Relay

Not many blog entries this fortnight... I suppose when I have a lot of free time I don't bother with things like this. Too much to do.

The computer is working a-okay now. What did I do? Replaced the 500GB HDD with an 80GB HDD in case the big one was failing, and took one of the RAM DIMMs out to reduce the memory from a Windows-XP-can't-read-4GB to a Windows-XP-friendly-2GB. No problems now. At all. So I'm guessing that between them the RAM was more of a fault. I will, at some point (when I want to risk the system again) reinstall the bigger HDD as a secondary disk to regain the storage I've lost but as for the RAM, well unless I want a 64bit OS any time soon I'm just going to have to keep the extra DIMM as a backup. Shame. I suppose it was pretty damned greedy of me to want that much memory anyway. I haven't noticed any drop in the quality of my programs or games with 2GB so 4GB was just asking for trouble in the first place. Another lesson well learned.

I took a ride out on the Versys on the M25. Motorway riding isn't as perilous as I thought it would be, but then being my "boring" and "overly-cautious" self I mostly stuck to the slow lane and only overtook once or twice in the middle lane. I don't see the need to race around in the highest gear, full throttle and blasting past everyone else. I didn't want/need to faster than 70mph so I didn't. Even at those speeds the Versys stayed ever so steady, smooth, and wind-resistant. It was an enjoyable ride but eventually I had to stop for a toilet break.

I rode through Tunbridge Wells rather than take the direct route (uh, intentionally of course) and I was kind of glad I did in the end because the scenery from the top of the city was great. It reminded me of what it's like to live high up and inland. Seeing the world stretch away from you in every direction instead of just three-out-of-four brought back rose tinted memories of Nottinghamshire.

This is the last day of the half-term break. The weather has been typical for British standards. Week one: snow and ice; between week one and two: very sunny; week two: rain, wind and overcast. So I didn't really get on the Versys as much as I'd like, nor did I take as many walks as I'd like. I didn't even get as much D&D done as I'd like because thanks to formatting my PC a dozen times or so I still haven't gotten around to putting MS Office on it. Also, these past two weeks have seen me having real trouble sleeping. My rest is uncomfortable and doesn't last much longer than six hours. I've been waking up in the middle of the night, unable to find the cause of my restlessness regardless of having done any physical exercise or not.

Typical. You sleep like a baby when you're at work, only you never get a lie in. As soon as the holidays hit you can't get forty winks without feeling like you've made your bed out of uneven rocks.