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February 16 Time goes slowlyIts funny how time seems to fly away with some things and drag with others. Strangely it generally seems to be almost predictable in that when you need time it flys by and when you want something doing it takes for ever - especially if it's dealing with large organisations or teenagers.
Outdoors:
Well Matt's supposed to have had the new site ready a month or more ago and I'm still waiting! Iain's site has taken priority with a complete facelift, and just as that was almost complete he had a comletre hard drive failure so had to start again. In the meantime my site waits - he could walk into a job at Magicalia using this sort of timescale lol.
The recent spell of unseasonal weather has brought benefits and disadvantages. On the bright side it's been stunning weather for driving round with the roof down and getting piles of stock photos. On the downside it's only a week till the Winter Skills and that means we need snow! This year's going to be a bt different with just the one lodge and only 12 on the course. The extra spaces are being taken up by Stu and Jules with Max and Cherrie, plus me and Matt. To ease the kitchen situation Matt and I are going to be on breakfast duty, preparing a full cooked breakfast for everyone. It's Matt's first visit to Scotland and will be his first time on snow covered mountains - well at least in the UK. Personally I'll just be glad when the long drive home's over and it's all finished. If I didn't have to be there as the organiser I wouldn't be going myself this year, but I won't let people down who've been looking forward to this for months.
Gear testing's going well. The SatMap 10 is still doing it's thiong on the long term test, and still outperforming the Garmin Vista HCX. Two pairs of approach shoes have been put through the mill, one from Merrell and one from Salomon. Not surprisingly the Merrells have been outstanding and the Salomons a little narrow. It's the same issue with the mid boots from Salomon and it just reinforces the goldenrule of finding what's comfortable first and looking at the name on them second. In the pipeline we've got some Aku Spiders, which hopefully will get a trial over the winter skills weekend.
Also on the horizon, but not too distant is some serious tent testing in combination with the illustrious Cruxter. Now I reckon I know more than most when it comes to outdoor kit, and there's something about Scandinavian kit that always grabs my attention. Given a free choice I love my Haglofs softshell and rucksack and my Hilleberg tent, so when I heard there was another Norwegian company making tents of the same or even higher standard than Hilleberg my ears started twitching. It didn't take long before emails were winging there way between Norway and home and sure enough I've got two stunning looking tents on their way.
Helsport Trollspiret
This looks likeit could be a Vortex and Crux beater! For the last few years the F10 Vortex has had an honoured position as the finest mountain tent in my collection and the one to go for when you're expecting the worst mountains and weather can throw at you. The Trollspiret looks equally, and possibly more, capable but at a lot less weight. At only 3.4 kilos for a two man it's impressive. The plan is to test it in April in Arran for starters.
Helsport Rondane
It's 2.2 kilos and a full 3 man 3 season tent - that's less than three quarters of a kilo per person! With a build quality and design similar to the Hilleberg range this looks like a sure fire winner once it realy hits the UK market. At present there's only a single UK distributor but that could well change. Cruxter wil be happy to know it's available in the same bright colours as the Trollspiret above....or more conservative green.
After Arran there's a planned return to Ireland in the hope of some better weather for the Reeks, and in late summer it's looking like a return to the Caucasus.
Personal Stuff:
Well so much for a new year and a new start!
The car's moving along bit by bit, and this week saw its first prolonged run of decent weather with the roof down. The next few moths should see it with new alloys and roll bars ready for the summer if we have one. Of course the Laguna had to decide after years of faultless use to have the EPROM chip in the stereo fail. At least a new stereo means I can transfer the one from the Eunos to the Laguna and get something black to replace it with, rather than the incongruous silver which looks so out of place.
At last, after months of waiting Cheshire Police's investigation into their own officers has thrown up the expected whitewash and now it's gone on to the IPCC for independent assessment. It seems that even when you're caught out all you have to do is say" I wasn't responsible for that and thought someone else was doing it" and it's ok - no seeking out which one WAS actually responsible. Well let's hope the IPCC can show them a thing or two about how to carry out a professional investigation without the bias of "He has nothing to lose by admitting it and as a Police officer he should be believed"! Complaining against the Police is one of those things that drags on and on when you just want it over and sorted. I think the time issue is almost certainly deliberate in the hope people will eventually get so tired banging their heads against a brick wall and getting nowhere they'll just drop it. What they've failed to realise is that it's what's keeping me going so I won't be dropping it no matter what.
Chris birthday is fast approaching, and despte all the nagging he's not bothered getting round to sorting out anything about who he wants to come to a party - so that looks like a non starter now given the time limitations. Matt came close to getting shown the door again after a drunken night with friends ending in him smashing a picture rather than hitting someone. He tried to hit his brother, but I don't think he'll be doing that again in a while after the smack he took.
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