A Buck Three Eighty Won't Buy Much Lately On The Street These Days

Had a nice little drive out to Tubney Woods today to bring a piece of the S-400 cryostat in for repair. I don't work with the S-400 and have only cooled it down once, but I have good contacts at Oxford Instruments from the days of the troubles with the K-400. So I am managing this little repair as a favour to others in our group. It is convenient that the world's leading manufacturer of helium dilution refrigerators is based less than ten miles from where I work.

On the drive, I had the windows and the sunroof open. The weather was nice, the sun was shining. Something about driving fast with the wind rushing by and good music on the stereo always puts me in a happy mood.

Speaking of cars, I renewed the insurance on Peter yesterday. The same company that I used last year to find me the best quote located a new company that charges £100 less. So, as of Thursday, I will be insured by a company called Chaucer. Needless to say, cheshcat and I are amused by this.

Still speaking of cars, I filled Peter up on Monday, while I was in London. I paid £1.24⁹ per litre for fuel. That works out to about $9.24 per gallon. To those of you in the States complaining about $4/gallon fuel, I have to say that you should count your blessings. This is the most that I have ever paid per unit for car fuel, though not the most expensive that I have ever seen. Both in London and on the Isle of Wight, I saw places charging £1.28⁹ per litre, or about $9.54 per gallon.

Finally, on an unrelated note, I should mark that I rung Plain Bob Major on tower bells for the first time last night, at Mary Mag. When LC mentioned that he would give me a go at it, I quickly studied the method and memorised which bells the #2 follows. When it came time to ring, he told me to take the #5. Ooops! I asked for the #2 and he told me that I could have it only if I promised that I had not been memorising which bells I should follow. Since I could not honestly promise this, he put me on the #3 bell. I cannot say that it went well... but for a first attempt it was not too bad, I think. Excited about learning something new, I spent the rest of the practice studying the method properly, learning the places and the dodges rather than which bells to follow... but, alas, I did not get to give it a second try. That was mildly frustrating, but I suppose it comes of having eighteen people show up for practice. Most of the time was spent with either the experienced ringers trying complicated [to me] methods or letting the learners ring called changes. Those of us in the intermediate level, me and one other person, each only got that one go on Bob Major during the evening. I won't be able to try again tonight at St. Cross, either. That practice caters more to my level... but you can't ring a major method in a tower that only has six bells! Must ask at St. Giles tomorrow night if I can practice this some more with them...

A Buck Three Eighty Won't Buy Much Lately On The Street These Days

Had a nice little drive out to Tubney Woods today to bring a piece of the S-400 cryostat in for repair. I don't work with the S-400 and have only cooled it down once, but I have good contacts at Oxford Instruments from the days of the troubles with the K-400. So I am managing this little repair as a favour to others in our group. It is convenient that the world's leading manufacturer of helium dilution refrigerators is based less than ten miles from where I work.

On the drive, I had the windows and the sunroof open. The weather was nice, the sun was shining. Something about driving fast with the wind rushing by and good music on the stereo always puts me in a happy mood.

Speaking of cars, I renewed the insurance on Peter yesterday. The same company that I used last year to find me the best quote located a new company that charges £100 less. So, as of Thursday, I will be insured by a company called Chaucer. Needless to say, cheshcat and I are amused by this.

Still speaking of cars, I filled Peter up on Monday, while I was in London. I paid £1.24⁹ per litre for fuel. That works out to about $9.24 per gallon. To those of you in the States complaining about $4/gallon fuel, I have to say that you should count your blessings. This is the most that I have ever paid per unit for car fuel, though not the most expensive that I have ever seen. Both in London and on the Isle of Wight, I saw places charging £1.28⁹ per litre, or about $9.54 per gallon.

Finally, on an unrelated note, I should mark that I rung Plain Bob Major on tower bells for the first time last night, at Mary Mag. When LC mentioned that he would give me a go at it, I quickly studied the method and memorised which bells the #2 follows. When it came time to ring, he told me to take the #5. Ooops! I asked for the #2 and he told me that I could have it only if I promised that I had not been memorising which bells I should follow. Since I could not honestly promise this, he put me on the #3 bell. I cannot say that it went well... but for a first attempt it was not too bad, I think. Excited about learning something new, I spent the rest of the practice studying the method properly, learning the places and the dodges rather than which bells to follow... but, alas, I did not get to give it a second try. That was mildly frustrating, but I suppose it comes of having eighteen people show up for practice. Most of the time was spent with either the experienced ringers trying complicated [to me] methods or letting the learners ring called changes. Those of us in the intermediate level, me and one other person, each only got that one go on Bob Major during the evening. I won't be able to try again tonight at St. Cross, either. That practice caters more to my level... but you can't ring a major method in a tower that only has six bells! Must ask at St. Giles tomorrow night if I can practice this some more with them...