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Walking Commentary

Walking Commentary

Thoughts and cycling from Manchester to Rome in 2023

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File Death and Nesting

April 13, 2020 by Simon Robinson 2 Comments

I tried to read some files from a back-up drive yesterday. Dated 1992 and  1991, they were created with MS Word V1 and 2 using Windows 3 (true but a numerical series joke in memory of Lotus 123). The files are available to me because I kept moving them through time from device to device and continent to continent until I switched from Windows to a TimeMachine in an Airport on a windowsill. 

I got some text from one of the files and realised that it only gave up its text because it was different – remember Word Perfect? We kept WP up for as long as we could but together with spreadsheet software Quattro Pro, it went the way of DOS. Meanwhile, Lia had bought a Brother hybrid word-processor for her teaching and first novel, a compromise because personal computers cost a month’s gross salary back then. It was hugely important to her. A massive affirmation of the importance of her work. 

[Read more…] about File Death and Nesting

Filed Under: Fake Memoir, ManRom2021 Tagged With: birds, burma, computing, gardening, photos, walking

Kefir Ezra

April 12, 2020 by Simon Robinson 1 Comment

We’ve been enjoying our own kefir pretty much every day since a friend gave some grains to Lia. Counter Kefir thrives in the kitchen. We use it exclusively in our morning granola. Hers greened with spirulina, them both riddled with cran-, blue- and goji berries as a health-maintaining minimum of supplements we add. There was a time that we’d buy kefir or other probiotics to use for breakfast but having our own is much more satisfying.

  • Kefir Grains
  • Counter culture at the ready
  • Granola for two
All photos © Simon Robinson 2020

So, I wondered, how old is our kefir? How long has it been going? So I asked the donor.

[Read more…] about Kefir Ezra

Filed Under: Fake Memoir, ManRom2021 Tagged With: bakery, culture, food, kefir, photos, recipe, sourdough

On The Moon

April 8, 2020 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

I woke this morning wondering about the super moon last evening. It was a clear evening and the moon did rise spectacularly and we saw it still pink a couple of hours later. Unfortunately, there’s a big hill between us and the eastern horizon and I deemed it inappropriate to walk the 300 m from home to the top from which I have photographed many other golden hour events. I thought there might be too many other people there so we stayed home. We have a view from our home towards the north, itself often spectacular but if we are ever moving again, I’d prioritise east and west views because of the rising and setting of celestial objects along the ecliptic. Indeed, the atmospheric high pressure persisted through to this morning and we could see into Ulster. First time in three months we could see both Slieve Donard in the Mourne Mountains (100 km away) and Slieve Gullion (about 95 km distant) standing proud in the ground hugging haze. Places we can’t go. Much like the moon itself. Things change given time, maybe we’ll yet visit both Ulster and the moon.

  • 100 km to Mourne Sunset 2015
    1/80 f/8 ISO 3200 350 mm (tripod)
  • 90 km to Slieve Gullion at Sunrise 2020
    1/2000 f/10 ISO 3200 1600 mm (handheld)
Two photos to show how the north view can appear. © Simon Robinson
[Read more…] about On The Moon

Filed Under: ManRom2021 Tagged With: moon, mountains, photos, view

Displacement Inactivity

April 6, 2020 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

“… those who philosophise on the matter, and who think men unreasonable for spending a whole day in chasing a hare which they would not have bought, scarce know our nature. The hare in itself would not screen us from the sight of death and calamities; but the chase which turns away our attention from these, does screen us.” (from Pensées by Blaise Pascal)

[Read more…] about Displacement Inactivity

Filed Under: ManRom2021 Tagged With: blaise pascal, booklink, Covid-19, flower, four olds, hans rosling, imf, naomi klein, photos

No Comment

April 5, 2020 by Simon Robinson Leave a Comment

Dateline 20 May 2017: Imagine being so sick that you need home visits by nurses. Imagine having a friend who one day takes you out to lunch where one of your carers happens to see you. Imagine being told that since you have a friend who can drive you to lunch, you no longer need home visits. Is this nationalised health care?

[Read more…] about No Comment

Filed Under: ManRom2021 Tagged With: arthur holmes, booklink, f scott fitzgerald, geology, gerry hanley, health care, photos, walking

On Coffee and untold stories

April 4, 2020 by Simon Robinson 2 Comments

Coffee is an acquired taste. I read an online article somewhere a couple of years ago that reported on research that drew several conclusions, one of which was that the tolerance of coffee flavour needed some brain training. We accept that it is bitter because we have learned to anticipate the stimulation it will provide.

on coffee and a double rainbow in Anelo
Double Rainbow Añelo 1995

I like my coffee. I learned to really like it when I was working in Argentina with GQ from Colombia. He demonstrated that coffee doesn’t have to be bitter. But it was a slow learning.

[Read more…] about On Coffee and untold stories

Filed Under: Fake Memoir, ManRom2021 Tagged With: cigarettes, coffee, computing, geophysics, jogging, photos, popular, travel

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