neil.baldwin – Page 30 – Neil Baldwin's blog : Warning contains walking, technology, photography, holidays.

A productive if wet weekend at home

Luton Airport Monday 07:50 it must be EZY181 to Belfast, and just because it has become a tradition here is a blog post.

The weekend was a real wash out, but we did manage to get some stuff done round the house.

We went to the pictures on Friday to see Salmon fishing in the Yemen, which was not a cinematic great but an excellent film with a great story line, well worth watching. On the way home we went to Tesco for the ingredients for a Korma curry paste.

On Saturday I was up early and gave the kitchen a quick wipe, then once helen was up I put up two roller blinds, one at top of stairs the other in the back bedroom. Two more windows and we will be 100% blinds.

Then it was off to Wendover for me to get a haircut and Helen some shopping therapy. Luckily for the bank balance there was no queue at the barbers so Helen’s spend time was kept to a minimum. It was still lashing down with rain.

Once home I got out my laptop with the aim of finding a way to present my panorama tours on the web. The method needed to have an HTML5 option as I want it to work on ipads and iphones. I found a project on google code called Bigshot http://code.google.com/p/bigshot/ it looked promising. It used the Microsoft deepzoom format, but also came with a wrapper that allowed the directory structure to be stored in a single file with a php script to serve the images out on demand. It was interesting to see such an approach.

Tried as I might I could not get the thing to work, my javascript knowledge is just not good enough, I did however learn a lot about debugging js using chrome and firefox, so the hours were not wasted. In the end I have reverted back to using the utility that comes with ptgui http://www.ptgui.com/which produces a set of images and page with html5 and flash options, it is also gyro scope aware which means you can move around with a device and the panorama moves with you. My plan is to develop a php script to display a panorama directory based on parameters passed to it. As for Bigshot I might have to revisit it someday.

Helen made the most of the day by putting the stuff in the garage that belonged in the dining room back where it belonged, and sorting out a couple of the kitchen draws that have become draws of small stuff we can’t be bothered to put away in the right place. Later in the after noon I made the curry paste, a massive two large Bonne Maman jam jars full. I got the recipe from Jamie Olivers website but used it as a guide. So in summary despite the continuous torrential rain we got quite a lot done.

We watched a film whilst eating home made Pizza, which this time we left to rise rolled out for a more puffed up base, it was called The Ides of March staring George Clooney. We were not very impressed, the story was a bit difficult to follow and I think you needed to have an interest in American politics.

On Sunday we had booked up for dawn chorus walk at Dancersend NR, but the organiser phoned up the Saturday evening and cancelled, the reason was weather and the slight risk of falling branches, but the main thing was that we would not really be able to hear anything with the appalling weather.

I dropped Helen and Gladys off at church then continued with the panorama project. The rest of the day was spent at home relaxing, and making tea for a couple of visitors. Abida (arriving with an excellent homemade banana cake)reported that there were trees down all over the place as she tried to get to Tring station but ended up at Berkhamsted.

Later I made a vegetable korma with the paste I made the night before. I used Cauliflower and baby aubergines as a base, and included green beans and peas at the end. It turned out really well which is good because of the amount of paste I now have! I made enough for 4 portions to be frozen.

Circular walk from Cuddington

Had to pick up Helen from Thame and Haddenham Parkway Station, so I looked for a walk in the area. Cuddington and surrounding arera looked good. I parked up just off village green near shop and the Crown pub which another time would have been a good place to finish the walk with a beer and lunch.

I walked down in the direction of the church which is in Great setting amongst the many very old building that make up most of Cuddington. The village hall and big manor house are particularly impressive.I headed past the manor house and down into the river valley, noted lots of Red Kite and surprisingly a couple of Reed Bunting over a rape seed field.

After walking. Along the valley there is an opportunity to cross the river and then head back the other way and visit the even older and quainter looking Nether Whinchden or Lower Whinchden. Not sure if they are alternative names or two different places. There is a manor house church and lots of other very old and well spaced out houses. I imagine it is a very nice place to live.

The walk then continues towards Chearsley but stops just before, on another occasion when not under a time restraint it might make sense to look at the put there leaving a short hop back to Cuddington. As I wandered towarss Cuddington I was really down on the flood plain and had to jump and impromptu stream that was crossing a field and also had to negotiate a very muddy gate/track/path crossing.

After walking through a mill house which has a footpath through the garden, you leave via a door in the wall, then climb a small hill past a house with many weather vanes on it, I imagine the guy there makes them.

Back at the outskirts of Cuddington I came across a duck pond made out of a river that passes through the cottage garden, in there were two massive Mallards, my guess is that they were cross breeds with the white ducks that were also in the pond.

Home alone

Helen is away with the girls this weekend, in Birmingham. Had Pizza for Tea on Friday, went to bed and got up early on Saturday full of plans. Ended up tinkering around the house, until early afternoon, when I dragged myself out for a walk around College lake nature reserve. The sun was shining but there was still a chill in the wind. Took a quick look from the new and nearest hide, saw ringed plover, redshank and red crested pochard. I then headed out a a fair swift pace around the rest of the reserve, and soon found I was getting quite hot from the exertion. I stopped off at the octagonal hide and saw a few more redshank.

On the path I came across a a Burying Beetle which was moving very fast see the video.

After that excitement I went to Tesco for some supplies then headed home has the rest of last nights dough in another Pizza, watched a French film called “Tell No One” which has the same directory and many actors from the file “Little White Lies” it was a brilliant murder/mystery/thriller.

[youtube=http://youtu.be/YtWup5fk7-4?hd=1&w=500]

Business trip part deux

Just when you thought it was all over, here is the second part to my business trip. I usually try to make two days of it because there and back in one day means getting up at 05:00 and returning home at 23:00 which is a good 18 hour day.I woke up by my phone alarm at 06:55 and so quickly check the BBC news with it, not much to note except on the technology page. Seems Samsung and Apple have been told to meet up and resolve their differences in the presence of a magistrate. About time too the whole patent war thing is stifling innovation, and competition, and it is only the consumer who is losing out.

For breakfast I had a bowl of fruit, mushrooms and eggs complete with some toast. I skipped the coffee because it never tastes good, and I can get one at work soon enough. The usual eclectic mix of elevator music from many eras was being played in the back ground. It is a long time since I have heard Alan Parsons Project “when I’m old and wise?”

Weather was typical April shows when I left the hotel after checking out. The day could turn out to be a busy day we are rolling out Office 2010 to all our users, mostly citrix. Despite everyone attending a refresher conversion course there is bound to be some carnage for our helpdesk.

As expected there were some teething problems but a couple of hours most things were fixed or under stood, things had settled by lunch time. I was on the 17:15 flight to Luton so left the office at 15:15, everything is an hour later now the clocks are on summer time.

Airport security was busier I guess because it is later and a more convenient time to fly and because we are heading into spring. I distracted myself by typing the blog entry and the wait seemed trivial. I was through with an hour before the flight was due to take off.Being busier I skipped the queue in Starbucks and for went a coffee. Whilst queuing to pay for a paper in W H Smith I spoke to a young guy trying to decide whether to go for an additional white chocolate truffle bar, I warned him about the damage it might do to his teeth, he agreed. Turns out he was on a day trip from Edinburgh to the Titanic exhibition in Belfast, in my time a school a day trip never involved a flight. I wished him well.

Someone was maintaining the flight information board and I was able to get a sneak peek (see picture). Seems they use Danware to remote control the devices which run Windows Embedded.

Unusually the flight was called at departure gate 26 new for me and the end furthest gate in the airport, so I was again able to get to the front of the cattle class queue. The flight looked like it would take off on time.

There is a sign at the departure gate which list some of the things you can’t take on a flight, these include fireworks, and gas cylinders, as you would expect, but what about poison, what does that cover? There is probably chemicals in the electronic kit you can take on aircraft such as laptops and mobiles, that contain poison. What about the lithium in the batteries and the exotic chemicals in the chips they contain?

We boarded at 16:51 there were loads of speedy boarders, and looking at the cattle class queue it looked like the flight would be quite busy. Then I had a stroke of luck the front boarding steps were closed but opened as I got level, I managed to get a front row seat. Who needs speedy boarding!

Business trip to Belfast

That time has come round again for the month business trip to Northern Ireland, thought I would share some thoughts with my regular readers while I sit in airport lounges. Flight was at 07:50 so planned to leave 50 minutes later than the usual 5:15 but I woke up early and left the house just after 05:35.

Traffic at Luton was light and I was quickly able to park up and get the bus to the main building.

Priority lane tickets have gone up by a massive 33% to £4, but I still think worth the money. This trip I have decided to do without Easyjet’s speedy boarding, which if like me you can get to the gate quickly is not really of much value.
I grabbed and espresso and a pain au raisin from Pret a Manger, and settled down at a table waiting for the flight to be called. They have changed the flight information displays you now get a carrier logo and expected gate opening time which allows you to plan your coffee and/or comfort breaks.

We were allocated gate 11 which is the furthest gate from the lounge, which for me is good I have long legs and can walk fast so usually manage to get near the front of the queue, today was no exception 5th. Not many speedie boarders today less than 10.

When I travel I like to check in as much as I can on the social networking app is becoming more popular recently. It works like this, you use an app on your phone to check in to venues based on those in proximity to your phone. If you check in more often than another user to a venue you become the mayor and can sometimes get discounts at a venue. It has not really caught on in that sense in the UK yet. Badges are also awarded for visiting types of venue or events, for example “the great outdoor” “jet setter” wino etc etc.

We boarded the plane at 07:30, I chose a seat one row from the back on the right hand window, and I had the whole row to myself, my decision to dump speedy boarding was justified. According to my good friend Rory the back of the plane is where most survivors of plane crashes come from, with speedy boarding I tended to go for the front row where there was extra leg room, so dumping the extra charge might just save my life one day!

I managed to grab back a few mayorships while waiting, W H Smiths, and Gate 18, I also lined up the Baggage reclaim by checking in, and tomorrow I should nail it with a second check in two days.

The plane departed a few minutes ahead of schedule, the trip along the runway was a bit wavy while the pilot/computers struggled against the wind to keep on the straight and narrow. One airborne things settled down and we were up above the clouds in the sun.

My usual way to while the time away on the flight is to attempt the advanced Sudoku puzzle in The Independent before the plane lands which I managed about one time in every three. Today went to form I got right down to about 10 squares unsolved and made a mistake! One of the things I find frustrating about Sudoku is that once a mistake has got into the grid it is nigh on impossible to work back to where it all went wrong.

The pilot announced our descent into Belfast and that we would be on stand almost 20 minutes early, that is always good news, but very loud when you are sat in the row near the speaker, which they insist on having at the highest volume.

Peugeot 106 was the weapon provided to me by Avis, the friendly car rental company, after being in a queue of two people. Was soon on the road to the office, and got there before 10:00 the traffic was pretty quiet.

Spent most of the day in meetings, and help colleagues with things whilst I was on site, and left work just before 18:00 to go to the Seago Hotel.

I had a quick shower and headed down for some food. The selection is pretty good, and the service is super fast and very friendly. I went for the Seafood medley but substituted the boiled potatoes for chips I’m afraid. I soon polished the meal off then headed back to my room for an early night, to make up for the early start.

In case you missed them

Here is a slide show of the photo’s I took in mark. Bit of a mixed bag some from London, some outside spring is definitely on the way. Enjoy…

One swallow does not a summer make…unless!

No plans for this weekend, so when Neil spotted that there were several ring ouzels at Ivinghoe Beacon (thanks to Lee Evans’s excellent bird blog) off we went on Saturday morning. Headed up the path to the right of the Beacon itself, and counted 8 ring ouzels and two wheatear, which we watched for some time whilst the skylarks trilled away enthusiastically above us. We then strolled up to the top of the Beacon, then on the descent I found a rather nice piece of worked flint. Not much about in the woods so we headed back to the car and off to the H cafe for coffee.

On Sunday Neil had heard that there was a grasshopper warbler at Startops reservoir so we had to see if we could find it. No luck but we saw lots of other fellas, including our first swallow. Three squabbling common terns, a yellow and various pied wagtails, linnets, little ringed plover?,goldfinch and marvellous views of a chiff chaff.

Pizzas better than Tesco.

If you want to have Pizza at home don’t bother with take away ones, or ready made ones, just make your own. You can get all the bits from the super market including the tomato sauce for the base. It helps if you have a bread machine.

The recipe I use for the dough is: 500g strong white flour, tea spoon yeast, glug of olive oil, big pinch of salt, 320ml warm water. Makes 4-5 bases. Recipe is courtesy of my brother.

Wild Flowers and where to find them in the Chilterns

Helen got me a book called “Wild flowers and where to find them in the Chilterns”, I had ordered a fondle slab 3 from John Lewis for pick up at 2pm, and the two things came together in a walk from the book starting at Sonning Eye.

We were up relatively early for the second day of a holiday and after putting back together and tidying the newly decorated dinning room we headed out in the car at about 10, towards High Wycombe, then towards Marlow then Reading. We crossed the river Thames at Sonning, parked in a public parking space opposite the French Horn Hotel at Sonning Eye.

The walk heads away from the river up hill then parallel to the river towards Shiplake, and along the river back to Sonning Eye.

We left the car at 11:10, and headed towards Botany Bay, along Spring Lane, we followed the permissive path off the A4155 north east. We had 3 target plants from the book to tick off. Cuckoo Flower, Garlic Mustard, and Summer Snowflake.

We had soon ticked off Garlic Mustard, which Helen spotted in the hedgerow in Binfield Heath village. From there we headed along the footpath passing through Shiplake Copse to Shiplake village.

The Plowden arms www.plowdenarmsshiplake.co.uk was a welcome pit stop for a beer and a sandwich. Helen had a chip butty and I had a fish finger sandwich. The food was well cooked and the staff friendly and welcoming. Suitably refreshed we headed out to hunt for the elusive two.

Take the road opposite the pub which goes down hill to the river skirting Shiplake College grounds. On the way we looked in a church with very ornate windows. Give that it was the most unholy day of the year it was no surprise that the church was quiet and empty. Down at the river a few canoeists were taking a break break for some lunch. We spotted a trio of mandarins, two male one female. The female only had eyes for one of the males though, and there was a bit of a Mexican stand-off going on between the two males.

As we headed through the boat sheds I spotted the Summer Snowflake flower which turned out to be bigger (12 inches tall) that I expected. So it was one all in the flower spotting competition, we just had the Cuckoo flower to find. We spotted an Egyptian Goose as we headed into some woods and I spotted the Cuckoo flower on it’s own about 12 feet from the path. Looks like I won 2:1. Helen denied that I had ever mentioned that it was a competition.

Along the river I got some great photo’s it is funny how adding some water to a picture makes all the difference. Eventually we arrived back at the French Horn pub and jumped back in the car to head to John Lewis to pick up the Fondle Pad 3.

John Lewis was busy but we did manage to see a shop assistant to order a blackout roller blind for the newly decorated spare bedroom. We now have only two more rooms to go and we have a whole house; the box room and our bedroom.

Once home the Fondle Pad was quickly unpacked and connected to the Wifi. It is a thing of beauty, the new screen resolution makes all the difference.

Author: neil.baldwin