Devon Lanes and Longboards

Just came across this little puppy. Think this is inline for a purchase :)

Annual April Croyde Run

We're back from our annual run to Croyde (busy month this month!) where we met up with a couple of friends we only get to see once or twice a year.

Paul & Ivan both have VW vans. Ivan sports a LWB T4 and Paul a mint splitty. Paul sold his split a few years ago and has had a combination of Beetles, Wedgies and splits in between, but recently bought back his original split when the chap he sold it to decided he needed to sell it - he's a crazy dude ;)

It seems that the summer season is really kicking in now. The beach, and more to the point the sea, was rammed on Saturday! At times, there were 15 to 20 people going for a wave - all of them near novices - so you can imagine the carnage!

Now, I'm not one for localism. Let's face it - I'm local to nowhere. But I can understand why locals do get pissed at the outsiders on days like that.

Needless to say, Saturday was a no surf day. So we tucked into our "B" and headed down the Thatch for a swift (and massively overpriced!) brewski. The place was full of mid-twenty Bristol peeps. You know the type, nice hair, trendy clothes and a very slight posh accent all trying not to be (another good argument for localism??).

We decided to get up early on Sunday, in an attempt to miss the crowds. It was a shame to have rain that morning after such a hot sunny day on Saturday - but we were getting wet in the sea anyway. The surf looked a lot nicer so by about 8:30 we were in getting a pasting. No wallys in today, but unfortunately, I was performing just like one :( Paddled for loads but just couldn't catch any...

My new rashy worked a treat, but I will be sending my winter for repair very soon. A load of the sticthing has come out, the neck has all torn and a lot of the inner seals have come loose. Adam in Overhead in Newquoi will sort me out there though :)

Weekend in Cornwall

We hit Cornwall this weekend mainly under the guise of Nic going to see a doc about her dicky arm in Exeter on Monday (which, by the by, went very well!).

Weather was fantastic, but unfortunately, zero surf :( I've never seen it so flat! I'd argue that you couldn't even take a SUP out. We cruised up to Newquoi (the new name for Newquay - they seem to trying to make it posh/nice for all the city folk - what with the airport 'n' all that - it's still a shit hole with loads of larger louts!) and it was still way too small there also.

Still not the end of the world. Was good to see our friends and we B'ed on the beach on Saturday night at Godrevy. Can you believe it, it was our first time! It was shocking the amount of rubbish others had left behind - we took a full carrier bag of others rubbish with us :(

Thanks to the weather, we got a couple of nice pics as well...

Ooh! Managed to negotiate a new thick zippy and a replacement thermal rashy - my last one, which is quite new, doesn't stop neck rashes at all. This bad boy has a huge neck - gotta be good :)

Making My Own Fin - Part 1

I thought that I'd have a go making my own fin, so I got me hands on a sheet of ply and marked the shape I wanted to use.

I then started to cut it out using a jigsaw.

Having cut all the way round it...

I then sanded it to make the edge a little smoother. This, I think, is the first time I've ever used a jigsaw for a complex shape. Done plenty of straight line type of things, but getting round the curves was tricky. I ended up moving the ply as well as the jigsaw to get a rounder shape.

Yes, it's not amazing, but I think part 2 (when I get to doing it!) will hopefully remove the impurities ;)

Skeleton Chop Shop in the Mags

Good work on getting ya bike in a mag Big Al!

Check it...

First BBQ of the Year

Last night was our first BBQ of the year. I think like loads of others, a little snifter of a nice day and everybody is hitting the butchers for bangers and burgers.

Just for the record, because the weather is so fickle, we can't call a BBQ a BBQ - it has to be called a "B". Using the full word nearly always induces rain!

Xbox 360 Red Ring of Death (RROD)

It finally happened - I had the red ring of death on my xbox 360. To be fair, it has lasted well. Others I know of haven't made it this long and have long since been replaced.

I tried using the towel trick *1 a couple of times, but on the 3rd try of it, I was still getting no joy :(

I'd heard there was a permanent fix that could be done, so I checked Yow Tube and followed the instructions this guy had done:
Red Ring of Death RROD Part 1
Red Ring of Death RROD Part 2
Red Ring of Death RROD Part 3

So far so good! It's still working...
I think I may have to do it again at some point as as I refitted the X-Clamps - I'm guessing that they are the problem so will be getting me hands on a set of screws and washers very soon no doubt ;)

Here are some piccies I took...

Before...

After :)

*1 Wrap your xbox up nice and snug in a towel (while it's turned on). Leave it running for around 15 minutes. Probably worth unplugging any devices you have attached to it. Unwrap it and turn it off. Leave a short while to cool down a bit. It will now work the next time you turn it on :)

Rant: thetrainline.com

Here it is, my first rant! (I've got another but holding out on it for a bit ;))

Them irritating gits at thetrainline.com couldn't organise a dump in a bog so don't trust them booking a ticket for you!

Ticket was booked at 14:17 on Wednesday, went down to the self-service machine at the station to collect it and hey presto - it didn't have a clue about it! Phoned them up and after 10 minutes the retard on the end of the phone had managed to work what I was on about and assured me that they would be ready in the morning (Thursday). I was phoning at 21:07 and apparently they had been processed at 21:02 - what were the odds of that?!?! Guess what...Thursday - no tickets!

This time, after in excess of 20 minutes, I manage to get a refund and the tickets cancelled - or at least, so I thought...

A couple of hours later, an email turns up telling me that the tickets are now available to pick up from the self-service machine. I thought it was spam initially, but no such luck :( So, phone call number 3 and 15 minutes later, the tickets are cancelled again and once again refunded.

Will the tickets be cancelled? Will the refund appear? Will thetrainline.com ever see me again? Probably not to 2 of them and no to the other.

It's cheaper getting it from the station anyway - no booking fee and no charge for using your card...