Posted: Sat 6 April, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Creativity, Domestic, Photography, Reviews(ish), Sociable, Thoughts, Travel |
Yesterday involved a trip into London, meeting a friend, and going to see the exhibition of Ansel Adams’ work at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich.
I’ve been a fan of Adams’ work for a long, long time, and have a couple of books of his work, but have never really seen any of the original work – so when the exhibition was announced, I knew it was something I wanted to go to.
I’m really pleased that I did go – so many of the photos in the exhibit are absolutely stunning. It sounds odd, but I was surprised by how many were actually really small. Logically I knew that they’re mainly taken on a 4″ x 5″ plate, but when you see the huge landscapes he’s taken, you always imagine them being epic in scale. And some of them are truly epic – prints 3 metres high, and absolutely stunning, including a triptych of photos that graced the foyer of an insurance company in San Francisco.
Honestly, I didn’t know some of the story of his work, of how ground-breaking and radical some of it was at the time, his influence and work on changing from the more ‘impressionist’ style of Pictorialism through to the more modern “Photorealism” and the f/64 movement (partly founded by Adams) for landscapes and so on, maximising the depth-of-field for the maximum detail throughout the frame.
It’s a stunning exhibition – there’s only a couple of prints I didn’t like, and so many that would love to have on my walls.
Posted: Fri 29 March, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Bankruptcy, Driving, Travel, Work-related |
It’s taken some time, but I’m now well settled with driving the Saab. The last two weeks have been the proving points, as I’ve done some significant mileage in that time.
Last week involved a trip to Manchester, and this week has involved another Devon run, so in the last couple of weeks I’ve done the best part of a thousand miles.
It’s handled it all fine, I’m pleased to say. No issues at all, and at a decent rate of fuel consumption. Not as decent as Mondeo used to get, but that’s petrol vs. diesel for you.
Indeed the only downside I’ve found – and it’s a tiny one – is that the Saab doesn’t have cruise control. I rarely use it, but on occasion it’s good to be able to engage it and stretch/exercise my leg, rather than holding it in one position throughout the drive. I particularly noticed it yesterday, having covered the whole 420 miles in one day, and the massive majority all at one speed. (That particular run is 99% motorway driving – out of 210 miles, I think I’m non-motorway for six of them)
But that’s – so far – the only minor downside. All told, not a bad purchase.
Posted: Fri 8 March, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: 1BEM, BMW Drivers, Cynicism, Domestic, Driving, Fog, M1, People, Stupidity, Travel |
Last night and this morning, my drive from/to work was extremely foggy. This morning was worse, but even last night was pretty entertaining.
What always gets me though is the way people handle foggy conditions when they’re driving – particularly with regard to one of the banes of my life, foglights.
At night, it’s exceptionally rare to need foglights – they’re only for times where visibility is exceptionally low, and you’ve no chance of seeing the vehicle in front of you without the additional lights. The good old Highway Code says
Rule 236 : You MUST NOT use front or rear fog lights unless visibility is seriously reduced (see Rule 226)
Rule 226 : “You MUST use headlights when visibility is seriously reduced, generally when you cannot see for more than 100 metres (328 feet). You may also use front or rear fog lights but you MUST switch them off when visibility improves.”
With lights on at night, it’s exceptionally rare to not be able to see the car 100 metres ahead of you.Yet most of the fuckknuckle cunts are there, belting along with their foglights on.
And yet this morning, when it was actually really bad visibility, most people didn’t put their lights on at all, let alone the foglights.
I truly do not understand people.
Posted: Thu 28 February, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Commuting, Driving, M1, People, Travel |
Last night, I finally saw the M1 Congestion Scheme in full effect – vehicles in all four lanes, using the whole thing properly.
The only problem?
All the signs were saying “Hard shoulder for emergency use only”, so the scheme wasn’t *actually* active at the time.
Some days I really despair.
Posted: Thu 21 February, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Customer Services, Public Transport, Travel, Work-related |
Yesterday was another Devon run – I didn’t get to go down (Fnarr!) last week due to feeling ill, so it ended up being this week instead.
I was doing the trip with my direct boss, and he suggested that instead we went by train instead of driving. I’m not quite sure of the reasoning – except it meant we didn’t do stupid mileage – but all told it wasn’t an experience I wish to repeat.
The journey down was OK – as much as train journeys ever are – but it took just over four hours when the drive takes three. So leaving home at 5.45, train at 6.30, into the Devon office just after 10:30. (Usually if I leave at 6 I’m in the office at 9 – 9.30)
To be fair, we got a bundle of stuff done, several meetings, and some very happy customers.
For whatever reasons, we stayed overnight at a local hotel (well, pub with rooms) and came back this morning. And that journey was a pig.
We’d forgotten it was half-term, which meant the train back was absolutely packed. It had eight carriages, with three “First Class” carriages which were utterly empty. (No idea why – I assume that Devon -> London has a lot of First Class passengers usually) The other five carriages were all full, every seat with a ‘reserved’ ticket on it.
So instead I ended up standing all the way from Devon to Reading, where I finally got a seat for a whole 20 minutes.
The journey back to Milton Keynes took three and a half hours (which wasn’t too bad) and then another half-hour to get back to the office.
All told, it’s been a long journey. I feel like the time’s been a little bit wasted – particularly today – and could’ve been much better used if I had the long one-day trip instead of splicing it between two days in this way.
Still, it’s done, and I’m home now.
Posted: Sun 10 February, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Commuting, Domestic, Driving, Getting Organised, Reviews(ish), Thoughts, Travel, Work-related |
While Mondeo was knackered, I ended up getting a hire car from Enterprise for a couple of weeks.
As it turned out, they gave me a brand new (as in 9 miles on the clock) Renault Megane, which was interesting. Not great, but interesting.
Personally, I really didn’t like the car – I found it deeply underpowered (dangerously so, when it came to overtaking) although once it got up to speed, it stayed there. I’m actually really surprised by it, having looked at the spec and the pricing.
From the look of it, the engine isn’t much less powerful than the one on the Mondeo – so frick knows what it’s doing with it, because the acceleration on it was dirt-poor. When overtaking, you could actually watch the digital speedo click up mile by mile, and by God it took it’s time. The fuel-consumption was also well below the advertised/specced 40.9mpg – the best I got was an indicated 36, which is the same as I’m getting on the Saab.
Finally, it’s been a long while since I felt actively nervous driving a car, but this one managed it. In particular, the drive back from Stockport on Tuesday was decidedly nerve-wracking. The weather was vile, and the car itself felt like a skittish little lightweight tin can, with no protection or security.
I’m glad I’ve tried the car, but I’m also massively pleased to have given it back. I certainly wouldn’t consider buying one.
Posted: Wed 6 February, 2013 | Author: Lyle | Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Finances, Travel |
So, today was the day I picked up the new (to me) car.
It’s a Saab 9-5, big beast of a thing, with just under 75,000 miles on the clock. It’s just had an MOT as part of the price, so that’s clear ’til January 2014 without any advisories, so that’s good news. It’s also cost me a lot less than the Mondeo did, which is also (for now) a good thing.
It’s now all taxed and insured, so I’m completely legitimate – I always am, and the insurance was in place before I picked the car up. The tax couldn’t be, as I didn’t have the V5 and so on, but it’s all done now.
So yeah, time to play with a new vehicle. I’ve got a Devon run next week, which will shake it down nicely. (That seems to be almost becoming a tradition, having done the same thing with Mondeo in its first week)
Hopefully this will last a good couple of years, get me through everything else without causing me issues. Time will tell, but that’s currently the hope.