Work
Archived posts from this Category
Thursday, 1st July 2010
Posted by Judith on 01 Jul 2010 | Tagged as: Miscellaneous activities, Work
A miserable day with gales and occasional rain, but it was really warm at the same time. We didn’t bother going to archery, as it would have just been a lottery where the arrows went. Instead we did a full day’s work and caught up with some of the jobs we haven’t got round to for a while. I thought it would be a fairly boring day until Wayne texted to ask if I fancied a spin on the bike. Did I ever?
I dug out my old helmet my parents gave me for my 15th birthday, which is a decidedly retro look these days, but at least it fits. We blasted all round the back roads of Shropshire and Herefordshire, going through cute little villages I have never been through and finally stopping at a beautiful pub in the medieval village of Pembridge. It’s on the black & white village trail and full of half-timbered buildings. As soon as we sat down it started raining, but the ‘beer garden’ is under the 16th century market hall, so not a problem.
We got a bit wet on the way home, but the exhilaration of the speed and bends made me forget all that. In fact, it was a bit like being on a hang glider again. Hmmm… can I fit in another hobby? We could certainly fit a bike in the garage….
Wednesday, 30th June 2010
Posted by Judith on 30 Jun 2010 | Tagged as: Archery, Flying, Work
We were wage slaves this morning and had a meeting. We pretended that we were in big demand by our clients, when all the phone calls that interrupted the proceedings were actually about flying. Ooops.
Once we were done with the meeting it was later than we thought, and certainly too late to go to the Peaks which, by my reading of the forecast, was where we should have been. We dithered for a while and were distracted by the HG comp, which had gone to the Long Mynd. Looking through the binoculars, you could kid yourself that it was a bit more on the hill, so we had a first look there. It was basically south, but they didn’t fancy the launching options (over the fence) in light wind at Clatter. We got a kind offer of being wind dummies for the comp, but the thought that if we had been lucky enough to get up in a thermal we would have been mobbed by 60 hang gliding vultures was way too scary, so we declined and hoofed over to Clatter.
We got there too late and the front out to the west was too close, mostly shutting the sky down. It was still thermic though. I launched first and got up to 850′ in a slow, smooth thermal, which petered out. Strongest lift I got was 1.1m/s, biggest sink I got was 2.2m/s. You get the idea…
It wasn’t enough to go XC with, but Martin got to base at 4500′, but the sky downwind didn’t look good, so he had a play and practice, just enjoying being in the air, looking at the scenery and staying high. At one point there were cumulus forming under him. How amazing.
Geoff and I both got highish again, but never enough even to consider going over the back. In the end, the wind picked up and we all had a good old fashioned soaring flight – something I have never done at Clatter! Geoff led the way to the ridge to the west and I got a completely new view of the place. Martin, Geoff and I landed back at the cars, while David McKenzie played in the buoyant air.
We really wanted to go to the HG comp prize giving, but missed it as we were driving back, so we went to do some evening archery instead. My new limbs (as in part of the bow) arrived yesterday and it was fantastic. Finally the right poundage! Chairman Tom lent me his allen keys and gauge, and I did the first bit of tuning. I tested the adjustment and got six golds. I’ve been struggling to get one an end (six arrows) this season, so it’s made a massive difference. Tom had me shooting at 80 yards at the end of the evening. Never thought I could reach that far.
So I was pretty happy this evening. Nice, relaxed flying and finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel with my archery. Good excuse for a few glasses of Cava! [not that she ever needs an excuse..]
Monday, 14th June 2010
Posted by Judith on 16 Jun 2010 | Tagged as: Work
It rained and I caught up with the mountain of stuff one has to do after being away 10 days. I was going to write up my analysis of my comp and what I learnt, but haven’t got round to it. Will do so soon, when I have written up Tuesday’s flight. Needless to say, although I didn’t do very well in the comp, I learned loads, a lot of which I used in my flight to Swansea.
See David Thomson, Andy Davies and Bren Reid’s best photos from Slovenia.
Thursday, 10th June 2010 (UK)
Posted by Geoff on 10 Jun 2010 | Tagged as: Boring stuff, Work
Geoff writes: well, the forecast was right – today was rubbish, cloudy and windy, with a few bits of rain here and there, so yet another, tedious, work day. Tomorow is northerly, but probably too strong for Llangollen, so either a short 15 minute drive to Sarn, or a long 2.5 hour drive to Lord’s Seat. Lord’s is definitely the better site; on the other hand, I have a 100% record of going XC from Sarn (though I have only flown it once, earlier this summer!). At Sarn, I’ll probably be on my own, or just with one or two others. At Lord’s, there will be dozens of pilots, lots of people to fly with and lots of markers. Lord’s is easily soarable whilst waiting for a thermal, Sarn less so, and has some large trees right in front which can cause rotor in strongish winds. So if they were equidistant, no contest, Lord’s every time. But it is a long drive there.
Tuesday, 8th June 2010 (UK)
Posted by Geoff on 08 Jun 2010 | Tagged as: Archery, Work
Geoff writes: more bad weather, more rain. The only interesting thing to happen this morning was a soaking German hiker knocking on the door to ask the way to Wentnor (a couple of miles up the road). I thought walking that far in the heavy rain was bad enough, but actually he was walking from Land’s End to John O’Groats – something like 1200 miles going the route hikers normally use. Very impressive.
It did stop raining later, and I managed to get some shooting in at the archery field, so not entirely a wasted day (and I did do some work too).
Tuesday, 1st June 2010
Posted by Judith on 02 Jun 2010 | Tagged as: Work
We couldn’t have picked a better day for our annual face-to-face JISC conference meeting. It rained all day! We did have to get up at the crack of dawn and drive to the centre of Birmingham, but the meeting was at one of those posh conference venues and the all-you-can-eat muffin buffet made up for it all in Geoff’s book. It was a very intense, and extremely productive, day, but I was exhausted by the end of it.
Whilst it would have been nice to go home and relax, we had to head off to Telford for the LMSC committee meeting. Another useful few hours and all is well with the club. Back home at midnight and we fell into bed absolutely knackered.
Saturday, 29th May 2010
Posted by Judith on 30 May 2010 | Tagged as: Work
It rained rather a lot today. That made it easier: no decisions to make, no gardening/archery/flying/walking/bumming round the beach to do. In the end we worked, cleaned the house and read the newspaper cover to cover. In the evening we had nice dinner with Michaela.