Savour the moment

If you haven’t got Sky (I haven’t because I don’t want to line Murdoch’s pockets), then you can enjoy some brief highlights of today’s England victory in Melbourne to retain the Ashes, courtesy of the ECB: http://www.ecbtv.co.uk/page/Video/AshesArticleUK/0,,11617~2253156,00.html

Let’s savour the moment. It’s been a long time coming. However, the real contest for top dog is happening in South Africa at the moment between South Africa and India. As it happens, we host a series with India this summer, so we’ll see then how good England really are.

Take no prisoners

And you thought the British press was vicious; today’s Herald Sun in Australia:

Mustn’t laugh

Happy Christmas everyone

Have a great Christmas everyone!

The best year

This year has been a strange one, but ultimately the happiest of my life. At the end of 2009, the company I had worked for was taken over. In January we were “integrated”. By March it was clear that it wasn’t going to work, so I decided to retire early (eight years early!!). Since then, I have enjoyed life. I’ve had quality family time for the first time in fifteen years. I’ve read books, listened to music and done a decent amount of backpacking. What could be better? In a way I feel a bit guilty. However, we must make the best of the time allotted to us, so I am turning down offers of work to concentrate on my family, charity/community work (still sorting this out) and backpacking. I know some of you have had a difficult year. All I can say is keep hope alive, things usually improve. Wishing everyone a very happy Christmas and New Year. Oh, and my back has almost returned to normal.

M&S Undies

As an experiment, I recently bought some M&S Ultra Fit Hipster underwear. A pack of 3 costs £15. Compared with, say, X-Bionic Energizer Boxer Shorts at £20.99 each, the M&S hipsters are good value. They are 90% polyester, 10% elastene. I’ve not tested them thoroughly yet, so I can’t tell how good they are at wicking or their odour resistance, but they are extremely comfortable. They are pleasantly clingy without being tight. The wide waist band is also very comfy. Weight is 78g, slightly heavier than the X-bionic or my Haglofs briefs which are 52g. At £5 each, they seem very good value. No pictures as I can’t copy one fromthe M&S website.

More on The World at War

The last episode of The World at War is interesting with some reflections on the aftermath. While Germany lost the war, there was a positive outcome. Militarism was well and truly smashed and a modern democracy established, which might not have happened without a war. The generosity of the Marshall Plan also ensured a period of dramatic economic growth and wealth creation to enable Germany to mature as a nation.

The historian at the end suggested that Britain was the big loser as it bankrupted itself and lost an empire. Arguably, it took  forty years and inflation to restore public sector debt to GDP to “normal” levels. The loss of the empire is an interesting one. The weakness of Britain after the war and the raised expectations of the colonies meant that there was a largely peaceful transfer of political power.

This was probably the first time in history that an empire had been dismantled peacefully and voluntarily. If there hadn’t been a war, would this have happened? Who knows, but there must have been a chance that Britain would have been embroiled in a succession of wars of independence. The fact that this, for the most part, didn’t happen was a very positive outcome for a traumatic period of history, it seems to me.

The tragedy and futility of war

I watched the World at War documentaries many years ago. I’m now watching the entire series again on the restored DVD version. It is an excellent series which brings home the tragedy and futility of war. Some of it makes you choke with emotion. The collective madness of Germany and Japan still casts a shadow over the world for many.

For HiFi nuts

Long time readers of this blog will know that I have a passion for music and HiFi. Now that I’m retired, I’ve moved my study from a small bedroom into a larger one. This has become my home office, library and multi-media room combined. I can while away my hours reading or listening to music (or both).

A little while ago I shifted to a network server based music system distributed through a Sonos wireless system. My first network server (a RipNAS) failed twice. The current one seems to be reliable, although occasionally I have to reinstall the Windows Home Server software on my PC to re-establish contact. The reason behind going the server/wireless route was so I didn’t have to keep going downstairs to get CDs. In fact, the server actually produces a higher quality signal than a CD player, so it has enhanced the fidelity of the music as well.

Anyway, over the past two weeks, I have put in place the final pieces of the jigsaw puzzle. A 40″ Sony High Def TV (KDL-40 EX713) and a Sony BluRay player (BDP S470), which I’m very pleased with. This week my AVI AMD9T active speakers arrived. These are rather special beasts. All you need to do is feed them with an optical digital signal and they produce music. They have a DAC (Digital Analogue Converter), pre-amp and power amps (active crossovers) integrated into the speakers.

Although they are immaculately finished in a gloss black lacquer, they are not particularly remarkable until they play some music. Whilst my downstairs system cost a lot more, the little ADM9Ts are better in almost every way. They strip away the mush of passive systems, sounding amazingly realistic and tight. Even the bass is well extended for such a small speaker. I played Moby’s Pale Horses (Apparat Dub) and it almost blew my head off as I had the volume set for some gentle classical music (Toru Takemitsu).

I’m now a very happy bunny in my den. I know this will only appeal to a minority, but if you like HiFi and are willing to spend a bit of money, the ADM9Ts are a very impressive bit of kit. Don’t forget for the money, you are getting an almost complete system.

 

 

Popol Vuh – Aguirre

I watched the excellent BBC documentary on Krautrock earlier this week. I’m a huge fan of German avant-garde music and this expanded my admiration further. I had only vaguely come across Popol Vuh before. This music for Werner Herzhog’s Aguirre, Wrath of God is utterly beautiful and haunting.

These might help

All the snow has disappeared around London, but last week, a few days were a bit dicey on the roads. London has been much less affected by the snow than most other parts of the country. Last year when I was driving over the North Downs on the M25, we had thick wet snow, which turned the road into a skating rink and I had the most frightening drive of my life. How can we cope with this kind of weather? Snow chains are OTT and wreck your tires and road on bare surfaces. I was talking to a friend on mine yesterday who has bought some “Auto Socks” for his car. This looks like the ideal solution for the occasional snow that we suffer from in this country. I’ve not bought any yet, but will. I can’t tell you how well they work, but they must be worth a try.

Yaktrax update

This morning was an interesting test for the Yaktrax. We had a bit of rain overnight, so the pavements had some compacted ice with water on top as well as an increasing number of bare patches. Initially I ventured out without the Yaktrax, but after walking about 20 metres, I decided it was too slippery. I returned home to put them on. I was glad I did. There was no hint of slipping even on some steep slopes. I was a bit wary of walking on the bare patches of pavements, but it doesn’t seem to affected the Yaktrax at all.  For mixed walking in snow and ice, I think these take a lot of beating. Unlike spikes or studs, you don’t have to worry about walking on hard surfaces.

Yaktrax Pro

I’ve been using these recently for dog walking on the snowy and icy pavements. I’m very impressed with the grip they give. I have some Kahtoola Micro Spikes, but they are overkill around town. The Yaktrax are kinder to hard surfaces, but still grip well. I have the Pro version with the extra strap, which keeps them firmly attached to my boots. Highly recommended.

Update

Things have been a bit quiet here. Even if I hadn’t hurt my back, getting anywhere would have been difficult given the snow. My back is improving very slowly. Gentle walking has proved to be good exercise. My sciatic nerve is still uncomfortable. I’ll just have to be patient.

I’ve been using my RAB Generator Alpine jacket most days for dog walks. It’s a great jacket and surprisingly water-resistant. Although it’s not as warm as an equivalent weight down jacket, it is less bulky. Definitely recommended if you want a winter synthetic jacket.

How about this for the skier who has everything ? The HUD could be a bit distracting!