UPDATE: watching smokey and the bandit. all is well again, good buddies.
Sunday, 2 November 2008
quite a lot of blonde
i'm really not sure i can see this through...
UPDATE: watching smokey and the bandit. all is well again, good buddies.
UPDATE: watching smokey and the bandit. all is well again, good buddies.
Wednesday, 29 October 2008
no longer a game
last shave saturday evening.
stuffed up with the lower handlebars, so creepy it is...
stuffed up with the lower handlebars, so creepy it is...
Tuesday, 28 October 2008
soup it and see
1 onion - chopped
3 garlic cloves - crushed
1 red pepper - deseeded and chopped
1 green pepper - deseeded and chopped
150g mushrooms - chopped
1 1/2 tsp dried chilli
1 tsp ground cumin
2 x400g cans of beans (whatever you fancy) - drained and rinsed
1 litre tomato passata
300ml veggie stock
handful coriander - roughly chopped
fry the onions, garlic and peppers in a little oil until they start to soften. add cumin, chilli and 'shrooms and continue to fry for another minute or so. add beans, passata, stock and coriander. bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes. season. serve.
3 garlic cloves - crushed
1 red pepper - deseeded and chopped
1 green pepper - deseeded and chopped
150g mushrooms - chopped
1 1/2 tsp dried chilli
1 tsp ground cumin
2 x400g cans of beans (whatever you fancy) - drained and rinsed
1 litre tomato passata
300ml veggie stock
handful coriander - roughly chopped
fry the onions, garlic and peppers in a little oil until they start to soften. add cumin, chilli and 'shrooms and continue to fry for another minute or so. add beans, passata, stock and coriander. bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes. season. serve.
Thursday, 23 October 2008
souper
autumn means cyclocross and soup making. we're three races in and this is my first new soup of the season. i have some catching up to do.
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp + dried chilli - chopped
750g carrots - diced
150g red lentils
100 ml milk
1250ml vegetable stock
wee drop of olive oil
heat a big pan and quickly (dry) fry the cumin seeds and chilli for a minute or so. add rest of ingredients. bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes.
whizz with a hand blender and serve toot sweet.
2 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp + dried chilli - chopped
750g carrots - diced
150g red lentils
100 ml milk
1250ml vegetable stock
wee drop of olive oil
heat a big pan and quickly (dry) fry the cumin seeds and chilli for a minute or so. add rest of ingredients. bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes.
whizz with a hand blender and serve toot sweet.
Monday, 20 October 2008
champs challenge
moustache time.
best mouser grown by the champs in dundee wins.
no trimming back, no goatees. just moustache.
gentlemen, start your follicles.
Sunday, 19 October 2008
emff
sunday is a busy day. up early (for a sunday) to go cyclocross racing at auchentoshan, soup and cakes in the west end, then through to edinburgh for the closing night of the mountain film festival.
am soooo looking forward to the EMFF. it will see the premiere of dave macleod's new film echo wall (trailer below) and a lecture by chris bonnington. guess for people of my age, chris was probably the first mountaineer we'd have heard of through appearances on blue peter and the like. as a member and leader of some of the great UK expeditions to big mountain ranges which included climbers such as Haston, Scott and Whillans i'm sure it'll be fascinating.
am soooo looking forward to the EMFF. it will see the premiere of dave macleod's new film echo wall (trailer below) and a lecture by chris bonnington. guess for people of my age, chris was probably the first mountaineer we'd have heard of through appearances on blue peter and the like. as a member and leader of some of the great UK expeditions to big mountain ranges which included climbers such as Haston, Scott and Whillans i'm sure it'll be fascinating.
Thursday, 9 October 2008
roots!
manuva for us at the liquid room tonight. very good work rodney and chums, but lay off the "we love you, er, springfield stuff". unless you were taking the piss. :)
first time i've been to the liquid rooms since c. 1992 when they used to host a soul club called Beats (flyer in form of Boots the chemist logo) on a Saturday night. We had to leave early as my friend Tim thought the Hibs casuals were after him for some forgotten reason.
Thursday, 2 October 2008
freedom of information ii
some of y'all might have read an earlier blog post on a freedom of information request that was working it's way through the system.
well lookee here -the Scottish Information Commissioner has reached a decision and found in my favour. unless the decision is appealed by the other side, i'll finally get to see what Forestry Commission Scotland did to try and wreck the opening day of the Carron Valley mountain bike trails.
i'd like to thank the commissioner and my case officer for their help. chapeau!
if you'd like to know more about how a government department went out of it's way to destroy the work of a bunch of eager volunteers then get in touch.
well lookee here -the Scottish Information Commissioner has reached a decision and found in my favour. unless the decision is appealed by the other side, i'll finally get to see what Forestry Commission Scotland did to try and wreck the opening day of the Carron Valley mountain bike trails.
i'd like to thank the commissioner and my case officer for their help. chapeau!
if you'd like to know more about how a government department went out of it's way to destroy the work of a bunch of eager volunteers then get in touch.
Sunday, 28 September 2008
FCP1D
the fife coastal path in 1 day has been on the to-complete list since an attempt by chris and i in march07 was cut short just shy of kirkcaldy. i suffered a two bru bonk as we hit the climb out of dysart and had to pull the ejector handle and bail to the train (for the 6 mile journey back to B to the I). chris managed it with dan a wee while later, but it took an age for the planets to realign to let me go for it.
the trip started on the 0816 from burntisland to kirkcaldy to pick up the dundee train. a quick coffee in the station and a gentle roll across to the tay bridge to start properly.
into the lift and i cinch my sidis up to tight+1.
boop-boop-boop-beep.
the doors open and we're off at 0930ish.
turn left at the end of the bridge and head east with a lovely tailwind which whips me along the banks of the silvery tay and on towards tayport. past the WORST BMX TRACK EVER and i'm soon into tentsmuir forest. no time to visit the seals or seek out bits of singletrack, i've got a long journey ahead of me and some demons to lay to rest.
quick stop in st andrews to pick up a map, 1/2 a pb&j sarnie and out past the ruined cathedral onto the first of the tougher bits along a rugged bit of north sea coastline.
lots of steps
up
down
up
caravan park
bit of scrambling
golf course
caravan park
golf course
and on via some lovely riverside singletrack and a fair bit of pushing along empty, sandy beaches. i stop at a lovely plaice (sorry) to for another bite to eat and watch gannets dive bombing a shoal of fish a hundred or so metres offshore.
more sandy pushing and we're at fife ness where the path turns west and i start to hit the picturesque east neuk fishing villages - crail, enster (am becoming fifer), pitenweem, st monans and elie. all pass in a blur of slightly sore arse, hastily grabbed snacks and the odd wait whilst a group of walkers clears a narrow section. up the cliff path which avoids the elie chain walks and a slight detour to avoid a long push along the beach to lower largo. chris had suggested this diversion and it was a godsend. what had been a long trudge through the dunes and then the beach turned out to be a quick spin along an old railway track.
the only downside was that the heavens opened and it tipped it down for a bit. for a bit, read all the way to methil. a shithole at the best of times, pissing rain does nothing to improve it.
onto east wemyss-west wemyss-dysart and the bonk point. i'm feeling chipper and know that i can do this now. off comes the waterproof, in goes a pb&j, on goes the headlight and out comes a pleasant, pinky sunset.
through kirkcaldy and it's properly dark now. duck onto the path to kinghorn and scare a couple of dog walkers.
home stretch
manage a magnificent 12mph through the speed sign at the east end of burntisland and stop briefly outside the hoose to phone susan, wave and take a photo. this is an unsupported trip, so i'm not going in - even for the pee i desperately need.
big smiles as i head along by the railway towards aberdour - mainly the result of the sugar kick of a last lap gel. resist the temptation to take the heughs path.just as well. things are still really overgrown and i'm rewarded with nettle stings to both calves and my face. why don't dock leaves grow that high?
no time to play at braefoot, so it's on to dalgety bay (or "The Bay" as some woman with too much time on her hands calls it on radio scotland's daily phone-in show). through inverkeithing at a rate of knots and past the quarry and the scrapyard to pick up the very last bit of fcp before passing under the forth bridge at 2110.
11 hours 40 minutes.
quick pedal up to the station and a long cold 30 minutes before the train arrives to take me home.
very done.
photos here.
the trip started on the 0816 from burntisland to kirkcaldy to pick up the dundee train. a quick coffee in the station and a gentle roll across to the tay bridge to start properly.
into the lift and i cinch my sidis up to tight+1.
boop-boop-boop-beep.
the doors open and we're off at 0930ish.
turn left at the end of the bridge and head east with a lovely tailwind which whips me along the banks of the silvery tay and on towards tayport. past the WORST BMX TRACK EVER and i'm soon into tentsmuir forest. no time to visit the seals or seek out bits of singletrack, i've got a long journey ahead of me and some demons to lay to rest.
quick stop in st andrews to pick up a map, 1/2 a pb&j sarnie and out past the ruined cathedral onto the first of the tougher bits along a rugged bit of north sea coastline.
lots of steps
up
down
up
caravan park
bit of scrambling
golf course
caravan park
golf course
and on via some lovely riverside singletrack and a fair bit of pushing along empty, sandy beaches. i stop at a lovely plaice (sorry) to for another bite to eat and watch gannets dive bombing a shoal of fish a hundred or so metres offshore.
more sandy pushing and we're at fife ness where the path turns west and i start to hit the picturesque east neuk fishing villages - crail, enster (am becoming fifer), pitenweem, st monans and elie. all pass in a blur of slightly sore arse, hastily grabbed snacks and the odd wait whilst a group of walkers clears a narrow section. up the cliff path which avoids the elie chain walks and a slight detour to avoid a long push along the beach to lower largo. chris had suggested this diversion and it was a godsend. what had been a long trudge through the dunes and then the beach turned out to be a quick spin along an old railway track.
the only downside was that the heavens opened and it tipped it down for a bit. for a bit, read all the way to methil. a shithole at the best of times, pissing rain does nothing to improve it.
onto east wemyss-west wemyss-dysart and the bonk point. i'm feeling chipper and know that i can do this now. off comes the waterproof, in goes a pb&j, on goes the headlight and out comes a pleasant, pinky sunset.
through kirkcaldy and it's properly dark now. duck onto the path to kinghorn and scare a couple of dog walkers.
home stretch
manage a magnificent 12mph through the speed sign at the east end of burntisland and stop briefly outside the hoose to phone susan, wave and take a photo. this is an unsupported trip, so i'm not going in - even for the pee i desperately need.
big smiles as i head along by the railway towards aberdour - mainly the result of the sugar kick of a last lap gel. resist the temptation to take the heughs path.just as well. things are still really overgrown and i'm rewarded with nettle stings to both calves and my face. why don't dock leaves grow that high?
no time to play at braefoot, so it's on to dalgety bay (or "The Bay" as some woman with too much time on her hands calls it on radio scotland's daily phone-in show). through inverkeithing at a rate of knots and past the quarry and the scrapyard to pick up the very last bit of fcp before passing under the forth bridge at 2110.
11 hours 40 minutes.
quick pedal up to the station and a long cold 30 minutes before the train arrives to take me home.
very done.
photos here.
Friday, 19 September 2008
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