Devon and Cornwall Grand Tour - Day 1

It was the check out date from the camp.  Most people were leaving, but I was going to be in Exeter for another two days.  Before Sarah go down to Devon, I went to Newquay Pride.

On the way to Newquay, I took a small detour to see the Tamar Bridge.  Once you have seen the Humber Bridge, you think most bridges are small...  The old one got Brunel's name on it.

I met up with someone from AVEN for the pride.  It all went well, I rescued an abandoned asexuality flag, caught up with people from MyUmbrella, got a nice GWR goody bag, and a Warren's bakery coupon.

Not sure I would see another Warren's, I got one anyway.

I went to Fern Pit for a crab sandwich.  It was all very nice, the view, the sandwich until the last bite!  There was a bit of shell!

Sarah and I shared the pasty.  It is also traditionally minimal meat and traditionally crimped, but not so traditional that the potato was sliced not diced!

GLME Exeter 2019 - Day 7

My final duty in the camp was being a sweeper.  I had the Sat Nav set, high vis ready.  As an added bonus, I got to go to the attraction free.

Having spoken to Steve, I took his advise, brought the top box and some shoes.  At the first coffee stop, Stephen said to the guys about this, but it was all too late for them!

Everyone walked down the hill and took the land rover back up, and I walked back up, it was definitely a lot harder walking back up!

I actually did my sweeper duty, leading the lost sheep back to the herd, shielding the other bikes etc.

GLME Exeter 2019 - Day 6

Since I was going to spend another week in Devon and Cornwall, I did some swapping around, I was on the tour to Dorset, again.  We saw the Cerne Abbas giant, but it was not recently chalked, so it was hard to see.

The Dutch was presenting the next camp, completed with industrial quantity of Gouda, Edam and salted liquorice (in motorcycle shape)!

So it was Ceilidh, and people got their kilts and lederhosen out.  Where did they find the room in the luggage!

GLME Exeter 2019 - Day 5

It was our dayoff, so I did my little tour to Minions!  Along the way, also ticked off two English Heritage castles.

When I was in Minions, I got a Cornish pasty, it tasted very different to the ones normally got in England, the meat to veg ratio is very low, as far as I am concern, it was practically vegetarian!

GLME Exeter 2019 - Day 4

I was on a tour to South Devon, it was all very nice and all very expensive.  I was confronted with hairpin bends that I was not expecting, so I messed up the first one.  It was not on the description!

We had afternoon tea on Dartmoor.  The cream tea was extortionate.  The Germans did not understand what was the fuzz.  I just hoovered the left over scones as not everyone ate both scones.

We were given the chance to break up, so I stopped at Two Posts Bridge to take some pictures and got some postcards.  I left the main road and went on a small road on Dartmoor, with extra sheep!

It was pirate night, so I wore the standard issued gear, and there were even more pirates than super heroes.  Where do they fit all the outfits?  I also wondered how would the landlocked Europeans know what are pirates.

GLME Exeter 2019 - Day 3

I was helping the camp dispatch, so I missed a ride, but I have already organised a little ride with Steve on Day 1, so it worked out well.  We even got picture on Dartmoor with the Dartmoor ponies.

With no special event on, I just planned my trips and rested.

GLME Exeter 2019 - Day 2

I signed up for a coastal tour.  The coast was full of people on a Sunday, and there wasn't a coastal road as such, so we were riding up to ridge, back to coast, up and down all day, queuing behind the Sunday beach goers...  At least it was dry.

We came back to "super hero" night, I never understand how people had space for fancy dress on their bike luggage!

GLME Exeter 2019 - Day 1

I made my way to Exeter.  Having already broken up the journey, I still rode 200 miles!  With the bike fully loaded, my coffee break could only be somewhere on the main roads, rather than small village cafes.

I set off early and arrived early.  But M5 was a nightmare!

I put in a lot of effort in aiding the check in, so I had done my duty.  On arrival day, everyone is just catching up, I also did some catching up and sorted out my "off-day" rides.

What Not to BBQ

I have been to a BBQ, when they ran out of food,  instead of just packing in,  they broke out the cocktail sausages and barbequed them,  very weird.

Motte and Bailey

Now I have been English Heritage member for 18 months,  I started to understand different castle structures.   Motte and Bailey means a lot of stairs to the keep!

Stop and Search - Walking Whilst Young

In the States,  you get stopped for DWB - Driving Whilst Black.

In the UK, you get stopped and searched for BB - Being Brown.

Now Hong Kong has joined the rank with WWY - Walking Whilst Young.

Should I be glad that I am not being profiled in any of the above?

End of Stock Gloves

I got a pair of summer gloves and they were end of stock.   For a tenner,  I didn't expect much,  but as soon as I started wearing,  all their plastic bits were splitting.   Next time I will be more mindful what end of stock items not to get...

Clotted Cream

I was never really a big fan of clotted cream,   These one was strange,  as in they are very pale.   I still think I prefer whipped cream,  at least is *a bit* lighter.

Nutella on Buttered Bread

The German and the Dane both said Nutella goes on top of the butter... And they were serious.  Seriously?!

Harvest 2019

I have already harvested the first round of chilli,  and even the tomatoes are ripening!   I got some bonus mushroom,  but I won't risk eat them!

Ethnicity Han

Chinese is not an ethnicity,  Han, Tibatan and Uighur is ethnicity.   Citizen of Chinese is most Han,  but not all Hans are citizen of China.  Stop misusing the word 'Chinese'.  Next time when I fill in a form,  I will correct their mistake.

Two Damp Squibs in York

I saw an games night in York, so I went.  I sat alone for 30 minutes and calls it quits.  Then I saw another event on across the street, I thought I would walk in, but the venue knew nothing about it.  Two of two events fell thorough, maybe I should not be bothered with York events...

Mr & Ms HK People

With all the events, creative individuals were given a lot of topics to work on. I only just came across the Mr & Ms HK People. Not only it is Mr and Ms, as supposed to Mr and Mrs, the characters are also very gender neutral, that is a bonus.  In tough time, at least we still have entertainment and freedom of speech.

Tiny Memory Card

Still convinced the new SD card is dodgy, I swapped the SD card with an old card.  I read 32 and I popped it in the camera.  When camera reckon it as space for only 5 pictures, I thought it was reading wrong, or there were other files in the card.  When it ran out of space, then it dawned on me, 32 means 32M, I cannot believe I still have this type of tiny cards in my collections!

Cork Shuttlecocks

There is plastic shuttlecocks, and there is plastic shuttlecocks.  Since I cannot get hold of normal feather shuttlecocks without taking out a mortgage in England, I resorted to plastic shuttlecocks.  I thought they were all shit.  Recently I got some new ones with cork base instead of plastic base, these are less shit, and response much better!

Desford Tropical Birdland

When we pulled in, I was sceptical of their offerings.  So it is like a Lotherton Hall Bird Garden except much bigger, I am pleasantly surprised.  The cup of tea was also nice, expect for the dirty teaspoons...

This is the first time I saw a Kea.  And the first time to see a baby parrot.

WhatsApp Fake News - India WhatsApp Lynchings

I have never been forwarding kind of person.  I rarely forward any chain emails, or messages.  And in social media and messaging groups, the information shared around is perceived to be an in-group information and treated with less suspicion.

The news on India WhatsApp Lynchings resulted in 46 deaths before this problem is brought under the spotlight, and WhatsApp has new guidelines and new limits on messaging forwarding.

At the end of the day, every user should be careful on what they are sharing.

Grow Wild

I was looking on Eventbrite and found a Eden Project Communities event.  I was noisy, so I popped along.  They talked a little about the Big Lunch, then a guy from Kew started talking about Grow Wild.  It is both interesting and important.  I am thinking where I can plant the seed pack!

Squires Summer Menu

I took the opportunity to take Flint to Squires on a sunny afternoon.  The place was heaving.  And I was not the only one hopping on tip toes which makes me feel better.

I always thought Squires is a greasy spoon, but they really have tried very hard to diversify in the past few years.  I noticed a lot of people were having salad rather than pub classic, and they were offering slushy and milkshake.  I stuck with the boring pub classic and had a fish and chip, it was actually very nice. 

Multipurpose Bell Bag

My Bell helmet came with a nicely lined carrier case.   In real life,  I could not think of when I keep my day to day helmet in the bag.   Then when I got Flint,  I got the panniers and they were selling expensive bespoke lining bags.   The Bell bag serves as the pannier bags perfect!

Miscalculating Utilities

My utilities bill is much higher than my estimate from last year's usage.   Last year I had a few guests,  but still I am using more.  I cannot think of any reason why except I spent a lot of time in gym and washed in gym last year.   Maybe I actually made gym paid!

Taiwan Acid Comedy

I came across Acid a few months ago.  Then she mentioned Asexuals, so I thought I would give her a mention here.

Will You Ever Forgive Me

I went to LGFF's showing of Will You Ever Forgive Me.  I was meaning to see it, but never got around to it.  The LGBT story line is weak, but at the end of the day, it was a drama based on true story.

LGBT Sports Fringe - Trampolining

I went to trampolining as part of the LGBT Sports Fringe.  I have not been to this park before, they have a loads of good games, including one that tests reaction, aka jumping 1 minute nonstop, that was proper hard work.  Dodge ball isn't really as exciting as movie makes out, especially when people here isn't very good with ball games.  My thighs hurt the follow two days!

Mad Cow still Biting

I watched a documentary on Mad Cow Diseases on BBC.  I never knew BSE was that big.  And now that I learnt the vJCD wave has only going into the second phase... and I know someone and his wife probably both deteriorating because of this, this is making me quite worry...

Fresh Garden Peas

Since peas is seasonal, Sarah got some.  Podding them was fun.

Fresh peas taste so different to normal peas, they taste very legume, almost like peanut, then I worked it out why, I think is the high starch content, as supposed to the high sugar content in the frozen, aka perfectly ripen peas.