The Little World of Barnum T Jugbat

It’s Saturday morning, the only definite date in my diary is going to watch Norwich City play QPR at Carrow Road this afternoon. The rest of the weekend is free. But is it?

I have two reports to write, one of them for a meeting I can’t attend but starts at 12:00 today, a draining board full of washing up, a pile of ironing, a bike to adjust, batteries to replace as three items all failed on the same day, over 1000 unopened emails, a dog to walk, trees to prune, an allotment in need of attention, and a minor tsunami of tasks that are all part of my many and varied interests. Oh, and I have to pick up my newly repaired dentures by 14:00, the dentist having found them after losing them for a week.

I have already vowed not to have a drink this weekend after a heavy week of socialising, and then looking at my credit card statement. It looks like I live in a pub. I will, apart from walking Amber B’Starr-Dogg, maintain a healthy exercise regime and walk or cycle everywhere. I enjoy both, even with decrepit knees, back and hands, as long as I’m wearing the appropriate clothing.

So, thinking about it, no, I don’t have a free weekend but a lot of opportunities to do things, meet people, enjoy myself, and collapse in a satisfied heap at the end of it.

oh, and if anyone wants to meet to socialise, just call. Even if I’m on the ginger beer. Cheers.

my first post in some time due to the fact I’m a technical idiot. After miraculously setting up this blog and posting my mind went blank. First of all I couldn’t find it, when I did I couldn’t open it, when I did I couldn’t work out how how to post, them life overtook and I was busy with it, but now I’m back , yippee yippee yippee.

Is it just me or do other find the interweb etc totally confusing, even the so called simple things? I have so many passwords it would fill a book but even I know u shouldn’t write them down. I did have a secret formula but now it’s repeating itself and I’ve also miscalculated so some don’t follow it. My fingerprint mostly works, but my hands are usually mucky, which doesn’t hepl. Facial recognition doesn’t as I wear glasses and the time delay between being sent a link or code is OK provided you ain’t in the middle of Norfolk with no signal. What I suggest is a link to my DNA which would be instantly recognised. Now there’s a challenge for someone.

And the applications applications, why do I keep getting links to things I don’t need or want? Apparently I have an Instagram account, what’s that, and others I haven’t discovered. How did that happen? Was it AI, did I press the wrong button, did I consciously set them up but my fading memory has forgotten or is pure paranoia? Whatever it is it adds to the richness of life in a curiously infuriating yet satisfying way.

However, I’m back, so here’s to more inane observations.

Cheers

it’s been sometime since I posted anything. The main reason being that, due to my technical idiocy, I couldn’t work out how to do so. Like many other modern technologies I find this site confusing at not at all logical. It has so many things going on, most of which I do not understand or, I suspect, need. Today I have found out how to write this post almost by accident so am taking the time to write something. Who knows if I will be able to repeat the trick tomorrow.

This happens with many things I do using technology. My wife’s had the same car for over 3 years but there are still buttons I dare not press. The other day I pressed a button in error and switched the air conditioning on. I could not turn it off and spent the remainder of the journey freezing for the very cold air being blasted out.

The washing machine is another. I have given up trying to match the programmes to the washing instructions on many garments. I stick to one or two tried tried and trusted ones that, bar the odd colour change, seem to work.

And mobile phones, tablets and laptops? Even the simplest tasks seem to reinvent themselves themselves with a myriad of choices and offers. I like to think I can cope but ……. Only the other day I discovered I have an Instagram account. What is it, where did come from and how do I use it?

Having said that, when it works, modern technology helps life tremendously. But please, can we keep it as simple as possible?

The 46th Norwich Beer Festival begins on the! 17th October and ends on the 2nd November. The link is https://www.facebook.com/groups/NorwichBeerFestival/?ref=share .Unlike most of the previous festivals it will not be at it’s spiritual home of St Andrews and Blackfriars Halls. Building work continues. This year it will be peripatetic, covering three sites with a host of fringe events. It’s a great event that has evolved over the years from just Blackfriars Hall to the whole complex. It has been the making, and mainstay, of the Norwich and District branch of CAMRA. Many friendships and contacts have been made, business opportunities created and has been is a jewel in the multi faceted life of Norwich and Norfolk.

I can recommend a visit to both the festival and Norwich itself, outside of the event there are so many great pubs and interesting places to visit in the city. The inhabitants are friendly, mostly, unless you mention the Binmen down the road. It’s a bike friendly city, although there are hills everywhere, two cathedrals, a castle, river through the middle and the countries oldest cast concrete public urinal ( now sadly disused).

The festival itself features many ales, ciders and world beers, and an eclectic mix of volunteer staff. Thoroughly entertaining, they are only too pleased to help and demonstrate their knowledge, or lack, of the subject. Many are old hands although new faces appear every year. Treat them all gently and you will be surprised at the warm Norfolk welcome you will receive.

Thas th’ lot fer to’day bor. Gotta be a troshin’.

The last few days I’ve been cycling around Norwich, my home town. Despite Noel Coward’s view, ‘Very flat, Norfolk’, Norwich is a very hilly place. With the River Wensum flowing through the middle you can’t go anywhere without hills. As a cyclist there are easier and harder routes to get to places and as I struggled up St Andrews Hill I started thinking about this. In it’s wisdom the city council has built up a network of cycle only roads, shared pathways, cycle routes, cycle racks, and cycle crossings. All of them routinely, and the city council staff, come in for criticism from cycling organisations, drivers and the general public. Even taking into account the general malaise of complaining about everything regardless this seems unfair.

The cycling facilities might not always be joined up or convenient but they exist for us all to take advantage of. The issue isn’t cyclist, car drivers, taxis, buses, lorries or anything else other than us as individuals. The others are lumps of metal we use. It’s our thoughts and behaviours that turn them into dangerous objects. If we were all more tolerant, thoughtful, and proactive cycling and the world in general would be a better place.

But to get back to Norwich. Much of the centre is shared pathways, making it convenient for considerate cyclists and pedestrians both. I find slowly freewheeling with plenty of audible ‘Excuse me’s’ and ‘Thank you’s’ make life pleasant all round, as does acknowledging drivers as we wait for each other to pass. There are green pedalways to the outskirts and beyond and a number of proactive cycling organisations all doing their bit. We have several very good bike shops anf pubs par excellence.

The only blot on the scene is the Northern Distributor Road, our northern bypass. Ironically it wasn’t built by the city council. It has a cycle path along it. I have ridden it several times and it isn’t for the faint hearted. Snaking from one side of the NDR to the other, varying surfaces, uncontrolled crossings of busy main roads, diversions away from the bypass and sneaky dead ends for the unknowing it is a challenge. Why not give it a try if you want your hair to turn white.

Norwich is a great place to cycle, let’s all enjoy it together.

Today is Monday, on Sunday the mighty Canaries (Norwich City) will play Ipswich Town (hereafter called the Binmen for reasons I will explain if you ask) in the ‘Old Farm Derby’. It’s bigger than the (Old Firm Derby in my opinion).

We are not playing well, both individually and as a team, and many supporters are calling for change at the top with both manager and sporing director in their sights. A new manager, virtually a new team, and 5 managers in as many years. What happened to patience in this and any other sphere?

But to business. Form doesn’t count in a derby. All we want is commitment, bravery, and a thorough thrashing of the Binmen. I’ve seen many derby’s over the years, some good others not, but the best have been hard fought exciting encounters. We haven’t been beaten in 16 years by them, long may it continue.

OTBC