One of the advantages of where I live and where I work is having a choice of routes there and back. There’s the usual ‘quick as possible’ route down the A14 / A6 which is to be driven as fast as the law, and THE DAMN TRAFFIC allows on any given day.
Far more entertaining however, particularly as the Springtime brings with it the brighter evenings is to go for a drive through the countryside, much of which in Northamptonshire is very beautiful consisting of open fields spanning moderate hillsides and valleys, spliced with the odd country village and small town.
Tonight, having little planned for the evening save for the now customary Calorie Insanity Anti-Diet ™ I decided to go for a bit of a drive, setting off in the general direction of Kettering instead of turning onto the dreaded A14 and it’s multitude of trucks overtaking other trucks.
This is the route that was taken:
View Larger Map
Of particular note was the village of Orlingbury which I’d never heard of, but it was very small, very hilly, and had the perfect small English village feel.
Day-to-day driving to and from work can often start to feel very frustrating, so it was nice to add a bit of variety and pretty scenery to today’s journey home. I was struck by how lovely the countryside looks in this part of the country (admittedly it’s no Peak District or anything of such grandeur but still), and how lucky I am that it’s only ever 5 minutes away.
Summer evening country drives, a small but significant pleasure.
Denise Maps
Okay, so I’m the guest writer for this, the start of a new blogging revolution. Popeski’s back, and blogging, and I’m here doing the unveiling.
So welcome, grab a seat and help yourself to nibbles. You’ll find all kinds of stuff here, 79 things of stuff if you will.
What you won’t find is any satire, whinging, verbal attacks on society or tales of Popeski’s mysterious anti-diet. Oh wait, that’s exactly what you’ll find. I’m kinda hoping we see more videos of a certain someone playing Karate Kid with a filing cabinet.
Enjoy!
danfiveoh Fun
A week ago I decided to see how many calories I’m consuming in an effort to start putting on some serious weight. Since then it’s been more or less a constantly moving target to improve upon. The recommended average is around 2,000 calories per day. For those wishing to gain weight, you add another 500 to your daily intake.
I want to gain lots of weight.
This is how I’ve been doing. I do not intend to go much higher than the current level. Now if you’ll excuse me, my insides are about to explode.
Denise Calorie Insanity
Awesome price-comparison site Tom8o has just launched after what must be a record-short development period. Loads of top retailers are already signed up and featuring thousands of products, so if you’re looking for the best deal head over to Tom8o to find the best price first!
Link www.tom8o.com
Denise Links
I can’t make videos appear here, so just click on this, and watch from a great teacher
Karate Lesson 1: The High Kick
Denise Fun, WTF
This week has been a rather stressful one so far. Therefore, I went for a drive. I found it extremely calming.
This is my current car, it’s a Ford Puma 1.7 lux with OZ 17″ alloys, modded exhaust, suspension, ecu chip and sound system. It’s the best handling car I’ve owned (including the Focus ST170), absolutely loads of grip and loads of fun.
It’s not perfect though - there’s an extremely odd noise emminating from the suspension (?), there’s an occasional leak of something I believe to be air-conditioning liquid, and I rather wish it had leather seats. And it didn’t eat tyres quite so often. Even so, it’s a great car.
This post has been a tribute to the A14. It’s the Midlands’ answer to that long road in America that goes through all the desert. Route 66.
Denise OCD?, Things
Never leave work early saying you’re going to be working late at home, get home, take a two hour break followed by a half-hour dinner followed by more than a single glass of wine.
This is guaranteed to result in the following
- Watching something with John Cleese in it off the telly.
- Getting to Eleventy O’clock and thinking ‘fuck it’, I’ll do it all tomorrow.
- Going to sleep in your clothes.
- Leaving MSN on all night, leading more than one person to attempt to start a conversation with someone that isn’t there.
- Waking up the following day wondering what day it is, where you are, and who left all the windows open, with a minor headache.
Denise OCD?, WTF, Work
Cats are meant to have an inbuilt sense of finding the warmest, most comfortable places in any house. So why has Clyde taken to sleeping in the bathroom this week?
I’ve slept in the bathroom before, and let me tell you, it is not the most warm, comfortable place in the house.
Denise Pets
Today I got to work on a Map! “That’s a bit dull”, I hear you say, and you’d be right, if only I didn’t have a major thing about maps!
Maps are cool, they’re logical and illogical at the same time, and that’s a very special thing. They’re design in its purest sense, a way of providing information in visual form.
Working on the map today, using colour to denote different road types, well, it made a bad day into an acceptable day, and it means that the people coming to meet us on Friday will arrive relaxed and on time, which I think is the mark of a good map and a job well done.
Map-based links
Google Maps (the awesome Google does it again)
Live Maps (Microsoft fight back with multiple viewpoints, more fun)
Denise Design, Maps, Work
