbon-based life-forms that we might encounter.

The first day was superb and GF managed to network with a number of
colleagues. He made time during one of the breaks to head out into the
stands and take a couple of photos for Cousteau-cub.

Overnight he is staying in one of the hotels attached to the ground.
He's just walked back through the snow from dinner and is destined to
have a quiet evening with some reading and coursework.

Home early

Well not quite. Gorse Fox headed home a day early this week because he is scheduled to be on a course in London for the next couple of days... and he wasn't home early as the journey was a bit slow and he got caught for abou 15 minutes by the level crossing, which after a long drive is alway immensely frustrating.

Things to prepare and football to watch - must go.

onwards

The forecast 8 inches of snow turned out to be illusionary, at least
in Worcester. The rain pounded down throughout the night, but never
turned to snow fortunately. However, GF was pleased that he came up a
day early as it was clear that part of his normal was indeed affected
by the cold white stuff.

The office was interesting - GF started with a telecon with his new
manager, which went well. Sounds as she's going to be a great asset.
Then from there he started a series of meetings that would fill the
rest of the morning.

The afternoon was far more productive.

The streets of Worcester were quiet this evening as GF joined up with
the Abbot, Frodo and our Scottish friend. A fine meal followed at the
salubrious Pizza Express... and now the Gorse Fox is esconced in his
suite winding down for the evening.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Changing Plans

The Gorse Fox started the day with some telephone interviews. Then
there were a number of telephone queries, some documents to review
and some spreadsheets to tune. All was going well.

Then GF saw that the weather forecast of last night was essentially
unchaged. This meant that GF could expect up to 8 inches of snow in
the morning. On the other hand he could drive up to Worcester this
afternoon and not worry overmuch.

That was it - a late afternoon drive through the heavy rain and then
the sleet and increasing snow. Checking in to the hotel there was a
mix up over his room - but the replacement suite was adequate
compensation for the confusion.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Paint

Most of Sunday was spent up to one's arms in paint. The Gorse Fox, Silver Vixen and Urban-cub returned to Porpoise Place and contined with the decorating. At one point the nasty little neighbour from upstairs came to complain - Urban-cub was in no mood to put up with this so the Gorse Fox suggested that he walked away whilst it was safe to do so, and closed the door on him.

Cousteau-cub texted to explain she had laryngitis, so will have to use SMS this week.

Auto

Urban-cub has a problem. She shares her car and the owner now wishes to sell up. This means that she will be without transport and that is not a good thing here on the Gorse. To try and get a view of the options open to her the Gorse Fox accompanied her around all of the various dealerships and frnchises around Rustington, Goring, Durrington and Worthing. We saw Honda, Peugot, Toyota, Skoda, Renault, Nissan, Ford and (of course) VW.

She now has a good view of the market and can start to decide on her best course of action.

The Silcver Vixen decided to skip the sewing day with her coven and stay put to practise some new quilting techniques.

Insults, storms and teacups

Gorse Fox notices that Clarkson has been lambasted for referring to Gordon Brown as a "one-eyed Scottish idiot". 

Apparently the Scots are taking great offence. The Gorse Fox is at a loss: there is no argument that he has one-eye, and there is no argument that he is Scottish. Whether he is an idiot or not is a matter of opinion - but surely that is for him to take offence at - not the Scots as a whole. 

Or is it rather that they are offended that Gordon Brown is Scottish and don't wish to be associated with him?

Squeezing it

It has been a busy day for the Gorse Fox. A number of telecons, a stack of emails, CVs to review, new tasks to define, interviews and so forth. he was glad when he got to the end.

Since then he has been playing with Python - another programming language (one that he hadn't really tried before). He quite likes it. It seems fairly well structured and quite quick for an interpreted language.

Whether or not

Overnight the heavens dumped several inches of snow over Worcester. An eerie quiet ensued as the snow muffled the sound of the traffic. Clearing the car the Gorse Fox wondered whether the hill up to office would be passable but in the great scheme of things it was trouble-free. Work was a bit like the Marie Celeste (well, other than the fact it isn't a sailing ship, wasn't found deserted in the fog, and didn't have half-eaten meals everywhere) in that it was very quiet - many of the locals who live in outlying villages were trapped by the hills.

More heavy snow was forecast for during the day so once the most important meetings were over GF decided to head back to the balmy warmth of the south coast. Though concerned about what he might meet on the way - the jouney was trouble-free and it was a pleasure to get home at a sensible time.

Nights

SO the Gorse Fox has now left the world famous Worcester Pie Night.
The night is in full swing, but GF needs all of the beauty sleep he
can get.

What about the pies? There were pork pies, game pies, curry pies,
steak pies, chicken pies, chicken and leek pies almost every pie you
could shake a stick at. They were delicious... and followed by
crumbles, cobblers, and treacle pies.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Forecast

The forecast is for a heavy fall of pies. Tonight is "Pie Night" again at the Cardinal's Hat. This is Worcester's answer to Anthropogenic Global Obesity

Jam

It seemed innocent enough... it was, after all, a journey the Gorse
Fox makes week in and week out. Because of the weather he left a bit
later than usual.

All was well until he arrived at Chichester, then things went awry. GF
joined the back of a traffic queue - the A27 had been closed. Traffic
was barely at a crawl. GF was stocked up with snacks, drinks, warm
weather clothes (just in case) and settled back with his podcasts. It
took two hours and twenty minutes to do the first twenty-two miles...
and overall the journey to Worcester took about five hours.

Worcester seems to have got off very lightly and though cold was pretty clear.

--
Sent from my mobile device

Snow

Well the south east got hit with some snow. Not a lot down here on the coast (maybe a couple of inches) - but it was nearly 10 inches deep around London. Needless to say chaos ensued on the roads, but GF had the advantage of working from home today. Word has it that Worcester has a light dusting... and so he will trek up there in the morning (having cancelled the course that he was meant to attend).

More snow is forecast overnight so we will see what the morning brings!

Snow

The Silver Vixen headed off early to Ardingly for a quilt show. Urban-cub stayed in bed, and the Gorse Fox spent the morning reading and researching.

As the afternoon wore on a few snow flakes bega to drift across the garden. Withing half an hour it was looking quite wintery. The Silver Vixen reported a "white out" in Ardingly and it became clear it was heading our way.

As an aside GF was looking for a toll with which he could format and print a "blogger" blog. He doesn't want to spend any money and get a formally bound print (he's found sites that do this) - but he does want to create a PDF in chronological order. He knows he could write the code to do this... but can't believe there isn't something out there that will do this already.

End of Peer

Great quote from Peter Hitchins in the Mail:

Actually, it is still not too late to bring back Hereditary Peers, decent incorruptible old coves who have Britain in their bones and blood. Why do we believe that "democracy" is the answer to everything when it so frequently elevates idiots and crooks to power?