Saturday 13 December 2008

REMF

Not much been going on this week. Okay, so that is a lie, there has been lots happening, but nothing vaguely related to this blog.

Paramo short gaiters arrived from Foothills. Part of my WHW AAR. Also part of this was the ordering of a pair of Goretex over-socks from Furtech. My feet don’t do well in Sealskinz socks – great for river-crossings, and for around the tent, but not for hiking in. Oversocks had been on my radar since some people, eg Dawn, had mentioned them.

I’ve been reading some more of Jon Vonhof’s “Fixing Your Feet” . There is a great section on solutions for feet problems…lots of solutions. Great – everyone is different, and there is no one solution. Something it takes time to realise.

A very nice woman has mailed me her … sorry … their BushBuddy woodburning stove, and I’ll be having a play with it over Christmas. I’ve given Honey Stove feedback to Bob, so it will be good to see them both side by side. He has certainly piqued my interest. I want to see how it all works – or doesn’t – in a moorland situation.

The StickPic arrived during the week. I had found that they were selling off ‘seconds’, so got a few dollars off. Which was nice. I hadn’t had the chance to try it out yet … well, I have, but you really don’t want to see late-night photos of me in my PJ’s waiting for the cold-drugs to wear off so that I can sleep. In case you don’t know what a StickPic is, here is George and Jason’s videos about it. I’m sure they can send John and Andy a typed transcript instead ;-)

Having had problems with my tv recorder, I finally cleared off all the recorded shows and re-formatted the hard drive. No longer will every activation of the device start up with a clip of Chris Townsend pitching his Akto! Och. But hopefully it means that the recorder will stop ‘forgetting’ to record programs. A very useful device, and has changed my viewing habits.

Cheated and painted the gun crew in a uniform expensive black cloth, and based up the demi-culverin.

demi-culverin

And my new washing machine was delivered today. Hopefully the saga ends there. A tale of attempted DIY, poor online shops and poorer real-world shops.

Having caught the “Culture Show” special on Baz Luhrmann last night. Besides being another chance to see some great clips from his work, I was left pondering a quote of his: “we don’t have anything if we don’t have stories”. Even something as humble as a washing machine has a part to play in the epic.

IMG_2397m

So far, so good, and no leaks.

7 comments:

Gayle said...

The Bushbuddy is most definitely mine, not ours (working on the basis that birthday presents are excluded from the 'what's mine is yours' rule).

The Stickpic I ordered arrived last week, but it's not been tried yet. Seemed a bit cheeky to try out one of Mick's stocking fillers...

Spoilsport for not posting your first experimental pictures using it!

Martin Rye said...

Parliamentarian or Royalist Duncan? What side do you play?

Andy and John will see the light;)

AktoMan said...

As a former member of the Roundhead Association, it has to be Parliament. But that was then. Life moves on. There are some good, detailed figures out there.

AktoMan said...

@Gayle - a case of "what's yours is mine, and what's mine's my own"? ;-)

You really don't want my man-boobs flashed to the world. Not a six-pack, but a wine-box.

Anonymous said...

I've got a pair of GoreTex over socks. I've only used them on short walks so far, but they seem promising. I'll be interested to see how you get on. I'm thinking that the combination of the GoreTex socks and my Aku NS 564 non-membrane boots may be the ideal combination. We'll see.

Anonymous said...

I should also have mentioned Bridgedale coolmax liner socks. If you don't use them, give them a try, they are the best liner socks I've used.

AktoMan said...

I'll be ordering a pair of Injin socks in the New Year, as I just try different footwear systems. The only liner socks that I ahve are the Smartwool ones, so I'll add the Bridgedale ones to my list. Thanks Robin.