Irresponsible Me

London's Calling

2012-03-29T19:24:00.000+01:00

So the weather is holding (just about) and I've been planning.

This time I felt a trip to london is in order. After all Gandad did this once, not sure what route he took but I like the idea. Went to mum and dad's for the night then headed of early in the morning.

Speaking of route, I've had to spend quite some time figuring this one out. The A5 would be an obvious choice for anyone who likes being flattened by a lorry. But the south of this road looks rather too scary for my taste. This meant heading through Watford instead of St Albans.

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This was a long one. 105 miles on the clock after I took a couple of wrong turns. I was amazed how it actually felt easier than the 60 I did to Hereford a few weeks before. For one it didn't have the big up-hill. But the main thing was that I seemed to reach a point where it hurt, but no more than the previous 40 miles. Just like that 40 became 60, 60 became 80 and 80 became my 105.

So the ride went pretty well. although the sat-nav (phone) died and I had to ask lots of directions once I got to Marble Arch in London. Got some strange looks and comments such as "Croydon?... thats miles away!". Really? I've just done 90; how bad can it be? Awesome.

For this trip, there was definitely a big insensitive; to go see Liz, Jon and of course Theo. Theo seems brighter every time I see him and it was just so much fun getting to play with him again.

Last minute for Hereford Ride - Who put malvern in the way!

2012-02-25T11:31:00.002Z

The weather's good, and I have two days free (not working) that wasn't expected. I have my phone with me in case of emergency but I'm planning to ride. The hotel is booked (B&B was full) and I'm set to head of at 12:00.

Just for safety I'm posting my route (will be stopping in Worcester for lunch).

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I'll check in once I'm there. I'm not expecting to be there before 5. I'm going to be taking my time as this is a long one and I've got to be in fit condition to ride again tomorrow.

I Love Cycling in England!

Update:

Well I left late, not until past 1:00 so I didn't get to Worcester until 3:00. All my plans were based around taking a rest stop and food there, so nothing for it. Food in the Slug & Lettuce and then on.

Got out of Worcester by 4:00 (got lost due to misleading sat-nav instructions). Then saw a nice big hill up in front of me. When I say "hill" I mean Malvern. And my road took me pretty close to it. Wish I'd noticed that on the map while I was planning this trip.

Still I finally got into Hereford at 7:00. Pretty lousy time even for me. Going to leave a little earlier today for the return journey.

Second Update

Well the return journey was a lot easier. Worcester to Hereford was a lot more up-hill than I had realized on the way. The return was so much down hill that it went by a lot easier.

Had chance to stop in Worcester again. A very pretty place for what I saw of it.

All in all, a fun trip.

Don't Listen to the Weather Man

2012-02-19T18:28:00.000Z

So the whether for this weekend was forecast as wet then very cold. This completely ruined my plans of trying Hereford and back across two days. Well Saturday was wet and Sunday cold, but warmer than predicted and with a lot of sun. In short the conditions on Sunday were perfect for I nice trip out. Perfect to practice riding with the weight of the panniers on; something else I've had too little chance to do.

But where to go. Hereford was off, I really want two days to do that. The simple answer then was to do a ride I've done before and go to Mum and Dad's.

A little colder than I would have liked towards the end but I managed it in a good time (for me). Including two stops to re-program the sat-nav I managed 2 hours 22 minutes. The route (from Sainsburys to Mum and Dad was 37.4 miles.

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Feels so good to do a ride when I wasn't expecting to.

Planning to Cycle

2012-02-17T22:08:00.001Z

Well the weather is turning better, the days are getting longer and spring is starting to feel like it's in the air. It's time to crack out the road bike and get back in the saddle. Hmm. So the bike needs a little maintenance, new grips and a good clean down and weather proofing would defiantly not go amiss.

It does however feel so good to be back in the saddle getting where I'm going that much quicker than the buses, feeling the air fill my lungs, the hypnotic rhythm of my feet winding away swift miles and swearing under my breath at every moron of a motorist I have to swerve to avoid. Best way to travel in the world!

So now it's time to start planning what I want to do. I've said for so long than I want to do Land's End to John o' Groats (although I'd like to do it backwards and end in the sunshine). But that's a little far for me as the first ride and I'm only really just starting out doing long distances.
I've settled on doing Birmingham to Pembroke dock. Looks like a fun ride and I get to go over the Brecon Beacons. I'm told thats a bit hilly but hey; I'm out for fun.

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First things first. Start getting used to doing long distances on back to back days. Never actually even done that before. Longest trip ever was 56 miles and that was all in one shot on one day. This is going to be a different challenge entirely. I've got to do the same sort of distance and still be in a condition to cycle the next day. So the very first target will be to do Hereford (via Worcester) and back from Birmingham. I'm pretty confident I can do this in a weekend if I can do it at all yet. I would have done this, tomorrow and Sunday. The weather looks like its going to stop me though.

Here's to March the First then. Lets see if the weather holds.

Headaches With MinGW and __stdcall

2009-03-24T22:54:00.048Z

For the last week I've been writing a DLL in c++ (using MinGW). I've had some real headaches getting information. Since it's now all working here's how I got round things.

Calling Conventions
Some languages (including VB6) require all functions to use the stdcall calling convention. Since its common practice to define some sort of constant ...
#define EXPORT __declspec(dllexport)
... you might as well use ...
#define EXPORT __declspec(dllexport) __stdcall
It just keeps the code clean and simple.

Naming Conventions
Known as Name Mangling; by convention stdcall functions gain a @nn at then end of their names when compiled. So all the dll function names come out like fooBar@4 instead of just fooBar. This can cause problems when using the DLL else where.

MinGW offers the ability to remove these these extra symbols:
g++ -o myDll.dll -shared -Wl,--kill-at fooBar.o

The Problem
As soon as you use -Wl,--kill-at MinGW-built programs using this dll will not compile. They will all throw repeated errors complaining of undefined reference to '_imp__fooBar@4' etc. To correct this you need a .lib file which maps all your functions (fooBar@4) to their name (fooBar) in the dll.

To get a .lib file, some pages tell you that that you need a .def file. The more helpful ones tell you how to create a .def file automatically. They all seem to tell you to manually edit the .def file. Don't Bother!

The Solution
dlltool shipped with MinGW can read your object files and create a .lib file directly (no .def file needed). The -k will cause the library to map to names without @nn.

dlltool doesn't actually need to see the dll itself, just the object files that make it. But you will need to tell it the name of the dll (so that this can be included in the lib file). For this use -D dllname.

So to compile a dll (making a lib file for it):

g++ -o myDll.o -c myDll.cpp
g++ -o myDll.dll -shared -Wl,--kill-at myDll.o
dlltool -l myDll.lib -D myDll.dll -k myDll.o

And To build an exe that uses it (-l includes the library):

g++ -o myExe.o -c myExe.cpp
g++ -o myExe.exe myExe.o -lhttpClient

Elbow at Newport

2009-03-13T08:38:00.000Z

Las night I was at an Elbow gig in Newport. Why Newport? well that was the only place we could get tickets.

They were playing in the "Newport Center" which, I discovered, was a sports center with seating. Some bands might have worried about such a place giving the wrong impression. Elbow, however, seem to delight in interacting with their paying fans and far from ending up as a low key affair it was better described as "intimate".

Opening with "Starlings" the band came on with trumpets in hand and an accompanying string quartet. The smaller venue put with trade mark mellow opening lulled me into a false sense of security and I removed my ear defenders (just something I always use at every gig). I did this just in time for the blast of trumpets.

Still there was plenty of time to recover during mirror ball and some riot.
Elbow have a fairly experimental sound at times, beautifully mellow Mancunian vocals with enough electrics (keys, guitar and base) for some to call it rock.

My favorite experience with any live band is the interaction with the audience or crowd. Guy Garvy is a master for this and has a very quick wit when dealing with hecklers (you know who you are. Dexter). This is a band that "grew up" to stardom by simply getting better. And nothing else. Their fan base has grown, but they are as down to earth now as they ever could have been.

Some bands albums are so manicured by the sound engineer that seeing them live is a disappointment. Elbow are not one of bands and despite the high standard of their studio albums their music live is entrancingly perfect.

I look forward to seeing them again.

Well Travelled

2009-01-14T13:24:00.001Z

When I said I'd like to travel more this wasn't quite what I had in mind.

Last week my manager came to me and said "you know that release that I'm going to be taking to our customer's sites this week?... do you want to take it?".

Managing to justify another day in the office I put off the first trip until Wednesday. Glasgow was, as it has been every time I've been there so far, wet. But the flight above the clouds in the morning was pretty. A day installing and last minute bug fixing and I got on a plane and came back.

Thursday, I drove the the the customer's other site. Portsmouth. That trip didn't go to plan and I had to bring the server back with me. I've actually been within walking distance of the sea and I didn't even get to see it.

Then this Monday it was taking the server back to its home in Portsmouth again. Another drive and another missed opportunity to hear the waves.

This traveling thing isn't what it's cracked up to be.

New Years Resolution

2008-12-28T15:00:00.000Z

I am, at times, weak willed. So as New Year approaches I've been trying to think how to actually carry out my New Years Resolution.

It occurred to me that the problem is in the idea. After all, what is a New Years Resolution but an excuse to put something off until next year.

So for the first time in many months I found myself on a bike without petrol today. Thankfully I found the peddles without too much difficulty, but it was half a mile before I remembered how to steer in a straight line and another mile beyond that before my heart remembered what exercise was.

Eventually, however, the warm fuzzy feeling of adrenalin and endorphins kicked in. A short six mile trip, but well worth it. With any luck I can keep this up until next year.

New Toy

2008-10-19T19:57:00.000+01:00

Finally back on a bike

...no thanks to Benetts (dont link them it'll only boost them on google). How one company can show so much incompatence and still be in business I will never know.

Feels so good to be free again. The jump to a 650cc from 125cc was defanately worth it. I do have to be a little careful though. This bike does 30mph in 1st without breaking a sweat. But being able to potter at 60 and expect all the power I need to get out of somone's way at a moment's notice is great for the motorway.

Funny thing was, when I got into bikes the look diddn't matter to me at all. Now... well the picture says it all.

My little black book

2007-12-22T01:05:00.000Z

Well I had intended to post a lot more...
Unfortunately I've taken to writing it all in a little black book that I carry everywhere.

When I get round to transferring some of it, there should be more here.

Why "free" never quite feels free.

2007-11-11T23:37:00.000Z

In a café today I was offered a loyalty card which, on inspection, offered to “Get the 10th cup free”.

This got me thinking. I feel somehow they've missed the point. “free” felt about as real as the waitresses plastic smile.

The problem is that something can't be “free” if it has to be earned. I'd have to buy 9 cups of tea, remember to take this little card with me each time and somehow not loose it in the weeks it will take to accumulate.

On the other hand, I am delighted when, in a small local café, I'm given the odd cup of tea for free. Perhaps 1 in 30 at most. The difference, quite simply, is the fact that I've done nothing to earn it. Neither do I feel I'm owed for my “loyalty”. Its simply a gift out of kindness giving me a far greater reason to return.

This makes it seems incidental that the small local café charges 30% less.