Stratford-upon-Avon redux

For my wedding anniversary my wife and I visited Stratford-upon-Avon yesterday (though later on we realised we had gone there for our anniversary last year too!) Of course this is somewhere i've been no less than 3 times this year so far (plus a trip to Wilmcote).

But i love it so who cares and i took some nice photos too which you can see here!

Micro Life (7) : Unisys 386SX-33

After a couple of laptops (or 1 laptop and 1 beast in the PPC) i decided to forget portability and get a "proper" PC so i could do some programming and the like on it. Morgan Computers was my destination again (my first 4 computers came from there) and i bought a nice little Unisys PC. It was a small compact little box which had solidity to it (which makes me think it was surplus stock from a government order). Inside was a 386SX-33 microprocessor (yes we were going 32 bit!) and 4MB of RAM. It was also my first computer with a built in hard drive, a massive 80MB! It came with an Apple RGB monitor (Morgan tended to mix and match what was available).

This was however my second choice, i had intended to go to Morgan to get an IBM PS/1 but they had sold out of that, this Unisys system had a better specification though so its an ill-wind.

For the next few years this little workhorse served me well and i upgraded the hardware a few times. The RAM was doubled to 8MB and i got an external CD-ROM drive. This enabled me to install OS/2 Warp. It didn't exactly run fast but it did run OK and was interesting to play with. I also bought my first modem (2400 baud natch) for some telnet and ftp fun (this was pre-public web of course).

The computer served me until i graduated from university but then i needed something more powerful and by then had a job so i could actually pay for something, but that is a story for next time.

TOTP (05/08/1976)

Jimmy Saville is our host and he is wearing a kilt! If you can get past that you can get past anything. Elton and Kiki are still at number one but will they be live in the studio?

Slik - the kid’s a punk

Slik start the show with their poseur retro rock. Its all quiffs, US college jackets and rock’n’roll riffs. Its not terrible but maybe not that good either.

David Dundas - jeans on

Ruby Flipper are here to perform with David Dundas, don’t forget he had Hot Gossip last time. Does he feel lonely on stage or something and thus feels the need to have fit young people gyrate their fit young bodies nearby? We understand David we really do.

Billy Jo Spears - what i’ve got in mind

Country music often broke into the British charts regularly even as late as the 1970s as may be forgotten nowadays. Billy Jo Spears is of course a legend though this isn’t her best song. A performance somewhere else, probably in Nashville.

Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel - here comes the Sun

In front of a castle Steve Harley and band perform this George Harrison cover, its been given a bit of a proto-punk feel along with ...er... bongos. Its all wonderfully weird.

Did Saville explain why he is in a kilt? 

Ruby Flipper are working hard tonight, they are back to perform KC & the Sunshine Band’s “shake your booty”. Very disco in futuristic silvery outfits. Like if they had song & dance routines in Blakes 7.

Dorothy Moore - misty blue

A repeat of her performance in front of a giant dressing room mirror.

Billy Ocean - love on delivery

Its fine just a bit formulaic and forgettable. Seems we have a lot of songs on tonight which have been on before.

Twiggy - here i go again

Yes the model, years before the M&S adverts of course. Twiggy is best known as being a model for good reason, as her singing isn’t that good to be honest. Mind you if she was around now she would probably win the likes of X Factor easily.

Elton John & Kiki Dee - don’t go breaking my heart

No they didn’t make it to the Top Of The Pops studio, maybe next week eh?

Curdworth fields post harvest

Back in early June i had a walk along public footpaths through some farm fields near Curdworth, back then the crops were high and looking fairly healthy despite the dry weather. I returned today to a barren post-harvest landscape. I like the bleakness of it all to be honest. You can see the photos i took here or in the slideshow below of course.

Warwick & Saltisford Canal 27/08/11

Another Saturday another trip out into Warwickshire for some canal photography. This time i went to Warwick itself and walked the canal there including the Saltisford Canal Arm. Very changeable weather today though but during one rain storm i was sheltering under a large tree in Warwick like a gentleman of the road in some kind of medieval idyll. Anyway you can see the photos here or in the slideshow below.

A canal tube map

A few years ago i combined two of my loves : canals and the London tube map and created a "tube map" of my own depicting the canal network in Birmingham and the West Midlands. A few days ago i decided to redo it and the results can be seen here.

It was originally created on a PC in Photoshop back in 2009 but since then i have moved to using a Mac at home sans Photoshop but with Pixelmator instead. Although i could edit an imported version of the original in Pixelmator it was becoming a bit untidy and i also wanted to improve how the map looked, optimise it for viewing on an iPad, and include some of the canals in Warwickshire i have been exploring over the last 12 months.

So i recreated it from scratch. Next stage will be to turn it into a full-fledged HTML5 interactive map using Hype with information on the various canals and links to my imagery. So keep tuned. You can find out all about my canal wanderings on my Down The Cut blog of course.