My first cycling century, 1995
A year ago, I ended the year by looking back to a cycling achievement: a two wheeled journey from Wales to Buckinghamshire. This New Year’s Eve, I’m looking ahead: to my first cycling century (100 mile bike ride) of the decade. Continue reading
Getting to know my Sonos Play:1
Ten years ago, my wife gave me an iPod as a Christmas present. I loved it from the start: I had joined the digital music revolution. This Christmas, Karen gave me a Sonos Play:1 speaker. What a great piece of kit.
It wasn’t a chance present. I’d put a lot of time into researching various wifi speaker options. Initially, I was leaning towards Airplay speakers, but I was put off by reports of sound dropping out. (That tallied with my frustrating experience with Apple TV.)
My early experience reflects the positive reviews of the Sonos Play:1 on Techradar and elsewhere. The sound is excellent – it has made me rethink the idea that quality sound needs two, stereo, speakers. I’ve not experienced any lost connections. It was amazingly simple to set up my Sonos system. The only gripe was that Spotify disappeared from Sonos on Boxing Day but once that was sorted I found it really easy to play Spotify through Sonos.
Highly recommended.
PS: I got childish pleasure today from getting music to play on the Sonos speaker in the living room while I was upstairs. It reminded me of my schoolboy trick of startling my grandmother by changing TV channels on our first TV remote control in the 1970s when I was in another room…
Today’s sad news that Hereford United FC has been wound up in the High Court brought back childhood memories. In April 1976, I was one of 35,000 people who watched the team play Cardiff City at Ninian Park in Cardiff. Hereford were leading the old third division and City were placed second. Cardiff won 2-0 that unforgettable evening.
It was one of my favourite Ninian Park memories. I still have the match programme, signed by members of Cardiff City’s promotion team.
I hope Hereford one day rise from the ashes, like former Welsh Cup rival Newport County.
The Crown as Martins Bank, Walmington-on-Sea
I don’t imagine that Dad’s Army’s Captain Mainwaring ever tasted a frappucino. (They came long after 1940.) But the Chalfont St Giles, Bucks pub that posed as Mainwaring’s bank in the Dad’s Army film is about to open as Costa’s latest coffee shop.
The Crown becomes a Costa
Sadly, the much loved Crown closed last year, as I blogged in May. It was one of our favourite venues for anniversary and birthday dinners. (I took my very first iPhone photo on one such occasion in 2008.) Losing a pub is always a sad event, but if we have to swap dinner for coffee a Costa is a good choice. (Make mine a skinny latte and tiffin…)
Sign of the times
PS: we paid our first visit today, 20 December. They’ve done a very nice job converting the pub. The coffee’s great too!
Costa Coffee opens in Chalfont St Giles
According to The Guardian, the iPod Classic is one of 2014’s hottest Christmas presents, even though Apple stopped making it earlier this year. The paper claims people are paying up to £670 for a Classic.
It all seems a little far fetched (especially as the Apple Store is offering a refurbished one for £162). But I understand the appeal of the music player that changed everything. I still use mine (bought in 2009) every day in my car. If anything, the iPod is becoming more useful even in the Spotify era. Back in 2010, I was able to store my entire music collection on my first generation 64GB iPad, along with a year’s photos and a few movies, with 20GB to spare. Its successor – same capacity – is frequently at capacity despite having just playlists not my full collection. (What’s to blame? Photostream?) So one device to do everything isn’t such a great idea. I’ll continue using my iPod Classic, with its ability to store 40,000 songs in my pocket.
PS: I still mourn my first iPod, a Christmas present from Karen in 2004. It was my first Apple product. I left it on a plane in San Francisco in 2008. My 2009 Classic isn’t as smooth to the touch.
Ertblog 