Scottsdale to San Diego
I have just returned from a trip to US with one of my partners, Julie Richardson. We flew to Phoenix to meet with some attorneys in Scottsdale, a city a few miles from Phoenix. We finished the trip in San Diego, and in between spent a day driving the 400 or so miles between the two cities. The trip took us through the desert (although it was greener than we expected), over the Colarado river that marks the boundary between Arizona and California, and on through the mountains to the east of the Pacific ocean. Along the way we passed within sight of the Mexico border, which meant we were stopped twice by the border patrol, and stopped at a very isolated tower near the top of the mountains from which we were very happy to escape alive!
Goodbye Fazer, Hello Bonnie
This weekend, I said goodbye to the Yamaha Fazer 600 that I have had for a few years, and hello to a new Triumph Bonneville. Over recent times, I have not ridden the Fazer much. There are many reasons – weekends away and wanting to fly planes when the weather has been suitable for going on the bike being amongst them. But also I have not felt entirely comfortable on the Fazer. It is not a sports bike, but riding it does require being crouched over the fuel tank, and lifting your head up to see where you are going. Also, it is very revvy – meaning that the slightest touch on the throttle means the speed of the bike changes quickly - which is not etirely comfortable. A few weeks ago, I rode the Fazer to Saffron Walden, and then came back via...
A weekend in Berlin
Most of the hearing that I have had at the European Patent Office have been held in Munich, with an increasing number in The Hague. I have had a number of hearings appointed at the EPO in Berlin, but until a few weeks ago had not actually attending a hearing there. However, I did have to go to a hearing in Berlin, and as this was to take place on the Monday morning, and so I would have needed to travel on the Sunday, I took the opportunity to travel over a little earlier and have a few days in Berlin – finding my way around and seeing some of the sights. I stayed in a hotelvery close to Checkpoint Charlie, and so visited the museum there to ssee the stories of some of the people who had escaped from East Berlin to the West while the Berlin wall was in...
First Flight of the Year
Yet another winter has passed with me not getting out to fly my planes. But today, the sun was out, there was no rain (or snow), and the temperature was in double figures and so I decided to go for a fly. I was not the only one! I arrived at the field just before 10 o’clock, and there were more people unloading their planes than I had seen most of last summer. I had a bit of trouble getting my plane started to begin with – mainly because I kept blowing glow plugs (because I had connected the glow start to a 12v battery and so cooked them). Glow plugs are a bit like spark plugs and need to get hot to keep burning the fuel – which wont happen when they have been blown. However, once the error of my ways was spotted, I started the plane...
Match Abandoned
Today was due to be my eleventh home Ipswich game of the season. For most of those games, I have taken at least one other person, sometimes three. That probably comes to a total of around £500 on tickets so far this season. In all likelihood, I would have gone to at least another six – probably another £300. But today may well be the last game I attend this season. The reason is that the club appear to be taking the position that although the game was abandoned after about 30 minutes due to a frozen pitch, they will not be offering a refund of the money paid for the tickets today, and that our tickets cannot be used for the rearranged fixture. Instead they will be charging us 50% of the ticket price to go to the rearranged game. That is simply not...
Walk along the beach
Today was a perfect day for a walk along the beach. It was cold – although above freezing – dry and sunny, albeit with a bit of wind. We walked down to the beach and then turned north towards one of our favourite spots which we call “the lake”. In fact it is a mere set back from the sea which is often full of all types of birds. It is the first time we made it to the lake this year – and it has really changed. There have obviously been some very high tides which have swept away the sand dunes at the south end of the lake that have previously given a lot of shelter. Also, the tide has swept some of the old trees that were on the beach away – some into the lake and some into the sea. There were also few birds on the lake...
Birds in the Garden
In advance of the RSPB Great Garden Bird watch, filled up the bird feeders and then sat down with the camera to see what I could capture. I managed to get long tail tits, goldfinch and great tit (as well as a dunnock and a cat!)