What goes up...

is often a lot of hot air. In my mind I soar like an eagle, but my friends say I waddle like a duck.

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Location: No Man's Land, Disputed Ground

Flights of Fancy on the Winds of Whimsy

Friday, August 29, 2008

I hace been bisy, ibbit

And this week, I shall be mostly being even bisuer :)


First there was this:



It's finally covered, which wasn't easy when the site they had chosen was on top of a hill where the wind never stopped. It's hard work, trust me/

And then there was this:



Which is finally near to completion, but while I was painting and mending holes in the ceiling I had to move most of the stuff that was in the room out into the other rooms, and there wasn't space, of course. And I hate painting.

And then there was this:




It's my brother's pride and joy, but it scares the hell out of me when I'm right at the top. It sways and wavers and sometimes settles with a creak and a jolt. And did I mention that I hate painting?

And then there was this;



Which is ever so sweet and small, I know, but I'm keeping the larger version under wraps for now. I have to do some re-texturing on it. Re-texturing is a digital form of painting. What did I say about painting? At least there's not so much mess when you're doing it digitally.

And I haven't mentioned the lost data, have I? Or the fact that I've rebuilt a Sturmey-Archer front Dynohub, so now Albert Ross has lights again. Did you spot him in the picture with the tower? I bet you didn't even bother. I've been using Albert more and more lately, after mending the broken frame tube and then the broken saddle plate, because it's just so much more fun to ride than the mountain-bike. I've even taken to using him to go to and from the gardening jobs. I'm a bit worried that something else is going to break with all the extra use, but I suppose I should get the weaknesses sorted out now rather than later.

Did you know you can reach 30mph going downhill on a bicycle? I gave in the other day and bought a set of bike lights from Lidl that also had a cycle computer. I didn't read the packet carefully enough in the shop, because the speed sensor that picks up the wheel rotations transmits the signal by a short-range radio transmitter to the torch body where the display is, and it has a maximum distance of 60cm. When I fitted it all to the bike, the torch was 65cm from the sensor, and of course it wouldn't work properly. It would show the speed up till about 9 mph, and then it would stop. So I fiddled around and mounted the torch a bit lower down, and now I can see the speed, until it exceeds 30mph, and then it gets frightened again and refuses to transmit such information over such a dangerously large distance. But I'm not going to move the torch again; I know when I'm going over 30mph on a bike, it's like being on top of the scaffold tower at the house in a strong wind: scary.

1 Comments:

Blogger JoeinVegas said...

The tower does look rather serious. Put some more hay at the bottom just in case you do fall.

4:29 pm  

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