Roofwork
Posted: Sat 3 April, 2010 Filed under: Domestic, Norfolk, People, Thoughts 5 Comments »One thing I find weird living out here in Norfolk is the times people get work done.
All three winters we’ve been here, a noticable number of properties get their roofs redone. I’ve never quite understood that – surely it’s better to get the roof of your house redone in summer when the weather’s better, rather than in winter when it’s cold, wet, snowy and nasty?
The same seems to be true of chimney work – there have been several chimney-stacks this year with scaffolding around them, and again I’d probably rather work on them during summer when the fires aren’t lit and there’s no need for the extra heat.
Of course I realise I’m not at all practical and there’s probably some other very good reasons for roofing to be done in winter. I hope someone can explain it to me.
Night Drive
Posted: Sat 20 March, 2010 Filed under: Domestic, Driving, Norfolk, Thoughts Leave a comment »Last night I had to do a late(ish) night drive – a delivery from Herself to some friends who are testing out some of her cake recipes. (Don’t ask) They’re in a village the other side of Dereham from us, and a drive of about 20-ish miles. Not much, but enough. Because the roads are seriously winding, the AA route finder estimates that the journey takes 57 minutes. For 20 miles. No idea how they work that one out, it as it’d mean (hey, no shit Sherlock) an average speed of 20mph. Suffice to say, I wasn’t driving at 20mph…
Running late, Herself had said she’d be there by 10pm, and I didn’t leave the house ’til 9.45pm. I volunteered to do the drive/delivery, as I knew I’d be faster than Herself, but also that if Herself came with me I’d knock her sick, as she doesn’t travel well…
In the end the delivery was made at 10.10pm. 25 minutes to do 20miles. That’s quite a lot faster than the AA’s expectation then.
I love night-driving – in fact it’s probably one of my favourite aspects of driving. There are bits that are dodgy about it for sure- and night-driving in snow or fog is no fucking fun whatsoever. Well it is, just in different, and not entirely positive ways – it certainly highlights both how stupid other people are, and how easy it is to zomb out in those situations. But anyway, night-driving in general is just fun – in my opinion, anyway.
Strangely I tend to drive faster at night where possible – I think it’s because you can effectively see round corners a bit, in that you can see approaching headlights a significant time before you can see a car. In daylight you’re reliant on line-of-sight a lot more, but at night there’s a bit of advance warning. Of course, I could still come a cropper with animals in the road, or some twerd driving without lights, or a stopped car by the side of the road round a blind corner. Or something.
All told, I made it both ways in one hour dead – including conversation time at the delivery point. And thoroughly enjoyed the drive – particularly with it being soundtracked by the new Massive Attack album, “Heligoland”. Excellent stuff.
Photo Project : Phase One
Posted: Sun 21 February, 2010 Filed under: Driving, Five Year Plan (now Ten), Norfolk, Photography, Travel Leave a comment »Part of my 2010 project is about getting back out with my camera – or at least trying to. And as part of that, I’m going to work on Amateur Photographer magazine’s “Amateur Photographer of the Year” competition.
The first round of it is due to be in next Friday, so I’m planning to take some time today to go out and see what I can do.
It’ll mean taking Hound out too, as I’m off to the coast – the project is about the interaction of water and land, and there are some fantastic environments for that kind of theme around here.
We’ll just have to see what comes out of the day. I hope it’s worth the time.
Actually, I’m sure it will be – even if it doesn’t come up with the results I want, there’ll be something from it.
[Update : Well, I was going to go, but then it’s chucked it down with snow. So currently re-debating the plan]
Snow
Posted: Thu 24 December, 2009 Filed under: Domestic, Norfolk, Weather 1 Comment »I didn’t get round to posting this before, but this is indicative of the amount of snow we had in our part of Norfolk.
Snow Depth
And yes, I know, people in America and Canada (and anyone else who gets serious snow on a regular basis) is pissing themselves laughing right now at how little it takes for the UK to go to pot.
Bye, Borders
Posted: Wed 23 December, 2009 Filed under: Business, Norfolk, Thoughts Leave a comment »Apparently, today is the last day of trading for the Borders bookstores.
I went past the Norwich branch yesterday, and that’s already closed. It’s a sad sight, a bookshop filled with empty sets of shelving.