neil.baldwin – Page 24 – Neil Baldwin's blog : Warning contains walking, technology, photography, holidays.

The Arctic North in March

To celebrate my 50th birthday we are meeting up with my family at my brothers house near Huddersfield. We took the Friday off with the aim of taking our time driving north. He weather promised to be unusually winter like for the time of the year, snow was predicted in the North East, but would only last till Saturday.

We were up fairly early, and left the house a 09:30, the aim was to get right up to Wakefield way where there was a National Trust property we have never visited. As we got further north there was evidence of some snow on the fields surrounding the M1 but nothing significant, and the temperatures were just above freezing so nothing was freezing. As we got to Meadow Hell Hall we decided to stop off and see if we could get a thank you gift for my brother and his wife for hosting my birthday weekend.

Helen and I were like fish out of water, in the shopping centre, there was not much on offer for us, just the usual chains of shops that you see on the high street, there did not seem to be any independent shops, or ones with anything others than household goods, clothes and shoes. There was a couple of department stores. We soon realised we were not going to find anything worth buying so headed back to the car, to decide what to do next. We put the NT house into the sat nav but on rote we decided that because there was a bit more snow about perhaps we would go some where more local, to my brothers to find a gift.

Helen found a vineyard near Holmfirth we we put into the sat nav, and followed. The route took us over the tops of the hills where we found that every so often we came across snow drifting across the road where there was a gate in the stone wall, but on the whole the roads were clear, even if there was some slush on the road. We headed down towards the valley that Holmfirth is in when the sat nav told us to take a smaller lane which had a bit more snow on it. We followed the directions for a while, but eventually had to turn around as the lane got narrower and narrower, then steeper, and more covered in snow.

My brother would have to have a box of wine from he Cooperative supermarket instead of from a local wine merchant. Down in Holmfirth the supermarket car park was covered in about 3 inches of slushy snow, so we parked up and grabbed some decent bottles of wine. Suitably stocked up we drove to my brothers house, where we had to park in the lane because the last 50 yards was covered in the snow drifts. It is surprising how just a small rise in altitude can make such a difference to he temperature.

We got into the house about 5 minutes before my brother got in form a meeting, it was just after 14:00 so we had a late lunch, then let him get on with the rest of his days work, while we relaxed and drank tea and coffee. Not long after the rest of the family got back from a shopping trip, by which time the snow seemed to have settled in, and the wind was really starting to blow the stuff about. So we went out and cleared the paths again.

For dinner we had homemade pizzas which always go down well, much better than shop bought. We relaxed in the kitchen with some wine whilst the snow continued to fall, and the drifts just out side the windows got higher. Both the back and the front door seemed to be just in the right spots to accumulate snow up against them, opening them in the morning was going to have to be a delicate operation.

We were in bed quite early which was probably a good thing because my brothers kids are early risers not helped by the excitement of snow and the anticipate of spending the day with their favourite uncle. For breakfast we had waffles, with which ever choice of topping we wanted, I had Nutella which went down well with expresso coffee. The first job of the day was to clear the paths again so that the olds could get to and from the house, and we also cleared a space for their car. Many of the locals have tractors and were busy trying to clear the tracks so they could get to the sheep who are lambing, and needed food and attention. It was not small task clearing the snow in places we found extensive drifts where we sunk well over our waits and still didn’t think we had reached the under lying ground.

My brothers next door neighbour did a grand job clearing the snow from his drive but it would not be till the next day that the drive could be used because further up the track towards the road where it goes between some houses, that form a wind tunnel the volume of snow was a job to be left till the animals had been seen to. We did not spend too much time outside be sue the wind combined with the sub zero temperatures made a warm drink by the fire far more inviting.

Next on the list was to make my birthday cake, which would be a Black Forest Gateau, which we hoped would be as good if not better than our all time favourite that they make and sell in the Swiss supermarkets called Migros. We rejected the French cookery book recipe for one by Herve Cuisine on his Youtube Channel, he appeared to know what he was talking about and had a Swiss accent.

In the afternoon the diddlies had a birthday party to attend so dads 4×4 was the only option. I went along for the ride and to get some video footage, of the snow down in the valley. Once we were out of the lane the roads although slippery with slush that was not really melting, the going was ok. Much of the road surface was clear but in places the snow had been blown across the road where there was a gate way in the stone wall. Any of the roads off the main road were still pretty much covered, so much care was taken as we turned off into the housing area where the party was. Kids dropped off we headed back to the house. When we picked them up later on the temperature had dropped, the wind was freshening and the slush was starting to freeze. The snow continued the fall, and the kids were all sugared up, after the party food they had consumed.

My brother had arranged for a cheese fondu to celebrate my birthday so we we grated the cheese and prepared all the ingredients into a mine en place, ready for later. We had a bit of trouble getting the mixture to the right consistency we wondered whether the President Emmental cheese was the cause as we think it may be a processed version, of the cheese, and we assume French and not Swiss. The consistency did not detract at all from the taste and fun of dipping bread into the hot wine and cheese mixture. We finished off the meal with a slice each of the Lack Forest Gateaux which was delicious especially when some liquid from a jar of cherries in Kirsch was trickled over the sponge. All in all a great birthday meal. We finished off he evening with a couple of games of Perrudo they let me win the first game as it was my birthday.

We were all up by about 08:00 and had toasted hot cross buns for breakfast, then we went outside to see how the land lied for getting away down the lane. It was clear that without some help it was not going to happen. The lane was exposed to he wind and for about 100 yards it was full right up to the stone walls with snow. We tools some photos and and then went back into he warmth of the house thinking we might need to spend another night. This was especially bad news for my parents as they had bought everything they needed with them except for the bag that contained the stuff they would need for an over night stay.

At about 10:30 we took another look outside the local farmers had been hard at work clearing the road. I decided that it was now or never so we rushed back to the house and grabbed shovels to dig the cars out. It took some time to dig them out by which time the lane had started to fill up again. I got my car out onto the snow covered road with the help of people pushing, but then got stuck again trying to drive to the main road. We quickly said good bye to everyone then, a farmer came down with his tractor and suggested the only way would be a tow to the main road. A young lad was sent to get a chain, which was soon hitched up, then we were dragged down to the main road.

Once on the road all seemed good but in places as we drove to the M1 there were parts of the road where the snow had drifted over, in one place a JCB was being used to dig out snow from a drift that was over 6 feet. We took it steady, and were soon safely in the motorway, which was almost completely clear apart from the off strip of slush every few miles. We made really good headway home and got back in a normal time. Ironically later on after we had left my brother reported the sun shining and the lane clear for all traffic.

That was definitely a birthday weekend to remember, as well as brilliant company some dramatic weather to boot, and I just love a bit of extreme weather.

Heathrow airport

For reasons I won’t go into I find myself at Heathrow airport terminal 1 late Sunday afternoon waiting for a flight to Belfast, so as is traditional I thought I world share my thoughts worth you, in a compare and contrast with the experience I am used to from using Luton airport, sorry that’s London (Luton) airport. The journey to Heathrow involves a slightly longer drive but by motorway, compared to a country route, but at the time of day that I would normally travel I am not at the that it would make much of a difference. I for of the M25 at junction 14 because my satnav told me to but it was a bit tricky funding the car park from that direction, next time I will take the M4 spur route as the route is simpler. There were plenty ofs parking spaces and the bus pick up was prompt. The cost to park was very much more costly than Luton but I could not get in the parkway hotel parking as they were booked out.

Next step security it seemed packed but they run a very slick operation and the queues just move constantly forward and in no time I was scanned and sent on my way. At Luton I would have done priority lane through security, so I guess they are both different but I would not choose one over the other. The security is for more sophisticated at LHR as security take a photo then when your gate is called they take you to another security section before you are allowed towards the departure gate and they check you against the photo they took earlier. Strangely they had not up to that point actually checked my ID but having said that would it have made any difference if they had checked who I was. I guess the airline will check my identity checker as I board the plane. Thinking about it that is also the car at Luton, it is only Easyjet who check that you are who you say you are, all security want to know is do you have a valid boarding card. Although I missed the flight being called and did my best to wander and amble along to the gate to kill time I was one of the first to reach the gate area. They were free newpapers, mail and independent but they had run out of independent then I noticed that the dispenser had a display copy under plastic on the front, result I had a paper to read on the plane. And need it I did.

Once on board and seated the captain explained the 15 minute delay because the deck was delayed from terminal 5. During the announcement he also mentioned that traffic control had informed him of an indeterminate delay due to an event. 10 minutes later the plane next to us was surrounded by fire engines with blue lights flashing. The passengers were disembarked on to a coach and firemen went the steps. I saw no smoke and we eventually taxied off the stands a bit late then the plane seemed to take ages to find its place in the queue to take off. Finally we took off about an hour and twenty minutes late, not very encouraging.

One of the benefits of flying BA is that you get complimentary drinks, I had a Tiger beer and a packet of crisps, although the packet of crisps only had about 8 crisps in it as it was a very small packet. The cabin staff really had their work for out serving up drinks then clearing them away, they literally serve up the drinks from two trolleys with two staff on each trolley working flat out, then start clearing up straight away. It is a good job they serve small drinks and crisps we would not have been able to finish them otherwise.

There was no queue at Avis hire car, so I grabbed the keys to a black Audi A3 and hit the road. Apart from some confusing junctions in the centre of Belfast my journey is all on the motorway till I get to the other end, and by 21:00 I was booked into my room at the hotel. It was too late to eat so I went to the bar and had a quick bottle of beer and a packet of peanuts.

I slept well (unusual for me in a strange bed) and was up and having breakfast by 07:30, then it was off to work for a series of meetings. The most important being catching up with colleagues who are working on the project to merge 3 different Sage Line 500 databases, into one trading database. Sometimes it really helps to meet up with people in person things seem to actually get done, there and then rather than agreeing to do something after a phone call has finished.

Back at the hotel I had the cauliflower, chickpea, and spinach curry with pilau rice, then retired to my room to watch Eastenders then got to sleep early for another day at the office. I left the office at 15:30 to get the 18:05 to Heathrow. The traffic in Belfast was quite heavy so compared to getting to International it was more tedious, but this must be weighted against the frequency of the flights. BA and Aer Lingus fly to Heathrow from City airport so again there are pro and cons. On the way I needed to fill the hire car the easiest way to do that is to go past the airport to the local Sainsbury’s or Tesco then double back it probably adds about 10 minutes to the journey.

I grabbed a cheese and tomato toastie from the Lavazza Expression coffee/food establishment and settled in for a 30 minute wait for the flight to be called. We taxied out to the runway then sat around for a while the captain announced that the washout was for to them waiting for a download from head office regarding those balance and trim, bit eventually we took off. As we approached London the captain further announced that we had mace good time bit for top traffic we would have to circle for a while but expected us to land at 19:25 which I believe was on time, with a fair wind I would be home by 20:30 which is a reasonable time given that I was travelling.

Tomorrow I would be back again at terminal 1 to pick up a colleague flying in to join me visiting a potential supplier!

(Note from Ed: I wish we could have left the original text, I have never heard a panther being disembarked from a BA passenger flight before)

My week commuting to London

Euston Station with Learning Tree building

This week I am commuting to London for four straight days to attend a course in London a at the Learning Tree training centre just outside Euston, which means the travel should be really easy. I purchased 4 return tickets but latest wondered if it might have been cheaper to get a 7 day season ticket, which I’d what I did for the parking. Registration for the course on the first day was between 0800 and 0845 so I aimed for the 0728 train from Tring which takes 37 minutes. There were plenty of parking spaces, I was unsure what to do about displaying a parking ticket, the booking said they recognised.number plates but to be on the safe side I left the receipt on the dash board. I was disappointed I could not get a paper at the station, there’s an opportunity of someone there. The train arrived on time and pretty empty, I find my style a window seat. What is the course you ask? The title is something like SQL server business intelligence, it covers the use of SQL in a BI and the user of all the things that come worth it that have confusing acronyms, such as SSAS, MDX, SSRS etc etc.

The train arrived on time I bought a paper and took the short walk to the training centre. Registration was easy I was given a name tag and a folded cards with my name on it for the desk. Next stop was the code lounge for a leisurely coffee. They have fancy machines capable of doing most things a barista could dream up, I chose the latte machiato.

The course stayed slowly by explaining all the usual house keeping stiff and a summary of what the whole course would be about, then we got into the nitty gritty, which for me was covering some old ground but it was a good importantly to cover all the terms involved. Later on there were practical exercises convert the stuff we had covered. Breaks and lunch we followed by more of the same. Timing was very precise and I was able to get away at the scheduled 1630, my train was at 1654, so I hung around and dealt with some emails. I got a window on the train and selected in once it left on time.

I was home before 1800 and had found the commute quite relaxing. OK it was a longer than normal day (2hrs longer) but I had had an opportunity to read the paper, and listened to some podcasts. So first impressions are I would much rather have a local job but if it came to it it would not be the end of the world. Lets see what tomorrow has to bring.

Day two I left a little later before leaving the house, through Tring a passed a fellow commuter on his Brompton folding bicycle. I had noticed him the day before on the platform folding his bike like he had done it a thousand times before, today I thought maybe he was leaving it a bit too late. He arrived on the station platform 5 with coffee in hand about 30 seconds before the train, just enough time to do the folding routine. I am actually surprised at the number of people turning up on the train in bicycle gear sometimes with and sometimes without a bike. Clearly many of them park a bike at Euston and use it for the transit from the station to the office.

I thought I would try out the wifi hot spot features of my HTC Desire X, and was pleasantly surprised. You just select the program set the SSID name and a password then start the hotspot. As I write I have uploaded this post to the server. A speedtest from the moving train revealed 1.23Mb down but 0 up i will do some more testing throughout the day and share the results. I will need to keep an eye on the battery usage, as yesterday I had run out of batteries by the time I got to Tring. Last night I uninstalled a data monitor program that had used 20% of the battery power that day, I want to check my data usage but not at the price of battery, had it been in the 1-2% range then fair enough. I also invested in one of those battery packs that allow you to charge your phone a few times, I think it will come in really useful. It is a far better idea to get one of those than extended batteries to fit a phone because one they will charge any device and two they hold far more juice Han an extended battery the one I chose was an 8000mAh which is over four times the power of my phones battery.

Arrived in London on time and headed over to the training centre. I was there by 0810 which gave me plenety of time to sit around and drink coffee and chat with the other students on the course.

Day three weather much warmer the snow that had been lying around is melting. Got the usual 0728 from Tring my timing was better this morning only a five minute wait, I guess you get better the more you do it. I imagine that it is quite a popular rain as it is quick 37 minutes, and it is not crowded, I have only seen the odd individual having to stand, that is odd as in number not odd as in peculiar. The course got far more difficult today we were doing MDX queries and KPIs which involve more than just dragging and dropping stuff about, it is a bit like SQL queries but different and it takes a while to get your head round it all.

I have learnt the hard way that when you commute you need to have everything you need with you when you leave the house, this morning I had a flat phone because the charger has failed, so I put a USB lead in my bag an would grab the charger bit on the way out, but forgot. I had to buy a charger at Euston at £14.99, and charge when I could out in the coffee area. I also managed to forget half my lunch, if it was at the office I could have just popped home and sorted it out but today I will just have to have more biscuits to keep me going!

I managed to get on the 1634 again, the course usually finishes with a practical exercise and if you get it right first time you can get away a couple of minutes before 1630, then you have about 6 minutes to get to platform 7, for the train. I must say that the trains are as smooth as you would want, but the seats are a bit squashed up, if you have someone sat next to you, but the journey is at most 40 minutes so not such a hardship.

I have been inspired by our trip to Japan, and have regularly been making bowls of Japanese noodles. They are really quick to make, just boil some water and chop up some vegetables. Then fry the vegetables as you cook the noodles (5 minutes one noodle wrap per person) add in some Japanese sauces and some chilli. I optionally add reconstituted mushrooms and some prawns. Once the noodles are cooked add some Miso to the water and pour into the bowls, top off with the vegetables, mushrooms, prawns, and some sliced spring onions. It takes all of 15 minutes to make, but is a bit messy as you have to do it all quick, so the clearing out takes a bit longer than normal.

Day four and final day, got up a little later and left the house just a smidgen later, but still had a 10 minute wait before the train arrived. I think the ideal would be to get there after the 0722 and before the 0728. Today we finish the course by covering off odd topics that do not fit in to the other main topics so far covered, such as data mining forecasting, tabular models, etc. At 1500 we review and then there is an opportunity to take a multiple choice question exam, they call it free but you essentially pay for it when you pay for the course. With any luck I will be away early enough to get the train before the 1634.

The course was all done by 1500 a couple who were not taking the exam left, we had a quick break before the exam. There were three different exams handed out to stop cheating, and the answers were filled in on a sheet, which had blobs to fill in like on a lottery card. It is a very American thing I believe, when I was at a school with a American curriculum I remember having to fill out similar forms for what. I think they we’re describes as SAT tests, and when we got the results they were compared to the whole of the USA, I would love to know how I faired, perhaps my parents still have the results in a box in the attic?

The exam was quite tough, because it expected to answer quite a few questions asking for very specific technical terms, rather than testing your judgement about what we had learnt. Back in the office if i did not know the technical name for something I would just google it, does to matter that I don’t know the name for something the important thing is that I know that a feature exists and that I can use it. I got through the 40 questions fairly quickly, but not as fast as some I guess I was average. There was then nothing else to do than get the train, I managed to get the 1524 to Milton Keynes, which was a fairly fast one calling at no stations before Watford junction, so I would be home before 1700, which would be a bonus as I have some more travelling to do later.

Winchcombe weekend away

The weekend we are away with Helen’s cousins for what they describe as a cousins weekend. The venue was to be Winchcombe, a small town in the north west of the Cotswold. I picked Helen up from work at about 17:20 and we headed out following the sat nav in the new Golf MK 7, delivered only on Tuesday if this week. The car is the 2.0 GT Diesel, and is full of gizmos in the standard spec. For a gadget man like me it is great : auto head lights which come on when it is dark and switch of main beam when another car approaches, cruise control that adjusts the speed to keep you from getting too close to the car in front, sat nav, reversing front and back beepers. The journey was in the dark, so although we could not see the scenery as the sat nav took us on the scenic route we were able to test out all the features.

We got to the hut just before 19:00 and dinner was soon prepared by N a lovely vegetarian chilli with rice, followed by a choice of cakes. The cottage is well equipped most rooms have en suites and downs stairs there is plenty of room to lounge about. All for £80 per person for the whole weekend. The owners are really friendly and keen to please, A had mentioned that a TV was not working and the guy came round offering to get a TV engineer out the next day, we said it was not a problem there were more than one TV working, including the one in the lounge, and we had 4 iPads with us, and the broadband was pretty fast, at 17mb.

Went to bed at a sensible time and woke up to a sunny but chilly morning, thought about doing a time lapse but there were no clouds in the sky so, thought I would wait and see if any of the promised showers came through later. We all had a leisurely breakfast the plan was to take a look around town in the morning them when P arrived in the afternoon we planned a walk to have a look at the country side.

Eventually we were ready to go up to the centre of town to see what Winchcombe had to offer. Basically it has a T shaped layout with plenty of tut shops to browse. I left them to it and went for a walk round town. The sun seemed to be in the wrong position to take any decent photos being low and top the south east. I took a look round the church rose claim to fame is Catherine of Aragon’s autograph, a tapestry claimed to have been stitched by the lady herself. The stats of the church gave me this the whole run down of it history and insisted I take a photo of it, so I obliged.

We met up for coffee in an establishment called Wesley House, which serve red a great coffee and complimentary petit four, which were two thin circles of sugared flaky pastry with thing sliced banana and cream in the middle. It cost us £3.50 each which although expensive was worth it for the great tasting coffee and petit fours. We then went back for some lunch and wait for P to arrive so we could go for a walk.

We left Mr T in the house watching the rugby and after some discussion we headed outside to walk a circular walk taking in the local abbey ruins. The walk started on a gravel track but after about half a mile we hit the fields, which to out surprise were very muddy. A times we had to climb over fences to avoid the quagmire around the kissing gates and stiles. We were glad to get to the Abbey as it seems the abbots were wise and built it in an area which was not boggy, from there we headed up a hill which had orchards on the south facing slope, we got great views in the low winter light across the valley below, which Whinchcombe in the distance.

At the top of the hill it was time to turn around, so we headed down through an orchard the up the slope the other side. There was much slipping and sliding for someone behind especially when we cam a cross a very extensive land slip, where the earth ahead been twisted and mud bought to the surface. At one point we got lost but by following our nose we really were following the right route, it goes to show that you should trust your instincts a bit more. We got back to the hut at about 17:20 but not before experiencing a stunning sunset.

We had a table booked for 18:45 at a local hostelry called The White Hart, we had a good meal, slightly spoiled by someone’s toad in the hole being burnt then the replacement Fish & Chips being not really up to scratch. In fairness to the restaurant the service was very good and they knocked the bad dishes off the bill and did not charge for the 4 deserts we had, that said I would go back again.

We woke up at a reasonable 09:00 and had a leisurely breakfast. Then we lounged around for a few hours watching winter sports on Eurosport. Finally we got our selves together and went for a walk via pavements, to avoid the mud, into town and then on to Studley Castle just outside the town. It was closed but we got some fresh air. On the way back we stopped off at The Plaisterers arms for a coffee or beer, then we headed back to the hut said our farewells and we were off.

On the way home I tested out the Adaptive cruise Control on the Golf it is like cruise control but it will not let you get too close to any car in front, it makes driving on A roads really easy you just set the speed to 60 mph then if a car slows down in front the Golf slows down to keep a safe distance (adjustable) then speeds up if the car in front does, but it still stays within the 60 mph. We were back by 17:00 and ready to take out Tesco delivery before and evening in front of the telly before an early night.

January catch up post

Spiller Millenium Mill viewed from ExCel London

I have not posted for a few weeks so I thought I would do a catch up post. Last weekend I went on what seems to have become an annual trip to the Outdoor, Bike and Boat show at ExCel exhibition center in east London. I am interested in all three so it is really good value for money, three exhibitions at one venue all on one £20 ticket. You can save money by booking online early but although they advertise a £4 saving it turns out that there is a £2 booking fee.

It had snowed recently so I was not sure whether I could get there so I did not bother with the paltry £2 saving. As it happened the roads were clear once I got to the A41, and the roads were quiet I think the snow had scared everyone off. I got to the venue by 11am and parked up which cost me £20 for the day, quite steep if you are the only person attending.

The halls were quite quiet whilst I was there I think most people waited to see what the weather and road reports had to say before heading out. However by the end of the day it was very busy. The exhibition was not quite as good as last year where I enjoyed the cycle polo, which this year had been replaced with an evening criterium race. The highlights of the day were a talk by Charley Boorman about his new vehicular adventure, and the launch of the Madison cycle team, who were all going to use steel bikes!

This weekend started with a film, Django Unchained on Friday evening. Helen and I really do like to start the weekend with a film. I gave the film a 4/5 but Helen gave it 4/5 for the first two hours but only 1/5 for he last hour, which I have to admit was a bit violent. It was classic Tarantino, and one I enjoyed especially the first 2 hours.

On Saturday Helen was busy with her visiting sister, so I took the opportunity to head to the hills with my camera, it was probably the first opportunity to get pictures of the snow without it either snowing or there being a grey sky. I parked up at Dancersend, and headed up to the Ridgeway above Tring park, then across to the Cafe in the Woods in Wendover Woods. The sun shone the whole time and it was great to be back out in the fresh air after having spent the past two weeks cooped up either in the office or at home.

Saturday evening was a real treat we went to a talk at the local church in Aston Clinton, St Michael and all Angels, for a talk by one of the curates Carole Peters. Carole had in a previous life been an investigative journalist starting off in newspapers then progressing into television. She told us about her adventures in Africa investigating war lords, and in Haiti too. It was very interesting. Everyone bought finger food and there were drinks for sale. I was quite unusual to be drinking beer and wine in a Church, without the vicar handing it to you in a silver chalice with a dry wafer.

On Sunday we went to see another film, Hero Dark Thirty, about the hunt for Osama Bin laden. It was a well made film which confused me at first. I give it 4/5. That was the end of an action packed weekend.

Raspberry PI wifi with static IP address

I have been tinkering with Raspberry Pi’s for some time now, and after finding uses for two I order a couple more. I thought I would have a more methodical approach to setting up the next one. I needed a platform to experiment with to me number one is a static IP for the network interfaces. There is plently of documentation out there to explain how to set a static IP for the Ethernet adapter but I struggled to find instructions to do the same for a wifi adapter. My aim is to have a PI that boots up and always has the same IP addresses on the wired and wireless adapters.

Firstly lets get the static IP on the wired interface. You need to edit the file /etc/network/interfaces find the reference to eth0 then edit it to set the static IP network mask and default gateway.

iface eth0 inet static
address 192.168.0.41
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.0.0
gateway 192.168.0.254

Once you have made the changes reboot the PI and check that the settings have stuck. Alternatively you can use the commands ifup and ifdown. so to close down the eth0 interface issue the command sudo ifdown etho then use sudo ifup etho will bring it back up again. Clearly if you have ssh’d into the PI you will lose your connection so you will have to reboot the PI anyway. Use ifconfig to check the status of the ports.

Now for the more complicated bits. To get the wifi up and running. First you need to update the files referenced from the interfaces config file /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf this contains the configuration of the wifi interface and how it connects to access points. Find the section like the ones below and add in the details of the access points you want to connect to. I have 2 access points which I have called home1 and home2 (see “id_str=”). The details there tell the system how to connect to the access point i.e. what the name is and what the preshared key is.

network={
ssid="WifiAccessPoint_1"
psk="PresharedKeyForAccessPoint_1"
proto=WPA
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
pairwise=TKIP
auth_alg=OPEN
id_str="home1"
}

network={
ssid="WifiAccessPoint_2"
psk="PresharedKeyForAccessPoint_2"
proto=WPA
key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
pairwise=TKIP
auth_alg=OPEN
id_str="home2"
}

Next you need to update /etc/network/interfaces to set the details of the wifi access points and how they should be dealt with. See below I needed to to do the same as I did for the etho inerface but I reference the access points using the names I used in the id_str settings from above.

iface wlan0 inet manual
wpa-roam /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf

iface home1 inet static
address 192.168.0.42
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.0.0
gateway 192.168.0.254

iface home2 inet static
address 192.168.0.42
netmask 255.255.255.0
network 192.168.0.0
gateway 192.168.0.254

I used a few websites to figure all this here are some of the more useful ones :

http://wiki.debian.org/WiFi
http://wiki.debian.org/WiFi/HowToUse
http://www.debian.org/doc/manuals/debian-reference/ch05.en.html
http://omer.me/2012/04/setting-up-wireless-networks-under-debian-on-raspberry-pi/

Tommy Cooper walk

It was not raining so only one thing to do, make the most of it and go for a walk. We picked up the inlaws and headed up to Swan Bottom, and parked up at the Swan inn, then headed out for the usual circular walk.

The weather was grey but no rain, temperature was about 10 degrees. The ground was quite soft under foot on places. The whole walk took about 2 hours and looped round towards The Lee and back.

At the pub we all had sandwiches and shared a couple of bowls of chips. There were plenty of locals at the bar one of then thought he was a comedian and decided to test out some of his jokes, ready for his performance at the local talent show. Some of them were good and he did a good Tommy Cooper impression. Turns out he was a skier, had a German mother and was born in Australia, quite some ancestry.

The food was duly washed down with a pint then we headed back home for some Raspberry Pi hacking. The plan was to get one up and running on a wireless LAN with a static IP.

New year at the Eels Foot Inn

View from Eelsfoot Inn Eastbridge Suffolk

We are off to the Eels Foot pub in Eastbridge Suffolk for New Year. The plan was to spend three nights there and leave on News Years day. We left the house at a reasonable time and stopped off on route to visit my aunt. We arrived at Minsmere by 14:30 and did a quick route towards the wooded area and island mere before heading of to Adleburgh for a quick look round the shops.

We got to the pub at 17:30 and checked in, this time we were in room 3 on the first floor with a view over the pub garden. N&H arrived early evening and we had something to eat and caught up over a few beers.

We are up at a reasonable 08:30 for breakfast, then we headed out for a day on foot H had a bad tooth so we weren’t sure how far we would get,but we headed towards Dunwich heath, on the inland path because we had heard that the path to the sluice bushes was water logged and wellington boots were needed.

The weather was gorgeous and it was great to be out in the sun after the recent bad weather that had kept us indoors. The chip hut at Dunwich was shut for the winter so we went to the Ship Inn which was packed to the gunnels (did you see what I did there?) So we had to take a table in the garden which was not ideal on a sunny but cold and windy day. There was a queue at the bar, we got drinks and ordered for bowls of chips which considering how busy the pub was came fairly quickly.

After a rest we headed back towards coastguards cottages for a coffee then we headed through the reserve of Minsmere the through the reed beds to the Island Mere hide, by which time it was getting dark, and all you could see were the Moorhens and Coots. The walk back from there to the pub was dark but even so we passed two or three sets of people walking the other way. We had another quiet evening in the pub.

The weather the next day promised to be wet and windy but when the day dawned the forecasts were good up until midday so rather than shopping we walked to Dunwich Heath and then back through the reserve, but where possible we tried to keep on different paths. We tried to get to the north east hide but the path was flooded and Wellingtons would have been needed, so we went to the north hide. There was not much to see other than the usual ducks. Helen thought she had seen a Smew and it was confirmed when we asked at the visitors centre. At the cafe we all had a coffee and something to eat, then we headed straight back as it was getting late and H&N wanted to pop to the Yoxford Antique centre, as it was not open on the 1st January.

New Years Eve in the pub started quiet, we hit the bar at 18:30 to ensure a table for something to eat, I suspected that I would not last till midnight. We had some more great pub grub, then chewed the cud for a few hours. I retired at 23:00 the others stayed till just after midnight. I did not get much sleep for a bit as our room was on the pub side of the building. There were fireworks at 00:00.

The next morning we had agreed with Julian the landlord to have breakfast at 09:30, as it happens he had been up since 07:30 and had not got to bed until 05:00, we did not envy him having to push on through, the pub was open all day and they expected it to be busy as the sun was out and it looked like it would be a great day weather wise.

Helen and I had to head off as we were meeting up with my brother and parents as we had not managed to get together over Christmas. The drive using the tourist route to Haverhill was great. We met up and swapped presents then Helen and I headed home.

We both agreed a pub is a great place to spend a few days at New Year especially the Eels Foot Inn in Eastbridge in Suffolk.

Coombe Hill Wendover walk

I spent the morning Christmas shopping, only two websites were involved, one of them does not pay tax in the UK but is very convenient and needs must. Christmas shopping done Helen was writing Christmas cards so I thought now is a good time to go for a walk. I was going to go up to Wendover woods but Helen wanted something from the shops to Wendover was now the chosen venue. The car park was pretty busy with Christmas shoppers, but after some patience I slotted the car into a parking space, purchased a parking ticket and headed up the high street towards Coombe Hill.

Wendover is a convenient place for a walk, you can park in the high street which means on the way back to the car you can stop off for a drink in a pub (Shoulder of Mutton and the Red Lion are both good) or a coffee at Rumseys. It is also popular with people from London because the railway station make the country side easily accessible. I usually walk to the top of Coombe Hill and back again, there is a main route up and down but there are plenty of alternaive routes to extend the walk and make it circular.

Gorse flowers on Coombe Hill Buckinghamshire

I headed up past the station and over the by pass, then forewent the left hand fork over the fields, for the direct route, which starts at the first bend in the road out of the town. The path flows the edge of the hill providing great views of Aylesbury Vale. Today the view was great with the vales bathed in low Autumn sun light, but the sun was the other side of the hill so I was in the cold shade. In the way up some birds flew over probably Goldfinch, but one solitary fly over had me intrigued, it had a very bright, almost fluorescent, rear I could not figure what it was. Bullfinch crossed my my mind but it was the wrong red and it was the rear not the chest. I referred to the internet when I got home and I reckon it was a Waxwing, I would not call it a definite ID but I’m now fairly sure it was. It makes sense as there has been a big influx in recent weeks, and they are being reported in flocks everywhere,even as far south as Kent.

At the top of the hill there is a monument, and took some time there to take some photos and admire the view. There were quite a few people out for such a cold day. I took a slightly different route back to the right of the way up but popped out almost at the bottom back on the path I had taken up. Down in Wendover I both some crisps for this evening and a lottery tick in the vain hope that I can stop work and live the life of Riley.

Tokyo, Japan the journey home

Had a goods night sleep woke up with plenty of time to spare, so had an opportunity to catch up with the Japanese soaps on the TV and make a coffee. The taxi was booked for 07:30 we were in reception at 07:20 time to check out, we had not spent a dime at the hotel facilities, at £20 for breakfast who blames us. Helen popped to our favourite convenience store to pick up some bun sticks for breakfast on the train. The taxi was waiting so we left the hotel at 07:25 for the 10 minute journey to the station.

The station was fairly clear, and we were down at platform 4 by 07:40 for the 08:00 train. I had some credit left on my SUICA card so I used one of the vending machines that are everywhere. I chose what appeared to be a black coffee one. It came out hot which was unexpected, so bought another one for Helen one that looked white, however Helen reminded me that no caffeine was allowed before the flight to help the relaxation process. We had plenty of time to spare at the airport in fact the check desks had not opened. After a short wait premium economy were called forward, and we checked in without any hassle.

Helen insisted on going to a smoking room at the entrance to the terminal for what she thought would be her last cigarette in Japan, whilst I busied myself getting more footage for the Japan video. Security and immigration, where they checked that we had left the country, followed they were swift and efficient, Narita does not seem to be a very busy airport but it does have extensive facilities if only Heathrow was so easy to use.

Cat from Kamakura, Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan

We had and and a half to waste in the terminal building so we wandered around and looked at the relatively few shops compared to other airports I have frequented. Helen found the only bar, which was more of a small food establishment, to have a glass of wine, while I went and had a look at the origami shop, and managed to buy some colourful origami paper the remaining credit on my SUICA and some loose change, the final odd yen went into the UNICEF collection box. Helen was please to find a couple of smoking rooms close to our gate. They are quite strange places, there is a sliding door to get you in which closes to seal the smokers in, then there are two or three columns punctuated with an ashtray the continuation of the column above the ashtray serves as an extractor for the smoke, we wouldn’t want them the breath any in would we.

The flight was called bang on schedule and we settled down with a small glass of champagne, while we waited for us all to get on board and the plane to be loaded, the plane left the gate about 5 minutes early. After a smooth take off, which took longer the the small planes I am used to, we hit some mild turbulence as we rose through the clouds. Once at cruising flight the entertainment system came on but I was disappointed to see that it was not an on demand system like we had on the way here but a scheduled watch with a choice, just like watching tv. Then as I typed away on my iPad I was handed a Samsung galaxy tab to watch movies and stuff on demand, which is better than on the way here as the video quality is better.

Meal one consisted of pasta with a tomato and pepper sauce, with a salad on he side, followed by apple strudel and custard. Helen reckoned that the meal represented more portions of fruit and veg than she had eaten all week in Japan, I went one portion further and ate Helen’s apple strudel, which had two portions, apples and sultanas. I watched a couple of films one called Savages which had John Travolta in and was about a couple of drug deals who get in too deep, it was quite violent. The other film was Lawless which was set in prohibition times and was about bootleggers which I enjoyed. I got three quarters of the at through a documentary about Bob Marley when the battery ran out on the tablet and it refused to charge. A new power supply was supplied and I was able to finish off the documentary which was very interesting, I have always liked his music but I didn’t know much about the man, but I do now.

Some details about the flight. First we headed north up Japan then turned west just south of the Dzhugdzhur mountains over the Aldan plateau, then south of Verkhoykanschiy. Next there was a couple of thousand miles of nothing no towns marked on the map display. We were so far north that we were flying where the sun does not rise. Eventually we hit the very north of Scandinavia and as we turned south the sun appeared again and we were able to see some land. The coast looks very cold, and has very sparse habitation a real wilderness.

What were the highlights of the trip? The thing I will remember the most is the earthquake, and the little noodle bar we were in when it happened, the locals just shrugged it off but for me it was a once in a life time experience. Shrines and lots of them, it was really nice to get out of Tokyo for the day to Kamasuta and see at lead a little bit of the country side. The transport system in my opinion second to none, it just has to be that way how else are they going to transport such a volume of people without it all just grinding to a halt, I am sure there are places where at least 6 systems are layered on top of each other, I saw three layers of trains over a road above a tube station that servers two lines. The cyclists here seem to be a law unto them selves they cycle the right way and the wrong way down 6 lane high streets when they are not cycling on the pavement, all while holding and umbrella, talking on the phone and smoking. The friendliness and politeness of the Japanese themselves always trying to out bow you and never accepting to be the first through a doorway, always smiling. In the country on the little walk we did the all the people we passed said hello. The brown eared bulbuls which were everywhere especially where there were Ginhko trees with their fruits that smelt like dog poo.

The flight continued down the west coast of Scandinavia then across the North Sea then in over Suffolk where a few 360 degree spins were needed to get into the correct landing slot. Then we were back in blighty. Immigration and customs were a doddle after a very short wait for luggage. The taxi was only a few minutes away so I grabbed some bread for breakfast and we headed home.

So that’s it the end of a great weeks holiday, in a far away place.