November 30, 2009 by Ceolwulf.

So, this is not an anime review, nor is it a Sunday post - it can’t be, because today is Monday.

Good thing no one reads this blog!

Today was the first day for archery club.  I’d never been before, so I called ahead to confirm the time and place.  Yes, it was at the arena at 7:00, but don’t bother being too punctual, no one else is.  OK, fair enough.  So I left for Morden around ten till seven, and got to the arena.  Abe had said to use the south entrance.  It had been a few years since I was there, and things had changed a fair bit, but for the life of me I could find no such thing as a south entrance.  After searching around for a while I decided to call back to Abe’s and see if I could get a clue or two.  “You’re in Winkler right?” Errrr… “OK, so that’s probably my biggest problem right now…”  Hightailed it back to Winkler and found it no worries.  Funny how being in the right town helps.

I walked in and found a very casual bunch indeed.  A few people were shooting, but most were sitting around swapping hunting stories.  This, I found, would continue the whole evening.  Since I had no hunting stories, I decided to just watch the people at the line for a while to get some enlightenment on form, but most of them were shooting compounds with releases (get a gun, seriously what’s the point), so I didn’t get a lot out of that.  There was one new guy getting some instruction, and he was shooting a longbow, so I ambled over to that end to listen in; at which point he promptly left.  Ah well.  Sat around for a while and talked to one of the other guys for a bit, and then when the crowd was a little thinner - there were more people there than I expected - I decided to step up to the line and see how much damage I could do to the net.

It had been well over a year since I shot last, and at that point I’d only been shooting for one summer, so I was fully expecting to be terribly terrible.  This, however, proved not to be the case - well, OK, in fairness it was; but, not nearly as bad as I’d expected.  At one point I even shot a tighter group than Abe did, which I was pretty smug about.  That lasted until he got warmed up and was putting his arrows within two inches of each other!

I must have shot for nearly an hour all told, but once my form started to waver badly I decided to call it a night.  Over that time I only missed the target once, due to the string hitting my bracer, and usually put the arrows in an 18 inch group or so.  Not good, certainly, but not bad either for a very rusty novice.  I am now very much looking forward to greatly improving over the winter, and once spring comes I’ll get a target set up in the back yard and without any doubt I will be wearing out bulls-eyes by summer’s end

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November 22, 2009 by Ceolwulf.

Just got back, pretty late, don’t have time to write up a proper post.  I’ll do that anime review though, next.  Check back Wednesday or Thursday for it.

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November 15, 2009 by Ceolwulf.

It appears that this is the year of the Indian summer that just keeps going.  They say that next week will bring snow, but I remain unconvinced.  Highs have been around +5 and are projected to stay there all week.  So much so that we actually took the bikes out this weekend.

First order of business was to get Tony’s bike out of his living room (yes), so that took up Saturday till latish afternoon.  We brought it back from the city with my truck.  The only tricky part was getting it down the steps; my planks weren’t quite long enough and the bike got a bit high-centred on the fairing, but no damage was done.  Then once we had it back to my place (where it will be sleeping for winter), it was time to get things ready and ride a bit.  Didn’t get a whole lot in but enough to figure out what sort of clothing would keep us a little warmer!

Today we set out a bit after 2 in the afternoon, by which time it was +5 or so.  Wool socks, poly longjohns and cycling tights and jeans, a wool cycling jersey and a wool army sweater and a fleece sweater under my jacket.  And a very thin fleece balaclava that did a remarkable job of keeping the neck warm.  I felt a tad not terribly bendable, but indoors was near to a risk of overheating so I figured it ought to work on the road and so it did.  A little cold on the chest, but then my jacket is emphatically a summer jacket, designed to let air through, which it does exceptionally well - you notice that when it’s near freezing.

First stop was Tony’s parents’ place, where his dad admired his bike (which he hadn’t seen yet) and commented that the bit of oilspray on the tire from the chain should “make for better brakestands” - much to his mom’s alarm and our amusement.  Then we had it figured that we’d to go Altona to find a restaurant, since having skipped lunch things were feeling pretty hollow.  But hollow was also a word that could describe that town.  It felt like a wasteland.  There was hardly a soul around.  Out of three restaurants that were actually open, two had no cars in front of them at all, and the other had three, but that was a Chicken Chef and thus didn’t bear consideration.  Back to Winkler it was.  After supper we just had to get a few more miles in so we headed down the road to the Tim’s in Morden.  By then it was dark and getting awfully cold.

I can see now where the heated vest, heated grips, and windproof riding suit would extend the season a great deal.  Even with windproof gear and heated grips I would have been good to go for nearly any distance.

But still, 122 km on November 15th.  Ridiculous.  I love it.

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November 9, 2009 by Ceolwulf.

Missed two Sunday updates in a row … inexcusable really.  First one I just forgot (was @ cousins’ place), second, … let’s not talk about that one.

I think I feel an anime review post coming on.  Or maybe something totally different.  Anyway next Sunday shall have a post no doubt.

Posted in C'est la vie, Administrivia | No Comments »