Fluke

I have news!

2009-10-28T19:25:56Z

Is it winter already? It is getting dark early each day and I say "no sir, I don't like it". Anyway yes I have news, as of yesterday it is official and we have bought a house! It is back in Chelmsford which is great as both of our jobs are there plus friends, shops etc - wow it will be great to actually have a choice of where we buy food from! We are set to move in on the second week of November so it will be busy busy until then.

The house is a 3 bedroom with a garage - lots of space to play with and as we will own it and not be renting - we can get a dog!

Oh and apart from that quite exciting news I have a new toy to play with. I didn't pay any cash for it - the guy couldn't keep her anymore and just told me to take it! How could I say no?? It is all original and fully loaded.

Randomness is best

2009-09-01T15:05:47Z

Rather than updating with words I thought I'd sum up my summer with random (mostly bike orientated) photos that I have taken with my Nikon D60.

My road trip to the North Yorkshire Moors

NYM Railway

Old Harley at a show

Breakfast ride out

My bike at a show

Vacasion flower

Fossil we bought on holiday

Airshow!

2009-05-27T18:27:32Z

I took these two photos at the local air show on the weekend - I am pretty pleased with them. Oh and the air show was great too!

Hello!

2009-04-08T21:38:36Z

Since my last update various things have happened like a whole season for example. Winter has gone and spring is officially here - I couldn't be happier! It has been a long cold winter (although we did need a real one for once) but now the sun has been shining and it has definitely been warmer.

So anyway I have finally bought myself a good quality camera. Every time I went to buy one in the past, I would find something else that needed my cash and that usually involved motorbikes. But not now, I invested in a Nikon D60 with a 13-55 and a 55-200 lens which is best of both worlds.

I am very pleased with it as it is my first digital SLR and a bonus that it is pretty easy to use. I still have a lot to learn but thought I'd share some of my favourites..

acanis @ 2008-11-30T17:07:00

2008-11-30T17:08:36Z

I have 3 motorbikes and now not one is ridable.

The Harley is off the road for the winter.
The old Honda is in bits (still)
And the new Honda is half way through me servicing it.

Elections

2008-11-04T18:42:06Z

Well I can't wait for the elections to be finished I'm bored with watching people kiss babies on t.v. It is great and all if you want a baby kissing president but as I cannot vote for it, I'll be glad when it is all finished. Anyway it doesn't matter who wins, the world is doomed either way!!!!

I have a theory about the Presidents. When someone new is elected, they are taken into a dark room, there is a panel of about 5 or 6 people sitting in front, you cannot see who they are. A film is shown, the film is the JFK assignation captured from a different angle. An angle that shows the gun man who is not in the expected location. Once the film ends, the head person from the panel turns to Mr President and says "..any questions?"

You remind me of the babe...

2008-11-03T18:38:40Z

Well I had to share..

I went to a couple of parties with my partner Kate who dressed up as the female character from "The Dark Crystal". Can't remember the actual name as I saw that movie a long long time ago. I decided to continue with the Jim Henson theme and went for 1986 David Bowie from the movie "Labyrinth". Both costumes were made by us and made use of some old motorcycle gear!

The girls altogether: we had Wednesday Addams, Dark Crystal, Trinity from Matrix and The Corpse Bride.

Couple of the guys, Edward Scissor Hands aka our bass player from the band and on the left is John who I am pretty sure came as himself...

We were also joined by a badger

Shaggy and Velma

Group

Last one.. Bowie gets all the girls, they can't resist his sock

We had a very cool evening, the band playing also dressed up as the Ghost Busters which was even better!

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-31T17:07:28Z

Tonight should be great, we have been working all week on costumes, I can't wait!

Hope everyone has a good one!

acanis @ 2008-10-02T19:20:00

2008-10-02T18:21:13Z

Its getting cold here.. dangit

acanis @ 2008-09-19T19:29:00

2008-09-19T18:29:51Z

1 minute, 9 seconds

Ladies and Gentlemen,

2008-07-19T20:45:00Z

As promised, I give you The White Wolf Scene

The scans really do not do them justice...

The postman came...

2008-07-16T16:53:33Z

.. and as normal, like most normal people, I was at work so he took my parcel to the post office for me to collect. So I did.

I am now home and am looking at 6 original Balto story boards! Which ones I hear you say? Only the White Wolf scene of course!

Writer's Block: The Only True Question:

2008-05-30T21:41:44Z

If you could go back and fix your most regrettable decision, what would it be, and what would you do differently?

Or:

Pirates or Ninjas?

View 501 Answers

Pirates all the way, ninjas groom children on the internet and tickle your grandma when you aren't looking

Why is the rum always gone?

2008-05-30T21:03:57Z

Oh yeah.. that's why
I think my favourite spirits for making cocktails has to be rum (dark, lights, gold, what ever) and gold tequila, but not always at the same time. I have gotten quite into mixology and have learnt most of the classics a long with some newer versions too such as a James Tea Kirk aka Adios Mother Fucker, Ninja Turtles, Bikini Martinis and Cactus Jacks. My favourites though are old school, I am quite partial to a Mojito or 2, or 6 and a good old Margarita is always a winner.

I have had a really busy month with work, we have been doing our surveys where I have walked over 1000km of footpaths, bridleways and the odd byway. I have seen some amazing sights that you just wouldn't associate with Essex, in some areas it has felt like a different part of the country, I have seen wildlife and odd garden decorations (remember the dinosaurs?) and in others I have feared for my life or even my anal virginity. I am pretty tired out after a month of walking but I did finish my allocated paths and some extra on top of that which makes me look good.

Although the weather has turned a little bit I have been making the most of the sunshine we had with varius bike activities and Kate and I even made it to an airshow which could have been better but bad weather grounded quite a few of the planes.

I have also had my picture posted in the local paper on page 2 which is cool, I will scan it in for people to see when I get a chance, it was taken at the local Police open day which I brought my bike down to for the purposes of shopwing off.. I mean providing entertainment.

Snaaaaaaaake

2008-05-11T21:32:08Z

Anyone want to put music to my stupid snake and make him sing?

acanis @ 2008-05-10T09:25:00

2008-05-10T08:58:11Z

SEX
It works because you are now reading this..

Since my last update... I am probably going to forget so much but I thought I really should get back into the swing of things so lets start with work.

Work has been great, I am still really happy with my job and although some days in the office can be a bit slow there is still quite a lot happening to keep me on my toes. We have had quite a lot of publicity recently including TV coverage due to our long distance walk winning an award for 'Best Hidden Treasure' or something like that. It is basically a route (called teh Essex Way) using public footpaths, bridleways etc which starts the London end of Essex (last stop for the tube trains) and goes right across to the coast line. A walker could make a week of it if they chose to.

This moth is where everything kicks off, we are doing a massive survey of 5% of all public rights of way in Essex and I am covering about 500km (what is that in real measurements?? Why don't we use miles??). Basically it involves walking the section of whatever path is on my map, checking that it is usable and has the directional signage etc and then walking back, so in fact once I walk back to the car I actually have about 1000km to walk because it is doubled up. But what a fantastic time to be doing it! The weather has been so nice and I had a farmer's tan line (tanned forearms, head and a red neck lol) just after the first day. I have seen a lot of wildlife ranging from rabbits to foxes, hares to slow worm and all the wild flowers are out in those places you just can't see unless you leave the road.

Moving on from work last weekend I had my dad over as it was the long three day bank holiday and I had been on at him to come down for ages! We had bought some supplies on the Saturday morning and he arrived at about 5pm. Kate cooked a nice dinner and we caught up before going to bed. On the Sunday we had planned on going out early but some how we ended up working on my garden as it was a mess, we completely blitzed it and now I would safely say it is a space we can enjoy. After we finished we went to a small country pub which was having a beer festival with something like 500 different Belgium beers. We tried a few different ones for a couple of hours before going home for more beer and some cocktails! I have been getting quite good at making cocktails and it was quite nice to experiment on someone.. but after so long it doesn't matter how it tastes anymore! On Monday we had most of the day before he went home, we went for a walk in Burnham a long the sea wall and then had a fish 'n' chip pub lunch before he went back to Yorkshire.

Last night we had a couple of friends over, Colin and Jenny, who are the husky people I help out, it was nice to see them and Kate made dinner so we chatted and drank wine until 10ish before they went home, it was good to see them both and we need to do things like that more often but time always seems to be so short! So that brings me up to date, today we need to go shopping and I just typed a whole entry without talking about motorbikes once.. damn that counts doesn't it?

Tardistastic

2008-04-05T16:21:10Z

So what have I been up to? I've been learning cocktail recipies as a good way to keep me out of trouble, I have been building up a good collection of various drinks for mixing and have learnt quite a lot. It started because I had a lot of JD after Christmas and wanted to use it in some interesting ways s well as good old fashioned 'on the rocks' so I looked up some recipies and went for it.

Fairly recently I was put in touch with someone who had a load of spares for my bike as he had the same model but had removed everything that was police from the bike and had changed it into a normal civilian model. As he had no use for the parts I bought everything from him so now I had a nice strobe box for the rear, a second siren system, a second set of bags and a few odds and sods which I still need to go and pick up so that was a result. I am going to get a friend of mine to spray the bags black so I have a second colour option which will be cool.

Well new series of Dr Who is on tonight and I have a friend coming over so I probably won't make it onto Balto chat so have a good one all the same (though I might be able to say a very late hello before bed)

Belated Happy Easter

2008-03-24T17:51:27Z

I think last Easter I posted a video of Jesus singing 'I Will Survive'. I am afraid I don't have anything this year..

Been ill for the last week with some horrible coldy/man flu virus which I refused to phone in sick for but it has taken me ages to get over it so come the weekend I thought it was a good idea to do a couple of bike events. Now let me tell you that manflu, motorbikes and SNOW does not mix! The latter don't mix on a good day but add it all up and you don't have a fun time which is a real shame as both the events should have been really good. Instead the first was a cold wet waste of time and the second was OK but not half as good as it should have been. I am complaining but this is the first bankholiday I have not had to work in about two years so that is at least a good thing! I just wish the weather had been a bit more Easter-like.

Have a look at the photos (from today) below, see the black bike near mine? You might not recognise it but that is my old Harley!

One week on..almost

2008-03-20T19:47:01Z

Morocco was fantastic! What more can I say? Well not a lot so let some photos do the talking instead

Sunshine!

The pool at the hotel Amine

Wet legs!

And pool hair

pool Katie

Product placement

In the Palace

Check out all the amazing carving

Three arch ways symbolising the three cultures

The king's room

This is a cemetry which was discovered in the middle of the city a decade or so ago. Because each dinasty destroys the previous each time they walled this huge place up and no one noticed it.. crazy

More stone carving

The oldest and main mosque in Marrakech

The main square

Burma town

Visiting a Burma house, spot the cow!

I iz in ur hous grindin ur granez

Traditional mint tea

Atlas mountains, highest point in Northern Africa

Scenery was really amazing, and snow in Africa! Something I don't always think about

In the 9th century people directed water from the mountains into small channels which they used to irrigate the land around and even sent this water all the way to Marrakech about 30 or so miles away again for crops, drinking, washing etc

This is outside Richard Branson's house but that man was a cock. When our guide said 'bless you' when he sneezed he tried to argue 'I don't believe in god, don't put your beliefs on me'. I would had punched him for that.

Richard Branson's front door, very grand, shame about the smaller door left open next to it!

Round the back of the house

And this is Abdul our guide who was fantastic. Note the cool 4x4 which we used to go up the mountains in

I had never been to what is considered a third world country before and it was quite an eye opener. Pizzas for about £2, a full dinner in a nice restaurant for about £5 and as many mopeds as you could ever possibly want to get run over by! Seriously it was crazy, on the wrong side of the road, on the pavements, no lights at night, these little moped guys didn't care but we never saw an accident. I still wouldn't want to drive there though!

I also learnt a little about Islam too, I think the media is very guilty of giving us one bomb related view of Islam but when you go out to an Arab country and meet some of the most friendly welcoming people in the world you really can't believe all that you hear. It was very interesting to see everyone stop for prayer at set times in the day and see how peaceful the people really were.

It was a really nice holiday and the weather was a million times better than this country ever has (and that was their winter!) so I think it is safe to say that I'd go back.

Back for a day

2008-03-08T09:45:01Z

The training course I just got back from went pretty well. It was in Snowdonia in Northern Wales and set in not only fantastic countryside but also in a house called 'Plas Tan y Bwlch' which translates into the Mansion in the gap (of the rocks) and it was huge! Basically it looked like a castle but was built early in the 1800s with all the grand design you would expect.. but it didn't have a tv in the rooms so we all resorted to the bar each night instead which was probably a better choice anyway.

What I found strange was although being so close to England (but still a six hour drive for me) everyone spoke Welsh! Perhaps I shouldn't be surprised by that but I found it very strange being in what felt like a foreign country but luckily the course was all in English.

The course went very well, it was really interesting and covered everything I need to know about my new job to do with looking after these Public Rights of Way (PROW). I was always quite interested in the footpaths, bridleways and byways on a conservation point of view and being able to work outdoors but I never really appreciated what these really were. At the end of the day a single footpath, the track running from field to field is ancient, when you walk on one you are following thousands of other folk who have been walking that path for anything up to two thousand years and that path has always been the same although the surrounding have changed. That to me is amazing and I can't wait to get out there and start looking after that heritage.

Anyway I can't relax yet, got a few things I need to tie up today as we are going to Morocco tomorrow morning for a week! I can't wait as it will be lovely and hot and the exchange rate is something stupid like one pound = 20 whatever they have. Expect photos when I get back!

First week down..

2008-03-01T17:58:22Z

What a mad week it has been. Of course it is the first week of my job and I really have been thrown into the deep end of it all, in a good way of course! I have done a mix of office based stuff (getting to know where things are, basic laws and of course the many government policies of how not to do things) and some work outside with volunteers and seeing some farmers. It has been a lot of fun and everyone is very friendly as well as enthusiastic both about me joining them and about what they do. It is nice and a massive contrast to my previous job.

It is strange though because I have barely had a week to settle in and now I will not be back for another two weeks later! It was a bit short notice but my Line Manager has booked me into a training course in Northern Wales (about 6 hours away) and I will be there for the whole week but when I return I will be on vacation in Morocco for the next week (which I am really looking forward to!).

Right now the house looks like a bomb has gone off because we are going to a party tonight and it is fancy dress (the best sort of party) and it's cow boy themed. What is convenient is that it I have a lot of clothes that could be cow boy and with a few additions which I bought today I am going as ~~Burt Reynolds~~ the evil Sheriff which you always get in some sort of Western. Katie is going as a whore which kinda makes me her pimp I suppose.. should be interesting and you can imagine photos will be coming soon!

Speaking of photos I picked up my new car this morning, it is a very nice little Skoda (with a VW engine) and I am pretty pleased with it. It is very clean and although it looks rather small on the outside it is HUGE on the inside which is why I have named it 'the TARDIS'

I am the proud owner...

2008-02-23T18:16:36Z

.. of a very sexy Skoda (let the jokes commence!) which I have just bought from a local garage. It is a year 2000 model so not too old and comes with a 1.3 Litre engine and more importantly a CD player. It is very spacious inside even though it is quite a small car, I think I got a good deal on it and it is very low milage but I won't have it back here until next weekend. Expect photos when that happens, until then I just have to get my head around owning four vehicles now...

BarnYard

2008-02-22T17:13:15Z

Just saw the majority of said movie and it has left me kind of confused. Apart from the obvious question of how can pigs, cows, chickens and one ferret (I think) ride custom motorcycles, what sort of owners leave all their keys in such expensive vehicles?? I suppose you aren't meant to ask such questions but I can't help but wonder why the male cows had udders? Transexual maybe?

The story was typical but running along the predator vs prey sort of thing, in this case Coyotes, and in all honesty I wanted them to win the fight. I think the studio also spent most of its budget on these characters many of whom were just side or background characters.

The animation was odd, it all had a very plastic look to it and although the characters were there in front of different backgrounds, it didn't feel like they were really *there* like there was no shadow or anything. I also couldn't get my head around the slightly stoned (or possibly just slow) yet obviously ripped off from Shrek; Donkey.

Adam's verdict: Pants.

That Friday Feeling

2008-02-22T10:05:20Z

I have never really had 'that Friday feeling' before since I have always had work the next day. I am looking forward to experiencing it as of next week when I am working normal hours.

Wenesday was fun, I helpe out a Blues Brothers tribute act with some publicity which involved me following one of the original 20 cars used in the first movie, complete with megaphone on the roof, around South End on my Harley with lights and siren going. We then parked up out side the theatre and were later joined by two more classic police cars. The show inside was really good too, I have never seen a full on Blues Brothers act before except the little one they do at Universal Studios and was very impressed.

Yesterday I spent the time cleaning the house and my bike as it was covered in road salt (*ick*) and I handed back my uniform to the zoo which was quite fun as it really was the last loose end I had to tie up. I didn't hang around I jumped on my bike and got the hell outta dodge!

I don't know what I'll do today, I haven't had any luck in finding a car yet so for the first week at least I am thinking about getting the bus into work as I can't be bothered with riding the bike; too much gear to carry round. Will see how long it takes for that to get old!

Happy Tuesday

2008-02-19T15:58:30Z

I am well into my holiday from life and it has been fairly productive today. I had to go into Chelmsford to get some more mice for Jack so armed with a backpack and my little Honda, I charged into what is fast becoming a rather cold icy day! As I was going out I thought I would check out some car garages (probably spurred on by how cold I was!) and so far I have had little success. I thought it was simple really, I have two grand to spend and I want something small, cheap on fuel and cheap to insure. It seems you can easily get something for under one grand and then nothing until you hit three grand! Where have all the other cars gone? I don't want a banger but I don't want a BMW either! I suppose I'll carry on looking for now.

I do need to put the Harley back together too, I have been cleaning it over the last couple of days only to get it dirty tomorrow when I am doing a Blues Brothers thing with it in South End. It should be fun but I bet I get cold!