This United Satrapy
Sometimes some things make one more angry than it is easy to express. This morning I am faced with one of these.
The issue
First, a bit of background. There is an organisation called 'indymedia'; it is a journalists collective, which reports stories not generally covered by the mainstream press, specifically including reporting on the demonstrations at G8 summits and such things. On October 7th this year, officers of the United States of America's Federal Bureau of Investigations, acting on behalf of the Italian Government, entered RackSpace's supposedly secure colocation facility in London and removed two servers belonging to indymedia.
My longbow
This week I have been mostly making a longbow. Yes, that's the one I made, in the picture. What? Show-off? Moi?
At this time of year, for the past several years, we (where for these purposes 'we' is Southwest Community Woodlands Trust) have put on courses on making this or that out of the products of the forest, and this autumn one of the things we'd decided to make was longbows. And as soon as the idea was mooted I thought I definitely wanted to give that a go. In the way of things, somebody knew a bowyer, a man called Dave Cotterill, who turned out to be a gentle, competent man and a most excellent teacher.
Journey to the Roof of the World
The longest continuous climb in Britain, according to a website which categorises european cycling climbs, is up Mennock Water to Wanlockhead and thence up to the radio mast on the Green Lowther. We did not do that climb today...
Sometime last week Big Dougie phoned up and asked if I fancied a ride up to Wanlockhead, saying he and Andrew were planning to do the run today, both being off work. I swithered. I did want to do the run. I thought it would be a good test of both me and the bike. But I also seriously doubted whether I was fit for it. Eventually at yesterday's club run (Dalbeattie Forest, bits of Red Route and bits of mucking around — great fun) I committed to going. So at 9.45 this morning Dougie's van rolled up at my front door, we loaded the Dolan in, and set of for Andrew's house in Dumfries. At twenty past ten we rolled out from Andrew's house, heading north. Big Dougie, the time trial animal, also known locally as 'the bus'; Andrew, former Scottish Junior Champion; and me, who am at best a leisure cyclist, and who had never taken part in any organised ride before this year. Ooops.
Fit the first: To the Birthplace of the Bicycle
My first time trial
I'm not really a club sort of person — I'm much too shy and solitary in real life — and I'm certainly not a competitive person. So I've never been in a cycle club before, and I've certainly never cycled competitively. But a few weeks ago a cycling friend dropped by and told me about a proposal for a new local cycling club, and a few days later Janet at my LBS told me about it as well, so this time last week I went along to an inaugural meeting at which about twenty people turned up.
At that meeting we agreed that to kick things off we'd do a club run every Sunday, and a time trial every Wednesday evening as long as the light held — which won't be long with the equinox approaching. On Sunday about twenty people turned up for a very pleasant run up round Balmaghie and Laurieston.
And tonight was the time trial. Juliette and I left the house together, she on her Juliana and my on my Dolan. Juliette wasn't going to time trial — she's even more unclubable than me — but we rode together out to Douganhill through the most gorgeous evening, sun blazing through every gap in the ridge, sky clear deep blue, wind more or less still. At Douganhill Juliette pealed off, and I carried on. Within a few hundred yards I saw another rider ahead, and so I started to chase — not too seriously, because I didn't want to use up my legs too soon.
I make Amazon's top 1000!
I've been reviewing fiction for quite a while. I review books because, privately, I want to write them. So when I read a book, I try to analyse where the author succeeded and where the author failed, and in trying to analyse it I often write it down. It's a good exercise. It helps me to read with attention.
I used to have a little database system on this site which organised my review, and I may revive it one of these days; but while it's been down I've been posting the occasional review to Amazon — mostly, but not all, of books I've been impressed with.
And last night, browsing Amazon, I noticed that I've got the rank of 'Top 1000 reviewer'. It turns out to be absurdly easy to reach this rank; I've only posted 12 reviews. But I'm never the less pleased and not a little proud of my achievement.