Last night in our sleepy Catalan village, first fiesta for 3 years. Bit detuned this morning

Said I was detuned, forgot the link
https://instagram.com/stories/turismepe ... JmNzVkMjY=
Stay with it, it gets considerably madder.

While Jen went for her cold water swim this morning I stood in the sea to give my knee a six minute ice bath. I must have looked a right sight to the the passers by, in my wetsuit boots, speedos, hat, gloves and two down jackets.

Still It's certainly woken me up today.

Verena wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 12:17 pm

Bearbonesnorm wrote: ↑Fri Jan 20, 2023 11:01 am To be honest V - that ^ would have ruined my weekend

Yes of course. Coffee, when it should be tea - right?

^^^
This

Well skiing tomorrow looks like it will involve skiing off cornices in zero viz so in view of not wanting to die for my sport, I'll go with a local bivvy instead. Got some hipster canned beer too

Bit sad, bit cheery here.
Our lovely neighbour, Cynthia, died last night. She experienced some chest pains on Monday night and was taken in to hospital by ambulance. Apparently she'd been out with her friends as usual on Monday and hadn't shown any signs of slowing down. She'd made it to 88 and has been a lovely part of our life here for the last 13 years. Every memory we have of her is a happy one.

Worse ways to go but hey, RIP Cynthia.

Today can take a long walk off a short pier as far as I'm concerned but good stories about nice things are grand to see, especially dog ones (ta Stu).

Cheery here. I did a bit of filming with Mark Beaumont who is a lovely bloke and am now in Scotland for a short stint of bike riding.

Have said it for years - all those gizmos turn your brain to mush

https://highways-news.com/frequently- ... brain/

"Relying on GPS and turning off our own internal navigation systems may actually damage the brain and inhibit memory overall..... those who used GPS more often had worse spatial memory — the ability to remember the position of objects and places — when trying to navigate without the mapping technology..... navigation was a key reason people began to use their memory in the first place, and that when people have good spatial memory, they have better cognition and less risk of Alzheimer’s disease"

https://www.nature.com/articles/s4159 ... 877-0

"Feel The Force" (*)

(*) or in my case "Feel The Farce" is probably more appropriate to my BP outings

I've been wondering about that but so far my internal GPS is largely still as good as usual (last years BB300 excepted but that was more down to failing memory and sleep deprivation!) One thing I have noticed is that I have to have the GPS set to 'North up' rather than 'trail up' I tried trail up once and got completely confused and kept making wrong turns. So in effect I'm using a GPS just like a map with a 'you are here' arrow (I have never had to set up map direction with the compass, I just measure the bearing and set off...). GPS was very handy on my walk earlier, fighting my way up a pathless wooded river valley....

A spirited, but ultimately doomed, defence there our Phil .

This from 2018: "GPS is such an integral part of our daily lives that the new UK driving test, which comes into effect in December, will ask learner-drivers to follow the directions of a satnav for 15 minutes".

Is that actually taking place now then? I'm well out of touch. I never use a satnav.

"Having less grey matter in the hippocampus is associated with depression and Alzheimer’s disease. Virtual reality experiments at the Department of Psychiatry at McGill University has shown that as we age we rely less on landmarks and more on remembering sequences of left-right turns in order to find our way. Experimental subjects who use landmarks typically had more grey matter than those who relied on remembering directional sequences".

We navigators-by-pub-and-cafe are doing our brains a big favour really .

Now, where did I put that map I was looking at earlier.... <irony alert>

Actually even using a map is cheating, we should just head out into the wilds and follow our noses

Is the correct answer! Five points to the FBP Team!

fatbikephil wrote: ↑Sun Jan 22, 2023 11:06 pm Actually even using a map is cheating, we should just head out into the wilds and follow our noses

Which ever way I go I'm following my noses*...
it's always been out in front!


Unless I'm walking backwards...

I think it's shaping up to be alright ...

Wilf has completed his first week at the Towers and seems to be settling into his new sofa very well.

There'll be some roving on Sunday, so I'll need to try and figure out how to shoot a bow again.

Some potentially bad news earlier in the week has actually fired me up and made me realise that the 'fire within' isn't dead yet - can't really say more at the moment but it's quite a nice feeling.

Here's Wilf showing you his sofa.

Blimey, Wilf's a big lad, eh? I had the impression he was going to be a puppy, so that's a wee bit of a surprise.

Nice 'harey' cushion he's got too. Wilf V hare, who'd win the race I wonder.

I had the impression he was going to be a puppy, so that's a wee bit of a surprise.

No, he's two and a half. I think he got a bit too much for his previous home so came to live with us.

who'd win the race I wonder.

My monies on the hare but a deer on the other hand

Never a massively cheerful start to the day when the first thing you have to deal with is a doggie "accident"....
Especially not when it's the third time this week, and you start to wonder if this is the beginning of the final year for your lovely old teddy bear of a boy ...

Massively uncheery in the Barter household today.

On a road trip to Scotland, the catch on the rear door of my camper van broke. This was a big issue as the van could not be locked and so I called my breakdown company. After a long scan of the T&Cs they told me to swivel as this did not count as a mechanical or electrical breakdown. I ended up at a back street garage in Coventry where the mechanic was a VW expert. He advised that the spring in the lock was caput and he could make a temp repair by putting some washing up sponge in its place. This would allow the catch to lock and stay locked until I could get a replacement. All good so far. The trip up north was ace with lots of bike riding. I returned to Brixham and my local VW garage who know me well and are very trustworthy. They had already ordered a new catch for me and were itching to replace it.

It was then that we all realised the huge mistake myself and the brummie mechanic had made. How to get to the catch if we couldn't subsequently unlock it, which we couldn't? Turns out the only way is through the rear door trim which in a modern VW camper is like tunnelling through a wall of £50 notes. After some serious hammer action they were in and the catch was replaced. I now have the quote for the trim replacement and my son's student loan is less than that. Sadly there are no alternative options as the trim holds 2 deckchairs in place along with the insulation. No new bikes or new anything for me for the next few years. Shaf can you do one of your charity sales for Dave's van please ;-)

Handed keys over to the builder for refurbishment of a flat in Manchester we've "inherited".

Looks like I'm going to become a landlord. How odd

Just glad it's here TBH. This week has been long and disproportionately tiring, for no good reason. But I'm off work all next week (sadly a lot of this will be taken up with odd jobs that are long outstanding, but better than working for someone else) so that's cheery.

January is nearly done with, and while I enjoyed some of the proper winter last week, and have ridden every weekend, it's generally felt dark and long.

It was then that we all realised the huge mistake myself and the brummie mechanic had made. How to get to the catch if we couldn't subsequently unlock it, which we couldn't? Turns out the only way is through the rear door trim which in a modern VW camper is like tunnelling through a wall of £50 notes. After some serious hammer action they were in and the catch was replaced. I now have the quote for the trim replacement and my son's student loan is less than that. Sadly there are no alternative options as the trim holds 2 deckchairs in place along with the insulation. No new bikes or new anything for me for the next few years. Shaf can you do one of your charity sales for Dave's van please ;-)

I feel for you Dave. 'Tis why I'm not a massive fan of modern vehicles and their in-build stupidity.

Oh, and hi Wilf