anarchist_nomad (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
anarchist_nomad) wrote2008-04-06 08:58 pm
anarchist_nomad) wrote2008-04-06 08:58 pm
I Wish It Was Sunday, 'Cause That's My Funday
Oh, wait. It is Sunday! And I don't think that it could be properly described as a "lazy Sunday", either. To summarise, here is what I have done so far today:
Finished the novel that I was reading: Really, how much more detail do you need? I read a book -- what else do you need to know? If it makes you feel better, I can confidently inform you that it was 468 pages.
Went to the final two lectures (and the final lunch) in the Astronomy Weekend: The last two lectures discussed the geology of the moon[*] and the re-ionisation of the universe (which is when it became possible for light to move through space). Both talks, although very different, were quite interesting. I am impressed with the diversity of topics covered this weekend -- there were presentations on astronomy (x2), cosmology, particle physics, history, andgeolunology. Good stuff! As for lunch? It was yummy. Again, not much more detail needed, yes?
Took a nine mile walk with C&M: Slowly, we are getting ourselves ready for the twenty-six mile Walk The Wight challenge next month. Last month, I started by taking a three mile walk with C and then, on Easter Sunday, a nine mile walk with C&M together. Today, we did another walk of similar duration. Last time, we walked Northwards along the Oxford Canal until we got to Kidlington. After passing quite close to my dentist and to where![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zorac lives, we used back roads to make our way back to Oxford. Today, we stayed in Oxford, but covered a lot of ground. We went East to Marston, cut across the University Parks, South through the city centre, North along the Thames past Port Meadow, then East by the ruins of Godstow -- a twelfth century abbey. Although most of the morning snow had melted, the weird weather continued throughout the afternoon; sometimes we were too hot and, at other times, we were pelted with falling snow. Next weekend, the plan is to increase the length of the walk by about a factor of two.
Rang my first ever quarter peal: On the tower bells at St. Giles, I rang my first quarter peal ever. This is a very serious milestone in my progress as a campanologist. With seven bells, there are 5040 unique combinations possible. This takes about three hours to ring, and is defined as a peal. With fewer bells, one has to repeat some of the combinations to ring a peal; with eight or more bells, one does not need to ring every possible combination. A quarter peal, then, involves ringing at least 1260 combinations; it takes about forty-five minutes. Until now, I have not accomplished this on either handbells or tower bells. Indeed, there has been some speculation within our group about which method would yield my first quarter peal. Now we know.
The St. Giles group attempts a quarter peal once per month; I was invited to join in the December attempt. However, it was not successful. In part, I must confess, due to me.[**] Tonight, however, we did accomplish a quarter peal of 1296 changes. In a way, this is surprising. I was inadvertently late, not realising that the QP attempts begin earlier than the usual Sunday evening ringing, and one of the other ringers never showed up. With a band of only seven, we switched the method from Grandsire Triples (which involves seven active ringers and one covering tenor) to Cambridge Surprise Minor (which requires only six active ringers). This startled me -- I have covered Grandsire many times and understand the method reasonably well... but I have never rang a covering tenor for Cambridge!
Nonetheless, we pulled it off well. As the covering tenor, my role was the easiest -- I needed to act as a type of metronome, always ringing after the last of the six bells in each change. In practice, this is not so easy to do. It involves swinging a 1456 pound bell continuously for forty-five minutes... and it involves pulling the rope about a second before the bell needs to sound! However, I combined several skills -- ringing steadily, listening for my bell and taking timing feedback from it, and rudimentary ropesight -- to make it happen. So my hands may now be sore -- and the skin on my right ring finger has torn -- but I am proud to have taken this next step in learning this four hundred year old folk art!
Swam a mile: Also pretty self-explanatory. Went to the Ferry Sports Centre, got in the pool. One mile later, I got out.
Finally, just for fun, there is one last detail from today. Courtesy ofcheshcat, here is the view from the Skullcrusher Mountain this morning:
[*] Is there a better word for this? Technically, there is no geology for the moon, as "geo" refers to the Earth. "Lunology", perhaps?
[**] In January and February, I was not invited to join the attempt, for whatever reason. In March, I was asked... but reluctantly needed to decline, as I already had tickets to see Chumbawamba in concert that evening.
- Finished the novel that I was reading
- Went to the final two lectures (and the final lunch) in the Astronomy Weekend
- Took a nine mile walk with C&M
- Rang my first ever quarter peal
- Swam a mile
Finished the novel that I was reading: Really, how much more detail do you need? I read a book -- what else do you need to know? If it makes you feel better, I can confidently inform you that it was 468 pages.
Went to the final two lectures (and the final lunch) in the Astronomy Weekend: The last two lectures discussed the geology of the moon[*] and the re-ionisation of the universe (which is when it became possible for light to move through space). Both talks, although very different, were quite interesting. I am impressed with the diversity of topics covered this weekend -- there were presentations on astronomy (x2), cosmology, particle physics, history, and
Took a nine mile walk with C&M: Slowly, we are getting ourselves ready for the twenty-six mile Walk The Wight challenge next month. Last month, I started by taking a three mile walk with C and then, on Easter Sunday, a nine mile walk with C&M together. Today, we did another walk of similar duration. Last time, we walked Northwards along the Oxford Canal until we got to Kidlington. After passing quite close to my dentist and to where
zorac lives, we used back roads to make our way back to Oxford. Today, we stayed in Oxford, but covered a lot of ground. We went East to Marston, cut across the University Parks, South through the city centre, North along the Thames past Port Meadow, then East by the ruins of Godstow -- a twelfth century abbey. Although most of the morning snow had melted, the weird weather continued throughout the afternoon; sometimes we were too hot and, at other times, we were pelted with falling snow. Next weekend, the plan is to increase the length of the walk by about a factor of two.Rang my first ever quarter peal: On the tower bells at St. Giles, I rang my first quarter peal ever. This is a very serious milestone in my progress as a campanologist. With seven bells, there are 5040 unique combinations possible. This takes about three hours to ring, and is defined as a peal. With fewer bells, one has to repeat some of the combinations to ring a peal; with eight or more bells, one does not need to ring every possible combination. A quarter peal, then, involves ringing at least 1260 combinations; it takes about forty-five minutes. Until now, I have not accomplished this on either handbells or tower bells. Indeed, there has been some speculation within our group about which method would yield my first quarter peal. Now we know.
The St. Giles group attempts a quarter peal once per month; I was invited to join in the December attempt. However, it was not successful. In part, I must confess, due to me.[**] Tonight, however, we did accomplish a quarter peal of 1296 changes. In a way, this is surprising. I was inadvertently late, not realising that the QP attempts begin earlier than the usual Sunday evening ringing, and one of the other ringers never showed up. With a band of only seven, we switched the method from Grandsire Triples (which involves seven active ringers and one covering tenor) to Cambridge Surprise Minor (which requires only six active ringers). This startled me -- I have covered Grandsire many times and understand the method reasonably well... but I have never rang a covering tenor for Cambridge!
Nonetheless, we pulled it off well. As the covering tenor, my role was the easiest -- I needed to act as a type of metronome, always ringing after the last of the six bells in each change. In practice, this is not so easy to do. It involves swinging a 1456 pound bell continuously for forty-five minutes... and it involves pulling the rope about a second before the bell needs to sound! However, I combined several skills -- ringing steadily, listening for my bell and taking timing feedback from it, and rudimentary ropesight -- to make it happen. So my hands may now be sore -- and the skin on my right ring finger has torn -- but I am proud to have taken this next step in learning this four hundred year old folk art!
Swam a mile: Also pretty self-explanatory. Went to the Ferry Sports Centre, got in the pool. One mile later, I got out.
Finally, just for fun, there is one last detail from today. Courtesy of
cheshcat, here is the view from the Skullcrusher Mountain this morning:[*] Is there a better word for this? Technically, there is no geology for the moon, as "geo" refers to the Earth. "Lunology", perhaps?
[**] In January and February, I was not invited to join the attempt, for whatever reason. In March, I was asked... but reluctantly needed to decline, as I already had tickets to see Chumbawamba in concert that evening.