Bollocks – I can’t work out how to pass the co-ordinates of the afflicted grid-square to the appropriate exception. So instead, the afflicted grid-square calls the exception, which then creates a message such as ‘there are too many ogres in a grid square’. Control then goes back to the code for the grid-square, which augments the message with ‘The afflicted grid-square has co-ordinates (x, y).’ and then displays the complete message.

It works but it’s not satisfactory to me.

I’ve just written a Java exception to notify if there are too many ogres in a grid-square. (‘Too many’ means ‘more than one’.)

Now I need to write methods for decrementing numbers of donkeys, parrots and snakes, along with exceptions to notify if the program attempts to have negative numbers of these creatures.

Last Friday I bought a new pair of cycle-shorts. I tried to wear them the first time this morning but I discovered that, despite having tried on the shorts in the shop, I’d come home with a child-size pair that wouldn’t go even halfway up my legs. Fortunately, I’d not taken the labels off and so was able to swap them for a pair that would fit my flabby anatomy.

I also checked on the date for Lev Davidovitch’s brake-swap – it’s due on the 28th. Dad had warned me Lev would need new disks, as well as new brake-callipers: apparently it’s impossible to properly flatten a disk once it’s been bent out of shape. (He used to make brake disks for Ford and Austin Rover so has more knowledge of this area than I do about anything!) So I spent a while drawing reasons why friction would imply a distorted or damaged disk.

Fortunately, I didn’t need to argue my case – they new brakes will come with new disks anyway, so it’s all good apart from the wait and cycling to Napier not being as easy as it could be.

Despite the friction, I’m still very pleased I chose disk-brakes. I appreciated their inclement-weather-unimpaired stopping capacity when a car-moron jumped some traffic lights lights on Lothian Road today. Even in good conditions, disk-brakes are better stoppers than rim-brakes, and won’t wear the rims away.

Also, cycling Lev for just a couple of weeks on Edinburgh’s rubbish road surfaces has already affected his wheels so much that if Lev had rim-brakes, they’d be rubbing without any chance of getting them fixed for free.

With apologies to Morcheeba…

I had planned to meet my mentor this morning at Napier, then spend the rest of the day in the library, looking for references to back up what I’m saying in my web-enabled business coursework. Meeting my mentor went well – thanks Natalie!

However, I’d also been somewhat irked by Lev Davidovitch’s brakes still rubbing badly. On the way back from spinning last night, I had to drop a couple of gears to compensate. Since I’d just spend an hour deliberately riding against friction and was still working off cramp in my right leg, I wanted a smooth ride home! I also needed a replacement helmet cover (the original had blown off and away on Tuesday morning) and another pair of shorts (2 pairs isn’t enough considering I’m spinning twice a week and cycling distances at weekends) while my hostess’ new leggings were supposed to have arrived at the co-op this morning.

So I took LD and his bulging panniers back to the bike co-op to ask what was causing the friction. (I tend to start by assuming that I’m the cause of my problems – in this case I feared that Randolph Crescent’s cobbles might have jolted or buckled the wheels enough to cause the brake rotors to move agaisnt the pads.) However, I was pleased to learn that I wasn’t the cause after all.

It turns out that LD and his siblings were built with road-bike brake-callipers, i.e. with a fairly narrow gap to contain brake pads and disks. (By contrast, mountain bike callipers have large gaps to allow for the inevitable bashings and distortions they’ll suffer, so friction is far less likely and more tolerated.) The problem was that the manufacturers of LD’s brakes had worked to poor tolerances and I’d had the bad luck to get a duff set. The co-op has offered to replace the relevant parts with new ones, of a different brand which is manufactured to better tolerances (and better all round) – and to say sorry with a voucher.

However, the new parts would take a while to arrive – so Gordon the mechanic was tasked with trying to make LD’s brakes work tolerably until then. I was asked to leave LD with them for 20 minutes so went to a nearby coffee shop to drink tea. However, when I returned, all the world and his boyfriend had been bothering the mechanics so LD still wasn’t ready. Also, the front calliper had bent the disk so Gordon was trying to bring it back into shape. After around another half-while I’d pondered – and rejected – buying an under-saddle or in-frame bag for the tools I like to carry, Gordon brought LD out of the workshop. Both brakes are much better – there’s still some friction once per rotation of the front wheel. However, until the new callipers arrive, I’m told I can bring LD in again for running repairs. The co-op will supply and fit the new callipers free of charge – and have reiterated their promise of recompense for selling a bike with duff bits. Thanks to Chris (who seems to work mostly in bike sales) for advising me what the problem is, making sure it will be fixed and recompensed and to Gordon the mechanic for doing running repairs in the meantime.

So after getting this off my head and into the blog (and eating spud, salad and beans – which might amuse Fiona), it’s time to crack on with Uni work.

Screaming at this. Quite apart from the hypocrisy of denouncing this when in opposition but then going for it when in power, what will this do to internet use, personal freedom, trust in governments….

Speaking purely personally, this pushes me into voting for independence despite my aversion to borders in general, Alex Salmond and Fiona Hyslop in particular and my family being the other side of this border-to-be.

ScotRail had decorated the train toilet:

Morning – very tired, arm feeling like Arnie’s in the steel foundry when the T-1000 is about to put a rod through him.

Tired enough not to resist doing arm exercises, taking pills, doing blood test.

By lunchtime, back to prevarication!

‘lifting my bike onto the work stand’ has happened so frequently since I’ve had him, I only need one word to say it: lev-itating!

or Shaking our stuff – all over the place!

Yesterday I felt ready to take Lev Davidovitch on a long run and my hostess felt ready to try her first distance cycle of the summer. After much discussion, we settled on heading towards Stirling via Linlithgow, Polmont, Falkirk and Larbert: this allowed plenty of bailing-out points. Matters were complicated by by my hostess having a piano lesson that morning, so I was to join her in Colinton at 12:30 and then we’d head off and see how far we’d get.

I didn’t sleep at all well on the previous night – I woke at 3am with my head full of ideas about how to write my WEB coursework. The narrative had eluded me until now so, unable to get back to sleep, I sat and typed until about 7. After breakfast, my hostess headed off to Colinton while I blogged and then transferred the lights and iPhone from Vilior to Lev Davidovitch. I also tweaked the saddle position and the positions of the panniers’ mounts so I wouldn’t clip them with my heels.

At 11:45 I departed for Colinton, travelling via Merchiston rather than the much steeper route I’d normally take. The Merchiston route isn’t flat by any means – there’s a long drag up Colinton Road – but has the advantage of being the way I go to University most days – I know the lane-changes and traffic-light sequences along Lothian Road and Bruntsfield Place fairly well and so could concentrate on getting to know Lev Davidovitch.

Via Merchiston (4·9 miles)

Steep route

Just before arriving at Colinton I felt the ride get squidgy. At first I thought the brake-friction had returned but soon recognised the dreaded feel of a deflating rear tyre. I gingerly rode the final metres and set about replacing the inner tube. (I’ve never found patching an inner tube to work except when at home and not under pressure to get going. I do carry puncture-repair gubbins in case I run out of spares.)

This is where I relearnt at least one reason for not using tyre-levers when putting the tyre back into place. It’s quite possible to pinch the inner tube and I duly did so. Fortunately I had two spares and was a lot more careful with the second one. I would learn another reason for not using tyre-levers later…

Anyway, somewhat nervous about not having any spare inner tubes, we set off towards the Gogar roundabout. This involves a fast drop through Wester Hailes, crossing the A71 via a challenging roundabout and a charge through South Gyle. My hostess’ cycling app indicated there was a way to avoid cycling around the roundabout. It has all the traffic heading too and from the airport, South Gyle shopping hemall and the bypass. Normally I’d try it but it’s also messed up by tram works. My hostess was sensible enough to not even contemplate it. So, having found the cycling app to be misinformed, we gingerly walked around the roundabout (there are pavements) to the cycle path on the north of the A8.

Colinton to Gogar

After this, travel was daily uneventful: we had to carry our bikes over the footbridge at Ratho because neither of us fancied doing 360° around Newbridge Roundabout. There’s a steep hill as you get into Kirkliston. I used Lev’s 27 gears while my hostess used Che’s 8 gears and fantastic determination to get up it.

The sun was beginning to lower as we travelled west towards Linlithgow. I imagined I could feel rear-wheel squidginess but whenever I checked the tyre seemed solid enough. However, because I was beginning to trip out from the sun flickering through the roadside hedges, the squidginess could have been purely imagination.

Colinton to Linlithgow (17·5 miles)

I took a much-needed comfort break at Linlithgow while my hostess pondered whether to travel on. Her feet had been giving her some discomfort and already we’d done over 20 miles. We decided to press on at least as far as Falkirk – this would take another hour, by which time the afternoon sun would be waning. We were enjoying being out on the road, despite the huge amount of traffic overtaking us. (Far more than when I’d cycled this route a few weeks ago.)

Linlithgow to Falkirk (8·1 miles)

Triumphal arrival in Falkirk 1

Triumphal arrival in Falkirk 2

We arrived at Falkirk Grahamston station in comfortable time for a train back to Edinburgh. However the cycle-spaces on this train were all occupied and the next train wasn’t for another hour. So recycled off to Falkirk High Station – this is on the main Edinburgh to Glasgow line and so the trains are more frequent and have more cycle space. Despite being only 1·5 miles, the cycle from Grahamston to High is fraught with traffic and hills and was difficult in our states (me: tired-to-the-point-of-tripping; my hostess: physically fatigued).

Grahamston to High (1·5 miles)

I’m inordinately proud of my hostess. She’s only cycled to work and back a few times so far this year, and only took up cycling a couple of years ago. Yet yesterday she did 32 miles with lots of hills on a bike that’s not designed for long runs. (It’s well-made and runs fine but is designed for comfort and commuting.) And this morning we’ve booked a cycling holiday for July!

Update

Here’s a map of the overall route.

Aftershock

Back in Edinburgh, I discovered why the last few miles had felt squiggly and as if the rear brake was rubbing again: the rear tyre had suffered a hernia. This may have been due to tyre-lever damage too. Seriously, they are evil! I left Lev Davidovitch on the stand in the lounge while we ate. This turned out to be a mistake: the inner tube exploded noisily, shocking us both and leaving Lev Davidovitch completely unridable.

This morning we hoisted Lev Davidovitch onto the car’s rack and took him back to the cycle co-op. In exchange for a reasonable amount of beer-tokens, Lev Davidovitch was fitted with Schwalbe Marathon Plus tyres while I watched and learned how to replace tyres without bionic thumbs. (The secret’s in the wrist action and pushing against your thighs.) I had wanted Gatorskins: a pair of these had seen Vilior through 3 puncture-free years. (See the reviews on Amazon!) However, Gatorskins aren’t available for Lev Davidovitch’s wheels (700 x 32) but I’m assured that the Marathons are as good.

Leaving the co-op I noticed more rubbing – Lev Davidovitch’s rear mudguard had distorted to rub against the wheel and headed back in to ask how to cure it. The mechanic feared I’d had a puncture already. The rear mudguard hangs from the pannier rack: there isn’t room for both conventional mudguard stays and disk brakes. The weight of my pannier had pulled the combination against the tyre. While adjusting the mudguard/rack interface, the mechanic suggested the rack was somewhat, ahem, budget and suggested I use 2 panniers to balance the load. More living and learning!

Lev and Che wearing their rubbers!