Unexplained Flying.

 A report is being published soon about what the the US government knows about UFOs.  I think we all want them to say they have a captured alien in a basement playing poker with the head of the FBI, but we all know that won't happen - because THEY WANT TO KEEP IT A SECRET!

And that's the trouble with these sort of things.  The doubters will become less doubting, the convinced will be more convinced.  I, however sit on the fence and convince myself it's doubtful.  I think.

In the meantime, I had a weekend off doing any form of exercise, which is a rarity for me.  Saturday was spent finishing the house painting (18 litres in total), then yesterday we had the family round for lunch, and I'm not saying they overstayed their welcome, but my planned late afternoon run didn't materialise because they were still there. Anyway, cycled into the office today so I'll soon catch up on lost calorie burning. 

 

As Young as You Feel

A huge scientific study has finally drawn the conclusion that we cannot reverse the aging process.  That will be a blow for cosmetic companies trying to sell all those miraculous creams and potions that make you look younger.  However, it's doubtful it will have any effect - surely those that buy the products understand the difference between advertising and real life.

A female runner in the US has been banned for 4 years due to an increase n nandrolone (or similar, can't remember precisely what).  She is blaming it on a burrito bought from a Mexican fast food outlet.  Not sure what shocks me more, the drugs in the burrito or that a professional runner went to a Mexican fast food outlet.  

Think Outside The Box..

The European cup finals kicked off this weekend, and Engerland played their first match at Wembley against Croatia.  I was lucky enough to be busy painting the house, so could only listen to the match on the radio.  It's probably 10 years since I last 'properly' listened to a footie match and the standard has definitely gone down.  The commentary wasn't particularly good (didn't they used to swap commentators in the 'old days' after 20 mins?) but especially the 'expert pundits' dragged into to give informed comment but ended up giving their full repertoire of footballing clichés and stating the bleedin' obvious.

I was reminded of listening to the 1986 world cup (whilst painting the window frames at our first house) where Maradona managed to punch the ball into the net thereby knocking England out the quarter finals.  I was so annoyed, I switched the radio off and finished the painting in the dark - anything but watch and listen to the match. 

 

Paint it Black.

I'm painting at home.  Not a future masterpiece, nor even a minor watercolour but a full scale house.  It's odd that we use the same verb for a work of art as well as a maintenance task.  It's not the most interesting thing to do, but at least I get something substantial to show for it.  

It's also a watercolour, well, the paint is water based, and coloured so I guess that must be a watercolour isn't it?  With my very limited experience in the paint industry (none, to be precise) having a water based solution to an outdoor problem seems to be in a bit of a conflict between the weather and common sense.  'Its raining - quick, cover yourself in a water based product to keep dry' is not something you hear very often.

Power To The People!

Consult your stakeholders.  Hmm.  Not sure about that.  I've just completed a survey for Northern Powergrid, the company that supply the wires and pylons that carry my electricity.  They want to know if what they are proposing (essentially a £7 per annum charge) is good value for money, and would I mind paying it please?  How they expect the ordinary man in the street to have an informed opinion on that is like asking me how much to sell a football player for.  Answer - as much as you can get for him.

There are much more important things that utility companies should asking, like how much bonus should they give their CEO? ..or how much dividend they should pay their shareholders (answers: nothing and next to nothing respectively).  I really don't know why they bothered - I predict some press release how their valued customers endorsed their value for money offering of £7 per year with a smile on their faces.

Of course, there is no way I can avoid any payment to Northern Powergrid, because they have the monopoly on providing power to my house - often masked by the huge number of electricity providers I can choose from.  I have no complaint about the monopoly situation, but don't waste your money on the survey stuff.

Shipping Forecast

 Amsterdam are trialling self driving boats.  I'm not sure you drive a boat do you? Anyway, they won't have anyone at the wheel whilst they transport people and goods up and down the canals.

I seem to remember they have similar in Norway where a large ship traverses a fjord with some sort of bulk cargo thereby reducing heavy goods lorries on the roads - seems like a good idea to me.  There must be loads of opportunities for this where regular, known journeys can be replaced with autonomous or near autonomous transport.  Shipping is maybe more predictable than road traffic, although I can imagine there are a few technical challenges as well as political issues such as replacing man with machine type arguments.  This has been around a while of course, and unfortunately is unavoidable in all but the rarest of cases.  The 'price of progress' is often used and do agree with it to a certain degree, the trouble being that anyone affected has a very personal viewpoint. 

I can see quite a few island hopping ferries being replaced by this type of thing, and when we venture on our hols in the Algarve, one of our favourite beaches is reached by a 10 minute boat journey staffed by what look like ex-fishermen.  

Dead Interesting.

 Humans can live until 150 according to research by some researchers researching (can't remember who).  Evidently that's the limit of our natural ageing process when (I guess) we just simply fall apart whether we like it or not.  At my ripe old age, I often think I can live forever, forgetting (is that an age thing?) that actually I can't, it's just that I think I can, so it must be true.  A bit like I think that politicians are caring and looking out for everyone, when it's obviously total tosh. 

Anyway, back to the ageing thing.  When I'm not living forever, I do wonder when the terminal decline starts i.e. that part of your life when there's no way back, unlike a broken leg that heals, ageing is not in the same family of ailments.  My grandmother lived to 99, and I think she had about 5 years in this state of dcline.  My mother appears fairly fit at 86, and seems to have a while to go yet.  My grandfather had a heart attack at 86 (?) so didn't have to worry about the decline bit although it's debateable if that is a good thing or not.

Summer Lovin'

 Just had a very hot early summer bank holiday, which was quite a shock after all the rain during May, which in itself was quite a shock after a very cold, dry April.  Weather huh? The price we pay for being in a temperate climate zone.

Seeing that the forecast was for some more hot days, I biked in this morning albeit at a quite cold 9 degrees.  I brought in a short sleeved jersey for the trip home and it's looking pretty good so far.  My knees got a bit burn on my Sunday morning ride so I need to harden them off.

My 5000 mile target is looking a bit better than last month.  Only 25 miles down today, and that will be all but zero after my ride home, depending on the route.  The cost to this is that my running is getting a bit behind, currently standing at 31 miles deficit.  I do have a week away without my bike at the end of this month, which will be useful, but need to try and stop it getting worse - could do with a few rainy days!