More of scan B than a plan B

On Friday evening I was all set to start work on one of my major "projects" for the winter - scanning and disposing of my scrapbooks. Over the past couple of years I have got rid of all the loose cuttings from the last 15 years or so but at least with those I could chop them up to fit on the scanner.

Scanning scrapbooks is different as you have to scan in more than one direction and the story ends up in two or three bits.

I wasn't even through the first of the big pile when the scanner started to put big coloured patches across the images (see above). I tried rebooting, and attaching the scanner to my laptop but the results were the same.

I suppose it was quite appropriate that it should fail when I was recording a world record. I reckon that in the 10 years or so that I have had my current scanner I must have scanned more photos and papers than anyone else in the world for every £1 spent - I think it cost about £65.

I hope that it will turn into a blessing in disguise as I have ordered a new one which with a bit of luck might arrive tomorrow. At a cost of £146 from Pixmania (it was about £200 at Amazon) I will end up with an A3 scanner so I can do a whole page of my scrapbook at a time. It will save me hours and hours of time.

Bring on scan B.

Lambie remembers

Robbie Lambie has just reminded me that it is 30 years tomorrow since we raced in the 30km walk in the Commonwealth Games in Australia. Just watched the video below for the first time for a while in which Steve Barry takes gold for Wales. It still bugs me that it was reported that "England's other competitors Roger Mills and Paul Blagg finished 7th and 13th." Steve was not English and why did the Isle of Man's entrants not get a mention? I was 8th. Only just remembered  that I added all my photos (taken by my mother) are added to the end of the film.

Graham Young, Murray Lambden & Robbie Lambie seeing the sights of the Gold Coast in 1982. We obviously didn't take much kit with us for three weeks as we have racing shoes and shorts on!

All roads lead to Peel

I've not heard  any news from Ramsey last night but all the action is in Peel this weekend.

Junior Fell Running Championships on Saturday afternoon

Western 10 Miles and Julie Brew Memorial 10 Mile Walk on Sunday morning.

Both events are featured on the front page linked to two very informative web pages from the relevant organisers, the Manx Fell Runners and Western Athletic Club.

Staying warm

I can't make it to the first round of the Ramsey Firemans' Runs tonight as I have to attend a function as Marie's husband.

Don't forget the safety notice below but most importantly of all, take care.

All runners in the Ramsey Bakery Fireman's runs on Tursday MUST wear a "hi viz" top on to be able to race.  White T shirts will not be accepted as suitable.  The decision of the race organisers will be final as to the suitability of garments for hi viz purposes.  However if a runner forgets their top or does not have one, they will be able to purchase hi viz bibs on the night at a cost of approximately £5.  The first and last races of the series will both be scratch races this winter. Signing on will be from 6.15pm for a 7pm race start throughout the series. Full details including a google earth map on Northern AC's website by Kevin Deakes who is the photo above.

MMM results

AS part of my coverage of the Manx Mountain Marathon I had added a link to the site of the same name assuming that the results would be published there. I have now learned that the link is on the home page of the Manx Fell Runners website so I have added a link to this on my home page and also a link to Steve Partington's photos which was only visible on the comments page.

In fact I have also featured the MFR's website in a frame this morning to highlight the performances of the Manx Youngsters in the English Schools Fell Running Championships. Well done to all the youngsters in this.

I would never have guessed how many

Although the remote backup of my photos seems to be working ok (in any event virtually all of my photos are on my photo website in full resolution) I still feel better if everything is backed up "on site" too. Last night I realised that my USB backup had not been working so I reset everything and started again.

I now have move than 113,000 photos although they still use a lot less space than the videos.

I have nearly 25,000 music files too and, yes, there are some newer than 1980 as most of Ben's music collection gets backed up too.

Bloody fell

How often, when one football team thrashes another, that the question arises whether team A was good or team B was bad?

I don't know much about golf but yesterday morning I heard everyone raving about the European team's performance in the Ryder Cup but last night, on the BBC News Channel, I heard an American journalist slagging the USA team's performance.

You could ask the same question about the Manx clean sweep in the Manx Mountain Marathon. Were there not many good performances by visiting athletes or were the Manx runners better than ever?

To find a n answer you probably need to go back to the reasons why the date for the event was changed from Easter to the end of September. There were mixed views about the change and I remember listing a lot of arguments in favour and against when I was canvassed for an opinion. But all in all I thought the change was justified.

It is of course ironic that we thought the course would be drier! With the majority of local fell races in the earlier part of the year and a clear "run" over the summer, the talent and dedication of the local runners were able to prosper from the end of season date. The visiting runners maybe saw things in reverse. They liked coming here at Easter at the start of the season but were not motivated at the end of the season. Either way, the locals were pretty impressive.

The heading was not a typo for some colourful language but a reference again to Nigel Armstrong's fall that required a rescue by the Civil Defence after a deep cut to his right knee.

 Nigel used his coat to protect his knee and this was the bloody colour after he fell.