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2023-07-10 Happy Life using a Bullet Journal

I have titled this as Happy Life using a Bullet Journal to be more attractive to potential readers than by calling it 'Time Management' or 'To-do Lists on steroids' or 'Managing your Life' etc. or just 'Bullet Journals'

This post is about how my life and in particular my previous five working years were absolutely made happier and easier by using a Bullet Journal.

There are plenty of tutorials about how to use Bullet Journals and I will not try to teach you how to use them here at this point, happy to later if you want!

This post contains some of my observations and I will list them here:

• They are paper journals, it is important that you do not try to computerise them as it will not work, the whole benefit comes from the fact that you are continually reviewing them.
• They are not calendars although they do contain dated entries that are relevant and you will often duplicate what's in your actual online calendar if you have one, don't worry about that.
• They are not To-Do lists although they may appear like them, they are more flexible and more structured.
• If you look at many online examples they are very visual, you do not have to be an artist to use one, its just text, as stated you will see examples on line where people have turned there journals into works of art, this is not necessary, you can if you want decorate them if it pleases you and draw symbols etc. but I just use text.

Why have they made me happier, well mostly because I have not missed a deadline, missed an appointment, forgotten to do something on time etc. The bullet journal works better than anything else for this, yes you can use an online calendar or physical diary, the online diary may fail as it generally only contains partial appointments i.e. your work commitments and a paper diary only contains personal appointments usually and combining all this together is a nightmare as well as reviewing everything to decide what you are doing today, what you did not do yesterday, what you would like to focus on today etc. Bullet journals manage this all fine.

Why not use an App? well experience has shown me that where such apps do exist, we tend to use them in a way that allows us easily to type things in and then forget them and rely on the App to remind us what/when to do something, whereas in my journal its me that reviews what needs to be done in my case every morning while I am eating breakfast, this works so better as no other person or 'thing' is involved!

Now I won't argue with those of you who say they do all this with Outlook or one of the many other Apps that exist such as Trello etc. I just know Bullet journals are better at controling all of these things in life and as someone who has been trained and has used Online Calendars, Time management solutions, various project management applications, I am Prince2 trained, Agile trained etc. and whereas Bullet journals do NOT replace all of these they do ensure that you do not miss key moments in your life, ensure that you focus on what you need to and allow you to re plan things you cannot do at this point, it really makes all aspects of your life easier and can take the stress out of chasing your tail in terms of trying to remember/do everything you think needs to be done.

Give a bullet journal a go, just get a simple dotted journal (I use a 13x21cm journal), watch a couple of online videos particularly the ones by Ryder Carroll and give it a try.

2023-07-05 Bought an e-bike

I have finally have bought an ebike I have been riding a bike for well over 60 years and I am still reasonably fit but age is starting to catch up with me and more importantly I am finding it hard to keep up with all my friends who now have ebikes.

When looking for a bike I wanted it to satisfy the following:

• Ride like a bike most of the time without assistance
• Be suitable for my riding profile which is mostly on my gravel bike
• Have an option to extend the range
• Not be too heavy

I looked at mountain bikes with powerful but heavy power units, I also looked at rear hub powered bikes and finally I settled on a Fazua powered gravel bike the Cairn e-Adventure.

• Fairly light
• Removable battery and engine so converts to normal bike.
• Nice components Campagnolo groupset, Hunt wheels etc.
• Spare battery in a carrier on forks.
• Felt immediately at home when I rode it

So all good not cheap but lovely frame and components so nothing to upgrade.

Range is surprisingly impressive I often ride with no assistance and just turn it on when on hills and so it will easily do 110km on a single battery averaging around 22kmh If I used assistance more I would expect around 60km which is still pretty good.

I have had it for a few weeks now and truly love it.

2023-07-03 Kayaking River Wye

This weekend I went on a trip with my club which was supposed to be on the river Wye starting from Hay-on-Wye which is a beautiful little town famous for its book festival! Unfortunately the river was very low, so on Saturday we went to Brecon and paddled a there and back trip for a few hours along the Brecon canal, a lovely quiet waterway and an enjoyable paddle.

We camped at Bycross Farm campsite, a super site right on the river Wye. However on Sunday the levels were still very low so we decided to go further down stream to Ross-on-Wye we were going to paddle from there a relatively short paddle to Kerne bridge and we shuttled the cars there so we had vehicles both ends. Kerne bridge is a nice place to park, nice Cafe and you can lauunch from there if you wish.

The paddle from Ross was fun, the water was low but one of our leaders guided us though most of the low water spots.

It was a lovely day lots of people on the river and I had a lovely time.

At the end of the paddle at Kerne bridge about 5 minutes before the exit point there is some bubbly water that can take you into some trees if you are not careful. We decided to make this a training spot and we were shown by the experienced paddlers how to go through this water safely either by paddling or by lining using ropes to guide the boat though while you are on shore.

I decided to paddle it, and was doing very well paddling towards the spot I wanted to exit the bubbly water, I was pretty much through it when I ended up in an eddy which stopped my boat and started to turn it, at which point I was still leaning and over I went, splash! swim! a bit embarrassed but fine, apparently I should have done a low brace to push myself back up, something new to learn and practice this week!

It was a lovely weekend cant wait for the next trip!

2023-02-08 Next UK Election

In the next UK general election which will be held no later than 24 January 2025 it is likely that Labour will win as things stand now, the country is in a mess, cost of living going up, can't get a GP or Hospital appointment, industrial action in all our major services and people generally fed up

The Conservatives know this and with that in mind how will their strategy be set be to get back in power on the following election

How can they do that, I expect only by labour screwing up, so how can they ensure that happens?

It's quite a gamble, if they work hard now and achieve some form of recovery if it's too slow and people are not yet feeling the benefits and cannot see it working yet then they would loose to Labour who would then gain from any hard work from the Conservatives.

All political party's obviously want to remain in power, they have to try to stay in power long enough so as to ensure their goals are completed and are successful which often means doing things that will inflict pain on the country on the path to achieve those goals.

So what should the conservatives do? will they plan to put in a ticking time bomb to go off part way through labour's first term. Sounds unbelievable but is it possible?

There are many wealthy and powerful conservative supporters in this country who may have to accept the conservative defeat and would want the conservatives back in power ASAP and would be able to weather any storm to achieve that maybe at the expense of the general public of the UK.

We saw in the US the departing Trump administration trying to sabotage Bidens incoming administration by locking down funds that should have been used to stimulate the economy.

Could something like this happen in the UK I hope not, if it does then it will be time to change how our government is elected and ran.

2023-02-01 How to build a Time Machine

Well actually my theory on how to travel back and forth in time.

Some caveats first, obviously I don't know what I am talking about. I struggle to understand how to build an Ikea bookcase let alone how the universe and all things work.

So feel free to laugh at the following as a piece of nonsense

The one thing I can say is that science does not fully understand how the universe got here, how the expansion is contained, what's at the edge of the universe, how quantum physics allows particles to be in multiple places at once, black holes, is there a multiverse etc.

And even if scientists could explain all that I am sure that I would not understand it.

But that does not stop me from wondering though.

So what is time, my theory is that time is movement. Everything in the universe is moving constantly, even when we are sat still, all the particles that make our form as well as everything around us are constantly moving.

If they all stopped then I believe there would be no time, i.e. nothing would ever change it would always be the same.

Now if that is true then if we speeded up the movement of these particles then effectively things would change more quickly and therefore time would go forward more quickly. If we slowed these particles down then things would change more slowly and effectively slow down time. Now what if we could reverse those particles, would that mean that time would go backwards?

If that is true and we had a machine that could achieve that then we would effectively be able to go back and forth in time.

Now of course we don't have such a machine and we would have to move the universe as a whole back and forth at the same time so not much use for nipping forward getting the horse racing results and then nipping back to make a big win. Or leaping back 63 million years to see what really happened to the dinosaurs. Additionally our bodies would also change back and forth at the same time and therefore not exist 63 million years ago so we would have to isolate ourselves from this change.

But I think its an interesting although maybe stupid concept. Scientists tell us that the singularity that forms a black hole will warp space and time so who knows, I obviously don't!

2023-01-28 T-Rextasy

Last night at the theatre we had T-Rextasy, this was a band booked originally before Covid and they have only just managed to get going on their tour now.

They were brilliant, the theatre was only half full which is quite common with these Covid rebooked shows which have been rescheduled a couple of times, people drop off because they cannot make the new dates.

However the theatre really rocked and the audience were out of their seats early in the first half and were dancing for much of the show.

All the favourites were included, Debora, Ride a White Swan, Children of the Revolution, Jeepster, Lifes a Gas, Metal Guru, Mystic Lady, Telegram Sam etc. and it finished with Hot Love brilliant!

2023-01-26 Getting Paddle Board Ready

Getting ready for Paddle Boarding.

Decided to clean my Paddleboard and get it ready as hopefully the weather improves.

All good, there was a bit of dirt on the board which came off with a bit of elbow grease but it all looks good, pretty much like new which considering I used it a lot last year is good.

Pumped it up fully and its holding air fine, all bungies fine, fin boxes are fine, put some vaseline on the paddle catch button.

The only issue I had was the bag which was kept in the shed had a bit of mould on it, considering the number of times it has spent outside in all weathers when I have been on camping trips its pretty good.

I used white vinegar to kill off the mould, everyone is now complaining why the house smells of vinegar, but at least the bag looks better.

I want to take a trip on the Wye as soon as weather looks enjoyable, have just bought a river fin as the Wye is quite shallow in places.

My board is a Blackfin board from iRocker, unfortunately they seem to have stopped trading in the UK so I could not purchase a river fin from them at this time, their customer service said they were looking into how they can support international customers, but for now no luck. So I purchased a fin from a German company based in Munich via Amazon UK, the company is Eisback Riders named after the man made surfing river in the English Garden in Munich. The fin arrived after a week and fits my board perfectly. Next time I am in Munich (We have close family friends there) I will visit the Eisbach, I suspect looking at the images that it will be beyond my skills but will take a look.

2023-01-21 Voodoo Room

Brilliant band at the theatre last night Voodoo Room, they played Hendrix, Clapton and Cream numbers, they were so good, the theatre was packed out.

Definitely recommend them, check them out on voodoo-room.com

They overran by 30 minutes but no one complained as they finished with some classics including playing Hey Joe with guitar behind the head and All along the watchtower brilliant

2023-01-15 Pink Floyd

I am a volunteer usher at our local theatre and this week there was a Pink Floyd tribute band who were excellent.

It is some time since I last listened to Pink Floyd and I was never really into them. I think they were a type of music that either the psychedelic nature of their sound or the message in their songs appealed to you and when I was young at that time none of that did. However at this concert I found the messages in their lyrics really interesting.

They had a fantastic stage set, with an 8 ft wide circular screen at the back showing incredible images from original artwork to modern day relevant material and it was this modern day material that hit home.

The tracks that were particularly thought provoking were:

• The Dogs of War
  'Our currency is flesh and blood'
• Brain Damage
  'The lunatics are in my hall'
• Money
  'New car, caviar, four star daydream
  Think I'll buy me a football team'
• Another Brick In The Wall
  'We don't need no thought control

For the Dogs of War they showed various war related videos and included more recent items showing the war in Ukraine.

In Brain Damage they showed the political "Lunatics in our heads" including Trump, Putin and various UK prime ministers.

Have commited to spend some more time listening to their tracks.

2023-01-11 First bike ride this year

Yay! went for my first bike ride today, I have just recovered from a really nasty cough over Christmas, I have been on my turbo inside but have been aching to get out.

Just went for a short ride on my gravel bike, split between road and off road, quite muddy ...

A bit cold but soon warmed up, the sun was shining, a little wind but just so lovely to be out!

2023-01-08 Gul Evo Watersports Helmet

Have really enjoyed my Paddleboard last year as well as the small amount of Kayaking in my new Perception

This year I have some plans to Paddleboard and Kayak on some faster moving rivers up to grade 2 which are pretty safe generally but as there is always the chance I will fall off my board or tip my kayak on these rivers which will feature rocky obstacles then I felt I should really ware a helmet, I would on my bikes so I don't see this as any different.

I was prompted by a good price of 28 pounds including postage for a Gul Evo Watersports Helmet which is aimed at any watersport where there is a possibility to bump your head, including kayaking and sailing.

I was a little skeptical as to the quality at that price but all the reviews I looked at were very favorable and indeed it seems really solid.

I was also confused about the size as my head is around 59cm and the two sizes sm/m 57-59cm and l/xl 59-61cm obviously split at that size. In the end I got the l/xl size and it fitted perfectly using the adjuster knob at the back.

The helmet is very comfortable, it has removable ear inserts which feel very snug, it remains in place despite me shaking my head vigorously hanging upside down without feeling too tight.

I hope to try it out on the river in the next few weeks and will post an update.

2023-01-04 Adventure on hold

I do not dislike the winter, but I do dislike it when you are ill, I have had a bad chest infection for the past 3 weeks or more and have not been able to get out in any form other than short dog walks.

I was very jealous when I saw some of my family having a new year dip in the sea in Devon.

But it is what it is and I am hopefully getting better and determined to get our as soon as I can.

Meanwhile while I have been stuck in I have been watching on BBC iPlayer the excellent Scottish TV Adventure show series, there are just two seasons with four shows each but I would recommend them to anyone who likes doing outdoors stuff at any level.

2022-12-30 Retirement so far

I retired March 2022 after working as a software developer at the National Trust for the previous five years.

I loved working for the Trust and indeed now volunteer for it as a guide at Avebury manor.

My last project for them was to create a temporary CMS for their marketing systems while they found and implemented a more permanent solution. It was only supposed to be used for a few months but due to delays in the main CRM replacement project all of the other sub projects were delayed meaning that it was still in use when I retired for which I was a bit worried about as it was my last piece of work for them and I wanted it to be good. It turns out the CMS was still in use in December this year and I have been told that there have been no problems with it so I do feel a little proud that I left on a success.

I started my retirement with a rush of things I wanted to do, intending to do everything I had always been wanting to do.

This post talks about the things I have been doing including Volunteering, Water Sports, Cycling etc.

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