Posted in Tech Stuff on 14 Nov 2008 at 17:33
If you’re anything like me, then dumping the contents of your brain into some sort of list or mind map is something you do quite regularly. Just thought I’d share a clever free tool that I was introduced to recently, which can help you do this quickly 
Enjoy!
Posted in Tech Stuff on 07 Nov 2008 at 15:36
Taken me a while to get round to it, but the gallery is fixed (used to cut off about 2/3 across the screen) and the recent photos are back on the right hand side of the main page.
Maybe I’ll use them both now.
Posted in Thoughts on 06 Nov 2008 at 15:27
London to Nottingham - Return
Car - Approx £30 in petrol *
Train - £33.45, £38.95 or £80.20 depending on when you travel **
What would you do?
* Does not include cost of Car, Insurance and Servicing
** Price includes 16-25 Railcard discount. Does not include cost of travel to/from stations. For cheaper tickets must travel at specific times.
Posted in Climbing on 13 Oct 2008 at 23:27
Caroline and I managed to escape work and join the club for a day at Froggatt at the weekend. Unfortunately we couldn’t take up an offer of a weekend of Western exploration, but we were lucky enough to enjoy a gorgeous sunny afternoon in the East.
After a quick warm up on Trapeze Direct, we joined the queue for Chequer’s Buttress, which went with all the fun I’d been told to expect. The stretch out the arete was about as much as my arms would allow, and after a short rest on the jugs, the airy arete had me giggling by the top. Classic route!
Next came a failed (or rather, escaped) look at Two Sided Triangle - HVS (should be E1 if you ask me) 5b, just left of Three Pebble Slab, then I promised to put a rope down Sunset Slab for Caroline, as obviously neither of us would ever lead it… hmmm. 10 minutes later, I was grinning through the crux above a 15m groundfall, at least it’s “only” 4b 
My turn to hold the rope now as Caroline breezed up Slab Recess, and then had even more fun on Trapeze (if swearing at your boyfriend counts as fun lol).
All in all, a really good day out, and the sun even put in an appearance for us mid October! Perfect.
James Brown padding up final run out moves on Three Pebble Slab, HVS 5a
Posted in Rants on 23 Sep 2008 at 16:19
Train companies recently updated their ticket tarrifs to make things simpler for customers. Removing a large number of ticket types, on EMT services you can now get:
Along with these changes, prices appear to have been raised slightly… so that an Off-peak ticket actually costs around 10-15% more (based on London-Nottingham ticket) than the old, and equivilant, Saver ticket. Although on thetrainline.com, a Super Off-peak ticket seems to be available if bought in advance (isn’t this an Advance ticket?) at around the old price.
So while simplifying the ticket types, train companies have also managed to raise prices… great, but it doesn’t stop there! Some of the tickets that disappeared as part of the simplification have no equivilant. Take the “Weekender” that EMT offered on their services, allowing you to leave any time on a Friday and return anytime over the weekend or on Monday (you could also do this Saturday to Tuesday). This ticket used to cost just a little more than a saver ticket, but now the only way to do this is to buy an Anytime ticket, which costs more than twice as much!
This means that not only have they raised prices on simple tickets, but they’ve removed cheaper options, forcing you to travel at inconvenient times or pay a small fortune for your journey. Isn’t that just fantastic.
Fantastically shit. I think I’ll just drive.
