I’m home from Cuba.

I had an absolutely fantastic time (I’m going to write more about it soon, I’m just trying to get organised at the moment).

Overall, a fantastic trip, and a country I’d definitely recommend.

Oh, and other good news. Franchesca (sociopath hr woman from last entry) is staying. Fab.

Well, the last time I went on a long hall “big” trip was in 2009 to Capetown. At the time, I wondered if it would be the last one I’d ever do !.

I’m about the leave with with my trusty rucksack and collection of proven travel gear.

By the time you reading this, I’ll be on the train to Manchester airport, heading for 17 amazing days in Cuba.

One other thing. A really cool woman at work called Franchesca (who I’ve nicknamed sociopath, for her superb focus while working) may have left by the time I return to work.

If your reading this Frank, its been fab working with you.

The search for adventure continues…

John

Missed my train last night. Sat in the Patten arms waiting for the next one (apparently John Prescott used to be the chef here).

I settled down for a pint and then realised I didn’t have a book with me.

I had a look at the TV and started following the current affairs program that was on.

The following are 4 things I saw, and some of my thoughts on them.

 

Police cameras.

On the face of it, a good idea.

Just for fun, try videoing a copper on your phone and watch what happens.

Problem debt.

Some balloon on the tv was banging on about parents getting into debt. Because of this, they were unable to buy their children all the things enjoyed by their piers.

This could lead to bullying. His solution: Write off their debt, so the family can return to normal.

My thoughts:

1. They borrowed the money, they should pay it back. That they have children is something they should have considered before borrowing it (I know I would have).

2. How about teaching children real value’s, and not buying them every fashionable thing, that every other kid at school has.

3. Find the bully’s and punish them severely. The idea of buying a bully’s victim a Playstation 4 so the bully will leave them alone is ludicrous. Appeasement never works.

Women in the army.

 A load of stuff about whether women should be allowed to take part in front line combat.

Women in the British army already have roles on the front line, but the debate was about whether they should be allowed to take part in things like infantry combat.

If my life was in danger and I couldn’t protect myself, I would be perfectly happy to arm Lyndsay, Sue or Debra with the proper training. Modern fighting isn’t about hand to hand with knives, its usually automatic weapons, grenades and rocket launchers.

Israel did some research a few years ago. What they found, was whilst perfectly capable as fighters, females caused problems on the battle field due to gender dynamics.

A group of men, would focus on a mission. If another man got injured, they would deal with it professionally. If a woman in the team got injured, the emotions and feelings caused an entirely different response.

Let me say right away, that I have never fought in a war, but with the facts in front of me, it seems like same sex platoons is the solution.

#bringbackourgirls

The whole Boko Haram thing, whilst tragic, is a million miles away from the real issue.

In Morocco a few years ago, I ended up being conned into a rug shop and the ensuing presentation (which to be fare, was very well delivered).

It was explained that many Muslim girls in villages, do not have an education. That making rugs and the patterns on them, is their only form of expression.

Literally millions of girls live in villages like this, are denied an education and have daily life filled with misery and a lack of hope.

But let’s focus on 200 missing girls.

Farcically, the “advisor’s” were sending are probably members of the SAS.

Satellite technology and paid informers will allow them to be found quickly.

Once this happens its an armed gang of hooligans against the worlds most elite regiment.

It will make Call of Duty on recruit setting seem hard (or for non COD players, think hunting diary cows with a sniper rifle and scope !).

But when it’s all over and the girls are back at school learning chemistry, what of all the other girls in Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Egypt, Jordan …

On the horizon. 4 years at Phonak, Birthday, Cuba.

April normally marks the start of the UK adventure season for me.

Its the time to go through my post AS check-list and maintain/replace all of my outdoor gear.

I normally travel overseas before March and after September, as its the cheapest time to fly (unusually this year, I’m spending 17 days in Cuba). In between then, I get into the great British outdoors as often as I can.

As you can probably guess, I have it all written up in my yearly mind map (I’m at year 12 now, I have each one in a binder on my desk at home).

I also have it written up on a whiteboard on my upstairs landing. The bathroom is normally the first room I see each morning after I get out of bed, and its always exciting to see the list on the white board.

The first weekend adventure I’m going to write about, is an accent of Snowdon.

I’ve done it several times, from Llanberis and the Miners track, but I was determined to try something new.

The walking group itinerary had a gap in it, so instead of going on my own, I put it on as an activity for the group.

From the opposite side of Llanberis, there is a walk called Ryd Dhu. Another walk (The Snowdon Ranger) starts about 1.5 miles away.

Its possible therefore, to walk up one, come back down the other and then walk to your original starting point, making it a circular walk (which are far more popular with car drivers).

I never miss a chance to turn a day outdoors into a weekend outdoors.

The walks we normally do on a Sunday, usually take about 40 mins to drive to. In this case it would be an hour and 40, so we decided to go over the day before and try out some camping equipment in advance of Easter the following weekend.

We found a pub in the area with a camp site (which on closer inspection was actually a mile away from the pub).

No matter, the camp-site was superb. They had grates for fires, and no cars were allowed on the grass, which made ideal for pitching. Behind me you can see a board-walk platform.

They have free trolleys, so you can transport your gear to your pitch.

I got Nikki set up on a camp chair with a glass of wine, and set to work with the tent. I decided not to use my ultra light (and coffin sized) tent and instead used a 3 person tent I bought from Blacks in Keswick some years ago.

We were keen to try out some new equipment, so we inflated the double air bed and laid everything out in the tent ready. We had far more gear than we needed, but that was the idea. See what works, see what’s useless and then we’d know what to take for next time.

 

With everything set up, we wandered over to the pub, for some drinks and dinner (as you can see from this picture, the weather was overcast, but at least it wasn’t raining).

The Cwellyn Arms is relatively small, considering its the only pub in the area, and everyone in their rooms, bunkhouse and massive campsite all congregate there.

They make up for this, with their superb organisation. We hung around the busy bar, enjoyed some nice drinks, and then were shown to our table at 7pm.

Steak Pie for me, Chicken for Nikki. Delicious.

After this, a few more drinks, then off to bed.

In the morning we wake up early (well hard not to when camping, although the other campers were well behaved, and the site wasn’t noisy at all).

Get cleaned up in the spotless shower block, and then wander back to the Cwellyn Arms for breakfast. It being a day on the hill, its a full English for me.

Walks with the CDWG are graded using a 3 star system. This was a 3 star walk, and considered hard. I wasn’t surprised, when we only had a small group (Trig, Astrid and a guy called Ray from the Wirral (not to be confused with weedy Ray from Wrexham) and obviously the lovely Nikki and myself.

I was happy, as I knew the people there would get to the top without much trouble (although not so sure about myself !).

We meet up in the car park at the foot of Ryd Du and head off. Along the way, we got briefly lost, but soon found the track again.

It was hard going. There wasn’t any rain, but you can see from this picture, there wasn’t much of a view as we were walking up.

We get to the top, and there’s this view down the Snowdon Ranger path from the Snowdon Railway platform.

The summer season had begun in Snowdon, so obviously the sherpa buses run far more regularly, and the train to the top starts running again.

Well kind of. If the weathers bad, the train doesn’t run. If the train doesn’t run, they don’t open the visitor centre on the top.

After 2 plus hours walking up hill in the cold thinking of a warm cup of coffee, we find the doors locked and literaly hundreds of walkers, cowering behind rocks and walls eating their sandwiches and crisps.

Worse, the lights were on inside the visitor centre/cafe and people were moving around in there.

Infuriating.

Good news is, its cold. We don’t hang around, get something to eat and then head down the hill.

 

Halfway down the Snowdon Ranger path, it occurs to me, that the ultra organised people at the Cwellyn Arms had left a recommended walk sheet on the table, which I’d picked up.

It showed a variation to our route. Instead of walking back down to the road, then walking along a road for a mile and a half to the cars, we could cut across a quarry.

It would save time and make for a more interesting walk.

We wander along through the quarry on the way back (I always find quarry’s exciting, they remind me of early Dr Who episodes).

Trig (pictured) and Ray (non weedy) were talking about football. Ray explained that it was probably the most important game for Liverpool in 25 years.

He’d really wanted to watch it, but didn’t want to miss the chance to do Snowdon. I had to salute that level of dedication.

Back to the cars, and we head home. Another amazing weekend. I organised it, and I was the walk leader, but couldn’t have done it, and it wouldn’t have been half as much fun without Trig, Astrid and Ray and obviously, the lovely Nikki.

 

Get home, put the hot water on, 2 pints in the Mill, then bath and bed.

Following day at work as usual, but on the train, on the way home something incredible happens.

There, on the train just across from me, is the famous Tom from Corks Out.

He looked deep in thought, so I discreetly took this shot so as not to disturb him.

Funniest thing, is the girl sat across from him, who obviously thinks I’m trying to photograph her.

Your reasonably pretty love, but Tom is a legend here at johnsunter.com so get over yourself.

Well, its the run up to Easter weekend and I got 2 really nice eggs (and you can see that the Kenwood and the Smiths CD’s are still around).

The walking group have a regular camping trip to Llangollen each year. This would be my 3rd year, and I absolutely love it. Great walks in the daytime, beers and good food in the evening with good company.

Last year we couldn’t camp, as the whole area was covered in Snow. In recent times, I’ve become involved in organising it (I still offer advise to other campers, like putting the @rse of the tent into the wind…)

Nikki had enjoyed camping the previous week, but felt a larger tent would be more comfortable and since we’d be “car camping” why not.

I’ve always been a small tent kind of guy. I dont need a lounge I reason, as I usually find a pub for sitting around and stuff. If I’m in my tent, I’m usually sleeping, or cooking in the covered porch if the weather is bad.

However, I’d seen the tent at go outdoors in Warrington, and I was really impressed with the quality of the material and stitching, and I could see it would be nice to have a table and stuff in a porch, and a separate sleeping area.

My main concern was time. Was this thing going to take 2 hrs to put up. If it was, it was a no go for me.

I was delighted when the advertisement said it could be put up in 20 minutes (it went up solidly in 20 minutes, and next time I think I can do it in 10 !).

We were joined by Astrid, Alex (who cycled with all his gear from Chester), Sue and Aled.

Once the tent was up, we spent the rest of Friday day, wandering around the town, catching up with friends, trying out different pubs and outdoor shops and wandering along the bank of the Canal.

In the evening we met up and had dinner. I had reservations (and I mean literally) from my experiences the previous year.

We’d gone for dinner at an otherwise reputable place, waited 2 hrs to be served, food was cold, taken a way to be re-heated, then they couldn’t tell who’s food was who’s and it had bite marks in it. I was scarred.

Shouldn’t have been. Sue recommended Fouzi’s. They did really good food and wine at very reasonable prices, fitted us all on the same table, and we had a fantastic time.

We leave the restaurant and have a couple of drinks around the town.

With the beer flowing, we arrive at the Sun, where they have a band playing.

£3 on the door, puts me off, and I turn to leave. The landlady joins us outside the pub and greets us enthusiastically.

“You dont understand” she says. “These are the Worried Men. There really good and have travelled all the way from Bath to be here”.

The ale I’d drunk, and the good mood I was in, are the only explanation can think for me paying the money and entering.

I’d never heard of them, but as it was, they were pretty good. Just like usual with the Sun you walk in and there’s a couple of people there. Within 40 minutes its standing room only.

Next day, up for shower and breakfast at the Canal-side cafe (unusually disappointing scrambled eggs, but tea was nice).

I was leading a steam train walk. We’d done something similar the year before, this year we went right to the end of the line at Carrog.

We didn’t have a steam train, or the traditional carriages like last year (despite them being promised on the website).

Instead, we got to enjoy the memory of a 70’s diesel train, which was a lot more fun than it sounded.

A couple who joined us actually lived in Llangollen (more about that later).

On the right of the picture is Astrid. A good friend of myself and Nikki and a keen collector of outdoor gear.

I think Astrid is fab, although I’m still convinced she’s working undercover for Mossad, and only pretending to be French (perhaps I’ve played COD: Black Ops too often).

We arrive at Carrog bridge.

I’m the walk leader, but there are plenty of people with more experience than me, and our Chair, Graham takes the lead.

Its a long way, so we stick to country roads, to break the back of the journey (we’ve arranged to meet Sue and Aled who are cycling at the Sun pub at Rhewl for at 1:30pm so co-ordination is needed.

Along the way, we stop for elevenses.

Usual walking stuff. The conversation varies from “is there enough discipline in schools” to “how can my laptop run faster and everything in between. Tragically, a fortnight later, the first topic gains new relevance.

Time is ticking by and were going to miss our meet up with S&A. Best foot forward.

We make it to the pub, and Sue and Aled are waiting for us (the pub was packed, and I forgot to take a photo, so this is one from last year).

After this, we head  back to Llangollen. As it turns out, a couple on the walk, live in Llangollen, and invite us back to their house for coffee.

Enjoying coffee and Jaffa cakes overlooking the canal, we a superb end to an excellent day.

Back to the camp-site, we get cleaned up, and decide what to do for the evening.

We decided to spend some time on our own and visit the Gallery. Steakhouse and Italian all under 1 roof. Brilliant atmosphere and food.

We finish the evening with a few drinks on the way home at the Cornmill.

 

Next morning, its just toast and tea this time (I make mistakes sometimes, but I try not to make them twice).

Today Sue is leading a walk and its one I’ve done before. A fantastic walk, but hard going. I’m back on the way to getting fit, so quietly optimistic.

First off, an ascent of Dina’s Bran.

We continue along across hill and dale with a great deal of the route across mount Ruabon.

Quite steep here, I struggled a bit.

But no problem, as refreshments are on the way.

A little tea shop we love visiting. I have hot chocolate (again, I didn’t take a picture at the time, so this is one I took on a sunny day previously).

Hot chocolate for me. Gaynor says ooh in typical Gaynor fashion, and Astrid and I compare first aid kits and emergency blankets.

Finish the walk and head for home. Dinner overlooking the River Dee at the Red House.

I had set aside some time on Monday (UK bank holiday) for DIY, but didn’t do any, and just just relaxed in the house.

Another adventure weekend complete. Life doesn’t get any better than this.

* The guy doing DIY in the picture above, isn’t actually me.

Updated 8th of May.

Fantastic night at Upstairs at the Grill (Porterhouse steak), then met up with a few IVC friend & Glenn (photos from China were superb).

Best foot forward for Saturday…

Updated 7th of May.

Its my actual birthday today.

I normally have the day off, but this year I’ve used quite a lot of holidays going to Cuba so I’m in the office.

I’ve got a packed day, then a superb evening planned with Steak and Red Wine.

In the meantime, I just wanted to say thanks to all of you who’ve sent me emails, texts and ecards, and a special mention to Danny Quinn, who’s sent me a really good meme, featured bellow 🙂

Hope you can all join me on Saturday (see bellow).

*—

Well, that time of year is coming up again.

Its my birthday on the 10th of May this year.

Loads of people from all over the UK as usual, and a few good friends from work, walking group, globetrotters, Newton Heath etc.

No complicated plans this year, well meet at the Mill hotel from 12 lunchtime, then see where we go from there.

The excitement is probably too much for some of you to contain, so in the interim, I’ve posted this superb song from MC Tune which you can listen too.

 

I’ve always wanted to own my own dinner jacket.

Before now, I’ve always had to rent them, and at £40 a go, for the 4 times I’ve needed one, I could have bought one outright.

So this year after re-reading Debrets guide to the modern gentleman, I decided to buy one. And, amazingly a brand new looking M&S dinner jacket is mine on ebay for only £10 plus £3 postage.

A nice dress shirt to go with it, wasn’t so cheap, but I already had a bow tie (a gift from Jason Mayer).

Once the ensemble was complete, it was just a matter of taking it for a test drive.

But where ?

Need a multi function printer ?.

Enter Vaughn Rawson, a guy I’ve done business with for years, who was hosting a summer ball, and invited Nikki and I to attend.

Held at Chester Racecourse the AT spring ball is now an annual event.

The event raises money for the very worthy causes of AT & Sparks (last year raising £23,000 from this event alone).

I had a fantastic time, and its hard to capture it all in writing, but I’ll have a go.

Delicious food, a superb rendition by the Wrexham community choir, a Take That tribute band and a stand up comedian. In between, excellent company from some great people on our table and some folk I met at the bar.

We even won something in the raffle and later Nikki got me up dancing (bystanders said she looked like she was dancing with a chair).

I’d like to thank Vaughn and his wife Jo for inviting us and organising the evening which was superb in every way possible.

A few weeks earlier, Nikki had decided to go Skiing (some people are into that stuff) and rather inconveniently took 2 of my favourite friends with her.

At a lose end, I’d been invited to a farewell weekend for a walking friend, Cheryl. It was in Ironbridge, and as I’d seen the sign above several times on the railway platform in Warrington, I decided to get on board (the adventure, not the train).

For some years I’d wanted to visit Ironbridge.

At first, it sounds a bit daft. I mean the first place in the world that had an Ironbridge, builds an entire town and industry on people coming to see it.

But that’s exactly what it does !.

I left half day, and travel;ed down with Brian. For all the tourism and promotion, on first sight, I still thought it was a superb bridge.

The reason for the event, was Cheryl was leaving.

Well actually, its not as simple as that.

Cheryl, was a cool friend, and co member of the Chester and District Walking Group.

She previously worked in theatre (the ones with scalpels, not Noel Coward or any of that stuff) at Chester hospital.

Leaving Chester to do a course in Birmingham, it was her intention to finish the course in 2 years and return to Chester with things back to normal.

As John Lennon put it well “Life is what happens while your making other plans”. Cheryl settled there, got a good job, made some friends and met someone so she’d decided to stay.

So, the farce, was that this was a leaving do, but the main person (Cheryl) wasn’t actually leaving, so calling it a staying do would have been more appropriate 🙂

Everyone else was due to arrive in the evening, so Brian and I wandered around the coffee houses and pubs and even visited the tourist information, where we resisted the urge to buy tat.

We finally make our way to the youth hostel at Coalport.

Another superb example of the YHA’s modernisation. Plenty of room, bright and spotlessly clean, for reasonable money.

We check in, and wait for Dave E.

Turns out, everyone else is arriving in the morning, so its just the 3 of us. We have fish and chips in the hostel and then head out to try out some of the pubs.

The first 1 we come too, is flooded, so nothing doing there. We head to The Black Swan. Pretty good pub, where we see out the evening.

In the morning everyone arrives and we get ready to go off walking.

Recent construction has “blocked in” this section of the canal. As it can no longer flow, it turns green.

The buildings around are all from the turning point of the industrial age.

Everyone arrives and without further ado, we set off walking.

First place we come to, is the pub we visited the previous night which had been flooded.

They were still clearing up, but let us in to look around.

The Boat Inn has been flooded a dozens of times, and the hight of the flooding is marked on the front door.

The earliest recording was 1934, and the highest one, is in the year 2000.

We continue walking, and its good to catch up with everyone.

Cheryl is an environmentalist and explains that one of her friends calls this area the womb of industrialism.

Heady stuff.

Next to the Green wood centre is Cherry’s cafe (Brian and I had recce’d it the day before and it was superb).

After some messing about with tables so we could all sit together we got a drink and some nice food.

In the background, there is a piece of wood on the fridge, “signed” by Ben Fogle.

In the foreground is Cheryl in a reflective mood with daffodils.

Wander around the Green wood centre (if you google it be careful not to get the old peoples home).

Various stuff for making things from Green wood, similar to the stuff I’ve seen and used at Woodsmoke.

Really interesting, was the accommodation.

They had these sort of wooden tents, off the ground, made for 1 – 2 people.

We continue wandering, and for some reason take in various inner city areas. Good news is, we finally find a cash machine.

We continue walking, reaching this high place with a view across the town.

Dave is briefly engaged by some JW’s but escapes unharmed.

Couple of drinks in the Golden Balls (fantastic name, and pretty good pub) and then we had home to get cleaned up and ready for the evening.

I move out of the dorm, and into a twin room, which is a bit more comfortable.

We try a nearby pub which ridiculously, is open, but has its front door locked.

After 10 minutes of trying to get them to open the door we gave up the ghost and headed elsewhere.

The Old Robin Hood Inn had a sort of Bunker room. Burger and Chips for £5.50.

The hostel had coped well, despite being packed.

Many of the guests were at a company conference (and yet were staying at a Youth Hostel ? Sounded like pyramid selling to me 🙂

In the morning, I got to see how the other half lived. About 25 of our fellow guests, were from a walking group in the North East.

They were picked up in a coach no less !.

Once everyone’s up, were off out on another walk.

This time, were in my favourite environment, forests.

Its a bitter sweet moment. I’m enjoying myself, but I know my friend Cheryl is settling in Birmingham, and I wont see as much of her.

I give her a leaving gift to seal the moment (I was going to give her a signed photograph of myself, but instead decided on a bivvi bag).

We stop in the trail for lunch.

A while later we head back into town, have some Italian coffee and bid our friends farewell, before heading home.

Not much happens in the following week, but I see this picture of Glenn’s son Jack in the paper.

Pretty impressive stuff.

A week later, and some of the same faces and I are heading out the the YHA affiliates meeting.

I take the whole Friday off, to make the most of the time.

We stop off at a book shop called Brierlow Bar. They have a full box set of the Wainwright’s for £50. Instead I’m sensible and buy a book about the Monsal Trail, then and now (a walk I’ll be leading in a few weeks).

After this, we stop for lunch at the Cat and Fiddle. My 2nd visit, I absolutely love that place (chilli and rice).

 We arrive at YHA Ilam hall.

Its an absolutely beautiful building.

I sometimes hear people asking why you’d stay at a youth hostel as “similar prices” are available at travel inn or travel lodge.

I usually answer in 3 parts:

1. Youth hostels aren’t like they used to be. You don’t do chores, the dorms usualy have 4-6 beds, the place is spotless its a vibrant relaxing environment

2. The focus of a Youth Hostel is the outdoors. If you ask ANY member of staff if they know of a good walk to do, or if there’s a lake where its possible to go canoeing, they’ll know the answer.

3. The main one for me is the location. This is a Gothic stately home, and I’ll be sleeping here for £15 per night. How many people can say that.

We arrive in the evening, get set up in our rooms, then get some dinner and a bottle of wine and find somewhere to relax.

The event we’re attending is the following day.

Its a day long meeting for walking/cycling/outdoor groups who are affiliated with the YHA.

Last year I’d attended and found it really interesting.

Towards the end, there’d been a discussion about social media and search engine optimisation. Brian had jumped up and pointed at me, and told everyone I’d know the answer.

I was flattered and with a whole room full of people staring at me, quite terrified.

This year, I offered to give a talk on those subjects and they willingly agreed.

 The conference begins with welcomes and introductions, then straight onto a talk about volunteering.

But unfortunately, the volunteering specialist is away so it turns into a talk on fund raising and the option of leaving money in your will to the YHA.

Then its a break for coffee.

I know my subject well (and had help from Jo in marketing and Dan & Andy from Latitude), but that doesn’t stop me from being slightly nervous.

I go outside for a walk and wander around this church, which is in the grounds of Ilam hall.

Just a little further away, is the Italian garden.

Inspired by the surroundings, I head back into the room and give my talk.

It seems to go down really well, and I get asked lots of questions while being ably supported by the 3 members of our group (including Brian, who caused this in the first place 🙂

After this, one of the trustees gives a talk on his groups new website (using embedded wordpress like johnsunter.com that your reading now)

From here, its decided to break, get something to eat and then go for a walk. I get some delicious lunch, which is complimentary and head straight out.

Its a beautiful day.

So beautiful in fact, that when the walk ends an hour later, Graham and I decide to stay out and do the walk around Dovedale, leaving Jo and Brian to attend the afternoon session of the meeting.

A bit naughty of us, and the organisers aren’t happy. But its the UK, weather like this doesn’t happen every day.

We headed for Dovedale ravine, which is quite famous in the area.

This is one of the famous Dove holes.

At one point, we stop for a brief rest. I realise a couple of hundred metres later, that I’ve lost my wallet.

I run back and some children have found it and when I arrive, come straight over and ask if I’ve lost a wallet.

I open the wallet and give them some money for sweets (or in these modern times, fruit 🙂

Stretched for time, Graham consults the map, next to Ilam Rock.

With the walk almost completed, we arrive back at the famous stepping stones.

As we get back to Ilam hall, we can see it in the sunlight.

Car is already loaded, so we jump in, and head for home.

But the adventure isnt over.

On the way back, we stop off at this authentic bikers pub that Brian used to frequent called the Yew Tree.

A quick pint, then off home.

The following day its Sunday and  I’m inside another amazing building.

I’m working all day on an infrastructure project !.

 

Goodbye to my Kenwood

When I was 24 (and that’s a little while ago now 🙂 I decided to buy a really nice hi fi.

I knew the following year I was going to buy a house, and money wouldn’t be so readily available. I decided I’d make a big splash.

At the time, the Kenwood UD90 cost £900 (I paid it in 10 installments). I absolutely loved that thing, and in good times and bad, I sat and listened to an array of different cd’s (it had a dizzying array of features, but I hardly used any of them).

Today, most musical needs can be provided with a mobile phone and most pc’s and tv’s have comparable sound quality (and also neighbors seem to have a lot less patience for borderline “loud” music).

So, I’ve decided to give it to charity. But for 2 weeks, I’m keeping it set up, and as you can see from this picture, I’ve got all my Smith’s cd’s to listen to.

Off on a walking weekend on the 2st of March, and another the weekend after (when I’ll be giving a talk on Social Media to the YHA association). I’ve also paid the final balance on my Cuba trip in May.

Other weekend, went out walking with the CDWG. One of the best day walks I’ve ever done with the walking group, it started off with a trip to Aber falls.

As we wandered up the hill, it really took it out of me.

Walking across uneven ground, when there’s no path is far more tiring than the alternative.

Once your above the fern line, you have snow to deal with which makes it even more exhausting.

A sit down, sandwiches and coffee from my flask.

And then it happens. I decide to wander back down the valley on my own. I walk carefully, as I’m wandering across snow drifts and ice.

I had to be careful (some people think you can only move on ground like this with crampons and ice axes, but if you’ve had training and your careful, its fine.

Down at the car park, there’s a pub nearby. I find that I’m locked out of the car, and my money is in the glove compartment. Its an hour before anyone arrives !.

For the first time in ages, we go into the pub for an after work drink, and I choose coffee rather than lager !.

Spent some time in our Cambridge office recently

It really is a nice place there, and although I’m busy in the daytime, its very relaxing during the evening.

 

One of my favourite things there, is the Scott Antarctica museum.

Just like how whenever I’m in London, I always pass and visit the British musuem, whenever I’m in Cambridge, I do the same.

At home I still enjoy the picture I bought from there, Grotto in a Berg.

On the subject of things at home.

Just thought I’d put up this picture of my fish, as they haven’t been featured on johnsunter.com in a while, but still provide me with constant inspiration.

Otherwise, I’ve been doing loads of stuff in the house, in readiness for summer. I’ve also taken care of the pigeons in the back garden (I’ve used some pigeon spikes on the top of my drain pipe. I had to fight the urge to just shoot them with an air rifle !).

Visited another office a few days ago.

It involved a brilliant trip to Llandudno.

I always love the train to Llandudno, as it travels right down the coast and the views are superb.

I also saw loads of caravans, which reminded me of family holidays in my youth.

On a different travel subject, I was delighted to read this article about Interailing.

Although summer hasn’t fully arrived yet, it was a nice day last Sunday, so we headed to Ness Botanical Gardens on the Wirral (still unsure about putting “the” in front of Wirral, but old habits…).

Had some nice lunch, and then spent 3 hours just wandering around ponds, tree’s and plants.

A little expensive I thought at £6.50 but compared to the price of say the cinema, quite competitive. You could also bring you’r own picnic, if you don’t want a sit down dinner, and the good news, you can stay there all day.

Well, the 5th series of Jonathan Creek (one of my all time favourite tv series) is over.

I have to say I felt a bit underwhelmed. The actual crimes and mysteries were a bit too off the wall this time. I liked the dynamic with his wife, but considering it was full of “in” jokes, I’ve watched every episode and been a fan for years, but I couldn’t get a lot of them.

Glad it was back, but hope they do it better next time (and should really bring the duffel coat back 🙂

Saw this superb bar at Antique Pine Imports, run by my friend Glenn.

I love it, and think its fantastic. Key challenges are:

1. I don’t know where it would fit in the house.

2. Beautiful stuff like this isn’t cheap. It costs about £5000

For the 2nd one, Ill try this.

Well, today marks the last week for Dan here at Phonak.

Dan has assisted me ably for the last 3 years. I’ll be sorry to see him go, but optimistic about his plans for the future (and look forward to seeing the new van he’s been promised).

In the picture above, Dan and I were traveling down to London, and there was a problem with our Sharepoint server.

We connected the laptop, to the trains wifi and remoted back into the office to fix it (one of the cool tricks you can do with computers and the reason I love this industry so much).

I’ve been a team leader for over 20 years.

Before that, I always said I would treat my team fairly, have a rota for tea making and such like.

Dan has, on occasion forced me to question that, with his near constant back chat.

It is, and has always been motivated to deliver the best possible outcome and not (as I occasionally think) to get on my nerves 🙂

In the photo above, Dan had just installed a pc, and, not realising he was being watched, has put the rubbish into the skip without being asked or reminded.

Over and above our work in Warrington, and the construction of our new building, this photo (for me) captures our finest hour.

We were asked to assist one of our customers with a sensitive technical problem, which affected small children (but manifested itself in a complex pc problem).

Visiting London for the day, we were honored to visit one of the best hospitals in the world and resolve the problem to greatfull thanks from the staff.

On the way home, we had some burgers and pints, and stopped by the Thames for this shot.

Plans are afoot for his leaving do on Friday so get in touch if you want to come along.

The next week will be bitter sweet for me. Best wishes for the future Dan, you’ll be missed by everyone at Sonova and johnsunter.com

I was at a friends house a little while ago.

Their daughter Amy was watching a film called Despicable me, featuring a character called Gru.

Setting up some dashboard monitors the other day Craig walked into the shot.

I hadn’t met him before, but he instantly reminded me of Gru.

Glenn and I were out on Wednesday Chester IVC to catch up with our friend Andy, who we met there.

After all the sensible pubs had shut, we went to the Town house, a favorite venue, we visited on Glenn’s birthday.

Here Glenn is photographed with some hot babes who we met on the evening.

Last Saturday, we were out to see a band.

We decided to go over earlier, and see a bit of the town. Of special interest was the Museum of Liverpool.

I’ve seen it a few times, and always wondered why it was designed that shape. Once inside, the answer is obvious.

As well as a museum, its a sort of viewing area for the 3 famous Liverpool landmarks, The Liver building, the Qunard building and the Port of Liverpool building.

There were just too many interesting things in the museum to list here, but take my word, you could easily spend a day in there.

One thing that did jump out of all the excellent exhibits, was this kettle.

Most of us can remember when the post office ran telephony before BT, and that we used to rent the telephone.

Did you know, that during the 50’s and 60’s, some people were so poor, that they actually rented kettles and other appliances from the council.

A bit more of a wander around, and a visit to Bridewells for a drink (its a converted prison, and the old “cell’s” have ingeniously become booths for watching sport and suchlike).

Although its been around for a while, the 1 center, is still quite new to me, so I love wandering around there.

We went for dinner at Browns. I had pie, and I loved the way there burned a capital B into the crust of the pie (unfortunately, my phone was dead and I haven’t been able to find a picture anywhere on the internet.

We finish our dinner, and head to the unlikely named “Erics”.

Its a music venue on the internationally famous Mathews Street.

I hadn’t realised, but Big Country were in their heyday, nearly 30 years ago. I always remember them from the soundtrack to Restless Natives and trekking across the Alps for 20 miles with a heavy rucksack, with their greatest hits playing on a cassette Walkman.

Again, sadly, with a phone dead, I couldn’t take any photos, so I got this one off the internet.

A can of Carling listening to Big Country on stage was pretty superb. Thanks to Nikki for organizing it.

For no particular reason, I was on the train home the other evening and remembered the Woodsmoke Abo course I did almost ten years ago.

Still one of the most challenging things I’ve ever done, it involved living as a 3rd century UK aborigine for 3 days in the woods with minimal equipment (and I mean MINIMAL !).

Well, I recently updated both pages, you can view them here and here.

Sat in the Mill hotel the other evening, having a pint and reading a travel guide about Cuba.

I look up and see an advert for Landrover, which features loads of different locations in the UK and really bad weather.

Something seems familiar about the advert, which takes place on the coast, in Scotland and various far away places. When its on the tv again an hour later, I realise what it is.

55 seconds into the advert, it shows a Canal scene, and a Victorian water tower.

Its actually on the Shropshire union Canal in Chester.

I know where it is, as I’m sat in the Mill hotel, which is next to the Canal, and the advert I’m watching is showing a place that’s 300m from where I’m sitting !.

johnsunter.com goes into space.

I received an unusual gift the other day, from Glenn.

Once the Bennu has completed its mission, the chip will remain in orbit. It will mention www.johnsunter.com if, at some point in the future Aliens have found it, and your reading this now.

Welcome to johnsunter.com 🙂

Out wine tasting the other evening. Had a really nice time. As I’ve said before, its not really my calling, but Nikki enjoys it (and is pretty good at it to) and I like to tag along.

This time, the event was in the form of a blind tasting competition. I did every 2nd wine, and was delighted that I had diagnosed the taste of each wine exactly right.

Got me thinking. This is supposed to be the adventures of an ordinary person, so how about a man-in-the-street guide to wine tasting ?.

So here goes:

Arrive at the venue early wearing a blue shirt (fashioned for someone a generation younger than you) and some sort of tweed jacket with elbow patches. Women should wear bright flowery dresses, even in winter. They don’t look ridiculous at all.

There will be some social banter. If your a female under 30 and work in a low level job in marketing this is the moment to let everyone in the room know about it.

Some people will arrive late, trying to create the illusion of importance (they won’t, they will just irritate the organiser and spend the next 2hrs standing up as they find all the chairs have gone).

Ok, grab a glass and lets get started on the actual tasting process.

1. Oxygenate. Swill the wine around (try not to spill on clothes) examine the texture and legs (whatever).

2. Bouquet. In truth, it just smells like wine to me, but its easy to remember the pronunciation, as its the same one for flowers. Using words like lots of body, or plenty of nose will help you appear knowledgeable.

3. Taste the wine, and then look into space as though thinking about the first person you kissed (in fact, why not actually do that, it makes no difference).

At this point, its fashionable to use a spittoon, so you don’t absorb too much of the alcohol and can continue enjoying the sensual maelstrom that is wine tasting.

However, if your tasting 5 wines, and you’ve paid £15 to attend this gig, you just put 3 pound coins down a grid. Your goal should be to leave as inebriated as possible, for a fixed cost.

4. Discuss. Wine guide will say things like, butter on toast, cigar box, overripe banana’s or something like that. Interestingly, you will sometimes get the connection. If not just furrow your eyes and nod enthusiastically.

5. Document. Jot some notes down on the tasting sheet (You could probably write a shopping list, a reminder to get some shoes repaired or a spare key made. Nobody will notice).

6. Exit. Repeat the above process, for each of the wines. Once its over, make sure nobody is looking, then finish off any left over drinks, thank the organiser with a smile and leave.

In any event, why attempt to become an expert at wine when there are helpful expert professionals out there, who would be delighted to help.

Just go to Corks Out in Chester and ask for Tom. Explain for example:

“I had some problems with the revenue and tax evasion. I want to buy some wine for the solicitor who hoodwinked the beak and got me off. He prefers Italian plonk and normally drinks it with fish”

All joking aside, Tom is a wine genius and consummate professional. I would be frankly shocked if the wine he recommended wasn’t exactly what you needed.

And, with the time saved, you could nip off for a quick pint 🙂

Was reading about Amanda Knox and all that circus.

Apparently, the ex boyfriend was found near the Austrian border. He said he was just visiting his girlfriend, the police cautioned him and suspected he was going to flee the country.

On this matter, I can offer a piece of advice. Go and buy some walking boots, join the Tour De Mont Blanc path, and cross into Switzerland.

I can tell you that the only customs/immigration at the mountain pass is a sign that says Switzerland this way !.

A place we’ve been before.

I read this article on the internet about a failed 100m project by the BBC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-26016820

I know a lot of people will be shocked and amazed at my defence of the BBC on this, but I’ve worked in IT for 20 years, and its a place I’ve been many times.

Its called the Bleeding edge. Its when you have an idea and you forge forward with it. A lot of the time that idea goes wrong, you suffer financially, but by then the technology is proven and a whole raft of people who invested nothing, jump in and it becomes mainstream.

Don’t believe me ?

Well, take the humble spell checker.

Hard to believe now, but 25 years ago, the concept of a real-time database on a pc that could run through a document you just typed, compare each word to ones in a list and flag up ones it didn’t recognise (theoretically, miss spelled) was a dream.

Several engineering teams worked on the first spell checker. When one of them succeeded, several company’s had working spell checkers, within a matter of months. Industrial espionage ?. Not the considered opinion.

Truth is, all the other teams (once the first team had succeeded) realised it was actually possible. Up to that point it was a theoretical “could we” prospect and delivered their own working versions in a matter of months.

If everyone “played safe” and (at risk of offending friends and someone I’m close too) thought like an accountant, the technology industry would be a totaly different picture.

No smartphones, no tablets, internet used by academic and military organisations only…

Near and far, the search for adventure continues…

John