Tuesday 22 January 2013

Gear Update : Rab Thermal Breathable Baselayer.

 

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Out for a bit of a stroll “up the glen” this afternoon. The snow finally got here in a half-hearted sort of way, and is now mainly slush. No doubt the Council will soon clear this up , as they have a fund for it. Allegedly. View her of the upper (topographically and socially) bit of the village.

 

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Unfortunately i had once again left my precious flask of Ice 9 at home. Yes, the previous post was Cat’s Cradle themed, and I had hoped to flush Danny out with it. However his continued absence leads me to believe he is now making love to a porn star on the planet Tralfamadore.

 

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Never sure if this is the Ladies Pool or the Lady’s Pool.

 

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Across the river and into the trees. That’s two currently unfashionable authors in one post. Not counting myself.

 

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The Pipe Bridge. There is a14” cast water pipe running through it. Before the bridge was built there was just the pipe. As kids, we would swing out past the protective spikes and walk or crawl across, depending on how much of a feartie you were. In those days only about 3 or 4 kids survived to Primary 7 out of the 30 that started Primary 1.

 

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In August we had a freak thunderstorm which caused quite a lot of damage with flash floods. I think you can see from the pic the damage that this quiet little burn did in a matter of a couple of hours

 

The gas bill came in today.

 

Now at this point regular readers of the blog will have instinctively recoiled from their computers to avoid the expected flume-flecked full-on grumpy old man tirade.

Not so.

Pleasantly surprised.

All that time on the comparison web sites must have paid off. I now get my leccy from the Gas Board, my gas from Amazon, my coal from Microsoft, and my broadband from Scotrail. Aint the free market wonderful ?

 

What ?

 

Baselayer ?

 

 

Oh yes.

 

 

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I’m convinced that the fact that my mum bought me string vests and pants was the main reason it took me so long to lose my virginity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  I first heard this song while lying in a park in London. I was feeling mellow. Burn me as a heretic, but this is my favourite version.

19 comments:

  1. Another Classic Gear Review!
    :-)
    That Alison has a fine pair of lungs

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    Replies
    1. I failed to mention the versatility features, It can be used to catch fish, or partially unravelled to provide an emergency boot lace or tent guy.

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  2. I finally got the Slaughterhouse 5 references, before that I was a tad confused. I'm assuming that Cat's Cradle would be a good place to got to next.
    Is Hemingway unfashionable? How do you measure that? Have to confess that I haven't read that one, but I did reread the Old Man and the Sea recently. Every now and again, I reread Fiesta, although I couldn't begin to explain why.
    The Decemberists are yet another band I didn't know - reminded me a lot of REM, which is a good thing in my book.
    Still no Danny then.

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    Replies
    1. Mark, I don't report what's fashionable - I decide what's fashionable.

      However, my local library has no Hemingway on the shelves despite boasting multiple publications by Jeremy Clarkson, Piers Morgan, Katie Price and others who have written more books than they have read.

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    2. Should public money really be spent on books by any of that triumvirate? What a depressing thought.

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    3. "who have written more books than they have read."
      Made me snigger in a superior way.
      Is that wrong?

      I was made to read "Across the river & into the trees" at school. I was also made too read Shakespeare. Left me permanently scarred, it did.

      Bryan Williams' Playboy, passed around the class, was a lot more educational.

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    4. Yes, lots of excellent writing in Playboy.
      Is it possible to snigger in a non-superior way ?

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    5. Mark
      Well, yes, actually. And Danielle Steele and Mills and Boon. People enjoy them, so stock them. But not to the total exclusion of less popular, less accessible works.
      Our local branch recently had a makeover – new carpets, paintwork, lots of open space with armchairs and coffee tables. And a net reduction of the book stock. The staff tell me that if a book is not borrowed during a six month period it is withdrawn and replaced on the shelves by more “popular” works. Now somewhere in the basement at HQ, among the thousands of “unpopular” volumes, is a book by Joseph Heller which demonstrates the absurdity of this kind of logic.
      My argument is that it can't cost any more to store books on the shelves in the branches than it does in The Basement. And then, when someone comes in to borrow a copy of Big Red Shiny Penis Substitutes For Mindless Bigots (Volume 6) by Jeremy Clarkson, there is a chance, however remote, that their eye may be caught by a copy of Crime and Punishment or The Aspern Papers and their life changed forever

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    6. Fair point. I was a proper library junkie as a kid and I vividly remember, for reasons I've never really understood, one day moving away from the SF or Westerns or Thrillers all of which I devoured with great pleasure on a regular basis, and somehow coming away with Pale Fire. Couldn't make head nor tail of it when I got it home, but....well, I think it started something. I've never gone back to it, but always remember being mightily puzzled by it. Maybe I should try again. What chance of finding it in Lancaster Library?

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  3. Why do mothers do that? If the string vest theory of individual air pockets warming up from body heat had any basis in scientific fact then we'd still be wearing them. And those undies with the string panels at the sides - what were they about? Add to that nylon jumpers that made your hair crackle, neckties on elastic bands and crimplene trousers that were about as fashionable as boils, and mothers have a great deal to answer for. Is it any wonder so few of us matured into level-headed, socially adequate and financially successful adults? I certainly didn't.

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    Replies
    1. Dunno about crimplene trousers, but boils were very fashionable at my primary school. Oh how I dreamed of being one of the cool kids with my own kaolin poultice !

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    2. Because They're There said:

      "If the string vest theory of individual air pockets warming up from body heat had any basis in scientific fact then we'd still be wearing them"

      Have you seen Brynje kit? The answer to all your prayers!

      http://www.nordiclifeuk.co.uk/index.php/active-base-layers/51/563/active-base-layer/P-super-thermo-t-shirt

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    3. It'll never catch on in Govan !

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  4. Sorry to disagree. I think Blind Faiths version is far better, the voice on BF's track is superb. Allison is better looking mind.

    I still have the vinyl album. Pure magic.

    can't beat string vests. Love the review.

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    Replies
    1. Opinions, eh ? I like the original too, but this is one of the few cover versions I prefer.
      BTW, the sleeve of that Blind Faith album could get you arrested in the current climate !

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    2. Yes i bet it would. Somebody will get done for it once they are dead.

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  5. Flushed off Mount McCabe see you soon

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