Rip's Ramble
Life In The Eyes Of...
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Tuesday, May 27, 2003
Busy, Tiring, Happy
So deeply absorbed with work one day last week that I thought I should run over the road to the shop and grab a bite to eat and suddenly realised I should have met Bambi for lunch an hour earlier. Much blushing as I realised my rudeness. Face to Face and upfront person that I am, I emailed and apology :o
Saturday was a good day, out and about playing as much as possible.
Sunday started with the usual dip at the pool. Ariel and W brought Roo and Cockney along and the time flew past in the nicest possible way :) Sunday afternoon was spent In Onchan Park with Junior. He made a couple of friends to play with and we were there for over 2 hours before we headed home for Mummy to pick him up.
Monday, I was at work. Mummy had the day off, so she took Junior accross to Liverpool for a day trip taking in a visit to the Zoo, having train rides and shopping for new clothes. "Mummy bought me some sweets and I was a good boy because I didn't ask for them" he proudly informed me this evening.
I'm waiting on some cash at the moment, I cannot wait for it to arrive because I hope to be able to get him away for a couple of days again. I need a short break too. A chance to have some time away from work and hopefully meet up with a few friends in the UK.
The TT roars into town
96 years old and still going strong. What kind of page would this be without at least a passing mention to one of the worlds greatest motorsport events? What makes it so different from all the other race meetings held all over the world?
The Circuit isn't 2 or 3 miles of smooth, purpose designed track with gravel traps and acres of grass to correct mistakes, each lap is just shy of 38 miles of public roads which pass through sleepy villages, (many front doors are 3 foot from the racing line) and bordered in many places by stone walls, fences and the odd steep drop down a hillside if they take a corner a bit too wide.
The Race isn't a mass grid of bikes that set off for 30 or 40 miles, the riders set off individually or in pairs at 10 second intervals and race against the clock so it can be difficult to pace their race against others around themselves. Friends and family space themselves out with time boards to indicate the rider's position based on 3 timing posts around the course. Races are 3, 4 or 6 laps. At just under 20mins per lap, the races lasts for nearly 2 hours and the winners will have averaged over 120mph.
The Event Whereas most race meetings take place over a 2 or 3 day period, the TT is a 2 week event. Practices started on Saturday and are held daily (mad dashes home from work before the roads close). The first race will be this coming Saturday, then next Monday, Wednesday and Friday. A lot of visitors aim to be here on Thursday or Friday for a long weekend although there are plenty already here who will stay for the full 2 week period.
The Uniqueness Because the race takes place on public roads, anyone can turn up and ride the circuit. Because oncoming traffic can be a problem, the middle Sunday is nicknamed "Mad Sunday". On this day (subject to weather conditions) the section over the mountain (about 8-9 miles) is made one way. Couple this with the fact that the Island doesn't have a national speed limit, and it is easy to see why it is so popular with the visiting public. Another point is the closenes to the racing. On a "normal" circuit, the track is bordered by grass, then the gravel traps, then the barriers, then fencing and eventually spectators who pay many pounds to watch the race. Here the spectators pay no charge to watch and can lean over the afore mentioned stone walls only feet away from the bikes as they pass.
It's at this point that I'll throw in a bit of name dropping. Good Luck to all the competitors during these 2 weeks. A special wave goes to Richard Quayle. Local hero and all round nice guy who I'm fortunate to have met and spoken with on a number of occasions. Last year he rode a bike that he grabbed from a local showroom window complete with 'L' plates that someone stuck on for a joke.
Click the Pic to go to IOMTT.com
Thursday, May 22, 2003
Reading to a child, while laying on the bed, both warm and snuggled. Looking down and seeing closed sleeping eyes and a happy face. Lifting the childs head from your arm/chest and gentley lowering to the pillow. A sleepy "nightnight" murmured as child finds a comfy position in the bedding.
Great, isn't it? :)
Monday, May 19, 2003
Tonight, I am mostly listening to... "Pachelbel's Canon in D major"
Sunday, May 18, 2003
The sky is blue...
Sun is shining, temperature being pegged back a bit by a slight breeze. Just back from swimming to grab a bite, then out again to play some more. What a beautiful day on the Isle of Man :)
Saturday, May 17, 2003
You want the truth? You carn't handle the truth
I have this lark sussed, the time when your head could be filling up with all kinds of crap about how life could be... SHOULD BE... better, but it isn't.
It's a doddle, you blank it., you find a way to mentally block it, cos you know that tomorrow is another day and all will be okay in the morning.
Simple, innit?
Wednesday, May 14, 2003
From little acorns...(part 2)
*Office Memo*
OUR TWO TEAMS AT THE VENTURE CENTRE DID VERY WELL. THE MEN WERE SECOND WITH A SCORE OF 4.19 AND THE GIRLS WERE 5TH WITH A SCORE OF 5.03.
THE POLICE TEAM WON WITH A SCORE OF 4.02 AND THERE WERE 31 TEAMS, SO THE TOTAL AMOUNT GOING TO HOSPICE WAS £3,100.
Sunday, May 11, 2003
Been messing
Nearly went to bed without saying hello then :o
A few more bright and sunny days have meant playing out as much as possible with Junior. A bit of sleeplessness has meant bleary eyed mornings including today when I woke late for our Sunday Swim. We managed there to have lunch (breakfast) with Ariel and W who had had their dip and were already on their way upstairs. Junior and I went into the pool after the food and stayed in the water for just over 2 hours.
I've spent the evenings of the past week when Junior hasn't been here nose deep in Frontpage Express. It started with me wanting a new and better logo for Manxparents and ended up with *THIS* The links in the menu work, but I still have a heck of a lot more to do before I transfer it across. I tried to load the new logo onto my forum and managed to kill it in the process. Luckily, I found a website with the HTML for the template and I was able to revive it and work out where I had gone wrong.
VH1 has been brilliant tonight. Meatloaf night... One programme all about how 'Bat Out Of Hell' was conceived, put together and eventually released on the unsuspecting public. A great and funny insight. Then the bio-documentary about Meatloaf (the man) 'Back to Hell' and currently a scutch of his video hits. I'm in heaven :)
And now to bed, perchance to sleep. Have a Happy Monday people :)
Wednesday, May 07, 2003
ARGHHHH!!!!! (Part 2)
Continuing from last night's lung clearing exercise... I dug out my OCR software disc, placed it into my CD ROM drive and it whirred and whirred and whirred... It has a goddam scratch on it and refused to find the software :(
So go on, I know your all gagging to know what I wanted to copy. You're not? Well hard luck, cos this is MY blog and I've got nowt else to type about so I'm gonna tell you anyway...
One of my gripes regarding ManxParents.net is that I am building it to correct the fact that the Isle of Man has little, if any, online resources directed at parenting and families. So I thought "Why don't I stop moaning and do it myself?" stupid stupid me.....
Problem 1. I've never built a website before, have no idea about HTML, tables, FTP and all the other things website related.
Problem 2. As there isn't much in the way of material out there already, once I registered the domain name and sorted my hosting, where did I go to find the stuff that I want to put online? Catch 22, innit?
Last night's hour worth of lost typing was the sort of "problem 2" that I have let myself in for. The only way I am going to create content is to go out there ask the questions, pick up leaflets and come home then type it myself. You want to see a result of the sort of thing I want to see online, but doesn't exist anywhere else except in a dusty office on an information rack?
Tonight I have typed out the 'IOM Government Childminder's Handbook' Basically, if a person is thinking about becoming a childminder, this is the booklet that they would be given to go away and digest. By typing it out and shoving it up on my site, it might save a couple of people the bus fare into Douglas. You can take a glance at my handywork * HERE *
Monday, May 05, 2003
ARGHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!
Note to self...
Next time you spend an hour copy typing a document out so that it can be made available online, remember to save it regularly so that when the software throws up a 'fatal error' message, you won't be kicking yourself...(either that or load the OCR software from the disk in the pile to your left and scan the darn thing in)
I'm going to bed now, Grrrrrrrrrrrr
A Quiet Bank Holiday Weekend
Sunshine, Playparks, Swimming, Steam train trip to Castletown (and back), Drives around the Island, DIY, Friends in pubs, Televised football, Manxparents website, Catching up with close friends on MSN, Monsters inc*, Airfix models, painting, alphabet practice... etc etc. :)
*Bonus material on the DVD includes "For the Birds". I nearly wet myself laughing when I saw it for the first time :)
Thursday, May 01, 2003
Vroom Vroom :)
I picked my Mazda 323 up this evening after work and I LOVE it *big grin* Not just because it goes like a rocket at the slightest touch of the accelerater (which is nice) but the power mean effortless pulling away from junctions etc. coasting slow in 3rd gear doesn't require a drop to second to get going, the car takes it in it's stride. Junior likes the car too. Not for the speed, the comfortable seats or the roomy interior. He likes it because it has pop up headlights. He insists on getting in and out through my door so that he can poke the button on his way past :)
