World in my eyes

Tour Ciel

2009-07-04T15:35:00.002+01:00

Been very busy lately, some good news: been offered a PGCE in business studies and ICT.

For some reasons i can't upload my video of ski mountaineering on blogger. If you want to have a look at it on youtube, click here

Louise's university friend got married

2009-05-31T20:57:00.003+01:00

This weekend Louise took me to one of her friend's wedding. We had a really good time, lunch with Dan and Amanda, then the ceremony, drinks, a very nice dinner, good speaches and then the dance. I only took pictures in the evening.

Here are Dan and Amanda looking good:

The same enjoying the music:

Louise enjoying the evening:

Louise talking to the groom, Simon:

And the bride, Alison, talking and dancing with Simon:

They treated us to a night time balloon launch:

Congratulations Alison and Simon!

I've fixed my JVC GR-D70E camcorder

2009-05-28T22:47:00.004+01:00

The poor thing died the first time i powered it up after recharging the battery on my return from Val d'Annivier. I googled, found a forum, identified the fault, fixed it. It's now working again!

The main fuse blew up. It's a 2A, 32V fuse soldered on the main board. Here's a picture:

If you can't see much, it's because it's a surface mounted component measuring around 2x1x1 millimeters. I simply soldered it on top of the original one. A broken fuse is an open circuit, and i thought this would be safer than to try to remove the original fuse and possibly damage the board.

I would like to thank John from the pechorin forum, and Colin who let me use his RS account to purchase the replacement fuse.

My post on pechorin is accessible here

froggies

2009-05-25T22:59:00.002+01:00

Had fun stalking the wildlife in Louise's pond today:

Pictures are on flickr as well, click here to access the set.

Louise in Paris

2009-05-10T21:42:00.004+01:00

We had a lovely crepe bretonne and Louise befriended a "piaf":

Then we went to the Eiffel tower, and queued:

We didn't have time to go to the top,

Louise really liked the domed roof:

Then in the evening, we just relaxed while i tried the new flash

To view all the pictures click here

Happy Remi in orange

2009-05-05T21:57:00.002+01:00

2 weeks ago I was in an unguarded mountain hut near Zermatt:

It's taking me a long time to process the pictures, not to mention the film. I should also write a commentary...

Just for a laugh...

2009-04-15T13:41:00.003+01:00

Sorry, Louise's camera ran out of memory so you don't know what comes next... Until i get Jess' pictures!

To give you an idea, the climb looks like this:

Ducks

2009-04-13T21:54:00.002+01:00

Little walk with Louise today near Youlgreave in the Peak. We saw lots of ducks:

Sporty weekend

2009-03-31T07:15:00.005+01:00

To prepare for the ski mountaineering week next month, I went on a 32km bike ride near Wildboarclough in the Peak last Saturday. 1150m ascent and atrocious weather, just what i needed - windy, rainy, sleet/hail with sunny spells.

This ride had lots of fast singletrack to start with, ups and down. I manage to get my money worth from my knee pads with a spectacular tumble, flying other the handlebars landing well in front of the bike. My knees still hurt 3 days latter although there's no blood. Strange feeling!

I had been lucky with the weather up to that point, the wind had been pushing me but now it was time for the return leg. Here you may be able to see the weather front sweeping past from the right. I had to cycle right through it.

When the worst was other i stumble upon this burger van. Home made cakes, home made burger, cup of tea. I was ready for the last push up to the start

There it is, the last hill. The car is parked near the building on the right.

Sunday was climbing day, with Mike. It's been a year since the last time we climbed together. We went to Blackrock, and had a warm sunny afternoon cruising VSs:

Cruising? Well we can't see clearly on the picture that Mike had the rope wrapped around his leg there!

Harwick Hall

2009-03-27T23:59:00.002Z

Louise and I took our mums to visit Hardwick Hall. It's an interesting contrast to see the ruins of the old hall right next to the restored new one. I especially liked the old plaster work, still hanging on to the walls, more or less in the open:

Meanwhile, some of the old stoneworks shows sign of wear. Or even erosion!

We had a great time. If you want to see all the pictures, click here

Maman vient nous voir

2009-03-27T21:29:00.004Z

Maman a passe une semaine avec nous. J'ai recuperer les photos qu'elle a prise pendant son sejour.

On a beaucoup cuisine. Avant meme de sortir sa valise j'ai du vider les courses:

On a eu le temps de beaucoup discuter le lundi. Mardi, je devais faire des demandes:

Maman a profite du jardin:

C'est la saison des grenouilles:

Yes i was working:

Le samedi, Louise nous a emmene visiter Hardwick Hall

La maman de Louise etait avec nous:

Bien sur, j'ai pris plein de photos:

Le lendemain, j'etais un volontaire pour une course d'orientation.

Et l'apres midi, on a lu, plante des graines, joue au triominos. Une tres bonne semaine, merci Maman!

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Heather wants to know about Goldfrapp

2009-03-21T08:06:00.002Z

My friend Heather has tagged me an interesting list of questions to be answered with song titles from one band of my choice. Here it goes:

Choose ONE ARTIST ONLY. Using only SONG TITLES, answer each question (cleverly please) .
If you are tagged, it’s because I want to see YOUR list!

Pick Your Artist: Goldfrapp

Are you male or female: Number 1

Describe yourself: Human

How do you feel about yourself: Time Out From The World

The worst thing about you: Ooh La La

The best thing about you: Happiness

Describe where you currently live: Utopia

If you could go anywhere, where would you go: Felt Mountain

Your best friends are: Little Bird

Your family is: Happiness

Your favorite color is: Deep Honey

You know: Slippage

What do you love the most: Some People

What do you hate the most: Some People

What's the weather like: Twist

What are you wearing: Paper Bag

If your life was a tv show, what would it be called: Time Out From The World

What is life to you: Black Cherry

What is love to you: Cologne Cerrone Houdini

Do you believe in an afterlife: Road To Somewhere

What is the best advice you have to give: Train

Worst advice you’ve ever been given: Strict Machine

If you could change your name, what would it be: pass - no names in their song titles

If you were a Superhero, your name would be: Oompa Radar

The title of your Autobiography would be: A & E

Your favorite food is: Happiness

What do you fear: Clowns

What will your Epitaph say: Lovely 2 c u

Your last words will be: Let It Take You

What are you going to do later today: Ride a White Horse

What is your dream: You Never Know

Lecturer!

2009-03-17T06:53:00.002Z

I am now a part-time lecturer at a local college! (pour les francais: lycee professionel)

This will give me access to teacher training in further education, and then i will be able to apply with other colleges, for teaching jobs for which they think i am suitably qualified. It's a step in the right direction.

Because at the moment, i'm only doing cover for the sports department. And this department does live to students expectations of sports education: For my first lesson, i had to make a class watch a DVD then write down some analysis. One of the students was blind, nobody in the department spotted the mistake. Hmmmm....

Pasta!

2009-02-23T23:32:00.003Z

I brought a pasta machine when i visited my sister in Italy last year:

Fresh tagliatelle for lunch, vegetarian lasagne for dinner... twice!

Walk across Kinder

2009-02-09T08:23:00.003Z

The weather was very cold and sunny last Saturday. The snow had not had the chance to melt yet, but the roads were clear so we took the chance to drive to Edale (2 hours). We started to walk at 11am and 5 hours latter, made it back to the car having crossed the Kinder plateau on solid, frozen ground. Have a look at the pictures:

note: there seem to be a problem uploading the picture on the blog, but you can see the whole set by clicking here

Question for Tom... Lloyd... Matt... those who know about bike brakes

2009-02-08T16:46:00.003Z

I've replaced the old fashion handlebar on my city bike with something a lot more comfortable:

Here are the bits:

And what it looks like:

Problem: I don't have any brakes!

The original plan was to reuse the V-brake/shifter combo that came with my mountain bike. You can see the right hand side one on the last picture.

Not having a new brake cable, I tried to reuse the old one but it's too short. So I don't know if it works yet.

My questions are:

Is it possible to use V-brake levers with cantilever brakes,

Is it possible to drive the rear and front mechs with indexed shifters? The rear cassette has 5 rings and the shifter 8 speeds, have i got any hope to make it work?

Chineese New Year

2009-02-02T17:12:00.007Z

We went to the Chineese new year celebration on the university campus yesterday. We met Louise's Friends Kate, Gordon and Beth - who's not on the picture:

It was dark and only a handful of pictures are worth showing: the legend of monkey puppet show, one dance, the drums and the fireworks. We did miss a couple of acts when we retreated to the union for a hot chocolate in the warm!

Thank you Pedro!

2009-01-25T21:43:00.009Z

Et un bonus special pour Pedro: vue a St Veran, une vraie moto pour la neige:

Ah ca alors!?

2009-01-19T22:08:00.003Z

Je viens de faire le test etes-vous de droite ou de gauche". Voici le resultat:

Vous etes de gauche ou vous appartenez a une famille politique de gauche.

Il est possible que vous ne le saviez pas avant de commencer ce test.

Vos valeurs dominantes sont le partage, la dimension humaine, la generosite, vous refusez les egoismes primaires.

Vous avez parcouru pas mal de chemin mais il vous reste encore a avancer, la seule question que vous devez vous poser est celle-ci:

"Aurais-je le temps?"

J'en reviens pas. Car en Angleterre, c'est vrai que je suis "a gauche". En France, je suis un dangereux liberal aux idees corrosives voire dangereuses pour le bien etre de mes amis. (On m'a conseille de garder mes idees pour moi afin de ne pas faire de peine a mes amis, ce noel).

Ca alors, ce test donne une bonne explication de mon choix de vivre en Angleterre!

Sur ce, je retourne a mon business plan pour demarer ma propre boite, comme tout bon liberal futur exploiteur du peuple!

Telemark... Yeah Baby!

2009-01-18T17:29:00.003Z

Merci Pedro pour les conseils!

St Veran

2009-01-09T16:27:00.006Z

Poudreuse de reve au dessus de Montdauphin

2009-01-05T16:50:00.008Z

Edit: Toutes les photos sont maintenant sur flickr. Cliquez ici.

Et le fichier google earth est ici.

Arrives au chalet Porte a Guillestre, Pascal m'accueille en me proposant une sortie en ski de randonnee le lendemain, avec Mika, Eric, Mathieu, Jeannot et son chien Leon.

On commence a monter a travers la foret.

Assez vite, on apercoit des sommets.

Sortis de la foret, il fait grand beau:

Leon a l'air d'apprecier:

Une petite pause, apres 800m en deux heures de montee. Mais la on ralentit, et de toute facon Mathieu et moi decidons de ne pas sortir au sommet car la pente semblait chargee. On s'est donc ecarte pour ne pas reste sur le chemin d'une avalanche. On a bien regarde les autres grimper tout en mangeant notre sandwich. Il faisait -9C en plein soleil! Pas de photos du sommet, elles sont toutes ratees.

Et voila la descente, dans une poudreuse tres legere. Un vrai bonheur!

Bien sur, on en redemande et on grapille la moindre pente jusqu'a la fin, quitte a se retrouver coince dans les arbres comme Jeannot!

Dent de Lanfon

2009-01-02T11:00:00.004Z

Lundi dernier, j'ai eu la chance de faire la traversee de la dent de Lanfon avec Oliver et ses amis Hubert, Jean-Louis et celui dont j'ai oublie le nom.

les photos sont sur flickr, vous pouvez les voir en cliquant ici

Vacances chez Oliver

2008-12-21T17:14:00.007Z

Premiere journee en famille. l'apres midi, nous sommes alles a Semnoz faire du ski de fond.

Tres belle vue avec cette inversion nuageuse et un groupe de randoneurs en raquettes:

Aujourd'hui, ski de randonnee dans le massif des Aravis, a Bellefrasse. Nous allons derriere la crete, entre les deux sommets centraux:

Comme je suis lourd (!) j'ai laisse l'apareil photo dans la voiture, et garde le gps. Voici notre trace:

De retour sur le parking. Hubert, Jean-Louis et Oliver:

Demain, Oliver et Hubert nous emmenent faire la traversee de la dent de Lanfon. Depart et retour a la frontalel, monte en raquette a neige, puis piolets et crampons. J'espere que l'echauffement de ce weekend sera sufisant!

When i'm feeling blue...

2008-12-20T19:09:00.007Z

... I cook!

I try to find a recipe to cheers me up - and also Louise :) Last week, I had an aubergine in the fridge:

Google to the rescue! Find a suitable recipe: a pie with aubergine in it.

The robot does the hard work - I wish...

Final result - it tasted as good as it looks!

And here's another one i did soon after, brocoli and blue cheese "gratin"