A Nice Bit Of Fresh Air

MegaAvalanche 2011

2011-01-29T20:42:00.002Z

We have signed up. I cannot wait.

Cyclosport Ride and Moment of Joy

2010-10-09T20:43:00.004Z

Today we went for a ride with the Cyclosport team. A lovely jaunt around the Surrey Hills taking in Box Hill on the way back to the pub for lunch. It was a big group, and a relaxed vibe and pace. In attendance were a couple of cycling legends: Magnus Bäckstedt and Stephen Roche. They both gave a little speech after lunch, and this was a particular highlight of the day. Magnus said some really nice words on his view of cycling and what we do: a responsibility to get young kids out there on their bikes and promote cycling to younger generations. Well said.

Why there was a moment of joy

On our way to the ride meeting point in Kingston, we sped past a car. In the car was a little kid, staring at us like we were aliens. As I passed I gave him the thumbs up and a smile. He returned the thumbs up and broke into a massive grin. It made my day, thanks kid, I hope you become a cyclist someday.

This is how they rolled...

2010-10-06T22:00:00.004Z

Courtesy of Balint, I only just caught this absolute gem, my new favourite clip from the 90's:

Marathon tips

2010-04-12T21:21:00.003Z

I was lucky enough to bump into a seasoned marathon runner yesterday, and he gave me some valuable tips which I thought I would share:

1. Pace is the most important thing and trying to hold back once the adrenaline starts pumping on the day, he told me if by 5 miles you think you are going too slow, then this is a good sign!

2. Make sure you have warm clothes you can throw away for the start (or a bin liner will do to keep warm whilst waiting) and a complete change, including comfy shoes, for the finish.

3. Put a strip of vaseline straight across your eyebrows, this will stop sweat from running into your eyes and stinging! Also, if it is raining, cover your legs in vaseline, this will stop them getting cold from spray off the road.

4. Don't run in fresh shoes, use your old ones (I had bought a fresh pair on advice from the chap in Jog shop, but have now decided to use my old ones, I couldn't bear to be thinking there might be a problem with the new ones - even Alis told me not to!)

5. For the last 3-4 meals, pasta, potatoes, rice etc. Obvious one, but I hadn't thought to do more than 1 pasta meal the day before.

6. Don't stop drinking after 18-20 miles, otherwise you will of course dehydrate.

So those are the tips - most are obvious to seasoned runners, but I was really grateful. See you at the start covered in vaseline then. And good luck!

My new job

2010-04-09T20:15:00.002Z

Is a little like this:

And I am loving it. Making the move client side had to be done at some point, and it's not often you get the chance to combine 2 things you love: (digital+bikes) = joy.

So I am making the most of it and riding loads. The Stumpjumper has some nice new kit to go on it, including a shiny new pair of mallet 2's, which have taught me a valuable lesson. Pedal threads always loosen in the opposite direction to the direction of the pedal. Unfortunately I had tightened mine trying to remove them: resulting in it being impossible to remove, total schoolboy error. After most of the Gatwick store having a go at it, Al the uber mechanic from the Brighton store managed to do it - by removing the chainset, putting the crank in a vice, and using his 6ft bar ('the persuader') to get some leverage. A big crack, a slightly bent allen, and it came free. Thank you Al!

The Racer arrives!

2009-12-01T11:10:00.004Z

The Plug racer is here! So after my little round of test riding the regular Plug, I opted for the racer version - slighly more bling and all the better for it. I swapped out the drop handlebars and stuck on the straight ones - and am slowly getting used to them. Evans had a good deal where they add on an extra 10% of your ride to work voucher - so I got some extra goodies, trackpump, new computer, and some see through grips for the handlebars.

First real blast along the crisp and sunny seafront this morning was an absolute joy.

This bike is going to keep me well fit, especially when riding against the wind. Have not switched it to fixed yet, but working on that.

The bike room under the office is now becoming a little charge bikes treasure trove. Lovely.

Fixed

2009-10-31T17:36:00.004Z

Last post on the Plug. So I flipped the hub around and rode it into work fixed. Strange to begin with, but ultimately I did like the feeling of being more in control, and just having to be more aware of your environment and the road ahead. Twice I found the pedal kicking my leg back up though - first when I realised I had to stop at the junction (and couldnt flip the pedal back to start again, and had to do a lame little walk to get going) and secondly when I was going to hop up a kerb, and out of habit started to coast..but couldnt found my back leg popping off again! Apart from those 2 little incidents I enjoyed it - not sure if I am converted yet to ride fully fixed, but I am definitely going to invest in a similar single speed bike. Probably the Plug racer, black frame and red chain does it for me.

Charge Spoon saddle

2009-10-12T12:52:00.002Z

After having blasted home on Friday night in torrential rain, I can safely say the bikes brakes work well when wet! Unfortunately because of moving flat and things I didnt get to ride it over the weekend, so I only have more night to ride it. On the run in this morning, I had raised the saddle a little and the fit felt better - and faster. I love the Spoon saddle - have been riding this for a few months on my other bike and it is definitely a good balance between comfort and weight -plus of course here they look well fly in brown! The only thing I think I would change on this bike is the handlebars - I would probably put some straight ones on, not sure what kind of grips you would use though. Tonight I'll flip the hub and probably crash on my way to work tomorrow. Wish me luck. As an aside, here is my current favourite bike related video clip. Nuts.

Massan from MACAFRAMA on Vimeo.

Charge Plug Test ride

2009-10-09T15:46:00.006Z

First in a series of posts, having got my hands on the 2010 Charge Plug..kindly donated by our friends at Evans Cycles.

I have been hankering after one of these for a while, been keen to see what the ride is like. After picking it up last night first job was to whip off the ugly plastic chain guard (why cover something so pleasing to the eye?), bells, reflector etc. All about the aesthetics. Second job was to think about whether to fix the hub or not, and decided I am not brave enough for that just yet.

Doesn't it look lovely?

This morning I took it along the seafront to work. First impression? Speed. Lovely. The feeling of not having to think about changing gears is great! Compared to my Stumpjumper this thing is very nimble. When the wind got up and pedalling became hard, I found my thumbs automatically looking for a gear lever. It really is quite liberating not thinking about which gear...but also quite tiring..so I think riding a single speed is going to be good for fitness, or tiredness depending on which way you look at it.

Anyway I really enjoyed the first ride, now need to be brave enough to turn the flip flop hub around, and ride it truly fixed. Save that for next time.

Randonee comes round again

2009-07-11T09:44:00.004Z

So more training, though far less than previous years! Here is a nice shot taken by Mr Mayfield on short sprints after work around Shoreham and Stanmer park. Route map here.

Last shoot of the season

2009-02-01T17:49:00.003Z

This year we decided to get a picture for posterity. It was a lovely sunny day, but turned very cold in the afternoon. My niece Velvet looking the part in the blue hat!

I am the worst blogger in the world

2008-09-20T20:11:00.004Z

But who cares.

The first half of the year rocketed by as I spent most of my time living in Leeds, working on a secondment for a client. Tiring - but incredibly rewarding and I finished my time there loving what I do even more. Now the situation has changed somewhat, but we just have to see how it pans out. I hope all the friends I made in my time there are OK. They are a good bunch.

And other stuff I have mainly been trying to surf as much as possible - which included an epic incident where I managed to crease a brand new board, bang my head, rip my wetsuit and then crash my car - all on the same day..akk! Anyway..

Onwards to what spurred me to put up a post. A nice follow up to our Kilimanjaro climb (almost one year ago to the day!)

We received an email from Valerie Todd, the director of the home - they have finally built the playground which we helped to fund. Here it is - wicked! So good to see something that everyone at work contributed to finally there, and the kids are loving it according to Valerie.

Come on catch up

2008-02-08T22:54:00.000Z

Well, high time I updated on various activities. It all went quiet after our epic Kilimanjaro climb..mainly because I wanted a bit of a break after the frantic fundraising and trip organising. But it was of course worth it. Never forget that.

Anyway, the cool things that have happened since then are:

- Spannerfest, the best rocking free party style rave any employer of mine ever organised. Long may it last. Especially memorable was the 'raffle' for the Killy climb prizes (we forgot to give away several prizes..eek!), the night time mountain bikers showing up half way through for a quick beer, and of course the 'special' state of every single spannerworker. Brilliant.

- I now have my own (rented) flat. Bliss. Worrying amount of R4 going on though, blamed on not having any other sort of entertainment previously for 2 months, sort of like being in the dark ages. But when the stereo speakers and panel TV were up and the broadband /cable switch was flicked..oh joy.

- My first shoot season was magic. Nothing beats those crisp winter mornings on the farm. It really relaxes me and I can forget about it all for a while. A bird or two is a bonus. I bagged my first duck on the last day of the season, and managed to donate a bird or two to friends. Memorable moment came in the form of shooting a pheasant..which then proceeded to land on a cows head. Poor old cow, got the shock of its life (same said for the pheasant I guess). Now its back to the work parties and getting the pens ready for next season. I still wont eat that crap they call chicken in a supermarket, but a bird that has led a free life is a million times better in my book. Plus these ones get a sporting chance. And they are wiley buggers by the end of the season. Good on them.

- More bike rides up on the downs with Jim, Dave and Jonny. Always a pleasure, even more so in the winter when the sun pops out. Been trying to get out as much as possible lately...as I am off to Whistler boarding for 2 weeks imminently and our friend out there Rupe tells me the legs better hold up. So bike riding and running are order of the day currently. Now that trip..I cannot wait for.

Lastly, the biggest change of them all. Spannerworks is no more. We are now officially iCrossing UK, digital agency supreme! On one hand, i am sad - Spannerworks brought me to Brighton and i will always intrinsically link this town to smiling Spannerworkers, new horizons, and distracting views of the sea behind Dean Harvey as he grilled me in the boardroom on my first nervous interview. But on the other hand..its all about the future. We are propelled 100mph out of the search pigeon hole..and become a connected digital marketing agency like no other. I had a wonderful session with a client recently where we told the story in a way we just couldnt before. The progression is so exciting. We are becoming the agency of the future. And that seals the deal for me.

ps Caroline 'Link Police' is that OK? :-)

Mountain!

2007-10-20T22:11:00.000Z

Good Lord, we did it!

The climb was one of the most amazing experiences I’ve encountered – it was totally epic. Photos and words do not do it justice at all – you’ll just have to go and see for yourself! My best days were those prior to the summit day, which was frankly a bit of a nightmare and my memories of that day are rather dark to be honest because I was not feeling so great (major headaches=no sleep/lots of worry about whether my head was going to explode).

Anyway! My favourite memory was climbing the Barranco Wall – it was like something out of an Indiana Jones film – there was a real adventurous buzz in the air that day, equipment clanking and lots of shouting in the camp before we left. Brilliant. And scary.

In summary, I am totally chuffed that we all made it to the top in one piece, nobody got hurt or really ill, and we raised a shedload of money for a dedicated charity. Being able to visit the Amani Home and see how the money can help was really important to us, and I am even more pleased that we smashed our fundraising target.

The total amount we raised collectively currently stands at £12,402.72.

Blogger doesn't seem to like images today, so here is a link to the flickr set, and Toms pics.

Jambo!

Ride wrap up

2007-08-15T19:10:00.000Z

OK, so just about recovered from the ride now. Here is the story, cross posted from the Kilimanajaro climb site

Quick summary of what this ride is first: 100 miles along the South Downs Way – the longest bridleway in the UK. This means a terrain of mud, wet fields, more mud, chalky, rutted tracks, large flint rocks ready to shred tyres, more mud, killer hills (all 10,697 feet of them), oh and some more mud. You need a mountain bike to do it. The route begins in Winchester and finishes in Eastbourne, crossing all the river valleys, and skirting our home town of Brighton. Here is the map.

So…what happened? Well, take a look at the numbers and comments I gathered for some fun, in no particular order:

Dave Coats

Time: 15hrs 10mins
Dist: 100 miles
Avg speed: 8mph
Max: approx 35.4mph

Consumed:
4 Frusili bars
2 snickers bars
½ tub wholemeal pasta with sundried tomato pesto
1 southern fried chicken wrap
1 Cookies and Cream energy Powerbar
4 bananas
Approx 7 litres water
1 cup of tea at Devils Dyke
1 Pint of coke at finish line
Punctures: 2
Gears: complete failure at QECP - ½ hour fixing
Stomach cramp: severe! Had to rest about 5 times in agony!

Paul Doleman

Time: 15hrs 41 mins
Dist: 100 miles
Average (don’t ask)
Split Time: 7:15:49
Dist: 122k / 76.25 miles
Energy: 4772 cals

Consumed:
4 ½ Banana Power bars
2 salt tablets
12ish litres of water
1 Cream cheese sandwich
2 bananas at devil’s dyke
5 bars of fruit and nut

Also collected along the way….
Knees x 2 very sore
Left knee ligament even more sore (I’m sure that is SPD related)
Thighs x 2 cramp, inability to pedal for more than 100m without falling over
Rightan hd index finger RSI (changed gear more times than Pete Doherty)
One minor rear puncture that slime sorted out.

Jim Colborn

Time: 14hrs 40 mins
Dist: 100 miles
Average (manual calculation): 6.9ish mph
Max: 27mph at the point my GPS ran out

Consumed :
3 Powerbars @ 1,000 calories a pop
24 assorted fruit & fibre, fruesli, Alpen bars
About 10 litres water
1 x Cheese and onion crisps, from pub in Alfriston
2 x salt and vinegar crisps, one from pub in Alfriston, one from pub in Jevington
½ pint of coke from pub in Alfriston
1 pint of coke from the 7 Bells at Jevington
Half an apricot flapjack donated by another rider just above Alfriston
1 Mars bar and one banana, blagged from the stall at Devils Dyke

Tom Morphy

Time: 10hrs 5mins
Dist: 65 miles
Avg: 6.5mph

Consumed:
1 lucozade
2 clif bars
3 isotonic go gels
1 banana
1 chicken and mushroom pasta salad picnic
6 litres of water
Pint of harveys at the dyke
Lots more beer, wine and curry once I got home

Also, along the way…
Many bruises from falling over, even though I didn’t fall as impressively as some people did - falling down banks, into bushes etc
V achey wrists
About a billion (approx) stinging nettle stings
3 wrong routes, although luckily each time I didn’t go the wrong way for too long
Also, I have since learnt that pumping your tyres up to 60psi doesn’t give you much grip

Will Lockie

time:14hrs
dist:100 miles
Avg: 7.1mph
Max: 36.3mph

Consumed:
2 pasties
4 bars
1 tube isotonic go gel – it’s the secret lads!
5 bananas
Packet mints
Approx 5 litres water
2 pints of harveys at finish..ahhh.

Jon Stewart

2 miles from Winchester, I snapped my derailleur hanger.Called mobile mechanic, who told me to carry my bike back to the start. Mobile mechanic didn’t have a replacement Kona hanger, so he drove me and my bike to Halfords.

Halfords was shut (it was 8am), didn’t open for another hour, and the mechanic thought it was unlikely they’d have the right part. Due to the fact I had a very broken bike and was in the middle of nowhere, I retired, and the mechanic drove me to the train station. I then caught the train to Brighton, where I got my bike fixed at Evan’s cycles, and then cycled up to Devil’s Dyke.

At about 3, I met Will, and did the Devil’s Dyke – Eastbourne section of the ride.

We got in about 8, meaning I must have had an average speed of 7 miles an hour.

Consumed:
4 kit kats
4 healty nut bars
5 gloopy energy things
6 sausage rolls
4 bananas
Approx 3 litres of water

My personal fave has got to be Jim’s cheeky pub stops! And how many bars!

We think full respect is due to Mr P Doleman – who simply did not give up, despite it being *pitch black* and rolling into Eastbourne past 11pm. G-G-G-Go.

More respect to Mr J Stewart, whose rear mech fell off 2 miles out of Winchester – so then like a madman he jumped on the train to Brighton, and met me as I came through Devils Dyke, then proceeded to cycle ahead of me at every opportunity and encouraged me to keep those legs going. cheers Jonny, nice one!

So a very big thank you to everyone who supported and sponsored us. I think we all surprised ourselves with an incredible amount of determination and we certainly raised a lot of money. There is talk of other rides..but for now, our next bike adventures remain firmly set around gentle trails and the odd country pub. Amen to that, I am still raw in areas I’d rather not mention. Here is a picture when we were all happy at the start. It didn't last for long.

1 day to go..

2007-07-27T14:05:00.001Z

Help..the big ride is tomorrow! After training like mad over the last few weeks its come around rather quickly.

Last weekend I rode the whole route, over Saturday and Sunday..which makes me feel slightly more confident..not much though!

For a good laugh, here is a map of the whole 100 miles!

I pray it is not raining tomorrow, last Saturday was the wettest, muddiest ride yet.

Last plug for the sponsorship page!

Shoreham to Eastborne

2007-05-20T10:38:00.000Z

Enjoyed a great ride yesterday with Jim and Jonny - starting off in Shoreham and heading west to Eastborne. Unfortunately Jons knee started playing up near the top of Bear road. We'd done about 20 miles by this point so sadly he called it a day. Jim and I pressed on, quick lunch in Alfriston and made it into Eastborne late afternoon.

According to Jims GPS we did 41 miles in 6hrs 13 min - avg. speed 6.5 mph I think.

If we are to complete the randonee challenge that avg needs to come way up. gulp.

Have been playing around with Google My Maps, my first effort to map the Arundel - Brighton ride is here. Pretty cool, we'll add some pics in, and I'll try and map the whole route eventually!

Ride ride

2007-05-17T21:27:00.000Z

Couple of nice shots from one of the latest rides along the south downs, from eastborne into brighton...the fields of rapeseed only last a few weeks in this glorious spring colour - at times it's like cycling along the yellowbrick road! Sadly all the fields are just plain old green now...

Me and Jon up on beachy head - thanks to Mr Coats for these nice pics taken on his flash camera phone. We were still smiling at this point. 4 hours later we were not. But a nice cold pint to finish certainly lifts spirits. I like this bike riding a lot. The new bike flies..!

Mange tout (rodney)

2007-04-28T20:24:00.000Z

Mental note: must post more.

Things have been so busy lately that I have been having trouble keeping it all under control, let alone blog about it.How do others do it? hmm. Anyway a load of good things have been happening, and some not so good.But i shall focus on the positive!

- Ran the Brighton half marathon in Feb with work colleagues and we all did a fine job - coming in under 2 hours. This was our first event to raise Monday for Amani childrens home and our Mount Kilimanjaro climb in September. I have a long way to go in raising a respectable amount of money for this, so along with my absent posting I resolve to tackle this as soon as time allows.We are well on the way to organising the climb, now we just need to come up with some good fundraising ideas.

- My elder sister finally got married in March. An absolutely magic occasion. Unfortuntely all my pics came out a bit red eye though.

- Three of went back to Tignes again to visit our friend Dan and had a grand time. Perfect conditions (not a cloud!) and good times had by all. I even popped a few rails this time around and no injuries. A cracking shot of Dan and Morlo on the glacier up in Val d isere and a few more here at flickr

Incidentally, I won a pair of snowboard boots this week. After coming home slightly worse for wear I found this great big box from germany with my name on it...and could not for ages work out why I had been sent a very nice pair of Deeluxe boots. Finally got to the bottom of it - from a competition I entered when we went to serre chevaier at New year - great, ebay here they come and I can get a new jacket!

Also outdoors related a bunch of us have been riding up on the south downs a lot - all in preparation for the Randonnee challenge in July. This is a 100 mile offroad route along the south downs way [winchester-eastborne], that, gulp, has to be completed in 12 hours. I blame Jim for not pointing out to me that it was actually off road when I agreed to do it. Anyway, we all have shiny new bikes, I am currently loving mine. I marvel at the hydraulic brakes a lot, how sad. Jim's been posting a lot on the ride stats, over at his MTB Diary blog . Seriously good fun and I am massively enjoying seeing the countryside all around Brighton more.

Other things that popped up over the last few months were the welcome arrival of my shotgun license..so I can finally pick one up, and looking forward to our clay weekend down in Devon soon. We also had the first of this years workparties on the farm in preparation for next season. Hard work but good fun, but keeping an eye out for 1. chainsaws and 2.falling trees I have realised is crucial.

Also welcome was the opening of a new skatepark at hove lagoon - 2 mins from the house! So me and Ross have been sneaking down there when quiet and having a blast. Super smooth surface, nice hips and a mini which I am slowly getting the feeling back for. Mostly i just like bombing it around and doing large squeaky powerslides.

So I am now resolved to making this blog a good diary of all the fun things you can do around Brighton in what can only be described at the moment as glorious spring sunshine. Its now been a year since I moved down here - its gone so fast its been a blur..but a fun packed one and long may that continue.

Happy New Year Pow!

2007-01-13T19:06:00.000Z

Spent this new year up the mountains..best place to be i reckon. booked a week in serre chevalier with tom, dave and alex from work..we were lucky, it dumped the first few days. so we hunt the powder..and spent an awful lot of time digging myself out - *frankly perfect*!!!! big smiles all round.

great fun had by all, 2 injuries inc my shoulder, many vin chaud drunk and a top way to kick off 2007. my typing is crap cos i'm one handed, apologies. dave coats has summarised it on his blog too inc the legendary 'lost in briancon' evening..yet somehow manages to omit his claim that 'we were only 20 miles from the med'. ;]

planning next trips already..long weekend in tignes with the powderhounds crew, *maybe* us/canada depending on funds, and maybe a bit of snowbombing action in april.

ouch. enough typing. a few nice pics below, some more on flickr.

Bonfires and Birds

2006-11-30T22:19:00.000Z

Its been ages since I last posted - November has shot past in a blur!

Main highlights were bumping into friends from London on the way to the Lewes bonfire night, and having an extremely enjoyable, and somewhat surreal, night out. Good to find a pretty unique streak of patriotism [but dont forget to burn the catholics] in these overly pc times. Great fun over a few pints of harveys, apart from my mate getting injured [tiny burn] by the industrial bangers going off all over the place. Particularly good was the effigy of Condeleeza Rice [complete with huge butt]..presumably burnt with much glee later on!

I think these guys below had the best outfits - I want to join *that* bonfire society..

Also been doing some beating on the shoots up near Uckfield with my brother in law and nephew...great days out, especially on those crisp winter mornings, mist rising and hipflasks all round. Applying for my shotgun license now, so next year I'd like to join properly as a full gun. Heres Felix with a brace that made a particularly good casserole on the sunday [surprised myself with that one, not having cooked it before - the dry cider made it!]..

We put the B in Blogging

2006-10-26T22:48:00.000Z

Funniest thing I have seen in a while, been laughing about this all day. Now I'm blogging about it.

Awesome!!

Mini Surf Diary

2006-10-12T20:35:00.000Z

Took a few days off work recently and headed off to North Devon.

Friday

Go to Putsborough early in the morning, but the waves are coming in such long sets and are fairly small, so I got a bit bored waiting...went to Croyde after lunch for some bigger waves. Whooped a bit after catching what seemed like a big wave, and didnt get in too much trouble with the locals. Snapped this nice little wave on the way into Woolacombe in the morning.

Saturday

Head off to Saunton Sands to hook up with some other Brighton surfers and saw these bad boys rolling in.

I had a lot of fun at Saunton messing around on the right hand side that afternoon. They had a longboard competition on and it was cool watching the guys coming in on their last wave - they must have surfed for about half a mile!

Sunday

Go back to Putsborough in the morning - traffic jam on the way there and realise it will be busy. This is why.

Really nice, steep clean waves, coming in sets - so you could paddle out in between. I caught one wave, and, realising how high up and how fast I was going, just thought *shit dont fall off*. Got completely trashed a few times naturally. Best waves I have seen before. Great fun. I went back over to Saunton to meet the Brighton crew but there wasnt much happening there. Went back to Putsborough but by that time it had started to get a bit messy. Still, I didnt want to miss anything so stayed out until early evening - shattered by then. Heres a nice shot of the view from Putsborough across to Woolacombe. My campsite was on the top of the hill in the centre.

Watched the sun go down that evening on the site. I love camping - when else can you justify eating chocolate for breakfast 'because its cold and you need the energy'. The weather was pretty much ok - it only rained *really* hard a few times - and a couple of those I was in the water anyway. Caught some of the biggest waves I ever seen so this was a great little break, and it was fun to hook up with other Brighton people down there. Heres the sunset.

Fun things

2006-09-22T22:08:00.000Z

Some fun things I came across in the last week or so:

Love this news map

This guy has so much style - its old but I came back to it recently..the cheeky little backside slide/5-0 thing..not to mention the escalator

The future? - lots of people gathered round screens in the office watching this..I do wonder how much one of those screens costs though.

This film [complete with Hollywood style voiceover similar to the Terminator films]..deep stuff, and not a million miles away from something JB Ballard said the other day at a reading of his new book. Commenting on the web he said something like ''I'm just waiting for some huge corporation to come along and buy it, or seal parts off''. His predictions have been pretty accurate so far...!

Finally, lots of oohs and aahs in the office looking at cool stuff like this, but in 3D.

I think might becoming a bit geeky.

The Birds

2006-08-31T19:02:00.000Z

At last..the gulls that have been giving me sleepless nights have..well, grown up and left the nest. I'm assuming however they will be back next summer. Still..peace and quiet now reigns in SoHO (thats south of hove apparently - rah!) - and thats GOOD news.

Other things I have been up to;

A resurgence of record buying - picked this Switch track up, even though its old I rate it - and buying a copy of this tune after hearing it incessantly, most recently at a rather good party and so caving in...

Reading this excellent interview with Ian Sinclair on JGB..I remember reading one of IS's earlier books - 'White Chappel, Scarlet Tracings'..and not really getting it..so I think I might revisit that one. His social / historical account of a trip around the M25 is pretty interesting (thats sounds worse than it is)..though it is not exactly a thriller as you might expect. Strangely enough - after negotiating most of the M25 today via the Dartford toll - it struck me that the 2 places that are most distinctly ballardian to me are:

- airports (and the weird sort of fatigue you get after spending a lot of time in and out of them, especially ultra modern ones in places like norway)
- motorways (wierd transient road populations - thoughts I had after visiting the same service station twice in Cambridge today at different times of the day - everyone looked the same)

Not surprising after reading a lot of JGB books..but strangely I like witnessing it in some odd way. Its not right is it.

But mostly looking forward to reading JGB's next book - although it all sounds familiar territory, I can't wait. One of these amazing images should grace the cover.

And finally looking forward to getting away for a few days down in Devon or cornwall for some surf soon, work has been very busy lately and I think a long weekend in September beckons..and on that note I should mention Neils blog - all about..surfing holidays. And in fact I only logged onto blogger to do that and ended up on some weird book tangent ;]

Random shots from the last few weeks

2006-08-14T20:56:00.000Z

Kick off with some cone action on the seafront..Tony styles it on what was definitely one of the hottest days of the summer so far..the tarmac was melting..nice moves..!

The calm before the storm..Ben and Morlo, before Ben Jacksons party down in Somerset.

Nice sunset over Glastonbury Tor.

Wheres my whistle? Cracking picture!

I think this was when we started playing some silly 6 am music..and just what is that dude wearing? After that it was a game of tennis, with some fairly odd rules..a guiness or 2..and bed.

Justin looking chilled in the morning sun and somehow tropical..ps. I decided not to post that one of you in the pink wig ;]

Big thanks to Ben J, his mum for the lovely food, and everyone else - party of the year!

Once we'd recovered from the party..next up was a spot of mackerel fishing this weekend. All aboard.

Ross hauls in the first whopper of the day.

Then off to the Pier for some dodgems and games, helped along by a few shots of tuaca

I am slowly building up a portfolio of people I know in this pose. This is quite a scary one.

Fun days out indeed - everybody, move to Brighton...

Res Ipsa Loquitur

2006-08-13T15:20:00.000Z

Felt like I've rediscovered an old friend this week - I was in Borders and came across what looked like a new Hunter S Thompson book - in fact it was published 3 years ago, so 2 years before he sadly decided he'd had enough [and what a way to go..] Ever since my college days [and writing a dissertation on the man] I've kept up with his work..but in recent years, and shortly before his death, I'd lost touch a bit. So I am enjoying his words very much on more recent issues. And I have to say, that in all his writings he has been nothing but consistent on the subject of quite how scary the system is, from Nixon..to Mr Bush. That is where my respect for him lies - HST had it sussed since the 60s...

On "the foul nature of life in the USA" today, he says in the opening chapter:

"It would be easy to say that we owe it all to the Bush family from Texas, but that would be too simplistic. They are only errand boys for the vengeful, bloodthirsty cartel of raving Jesus-freaks and super rich money mongers who have ruled this country for at least the last 20 years..they take orders well, and dont ask too many questions..their ideal solution to all the nations problems would be another 100 year war"

And on ''freedom from fear'' he neatly concludes:

''Lets not carried away here. Freedom was yesterday in this country. Its value has been discounted. The only freedom we truly crave today is freedom from Dumbness. Nothing else matters''

I couldnt agree more, and cant help feeling these words dont only apply to the USA. Look forward to reading the rest of this book. RIP HST.

Strike!

2006-08-04T22:05:00.000Z

First Spannerworks social and we all go bowling at the Marina - we hit the beach afterwards for food and drinks, and this fantastic picture taken by a colleague sums up Brighton for me at the moment...it says it all..very nice vibe.

A picnic on the beach with the crew..what a perfect night..that ended quite late..!

Good news and bad news

2006-07-15T21:06:00.000Z

Fantastic way to end the week: the Spannerworks blog goes live and, at the same time, we find out that Spannerworks has been voted best agency for search marketing in the UK, fourth best overall digital agency in the UK, and third best agency for account management in the UK, in a survey by Revolution magazine. Competing agencies are nowhere to be seen. It makes for an awesome first post!

And on a similar subject, heres a man who knows a thing or two about blogging - highly recommended reading.

I have been premature in hoping my seagull issue has gone away - last night it was even worse. I'm seriously thinking of taking some radical action - would anyone notice if I took the little bleeder out with an airgun?! Or am I ever going to be able to sleep through it, even with earplugs...time will tell.

Paddle round the pier

2006-07-12T21:11:00.000Z

Had a lot of fun last week doing this - I dont think I have seen so many people paddling in the water before, especially not around the west pier. They kicked off the day with a paddle race from pier to pier..and the guy who won it looked suitably tired..thats a fair old way. Then everybody got together in the afternoon for the big paddle..the best bit was hanging out in the sea and having a chat with the others once we were out there. I saw Norman Cook looking suitably confused and going in the wrong direction in his kayak at one point. They also had some great float type entries - a pretty good pirate ship which I think won..and a bed which really did not look like it woud float. Both made it all the way round.

Another good thing they did was have some CPR lessons from the St Johns ambulance people - so I know now what to do if someone has drowned or otherwise not breathing - dont stop compressions basically. A good day out and some practical knowledge to boot.

On a different note, the nesting seagulls which have been keeping me awake at night seem to have quietened down lately - I'm not sure why..but its good, hope it lasts. If theres one thing I did not expect to be happening when I moved to Brighton its being kept awake by the loudest squaking ever. So I've gone from being kept awake by the crack dealer next door in Hammersmith..to the local seagulls. Still, I know which I prefer..

London to Brighton bike ride

2006-07-01T15:03:00.000Z

A few weeks ago I completed the London to Brighton bike ride for the British Heart Foundation and am pleased to say made it back to Brighton in one piece. I started at 9am and managed to get into Brighton at 5pm - it took an hour longer than last year. The ride got off to a great start as literally 10 minutes out of Clapham my rear brake cable went! So I had to take it easy for the first hour until I could get to a Halfords pitstop where they kindly replaced the cable.

It was very busy this year [27,000 riders], and this meant traffic jams and hold ups. There were quite a few nasty accidents, generally at the bottom of the steep sections. Just past the M25 we were stopped for about 45 minutes, at the top of a steep hill, and we had to wait for 2 ambulances to get past. I slowed down a bit after that as its a reminder of how dangerous it can be. At another steep section I passed another accident which looked pretty bad. A couple of times I came round blind corners to find people just stopped in the road yapping on their mobile phones - that is how the accidents happen! One rider told me how he witnessed another go straight into a hedge - because he was looking back trying to chat up a girl behind him - nice. I saw numerous people at the finish with their injuries bandaged up.

It was not as sunny as last year which was a bonus - it was still fairly hot though, and by the time I reached Turners Hill I was feeling it a bit so stopped to rest there. I couldnt ride all the way up it as there was too much traffic by this point.

busy busy...

After Turners Hill it was another hour or so before Ditchling Beacon looms ahead...

I was determined to ride up it again this year..so had a good rest at the bottom, got rid of the 2 litre bottle of water I realised I had been lugging all the way..and cycled up. It was tough but didnt seem as torturous as last time.

The Beacon conquered!

I waited at the top for a while to see if a colleague from work was close..but he was having major mechanical issues with his bike so I carried on. After this hillclimb its the best part - downhill very fast all the way into Brighton and looking forward to a cold pint.

Traffic coming in to Brighton along London road was pretty bad..but I got there in the end.

So total time was around 8 hours, distance 54 miles - it seemed to go much quicker than the last time, probably because I knew the route better. Next year I think I will start earlier to avoid the traffic jams though. I was pretty tired by the end of it and sitting down on the seafront with a cold beer finished off an excellent day out. I'm happy to say that I raised about £400 - not bad at all and a very big thank you to all who sponsored me.

The only downside - getting back on the bike on Monday morning to go to work was neither a pleasant or comfortable experience!

Summer has arrived

2006-06-11T15:12:00.000Z

Days of unbroken sunshine - fantastic! Lazy days at the beach beckon..in fact on Saturday morning I managed to grab my first swim in the sea, it was a bit cold..but I was pretty hot after a run so it felt good. I took this picture Saturday evening as I sat on the beach with an icecream.

This was a busy week at work as the pace quickens but I am feeling much more confident about things in general - its all slowly beginning to click into place. On wednesday we went up to Yorkshire [5am start..ugh] to meet with a new client. It was quite a day for jargon - here are some new ones for me - MI [management information..isnt that just a report?], BDT [business development team], rate sale, FSA, FEPS..I shan't go on. In fact, I even caught myself saying 'application' and 'interface' without feeling odd at all - which 6 mths ago would have been been just plain strange.. Credit to my director who managed to get latent semantic indexing in there too - excelIent! .Then on Thursday I went up to London for a trade show/conference - it was good to see all the other agencies in one place - competition is stiff out there, suffice to say I heard a lot of trumpet blowing. Some pretty interesting seminars though - helpful for someone learning like me. Next week is shaping up to be busy one too..project meeting on Monday and a presentation/meeting on Tuesday. Things are shaping up very well though and I dont miss the music industry one bit..Hunter S Thompson may well have been right.

So after a busy week at work things looked sunny for the weekend, caught the first game of the world cup with people from work over a few beers then fish and chips for dinner round a friends house. Saturday spent shopping and sorting my rust bucket bike out for the bike ride next sunday. As long as the weather is good it will be fun. My flatmate has finished his boat now so we went out today on it.

We took my surfboard along to see if we could do a bit of improvised wakeboarding - and it worked a treat!! It was pretty hard getting up and I fell off loads of times but once you were up it was great. DIY fun at its best! Paul even managed to get some moves in cutting across the wake with style. This boat can shift, once the supercharger in the monster volvo engines kicks in, it really moves! Definitely the jeremy clarkson school of sailing - it gets my vote...I must admit as well I felt a bit Miami Vice driving it around Shoreham harbour.

Paul styles it with one hand, shouting faster most of the time...

I hang on for dear life...

On the way back to the harbour Paul opened her up and we clocked 36 knots..which is about 40mph - ie fast..!

What an awesome day..living by the sea rocks. Here is a nice picture of Shoreham beach I took on the way back to round it off...

Bugz and stuff

2006-06-04T15:47:00.000Z

One of those calm summer evenings when the waves are gently lapping the shore..very peaceful. I feel compulsed to take pictures at moments like these!

Its true - Chris Eubank really does drive around Brighton in a juggernaut! I told a friend I'd seen the truck..and the words 'village idiot' were mentioned - hoho!Went to see Bugz in The Attic last week in the last night of the Brighton festival..and a good way to round off the bank holiday weekend with some jazzy breakbeat stuff - if a little excessive in the noodle department at times. The adidas boilersuits earnt them extra fly points - and their air of extreme cool was slightly lost in my favourite moment of the evening when the DJ kept rewinding the CD and the you could hear a quiet, concerned, comment from the frontman - ''darren, can you stop messing around..?'' - made me laugh, it was like he was being told off by his mum!!

Bank Holiday

2006-05-28T14:35:00.000Z

Bank holiday weekend and the weather is good! On Friday night I went out to the famous spiegeltent, which is part of the Brighton festival and good fun it is too. The night was put on by Gaz Mayall and his rockin blues - there was a great band and some generally swinging music. I'm going back there tomorrow evening to catch Bugz in the Attic with a bunch of people from work, and that should be good too. It kind of made up for Thursday nights attempt to catch some music - I had bought a ticket to check out the fatcat night but ended up arriving a bit late - in fact I arrived 30 mins before the end..and hence had paid quite a bit of money to see 30 mins of, errr, folk music. Vashti Bunyan has a good voice but I was hoping for something a bit more lively. Nevermind, it was worth a shot and at least I felt I had got a bit of culture, I was feeling the urge to hear some live music so that was good despite the cost!

I've been helping out my flat mate with his boat project which is pretty good fun, painting it and sanding the hull etc - here is a picture of it, its a pretty big boat - a twin screw motor cruiser I believe is the description. Its due to go back in the water at the end of this month. Back down there tonight for more painting and then we are off to see some fireworks at the Marina - which is part of the end of the festival. If the fireworks are anywhere near as good as the show in Preston park a few weeks ago then it should be fun.

Also this weekend I have waxed up my new surfboard and have generally been sorting out all my bits. My flatmate managed to pick up a top notch wetsuit for me at literally half price , its the hoodless 3Q zip on this page - very nice and kind of him too. Now all I need to do is find some time to get out there..only a few hundred yards down the road is a spot where most surfers in Brighton congregate, known as the pipes..and Shoreham harbour is not too much further. Its all about those weather forecasts...Brighton is not exactly renound for its surf..but you can still have a bit of fun. I want to get down to the Witterings as well, which is a few hours drive West and by all accounts a good spot. I also fancy taking part in the paddle round the pier, an event for charity. Be good if its a nice day. I am also on a sponsorship drive for the London to Brighton bike ride..so feel free to sponsor here! I think I'm on course to match last years effort and am looking forward to that, especially as this year I am cycling home.

I've also found a Thai boxing class to go to at last, I was really missing the training. Its quite different to my last camp (in fact, I knew I would never find anything to match it, eh Danny;)...the gym is a lot of mixed martial arts, and they even have a cage in there! They do a lot more kickboxing down here and people are more familiar with that than pure Muay Thai. A lot of the guys there do wrestling as well. Still its good to get out there and stay sharp - they have a ring which is great. These guys go a lot harder with their sparring though as I found out last week, this dude really clocked me one and everyone cheered him on - I'm like 'its not a fight..! Ho Ho..so I used my push kick to try to keep him well away after that. Good fun and the instructor is a nice guy so I'll be back there.

Thats its for now - I'm going to try and catch up with some more work reading on all things search related before we head out, there doesnt seem to be enough time in the day as there is so much info out there to take on board..but I'm really enjoying learning something new, even if space vectors and canonicalization are mystifying me slightly still! Here is a cool little page a colleague pointed me towards to help work it all out...

First Post

2006-05-24T20:04:00.000Z

Well, here is the first post of my blog. I decided to start this blog for a few reasons...I thought it would be a good way of keeping family and friends up to date with goings on in my new home town of Brighton, I can post pictures and so on, and also it will help me a bit more in my understanding of all things online - pretty important for my new job. [There my first bit of HTML!] In fact a lot of my colleagues have blogs and I think its a fun thing to do! Plus its about time I caught up with cyberspace, after being locked away in the luddite music industry for so long. More about that later I suppose. Suffice to say I have been living in Brighton for 5 weeks now and am loving every moment of it.

I also wonder exactly what sort of postings should go on these blogs, I confess to not having actually read that many. I think simple is best, so I'll kick off with the BEST thing about living in Brighton so far..it is of course the SEA!

So above is a picture of what is now my commute to work, it certainly beats battling buses around the Hammersmith broadway! Nothing like a cycle ride in the sunshine and some sea air in the morning to start the day. At the end of this bit of the Hove seafront there is a cafe on the beach where I often stop, sit down and stare at the sea, have a coffee before work - and end up thinking I must be on holiday or something. [Friends tell me that even after living in Brighton for 2 years they still think they are on holiday!]. Long may that feeling last I say.

And of course probably the most famous aspect of Brighton is the pier - a few weeks ago it was my nephews birthday and he decided of all things he would like to do is to spend it on the pier - and those scary rides. Pretty good fun though if you are 11!! And a really good tip which a local barber gave me turned out to be true - the best fish and chips in Brighton are on the pier [halfway up, not the dodgy ones at the entrance]. Actually, having not tasted any other fish and chips in Brighton I'm not exactly qualified to say that..but they were pretty good I have to say.

Right, busy day tomorrow, so I am going to try to work out now how to actually post this to the web..and then post some more news and useless information soon!