This evening’s shopping in italics:

I tend to be easily-led, it seems. The latest wheeze my hostess has gotten me into, albeit perfectly willingly, is this. (The website is apparently a little clunky to navigate.)

Here’s most of what we’ll survive on for 5 days:

And here’s what it cost:

No doubt our abdominal rumblings and flatulence will be audible in Fife. You have been warned!

As well as being my afflicted by various bodily woes, the IT in Servants’ Quarters has been troublesome:

• SURGE has been flaky since March. A full reinstall didn’t help, nor did replacing the supposedly dying hard disk. SURGE still refuses to acknowledge that he has an AirPort (wireless) card, while just about all core apps (including Time Machine) will not start. My guesses are a faulty logic board and/or airport card, corrupt installs and maybe a failing optical drive – it took several goes to install the OS.Before I sent SURGE away for diagnosis and repair, I attempted an emergency manual back-up of all my data to one of the HDs in Guffaw. It failed (see below) but the Time Machine/Time Capsule backups lasted long enough…
• Hexie behaves OK except that since the update to MacOS 10·6·4 and Safari 5 she freezes on being connected to my VGA monitor. (The monitor appears to work OK with my Xserve so I blame the software update.) With only 1 GB of RAM, a 1·8 GHz Intel Atom processor and currently no way to attach her to my big DVI monitor, Hexie isn’t really a replacement for SURGE although she can run anything that SURGE did, and so is OK for use away from home.
• XServalan was bought about a year ago so that I could begin to teach myself about servers. He cost very little because he had a hardware fault that prevented him from staying on for more than 5 minutes but I gambled that he could be fixed for less than the difference between buying him and a fully-functional Xserve. The gamble paid off when SURGE started flaking seriously: all that was needed was a new power supply unit.However, with only one 80GB HD, Xservalan doesn’t have enough capacity for all our data. Also, the original 512 MB of RAM precluded installing Leopard Server OS so he’s currently running vanilla Leopard. I’ve just received and installed six 256 MB sticks so I’ll try installing Leopard Server later. With some expenditure on hard disks, the potential to add another processor and some work on reducing the effect of his noisiness, he’ll eventually become a nice wee server. For now he’s an acceptable stand-in for SURGE, apart from the fan-noise.
• Guffaw won’t fly Leopard and so can’t do Time Machine backups. However, she had three 180GB hard disks, and hence had plenty of space for secondary and emergency back-ups of other macs. Such a shame that the disk I used for SURGE’s pre-operative emergency back-up died, and that this was the HD containing the OS and apps too! Having extracted this disk and reinstalled the OS and apps onto another disk, Guffaw is back to normal. However, she’s not really powerful enough to be a main computer and, because she’s a bit noisy and power-hungry, she’s not really suited to being a web-server. So she’s edging towards the transfer list.
• TC (500 GB 2008 model) allowed me to retrieve and copy back all my data when SURGE’s new disk was installed. It also allowed access to this data while SURGE was being ‘fixed’. However TC has just suffered capacitor burn-out, so I’ve lost
  1. primary back-up system , including access to old backups
  2. primary wireless network router
  3. 3-port gigabit ethernet hub.

  I think the hard disk will still be OK so the backups haven’t been lost irretrievably.

  To get around these issues

  1. I‘ve set all our Leopard and SnowLeopard macs’ Time Machines to back up to a 2GB NAS bought when Guffaw and SURGE both went down. It’s also where I’m keeping the working copies of my data until SURGE is properly fixed or replaced. However keeping actual work and back-ups on the same medium is hardly a good long-term plan, so here’s hoping that TC can be fixed soon.
  2. I’m using an AirportExpress (whose primary function is to pipe music from the macs to the hifi) as a wireless router.
  3. I’m using an 8-port gigabit ethernet switch, swapping ethernet cables as needed gigabit ports without TC. See here for why.

  I’m waiting on a reply from someone who can replace the burnt-out capacitors and install a large cooling fan. Failing that, I’ll need to get another gigabit ethernet switch, continue to use the AirportExpress for wireless networking and buy a NAS enclosure for TC’s hard disk.

The only computer I have which isn’t noisy, has a display large enough for useful work and just keeps on going is Pismo, a 10-year-old, 400 MHz G3 laptop which I use as a webserver. At a push, he will run older versions of Creative Suite. I’ve upgraded him a lot (maximum RAM, maximum hard disk, DVD-RW, PC card to connect it to DVI monitors). I could give him a processor upgrade (500 MHz G4 or 900 MHz G3) but this would be very expensive and still wouldn’t enable Pismo to run more modern software. Having said that, I love this highly adaptable, solid and curvy wee laptop and will keep him for playing Carmageddon even if all his other uses evaporate.

It’s possible that I’ve been conspicuously absent from LJ since the end of May. Whether or not I’m being big-headed here is for readers to comment on. However, here are my reasons and excuses, in as near to chronological order as I can manage. Some of the following is rather gross and personal.

• • March to May
    I was almost permanently thirsty. The amount I was drinking caused me to wake frequently during the night to urinate. You can guess what was coming, can’t you?
  • 3 May
    I realised I had thrush. Over the counter medication (Canestan Duo) didn’t shift it and the thirst/urination-interrupted sleep was still present, so I eventually decided to check with my GP.
  • Monday 24 May, 4pm
    My GP prescribed stronger antibiotics and topical cream for the thrush.
  • Thursday 27 May, 3pm
    A blood sample was taken.
  • 28-31 May
    My hostess and I were in Worcester, clearing my mountain of stuff from my parents’ loft. I was reunited with my vinyl, my books, more old mac kit than I realised I had and clothing I’d not seen or worn for at least 5 years. Yeehah!
  • Monday 31 May
    This is the bit that must never reach my parents: Having a blood sugar reading of 17 mmol per litre, I had officially joined the ranks of diabetics. Because my mother had become diabetic at around the age I am now, I’d been vaguely expecting it. I recall that at the time I wasn’t upset – I had an explanation for the thirst and urination, even the thrush. (Diabetics are more prone to skin infections anyway, and the amount of sugar in my urine must have provided an ideal home for the yeast!) I just had a condition that needed to be managed with diet and possibly some pills.
  • Later the same day
    It felt as if I’d strained a sphincter muscle during a bowel movement. If only …!
  • Tuesday 1 June
    The pain in my backside remained but I went to work as normal.
  • Wednesday 2 June
    The pain in my backside had increased to the point of near immobility. My GP told me that I had an abcess on the inside of my right cheek. I was prescribed antibiotics (amoxicillin plus clavulanic acid) and told to provide a fresh blood sample the next day.
  • Later the same day
    My hostess and I learned that I dear friend had died today. No further comment is possible just now.
  • Thursday 3 June
    Between bouts of physical pain and sadness, I completed my sister’s tax return on-line. In the afternoon, my cuddly pig and I staggered to the phlebotomist through a haze of pre-phlebotomy fasting and feverishness. I’d booked a taxi but managed to sleep through the doorbell-ring.
  • Later the same day
    Other friends announce ‘Alice Jean was born today She is a beauty!!!!’
  • Friday 4 June to Monday 7 June
    Bouts of pain interspersed with lucidity and co-codamol-induced dizziness. In the middle of Monday morning, I woke from nurofen-sleep to find the pain had gone – the abcess had burst, leaving a few teaspoons of cold runny custard in my underwear. I went to an appointment with my GP (originally arranged to discuss my diabetes) but was told that I needed to go to hospital to get the wound investigated.
  • Monday 7 June to Wednesday 9 June
    Examination under general anaesthetic, morphine dreams, hospital food totally unsuitable for a diabetic vegan, even though my dietary preferences and needs had been asked about! Blood sugar in mid-20s, but apparently surgical wards don’t worry about this. (That’s what I was told!)
  • Tuesday 15 June to Saturday 19 June
    Back to relatively normal routine, including work, apart from not cycling and having the wound redressed daily by the practice nurse for the first few days.
  • Sunday 20 June
    Pain in my backside recurred. I assumed it was just the would sealing itself up so, with my GP’s tentative agreement, I went to work on Monday.
  • Monday 21 June
    After a couple of hours at work, I felt dampness down below. It turned out I was bleeding. I took myself back to the Western General Hospital and learned that I most likely had a fistula. This was confirmed during another examination under anesthetic, so the surgeons put in a seton suture. During that afternoon after the surgery, my blood sugar became crazily high (over 27 units at one point) so I was attached to an insulin pump. Hourly blood-sugar readings, pain and weakness that prevented me from moving to a less on comfortable position made Monday night the low-point of this period of my life. Hospital food was much more suitable this time around.
  • Tuesday 22nd June
    Discharged in the early evening with gliclazide and paracetamol and a suture that is to remain in my arse for at least 6 weeks

I need to say here that life could be a huge amount worse. Colleagues, friends and my hostess have been incredibly supportive and of course I’ve benefitted from modern medicine and the NHS. So here’s looking forward to the end of my arse-invasion, learning how to manage my diabetes (diabetes-school starts on 7th July) and being as near to my version normal as can be managed.

One more thing… I’m not telling my parents about my diabetes because they don’t need the extra worry. They have health problems and other worries, so they just don’t need anything else to worry about, especially when they can’t do anything about it. They couldn’t help but hear about my abcess- and fistula-induced hospital visits but that’s enough.

After cooking lots of curry and successfully feeding it to people on Saturday, my hostess and I found we had increased our larder’s entropy to the point of danger. So we bought a large amount of plastic tubs and created labelled order-paradise.

Following this order-thon, I was impatient to get out. I planned to follow cycle-route 1 to Dalmeny and then take the train back to Haymarket. Oops!

1. At Cramond Brig, I missed the sign for CR1 and so followed a sign for CR1/CR76 which took me into the Dalmeny estate. When I got to what I think is Dalmeny House, I found absolutely no trace of signs and, thinking I must has stumbled onto private land, I tried to retrace my path. I think I then got to Home Farm, before a local told me how to get to Queensferry Shore Walk – which involved several steep skittery gravel-tracks until I got to the golf-course to the east of Dalmeny House, where I’d been about 30 minutes previously! I reached South Queensferry and then Dalmeny station without further incident apart from being rained on.
2. At Dalmeny station I waited for the 19:37 train back to Haymarket. 19:37 came and went – no train. A help-point/train enquiries speakerbot beckoned. It informed me that essential engineering work had necessitated replacing this afternoon’s trains with bus services, and that it was unlikely that Vilior would be taken by bike. Fortunately, I’d spotted the actual CR1 as I approached Dalmeny station. The return 10 miles took me just over 45 minutes, so I can claim a sustained speed of 12 mph, which is fairly satisfying considering the previous parts of the journey through lots of hills on poor and occasionally treacherous surfaces.

The rest of the photos are here.

I’ve not had the appropriate combination of energy, time and inclination to blog recently. Many things have made me want to say something but I’ve not been able to distill it into coherency until now.

In common with just about everyone in the UK, I’m dissatisfied with the election results. I’ve shoved my soap-box into a corner so that I avoid ranting about PR, regionalism, federalism, etc. It won’t help choose who governs just now anyway. However, those of a religious persuasion might be pleased that while the parties try to coalesce, GOD is in charge.

The last week of campaigning mostly passed me by anyway.

• I visited Worcester last weekend to do more about my sister’s finances, dealings with HMRC, IT, etc. I put versions of VNC running on both her laptop and my dad’s PC so that, provided they open a relevant tunnel on their router, I can sort stuff.
• I got back to Edinburgh late on Monday, only to have to get up far too early for the first stage of being assimilated by the Bishopborg. I didn’t leave early enough to cycle any further than from the station to our offices-to-be but I was able to cycle from there to Croy before returning to Edinburgh. The route passes through Kirkintilloch before diverting into countryside and passing a bit of the Antonine Wall. I feel more exploring coming on.
• When I got back to Leckie Towers, I found a mountain of work waiting for me, so that I escaped well after 8 pm.
• If I recall correctly, Wednesday was another late day, leading to me being utterly brain-dead all through Thursday and Friday.

However, I appear to have regained some energy today. My hostess cycled to her piano lesson in Colinton this morning. My plan was to catch her up somewhere on the canal towpath, so that we could then cycle on as far as we liked. As I left Servants Quarters, my hostess told me she was on the path and would keep going. By the time I’d reached the start of the canal, she’d reached the bypass. She then told me that she’d stopped at the Bridge Inn in Ratho. I managed to completely miss Ratho, not beginning to realise this until I was through Broxburn – about 5 miles past Ratho. After sending telephonic apologies, I started back for Ratho and met my hostess just east of the Almond Viaduct. We then cycled in a more leisurely style to Linlithgow. It was quite pleasing to find that our leisurely cycling pace was about 8mph. I think both of us could have managed to cycle on to Falkirk: a further 12 miles by the towpath. Next time!

I love this.

A very good day. Firstly, my hostess and I took the first car-load of bequeathed rubbish from our cellar to the recycling centre. The staff there were noticeably friendly and helpful. My hostess then spent the afternoon in town while I bought some bits and pieces for Vilior at the Edinburgh Cycle Co-op. Then the sunshine and Union Canal path beckoned.

There’s good tarmac from the start of the canal until a small distance after the bypass. After that, the path is mostly packed earth and stone, with the occasional muddy puddle: rather momentum-sapping. This, and having not taken any drink, may account for the feeling that my hands were holding separate handlebars going in different directions around Broxburn. Perhaps my corpus callosum had been jolted into inactivity.

Vilior had his first puncture not far past Broxburn and his second hardly any distance after. Spending over an hour playing canal-side grease-monkey is my excuse for taking 3¹₄ hours overall to cycle 21 miles, so I’m claiming an average speed of 10·5 mph for this run.

Vilior and I took the train back to Haymarket. A blessed can of Irn Bru enabled me to potter home and find that my hostess and her friend had just started cooking aubergine and potato bhuna. Large amounts of good food and and small amounts of alcohol later, I’m very happy with my lot.

Some time after mid-day today, I started cycling south from Corrie. Not long after 2pm I reached Blackwaterfoot. I had lunch in, er can’t remember – but I’ll post a photo of the establishment as and when. I left Blackwaterfoot around 3pm, reached the coast-road about 4:20 and arrived at Corrie 20 minutes later.

So my coast-road to Corrie statistics would be about 5 miles in 20 minutes: about 15 mph.

Even allowing an hour’s stop at lunch, the overall 28-mile route took something under 4 hours. That averages, say, 7mph. If you discount the coast-road to Corrie run, I took 3:40 for 23 miles – just over 6 mph.

But I don’t care about this apparent slowness because there’s a bloody great hill in the middle of Arran and I cycled up and down it twice.

Every now and then I try to cycle faster than crawling pace for longer than just from Servants Quarters’ to work. Here’s some data:

Sunday 28th February: Servants’ Quarters to Musselborough
– out 45 minutes (9·2 mph against the wind)
– back would have been 40 minutes but I stopped in Leith to go shopping (10·2 mph)

Monday 1st March: Servants’ Quarters to PC World
– out 23 minutes (9·1 mph)
– back 20 minutes (10·5 mph)

Wednesday 3rd March: Servants’ Quarters to PC World
– out 18 minutes (11·7 mph)
– back 15 minutes (14 mph)

I wrote at the time that I’d like to get to 15 mph for such short bursts. (Of course, a lot depends on wind, traffic, traffic lights and whether it’s safe to take on major roundabouts.) For longer journeys, such a as visit to a friend in Spott (East Lothian), I’d be happy with 12mph in optimal conditions.

Today, the weather was much less than optimal, my abdomen felt rather tender and my thighs were not at their best due to prolonged spacehoppering yesterday. However, I’m quite please that I managed the SQ to Tescos (just next to PC World) run:
– out 18 minutes (13 mph)
– back 16 minutes (14·6 mph)
Of course, I only went that way to buy tobacco at pre-budget prices.

I don’t think I would have achieved even these mediocre speeds without jPhone blaring out a Genius mix based on my favourite MSP track.28