Last day

So it's the last day of 2015, a lot of things have happened in this year some of them have not been very nice, the death of my mother being one of them.

Another thing that happened for a while was that I did not know if I was still in love with my wife, i know a strange thing to say here but for a while I didn't know what I wanted and that included my wife of 30 odd years.

The good news is that I do still love her so much but I have no idea how to tell her in a way that I have not already told her.

Last day of the year is always going to be a strange time of the year as you can look back and see what happened but can't change what happened but the good news is that most of what happened was good even if at times I felt that I was a passenger.

Weather

I am so lucky that I don't live near to a major river as the news from else where in the uk is very upsetting with all the flooding that is going on. Knowing that it will be a long time before the people effected will get their lives back to something like normal. I suspect that the insurance companies are going to do there bit to make life harder as well.

Rest day

So today is a rest day which is good the bad news is that I still had to get up early to make sure the wife went to work on time.

Roast Pork 2

Well I can say here that the rare breed pork was well worth the money and the time to cook it. If you get the chance then do have a go at trying it.

Roast pork

So today we are going to try a rare breed pork called gloster old spot it will be interesting to see if the rare breed pork tastes different to the standard pork you get in the shops.

Back from Calane

So the journey back from Calane took 1.5 hours which was not bad the gps sent us back on a different route to the route it sent us on on the way there.

Drinking

So it's Christmas night and I am having a beer that I have never had before called kill your darlings which is a Vienna style larger and I have to say that it is great.

Cooking

So as its a day off we normally have a roast dinner and today is no different in that we Are going to have roast gammon which is and has always been a favourite.

Happy Christmas

So it's the 25 December so it must be Christmas if you celebrate that kind of thing. For me it's a day off so that is always good.

Drink

Having a the bears from jig hug the beer is a bit strong for me as there appears to be a lot of hops which appears to overload the flavours for me.

Drink

Drinking fullers 1845 all i can say is wow.

This is not a session beer but something to be enjoyed with respect as it is a great beer with a strong taste.

Shoes

Why do women have so many shoes?

I don't know the answer to this question but I am sure that the answer if there is one is going to be good.

Time

Where does all the time go when you are on days off?

I mean I woke up at my usual time and decided to do some reading, the next thing I know it's 11.30 where has the time gone to?

Reading

I like to read this is something that I have always loved and it's something that I have always done. So it is always a pleasure when I get a book that is great to read the only problem with this is that I then find that other things that I should be doing are not being done and that can and does lead me in getting into trouble, but with a  good book the trouble caused is I think worth it. Most of the time the books I now read are on the iPad, which in one way is sad but it is easier to carry far more books than if they were paperbacks. 

One of the joys of reading is that you can sometimes find a new author and then find that they have written lots of books, so you know that your reading list is going to be full for the next few weeks as you read through the list.

The first time

So this is the first time that I am using a program called swift key I am not sure yet if it is going to be quicker than me typing all the words myself but I have read that it needs to learn more about how I write before it can start to be quicker than me typing all the words myself so I will give it a go and see what happens.

Solstice

So winter solstice has been and gone agin and the night soon should start getting shorter, I read somewhere that the daylight difference beetween winter solstice and summer solstice is 7.5hours that's a lot you just don't realise just how much light in the winter here in the uk you loose.😀

Wow

Wow so much time has passed since I last had something to say here on my blog. Not too sure why it is but there you go.

One of the things I like about having my own personal and for all intents and purposes private blogs is that I can write when I want about whatever I want as the only person who reads this is me right?

So having had this blog for a long time I have noticed that I can go for many weeks with nothing to say and that alright as its my blog and sometime I just don't feel like I have anything that I want to say.

So I may or may not do a couple of more blog entry's before the end of the year it all depends on just how I am feeling.

Cold

Well a cold snap, I forget just cold it can be.

Cold weather

So the weather people have said that it's going to turn a lot colder this weekend not sure that I like that.

Sad

Things are still sad due to my Mum passing away in late October.

Bad times

Bad times as Mum died on 23 October 

Sunrise

So I have just noticed that sunrise is now getting later and later in the morning which should not be a surprise but it is its just that it appears to have happened rather quickly. I suppose this means that winter is now with us for the next few months.

James Follett

So the other day I managed to read a peice of work by James Follett that I had never read. It cost me some 2 quid but I think that it was worth it. There now is very little published work of James's that I have not read. Sadly I don't think that there is much unpublished work to find as James was never very prolific as a writer which is sad as a lot of his work was a good read. What is also sad is that a lot of his work has not aged and so if he had been more productive far more of his work would have been seen and enjoyed by more people. Sadly the only way you can see and read his work is to download it from Amazon. The good news is that it appears that most of his work is available as kindle books which is good, dare I say it but they are also cheaper than when they were in paperback.

Last night of the proms

So last night on the television i watched the last night of the proms and it was rather good to see that everyone seemed to enjoy it. It is also a bit sad as it means that winter is coming.

Websites

So I have finally got all my website domains sorted out it has taken rather a long time but they are now all mine and all working which is good as it has not been like that for some time. In all it has taken some 2 years for the domains to be sorted out but the good news is that they are now all working as i want them.

Lie in

I had a lie in today but it was not your normal kind of lie in as i had it at 3 in the morning as i could not sleep. So I now find myself in the position of being very tired but wide awake which is not something I want.

Updates to the websites

So we have just had a bank holiday here and I think you can guess what the weather was like. So that gave me some free time to have a play on my websites. The result was that I have managed to update the sites that I own.

For some of the sites it turns out that I have not updated them for more than two years which was a surprise to me, the good thing is that I have updated them.

Darkness

Just a note to me that it is now starting to get noticeably darker in the evening 

Blue

Finally some blue sky which is a bit of a change here as this is something that we have not seen for some time now.

Damp

So it's a bit damp today so far which is a bit of a surprise as at this time of year it's supposed to be warm or even hot but that's the weather for you here in the UK.

Sad news

Sad news about the air crash at shoream air show. I have just heard that at least seven people have died it appears that the plane came down on the a27 road which runs to the side of the airport.

I suspect that in the next few days we will sadly find out how many more people were killed and who they were. The thing that I find frightening about it is that the people in the cars driving along the road had no idea what was about to happen to them.

Made something

So I have made something and have put it on u tube it's a tune that I wrote today that I happen to think is rather good so have a look at my page 

Traction kite

I wanted to have a go at flying my big ozone kite but as usual the weather is not playing fair as there is no wind which does make it rather hard to fly the kite.

Yesterday

So yesterday for the first time in a while i saw some actual blue sky which was nice, we have had here a lot of grey clouds and it's amazing just how quick you can miss the blue sky.

Very wet

So the last few days it has been rather wet I am not sure if this is normal weather for this time of year or not but all I can tell you is that it's wet.

Cool

Just a bit cool here this morning which is a bit of a surprise.

Reading

So what am I reading at this time you may ask yourself and the answer is that I am reading a book of short stories that have all been collected into one volume. Its an ebook that cost me a whole 72 pence but I have to say that I think it's worth that money as most of the stories have been very good.

Dark

I'm starting to notice that it is getting darker in the morning than I remember from last week, i suppose that I should not be all that surprised at this turn of events as we are on the run down to winter.

Stupid question

My stupid question of the day is this 

Why or how does hair on your legs know when to stop growing?

I don't know the answer to this question.

Lazy weekend

So had a lazy weekend this weekend which was nice but I think the wife had an even more lazy weekend as I am sure that she did not move very far from the settee all weekend, she mainly spent her time reading her iPad.

Fosters

Trying a Fosters flavoured larger this one is rum flavoured so far its not that bad May have to have another one just to check if its okay.

Create your own music

So I am creating my own music which is always fun and it's something that I like to do. I make lots of different types of music and it's for my fun. This time I have uploaded the tracks to u tube not that I expect to get a lot of plays of the tracks, but it is a great place to store them and it makes it easy to use and to find the tracks again in the future.

Beer

Have you ever tried ultra pale ale?

Fog that went

The good news is that the fog has finally lifted not that it made much difference to the weather for the rest of the day as it has just been dull and wet all day.

Fog

Well going out of the door today it was a surprise that it is so foggy it was not something that I was expecting especially in August 

Wet

So summer is now in full swing so it is not a surprise that the weather is going to be just a bit damp

Summer is it here

So is summer here or has it already been and gone?

It's a good question that I don't know the answer to 

New week

So a new working week wonder what it will bring.

Blogging

It is amazing just how much I love the fact that blogging I can say anything that takes my fancy and that I don't have to get anyone's approval on what I say

Music

I compose my own music and I must say that I like the act of making music where there was none. I like the act of creation it's so i understand a rare thing to create something where there was nothing so even if very few people hear my music I am content that I have created something that never existed before.

Happy

Are you happy?

Do you have the right to be happy?

I don't know the answer to that question 

But I do think that why should we not be happy?

So are you happy?

Windows 10

So I have joined the masses and have upgraded to windows 10 from windows 7 and for me it has been pain free so far. It did take awhile but in the end it all turned out okay. It does to me feel as if it is faster than windows 7 but that might just be me.

New York New York

Not sure if I told you that earlier this year I went to New York and it was not the same as I expected it to be. The place is very busy and it's much smaller than I expected it to be, why that is I just don't know but that is what it was. I am sad to say that I still think that London is still to me the better city but then I would say that as it was the first city that I ever went to.

Stuff

Not really had that much to say lately and also not much need to say anything in my blog but the time has come to do something about it so I am going to have a go at doing some blogs even if I don't have a lot to say.

Mid summer

Mid summer then, not that it feels like its summer.

Real ale

Having a real ale called London Pride in the sunshine we are now having.

Summer

So when is it summer again?

Speed of light in beer

Today I found out something new. 

What I wanted to know was this, what is the speed of light in beer?

Don't ask why I asked this question just accept the fact that I asked it.

It turns out that Wolfson Alpha does not know, Google does not no directly.

Had to do some serious searching but I am pleased to say i now know the answer !

It is 0.74 times the speed of light in a vacuum  so about 137000 miles a second compared to 186000 

Neat?

I think that the darker of heavier beer the speed will be even less but I don't have a clue how you would go about working that out.

I am just pleased that my question was answered. 

Blue sky

Some today is a blue sky day it's actually nice to see it, it's cold as I write this but its going to get warmer I am sure. It's nice to see the sun instead of dull grey clouds for once.

Reading now

I am at this actual moment in time reading an actual paperback books, I know scary or what!

The book I am reading is called alphabetical and its written by Michael Rosen. So far I have found the book to be very interesting and I have learnt lots that I did not know and it's also pointed out to me lots that I did know. The book is about each letter of the alphabet and where they come from and how they have changed over time in their use.

What's interesting to me about the book is that I listen to a BBC Radio four programe called word of mouth that Michael also presents and the thing is that he writes as he speaks if that makes sense?

I have to say that he has a great voice for radio it's one of those voices that is just well right for radio it's not too deep not too high pitched just in the right place as voices go. It's also a voice that carries some authority even if at the time he may be telling you a really bad joke. Any way his written voice to me is the same as his spoken voice and so when reading this book all I can hear in my head is him saying the words he has written, which to me is a great trick or I am going around the bend just a bit it's one of those two things.

Anyway back to this book it's worth a read I think if you have some interest in language and words or how people speak and why the English language is always changing. I am lucky that English is my native tongue but I suppose I do suffer what used to be called the English desase of not speaking another language it's something that I am not proud of and I wish that I did speak another language, but what other language to speak?

I don't know the answer to that one yet maybe it's something I should think about and write another blog post about some time.

Hawthorn

I noticed today that hawthorn bushes or trees I can't make my mind which it is has started to sprout leafs and that as I have said many times before they are a lovely light green colour that sadly does not last for very long but it's nice to enjoy their light clour until they change to the darker colour that they will,have for the rest of the summer.

Daylight

So British Summer time is now here but so far have not seen much of the extra daylight that we are supposed to be having on the grounds that it has been very cloudy and wet which I suppose is what you would expect at Easter.

Cherry

So there is cherry blossoms out and it all looks good and it is nice to see again.

Green

So I have just noticed that the grass around here is just starting to change to that light green colour that I love as it means spring is here

Spring

So spring has started and so far the weather has been better than the last few weeks. So with spring now happing it's time to start looking for the spring flowers to start appearing. Today I noticed Daisy's, dandelions not sure if they are early or late in appearing at this time. It goes without saying that the daffodils are now out in force and it's great to see them and when they are in great clumps they are very pretty.

Nothing

It's strange that have not had much to say for lots of days I don't know why but I know have lots to say which was not the case several days ago.

Wow

Wow sunshine and some blue sky at last....

Not much to say

There has been not that much to say just lately.

Snow

Well I guess it had to happen that as it's winter at some point it's going to snow and that is just what it did today, not fun driving in it.

Cold

It's cold here today as it is about-4 which I know for some is not cold but for us is cold, not the coldest it's been but it's certainly not tee shirt weather if you know what I mean.

Eating out

So eating out today and tried a new place to eat in Guildford called Bills. The food is okay but the seating was such that there was little room between tables. They must be doing something thing right as there was a lot of people waiting to get a table when we went.

The food was okay but the menu choices for me were a bit restrictive but that's me not the fault of Bills.

Ideas

Where do ideas come from?

As one minute they are not there and the next they are. Sometimes times it's only seconds or even less for them to appear. You have no idea how they appear but that's what they do just appear out of nowhere, you have no incling as to what they are going to be other than when they have turned up. Strange that!

Reading

The great news is that I have finished the book that I was reading by Stephen Baxter and as I said in my blog before the start is a bit slow the pay off at the end is I suppose worth it. I think that the editor should have been a bit more thorough and that would have made the book a much better book but i suppose that if you are Stephen Baxter then perhaps you don't get edited as much as a new author would.

Hop Book

The hop book idea

I have done some quick research and so far I have found that there are only really two books on hops. Both are aimed at the serious brewer with recipes ect and one goes through all the known varieties, so perhaps my book could have place as it's not being aimed at brewers but at interested drinkers ect.

I think I will have to carry out more research as one book was 300 pages and the other was 130 so my book would have to be some where in between these sizes.

Blood

Just to record the fact I gave my 131st unit of blood today, I am pleased to have managed so many donations, I just hope I have helped someone with by donations over the years.

Book ideas Hops The Hop Book

I did have an idea on Sunday for a book I don't think it would be a very large book. The idea and I am sure that it's been done before is to do a book on Hops you know the stuff that goes into beer or ales.

So my book idea is not to have a technical tome but to have a book that is of interest to the casual user, eg there you are on a summers day enjoying sitting in the sun and drinking a beer when you notice on the bottle a list of what's in the bottle and one of the ingredients is say Challanger Hops. Now you have no clue what Challanger hops are but you want to know, yes you can surf the net and eventually you will find something on it. Wouldn't it be great if there was a book that told you about all the differant type of hops a bit of history of where they came from and also a list of say the top 50 real ales in the UK and what hops were used in making them? Maybe a picture or two of the differant types of hops?

It's a nice idea not sure who big a book it would be, or how easy it would be to collect the information for it also how big an audience it would be for, I suspect that it would not be a huge audience, but it would be a great little project.

I am going to have think about it a bit more.

Paris 2

Looked on the TV at the events on Sunday in Paris it's nice to see all the rallies ect but how are things going to change to stop these sad events happening agin, what's gone wrong for this sort of thing to happen?

Paris

I really don't know what to say about the events in Paris, other than its a very sad time for the family's effected.

Work

Just want to record here that I am just a bit overloaded at work.

Mum

My mum is 81 which to some is not a great age but what you don't know is that she is now 20 years post throat cancer which also stole her voice, at the time she was expected to die from either the surgery or the cancer, so how and with luck that is not what happend.

Sadly the cancer is back and is getting the better of her, but she is living life how she wants.

2000th Post

This is my 2000th post, its taken a while to get to it but I am pleased that I have got to it.

Work

Only second day back at work and it already feels like I have been back at work forever.

Podcasting software

I like to listen to the odd podcast or more actually it's four or five that I listen to most of the time. I use my I Pad which is what I carry with me every where as I don't have an iPhone as they don't have enough storage and Apple for some commercial reason don't want you to be able to plug in memory cards and increase your storage so I am stuck with the iPad with the largest memory capacity device they currently sell.

On the iPad Apple give you free there pod-casting software which lets you download you casts, but I have had a problem with it now and in the past where for some reason or another it forgets to download and episode or even worse to decides for no reason to delete and episode that you are half way through listening to, which is not good especially if you are trying to listen to the podcast on a car journey and you have no WiFi!

So it goes without saying that I have had a go at finding other apps that do the podcast thing, so far I think I have tried at least four or more apps.

By try, I mean used for several weeks at a time, so far I have yet to find an app that I like 100%, but it has not stopped me from having a good look around, I am still using apples app as I am having a rest from looking around for another app.

Sound cloud

I have a sound cloud account in fact at that time I write this I have some 30 tracks on the site under the artist name Citrus Dreams now I am not doing anything to advertise that I am an artist and that I have tracks on the site, so it a bit of a surprise to see that somehow or other the old track has been listed to by someone, luckily the number of listens is very low so I don't think I am in damage of ever being penalised for band width.

You may ask why put the tracks on the site in the first place and the simple answer is I wanted to store some tracks else where in the world, if somehow I get the odd person finding the tracks I can live with that, I also think I have more fun creating the tracks than the final result, if that makes any kind of sense.

Raspberry PI

Still having fun with my model b+ raspberry PI it's working well I have found out how to get the is to expand in the Sd card I have installed. I have found out how to update it and also how to turn charge it a bit, not so much just a bit and it has made a differance to how it works.

I have not yet decided what I want to do with it apart from learn who to use it so far, I have done a bit of programming on it mainly Python which is okay but as I am using a small media keyboard doing a lot of typing on it really is not on, and do I want to spend money on yet another keyboard that will only clutter up the badly cluttered house?

So the PI is easy to get going and play with I just need to decided what I want to do with it.

Wet

Just a small note to me from me!

It's wet not cold at this time which is good I like wet over cold any day, well most of the time I do.

Blossom

Just a note to me but have just noticed two things. The first is that the bulbs are growing and I have seen several that are now showing green shoots.

The second is that I have now seen several cherry trees flowering type with blossom a lovely pink colour but in January isit a bit early for that sort of thing?

First post

My first post of 2015 wonder how many posts I shall make this year, have I or will I have a lot to say, only time will tell.