Jun 20

Project 52 - Week 43

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I’m being buried alive in kite bits!

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Jun 20

Project 52 - Week 42

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Cambridge Srawberry Fayre.  I was going to edit this photo to just show the girl’s face, but then saw the guy with the bottle of vodka and that just about summed up the day for most people it seems, so I left it as it was - a true snapshot of Strawberry Fayre.

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Jun 20

Project 52 - Week 41

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The second proper flight by the Swan kite, plus Kevin trying to keep his Genki aloft

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Jun 20

Project 52 - Week 40

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This is Sherrie’s idea of “nibbles” before the pudding party…..not much room left for puddings!

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Jun 13

Project DS resumes

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Its been a long while since I’ve done any worjk on the big kite, so I’m pleased to be getting stuck into the sewing again as a break from studying.  We’re now almost up to the point of joining on the last 40 pieces of fabric, which I totally amazed by, as it seems to have been so quick to get to this point from having the centre sections done and the “B” panels attached.  Thoughts are now turning to spars, bridling etc., and we are now researching the best way to do it, and the best places to buy the parts we need.  10mm tube is difficult to come by in the lengths we need in the UK so we may end up sourcing it from another country, possibly the USA.  We know for certain that the centre hub is only available either as a special one-off manufacture (thanks for the offer Dad!) in this country, or ready made by mail order from America.  The Double Star kite seems to have a very big following over there and there is a supplier who saw the demand and made the part to sell especially to all the DS builders.  Even with postage costs this may be the cheaper option, and easier for all concerned (I can almost hear the sigh of relief now!).

It looks like we finally perfected the method of joining with the aid of double side tape.  After discovering that the sewing machine(s) really didn’t like it, we found that if we stuck the pieces together before sewing the straight seem, we could then remove the tape before sewing zig zag stitch over the raw edges.  Doing this with three pieces of fabric together was quite easy, when we progressed to four layers things got a little more difficult - but we’re getting there!  This is good news just ahead of our kite club’s festival, as we can now report progress should anyone enquire.

 

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Jun 10

Nene Valley Railway

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Once again I fancied a trip on the trains at the Nene Valley Railway, so I organised a day out for the Plus Group which incorporated some sightseeing, some walking, some real ale and some good food, not to mention both steam and diesel traction drawing the trains that transported us between the various stops.  I organise this day under the guise of a group day out, but truth be told its just an excuse for me to indulge my, some would say slightly sad, fascination with rail travel which I have had since I was a kid.

We started this time at Wansford which is the main NVR station, and our first train was diesel drawn, taking us to Ferry Meadows where had time for a cup of coffee and a gingerbread man before hopping back onto the train (steam this time) to join the late-risers (aparently a good evening was had the night before and some were suffering..).  Quick change of platforms and back onto the diesel drawn train back towards Peterborough stopping at Orton Mere.  Each train has its own bar carriage which was quickly sought out, and bottled real ales were served, albeit rather frothy ones. 

Orton Mere was our lunch stop, with a meal at a pub which is about 25 mins walk from the station - the food was pretty good here, and well worth the walk.  The walk back to the station was along the river, and was very pleasant due to the good weather which somehow we had managed to be blessed with.  On to Peterborough then, and the end of the line.  Travelling in first class carriages for this trip - the ones with a corridor down one side and compartments with sliding doors.  I have memories of these carriages from when I was young - we never actually travelled in the compartments, but used to stand with my dad in the corridor for part of the trip instead and considered this a bit of a treat!

In Peterborough  there is (a short walk from the station) a floating bar and chinese restaurant.  The bar sells such a selection of real ales as you would ever wish to find on a sunny Sunday afternoon, and while most stayed to sample some of these, I went with  a few others for some retail therapy into the City, and straight to the Lush shop, returning just in time to meet the beer drinkers to head back to the station..  Stephen had very kindly saved me some of his beer - which after the brisk walking back from Lush was extremely refreshing and very much appreciated!

Back onto the train, and staying on until the end of the line at Yarwell Junction via a long tunnel, we watched the engine uncouple from the carriages, drive to the points where it swapped tracks and headed back past the carriages to hook up at the other end.  The kids with us decided to run to try and beat the train down to the other end, stupidly I seemed to think it was a good idea too, but didn’t quite make it all the way before running out of energy - I really do need to get fitter!

Last trip of the day was back from Yarwell to Wansford after which we all adjourned to a another pub in Peterborough for the rest of the evening.

A really good day out which was made even better by the good weather we had, and this time no thunderstorm to soak us all at the end of the day like there was last year.  There really is something special about train travel for me, especially with the older engines and carriages - I guess its all a bit of childhood nostalgia really.  I would probably lose my fascination fairly quickly if I was a regular rail commuter for work, but I am very glad that I don’t have that worry!

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Jun 08

Coming soon….

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….ok then, other things to get caught up with soon on the blog….

Photos to follow for Nene Valley Railway Day

Project 52 photos

Progress photo for Project DS

Recipes…chocolate chip scones (including the vodka strawberries!) chocolate meringue pie….and if I can find one a recipe for a chocolate guiness cake (tried a slice at Strawberry Fayre and was amazing, just need to find a recipe now!) I will put that on too for future reference.

Think thats about it, at least that will do for the moment anyway!

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Jun 07

Motivation & Enthusiasm

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I joined the local swimming pool a few months ago to try and help shift some of the weight that I seem to have accumulated over the last year or so.  I’ve also sarted eating much healthier with the same intention.  So far I’ve managed to lose about half a stone.  When I joined the swimming pool I found it difficult to get the enthusiasm to go as often as I should, always seeming to find something more important to do with my lunch hours at work. 

Just recently I seemed to have gained the motivation that I was previously lacking, not quite sure where from, but maybe it has something to do with setting myself targets and making my swims more interesting by making up a “routine” for my time in the pool.   This week I actually completed three sessions, 30 lengths each time, including a variety of different strokes.

On top of the swimming, now I have come to the end of the physio on my foot  after the car accident, I have been wanting to improve my walking distances.  I am hoping that I will gradually increase the distances until I am back up to the 5/6 mile walks I was happy with previously.  We went to Strawberry Fayre in Cambridge yesterday and I certainly walked a fair distance there - only having troubles when we were nearly back to the train station in the evening. 

For the first time since the accident I went running today - ok, so it was probably the shortest run ever, but its a start and with my newly found motivation maybe I can build up the running distances too, possibly even get enough enthusiasm to go running before work in the mornings once or twice a week - although that may be asking a lot for someone who really hates mornings!

Also resumed after a long(ish) break are both archery and kite flying.  The last kite meeting I went to was the New Years Day fly-in, when there was almost no wind but plenty of time to socialise round the BBQ, so I popped over the Ferry Meadows for one of the meetings….where there was very little wind, but more socialising going on!  A hot day, and although not much would fly I got the chance to catch up with some friends and the swan kite did manage a short outing.  Archery on Tuesday was the first practice session since we began shooting outside in May - was a bit daunting to start with, but we soon got into the swing of things and I was pleased to see that the alteration to my bow that I had done at Custom Built Archery seems to have improved my range slightly too.

Something new for this weekend, if you include Friday evening in your definition of  “weekend” (and I certainly do!) is a couple of hours of dancing lessons - something I’ve been wanting to do since WASH last year.  I attended an hour of ballroom dancing, and learnt some quickstep, and an hour of latin ballroom where I learnt some jive and some rumba.  I had so much fun, and amazed myself by picking up the steps quite quickly, that I may well go again this coming Friday too.  I don’t think I have the time spare to commit to going every week, but its certainly very appealing to be doing something new and energetic.

The last, but certainly not least, activity this weekend has been resuming work on Project Doublestar (DS), the ongoing kite project.  We knew it was going to be a long term project, but I didn’t count on having so much else going on that I wouldn’t touch it for weeks, possibly months, on end.  With the sewing I’ve managed today, we are now up to the point of joining on the third set of panels.  It is already so large that if we try and lay it out to photograph it takes up most of the floor space in the middle of the living room, and still two more sets of panels to attach yet!  Only 15 more pieces to hem too.

Success all round then, this weekend - and I’m hoping this period of motivation and enthusiasm continues for some time to come, particularly as it also extends to updating the blog too!  Maybe I’m finally starting to lighten up a bit again after worrying so much about college - who knows!

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Jun 07

Review

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It was Open Farm Day today and, although I didn’t visit any farms this year because of the weather,  it made me think…..its been a year since I started this blog - my very first post was about the Open Farm Sunday last year.  I was intending it to be somewhere to put down my thoughts on a page, random as they are at times, but seems to have become more of a log of things I have done than anything else.  I don’t suppose this is altogether a bad thing, but seems a bit more shallow than my first intention!

Its been a while since I posted - I haven’t abandoned Project 52 though, I’ve still been taking the photos, just struggled to find the time to post them.  Life goes on at such a speedy pace sometimes, the blog has been a bit stop and go, but then that is how my life is, so probably an accurate reflection.  Recently I have been to Nene Valley Railway with Plus, been occupied with WASH bits and pieces and meetings, got stuck into some gardening -everything on my windowsill that needed to go outside now is, apart from the tomato plant(let)s - and tried to cope with the effects of thinking that gaining more qualifications would be a good idea!

The thing that has occupied my spare time most at the moment has been the college work - a course I started in September last year is shortly coming to an end with the inevitable set of exams.  One exam I sat in December, and managed to pass - this was on a subject which I could relate to as far as my work goes, which was a great help.  Now this is followed up by learning about such thrilling stuff as costings, short and long term decision making, and reports and returns.  Each unit (there are three in this course) involves a “skills test”, and Units 5 and 6 also have exams.  On top of this I have to complete health and safety and working with computers skills tests too. 

When I first started studying part-time, alongside working, a couple of years ago, I was questioning whether I was still capable of learning new stuff - I’ve proven to myself that I am, but what I find now is that I am treating the exams themselves far more seriously than any I took at school.  This is probably a good thing, as far as actually revising goes, but at school I had fewer worries and responsibilities outside of the classroom than I currently do and I now find myself getting far more stressed about exams than maybe I should do.  I find that I struggle to retain the information I need to do the exams, despite sometimes having only read it a few days beforehand. 

It seems that everyone around me has more confidence in me than I do, and I am not sure who is right - is it them, because I constantly doubt myself even when I am capable, or is it me because I do actually know my limitations?  Time will tell, and I know that I didn’t represent myself especially well in the Unit 7 skills test - I will shortly find out how much I need to do to rectify this - in the meantime I am setting myself serious study time to prepare for the exam next Monday and the skills test the day after.  Thats about all I can do, and then I will find out who knows me better, my friends and work colleagues, or myself.

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