Moving Swiftly Along

I've just noticed that my phone now believes me to have walked over 1,000 miles this year and that I will pass the 2,000,000 step mark next week. And that's without trying at all over the last couple of months since dark evenings and generally wet lunchtimes set in. Now I suppose I will have to use that as a target to beat next year.

Drumming up trade

Bannatyne 2
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

So, how do you get people to come and visit your town on a sunny bank holiday? We had an event every day over the weekend and only one of them was as a result of having a Dragon available.

Saturday was the annual Custom/American car run. There have been four or five of these now to my knowledge. Unlike the historic vehicle run in May (organised by the Ipswich Transport Museum and running for 30 years now) this is linked in with a commercial event - namely the NASC gathering at the Suffolk Showground/Trinity Park. But just as in May we get several hundred cars of varying interest passing the end of the road and gathering on the sea front. I enjoy the spectacle and had a nice walk along the entire length of the prom and back in the sunshice taking pictures and generally dreaming of a new car. And so do hundreds of others - the prom was heaving and many of the cars I would have liked to photograph were so surrounded by onlookers that I gave up.

Sunday was Art On The Prom - another comparatively recent happening but at the very least in its fourth or fifth year. I enjoyed that spectacle as well, walking half the prom and back gawping at the pictures, sculpture etc on display. MrsB even bought a painting this year (OK, a cheap one from a 9-year old artist, but it was still a sale). Again, the prom was thronged with bodies and some of the stalls were three or four deep in bodies. Again the sun shone, although it was a bit windy (leading to at least one girl experiencing a Marilyn Monroe moment as I passed - black lace if you must know).

Then Monday we had tv's Duncan Bannatyne and his Edwardian Extravaganza. This was part of a show he is filming for Virgin TV trying to inject life into flagging towns or something (I don't know the full details as yet - it is due to be shown next year). Working on the assumption that Felixstowe needs something extra to bring people in he treated us to a Land Train (well, it made the third walk along the prom in a row a bit easier!), a bathing beauty contest (co-judged with Zoe Salmon from Blue Peter - we missed that but did see her heading back to the hotel), a tug of war contest and a skiffle band (very Edwardian!) among other amusements. Not very Dragonish. For the third day we had lovely weather and people flocked to the sea.

But did we really need him? The two established events had just as many people out and about (if not more) and the beach hasn't exactly been quiet on other days I've ambled along either. I'll buy that anything to help the town is good, and the gift shops and food outlets were doing a roaring trade all three days, but I have a feeling they would have done just fine on Monday anyway. Maybe I'm being oversensitive and there is suffering in the town I don't know about, but I'd rather we were able to get on with it ourselves rather than relying on someone jetting in from his villa in the south of France for the day.

Now all I need to do is find the after sun - three days on the beach and my forehead is peeling nicely! Plus 10,000+ steps for three in a row as well. 4-weekly average has topped 9k for the first time.

Smile for the Camera

Bradfield Combust Wall
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

I'm not sure what triggered it, but I seem to have become re-obsessed with photography over the last couple of months. It was always something I enjoyed, but from the files just on this hard drive there have been big gaps when I haven't had the camera out at all over the years, never mind back in the pre-digital days.

Parlty this has come about through Flickr - having a few positive comments (especially from people I don't know in the real world), invites to groups and favouritising of shots is a natural boost to the ego. And of course that then spurs me on to try and do better or be more interesting next time. I'm also looking for more and different subjects to train the lens on - partly through browsing the groups or other people's photos randomly in search of inspiration.

But then I have tried to be a bit creative with my camera for as long as I've had one. Which I guess will be 20 years this Christmas for one of reasonable quality (OK, so that was only a cheap Halina point and shoot 35mm jobby, but it did at least take full-size pics in colour!). I also tend to overshoot compared to others.

When we went on a college field-trip to Morocco I used three rolls compared to the one averaged by most of the others. It seemed extravagant at the time (after all, three films and processing was a lot on a grant) but I did then have the luxury of choosing good shots for the essays and stuff when we got home. And the day after we first went to Canada and I took ten rolls in for developing still sticks in the mind too.

Of course now with digital cameras and memory cards cheaper than real film it is easy for me to whip off several hundred shots in a matter of days. Maybe quality is preferable to quantity, but at least I can weed out the good ones from the mundane before sharing them with the world.

But now I face a real choice - where do I go now? If you don't count phones, I am now on my third point & shoot digicam. The first lasted a good six years, the second a mere six weeks or so before dying and now number three is approaching its birthday. And I want something more powerful. So should I go for one of the new superzoom compacts (up to 24x zoom has a certain appeal) or move on up to a digital SLR?

I really fancy the latter, but am not sure I can justify the expense. Especially as I know I will want extra lenses which puts the cost up immensely (after all, I do love my macro shots, and also want to get that telephoto ability too). I just can't decide.

Of course, being able to stuff the current Samsung in my pocket is a big advantage too. Plus living in such a lovely County and having a job that takes me out into it on a regualr basis is also handy - especially as I have to get pictures of bus shelters/stops etc for work. So if there is something just as photogenic next door it isn't really any worse for me to stop and snap that as it is for the desk-bound taking a fag break every half hour.

Oh yes, and being out today has taken me over 16,000 steps in one day for the first time!

August hols three and four

OK, lets get this holiday wrapped up so I can talk about something else next time.

Thursday: You're Bard.

So we went on down to Stratford Upon Avon to do the Shalespeare thing. Well, three fifths of the houses and no play at any rate. Another Park & Ride visit (well, got to keep my hand in) and a journey into town through an unexpected industrial area.

Of the houses we visited, I think I enjoyed the Birthplace the most in terms of content, but if pushed to live in one of them would choose Hall's Croft, purely for the interior layout with the "consulting room" on a sort of mezzanine overlooking the front door. All three town houses have beautiful gardens - in fact the knot gardens on display put the Garden Museum to shame, frankly. Nash's house/New Place large garden also has a wonderful set of sculptures relating to the plays and as it is free to enter is well worth stopping for a few minutes in should you happen to be in town. Now all i need to do is read Bill Bryson's biography of the man, which is sat awaiting me on a shelf downstairs, and maybe have another go at seeing the plays. I haven't really given him any attention since O-level Romeo & Juliet in 1987.

The rest of Stratford is also a nice place to wander around. Lots of interesting buildings, many of which play up their Shakespeare connections (we had lunch in Crabtree and Evelyn of all places, and that building turned out to have housed one of his daughters for a time) but I do wonder how much of what we see now is original. All three of the Shakespeare houses in town have been "restored" to the conditions he would have known them in, having had various facades slapped on them over the years. I guess architectural history is something else I will have to delve into one of these days. We also managed to continue a holiday tradition by purchasing a Christmas decoration in the height of summer - there is a Christmas shop opposite the birthplace. Previously we have bought decorations up a mountain in Switzerland, by Niagara Falls and even in Yorkshire. Not that we will be in the country this year, but that's for another time.

Friday: Ruined splendour.

We finished the holiday with a morning at Kenilworth Castle. This one is operated by English Heritage and very much the ancient monument rather than a medieaval theme park. If forced to choose between the two I would pick this over Warwick, but then I prefer ruins to re-enactment. This is one of the sites deliberately destroyed by Cromwell after the Civil War and so much of the former splendour resides in the imagination. Mind you, mine can be pretty vivid so I have no problem mentally rebuilding the walls and populating the place with knights and queens (Elizabeth 1 visited four times). They also have a very good audio tour which fills in many of the gaps. Highly recommended.

Then it was home along the A14 and back to reality. All told a good relaxing break and just what we needed. Roll on the next one.

Ohm and for anyone counting, 10,000 steps acheived on three out of four days (somehow I managed it on the way there but not the way home, despite about equal time split between driving and mooching about).

Seat of Power

Seat of Power
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Did the London day trip yesterday but haven't got time to write much now so a fuller report will come along over the weekend. I'll just say here that it was a south bank day and you can click through parliament for more pictures on flickr.

Oh, 14000+ steps recorded!

And Did Those Feet

Well, my feet anyway.

According to my phone I have now recorded over one million steps this year. OK, so if I was managing my 10,000 a day this milestone would have been passed over a month or so ago, but I still think it's worth noting for posterior. Or posterity!

It reckons that's over 500 miles too, which is not bad going if you ask me.

And now the sun is shining so time to add a few more to the total.

The face of Essex?

The face of Essex?
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Another day at a Country show on Saturday, this time the Tendring Hundred one. A really good day out, much better weather than the Suffolk Show although there were a couple of very short sharp showers.

We met up with friends, got to see the whole selection of stalls, animals, arena events etc, ate some great food and generally relaxed and enjoyed ourselves.

And yet despite being on my feet nearly all day I only managed to get 5714 steps recorded! I guess there must have been too much shuffling between stalls and not enough striding about. My average has been rubbish recently, with the 4-week dropping from over 8000 to about 6500. Must try to fit some more wandering in, but who knows how and when.

Random updates

Just some bits that need to get out of my head...

So the BBC Springwatch is nearly over for another year (just some round up shows and the web stuff). I have really enjoyed watching it this year. Lots of wonderful shots of nature at its best. And even better, Tawny has watched it too. I've never known her take an interest in the TV before, but she has paid close attention, tried to grab at the birds on screen and generally sat right in front of the telly every night. Almost as interesting to watch her as the show.

Apart from the occasional torrential downpour and thunder storm, the weather seems to be finally picking up now, which is nice. Unfortunately it also means the start of the really unsuitable clothes season in Ipswich. While we seem to see someone wearing shorts whenever we go out, whatever time of year, the legs of the world are now coming out to play. And some of them really ought not. Never mind the expansive bellys and other bits and bobs that get revealed to all and sundry by summer clothes. I know I am no oil painting and could lose a pound or two, but I do try to keep the unsightly bits hidden away. Do these people not have mirrors? I'll admit that some of the ladies do suit the summer, but for the majority - put it away, please!

Still, the weather has meant I've been able to get out and about with some walking. Over the last seven days I've managed 69,392 steps - which is a whisker over 9916 per day so almost at the magic 10,000. OK, so those seven include two under 7k and two over 13k but on average things are looking up. The four week rolling average is now at 7865 and the overall has reached 7088 (grand total up to today of 744,247). I might have to start doing some other exercise as well soon in order to start the arduous task of shrinking my stomach. Maybe I'll even eat better one of these years as well...

And finally for today, why do people insist on pushing buttons that are already pushed? Pedestrian crossings, lifts - the button to cross or for the ground floor is already pushed and lit up, yet new comers still insist on giving it another push. It won't speed things up! SIlly fools.

A Grand Day Out

Massey
Originally uploaded by The original SimonB

Hit the Suffolk show today (more pictures on Flickr if you click through from this).

Didn't get enough time with the beasties, and the weather could have been better but still a good day out. Always fun to see the farmers trying to look smart, the country/horsey types in their matching tweeds and the girls who think they are posh in head to toe Joules clobber. And there are precious few other places to get a glimpse of the hats that come out for this sort of thing. Do these people not look in a mirror at all?

12,000+ steps around the show ground is not to be sneezed at, and any excuse for some fresh local food makes the day a good one.

Thought some of the judges comments in the flower show were a bit harsh, and tended to miss the point on some of the displays (like complaining there was too much top heaviness on an arrangement that was obviously meant to be a hat on a pole). Mind you, what I know about floral design could be written on the back of a postage stamp.

Hopefully they will have better weather laid on for us next year.

Steppin' Out (not with Joe Jackson)

Although it is generally recommended, there is some debate in medical circles about the benefits or not of walking 10,000 steps a day. Whatever the truth, it is at least a target to aim for. And we all like those, don't we?

I have only managed 10k a handful of times so far in 2009 but I hit my new high point for the year so far yesterday, with 14,644 clocked up on the pedometer built into my phone. And as that only records distances of 8 steps or more, and it was on charge during the evening, I'm guessing I actually beat the 15,000 mark. The 8 step thing is a problem when going for a big target as it means a lot of steps just don't get counted. Mooching slowly round shops or museums, only moving a few steps from shelf to shelf or between paintings doesn't add to the total even though the steps themselves are still taken. Still, they say you should only really count brisk walking when counting for health reasons.

We have been measuring our steps here for a good four or five years now, on and off. I have had free pedometers from Kellogs cereals and also a work and local paper-sponsored plan to collect enough steps to walk to the moon (which I don't think got more than halfway there before the colective will vanished). Neither of those lasted more than a few months of active use before being conveniently forgotten about. Plus the clicking used to drive me up the wall.

For the last year though, I have had this mobile phone with pedometer software that doesn't click for every step I take. It has certainly kept me motivated to try and aim for the 10k as being a proper mobile I do actually have it with me all the time. I confess I do get a bit fed-up sometimes when I can't get close to my target though. When the weather conspires agianst me, or meetings run into the lunchtime period I will be lucky to make 4,000 on a work day and most of those come from the walk to and from the bus stop. A wet weekend can be even worse at maybe only 2 or 3,000.

Since Christmas (when it went away for a replacement screen due to an unfortunate car park incident) the phone reckons my average daily wandering is 7131 but as it only retains the daily totals for four weeks I am not sure if that is an overall or rolling average. Mind you, the "advanced" results page gives me a total of 414,401 steps and a daily average of 6578 so I'm more than happy to stick with the higher figure to boost my ego! Hopefully I can get to the million step mark without breaking another handset.

And you never know, I might eveb manage to lose a few pounds into the bargain.