Hymn Of The Big Wheel

Way back in 2005 my car got written off with me in it. It was, what I have to come to think of as the, "Granny on a Mission" event. She'd driven out of a car park and onto the road, and I was the 2nd and final car she'd run into on her 400metre drive home from the shops. I recall the noise of her engine, the impact and the noise it made, my car being up in the air and then my head ringing like a bell.

I'd called the emergency services from within my now wrecked car. I could see daylight through the passenger door frame and I was across the middle of the road with one side of the car front tilting downwards, some distance from where I'd been driving. I had no air bags fitted.
The Police Emergency Call Centre declined to send anyone out on my request, though the Police did attend later along with a Fire Crew to clean up the mess in the road. I'm not sure who else called and managed to convince them to turn out, but I eventually gave a statement, and there were several witnesses. The other driver had been whisked away by her family before the Police arrived.

I was not too badly injured, the Whiplash injury I'd suffered which occurred when my head hit the driver's side window, eased around two years later.

My car went to the Breakers Yard and I still miss it.

So, where is this little stroll down Memory Lane heading? .....

Fast forward to 2011, and someone who seems to have a long term grudge against me, made an attempt to use existing UK Legislation to try and drive me off the Internet. Last week I had the Police at my UK door regarding this Blog and my Twitter Page, following their receipt of a formal complaint about the content.

Quite interesting to view these two events side by side and speculate about what priorities exist for local policing today.

Thankfully common sense has prevailed and there is still a right to free speech where I'm domiciled. After all, this is not a commercial Blog or Website, it earns the owner no income, (especially true since my Google Adsense Account was attacked recently) and contains my personal views, thoughts and experiences in life.

If you don't like what I write, then the solution is simple, don't read it.

With thanks to Massive Attack for providing me with Title inspiration and keeping me sane.

July 2012 Yet another attempt has been made to drive me from the Internet. Same person and same details as the last time, more police at my door. Seriously considering shutting down all web places. Left feeling that it's a huge waste of Police time and resources.

Anatomy Of An Adsense Attack

As you my have read in this Blog, my Google Adsense Account has been killed off by an external attack. I really don't care about the Adsense revenue I've lost, and I can't speculate if this was a random Bot attack or a deliberate act by a vindictive person.

Behind every Bot there is a person writing the program. Sending in an Appeal to Google would be futile, I've read that no-one ever gets their revenue or account reinstated. I've also read that the person who organised this has done me a favour in the longer term, though I really doubt that my attacker had my best interests at heart.

I've been reading up on the antics on "Click Bombers" and "Click Bots" in an effort to understand how the attack was carried out whilst looking like it came from me. I was oblivious to the damage as I never saw the Ads, or paid attention to the income, as I never received any.

I'd made a Blog entry on the 21st June 2011, received no Blog visits on the 21st, and on the 22nd June my Blog received 52 visits from an address in Horsham, Pennyslvania.

All the Charts and analysis are by Google Analytics and belong to them.

Oh dear, I seem to be relocated in Horsham, Pensylvannia

As I use Google Analytics it's possible to view the emerging patterns. It's not possible to get the exact location pinned down as far as I can tell.

Level 3 Communications provided the service

Much as I'd like to think my Blog is an interesting read, it's a little OTT for someone using Level 3 Communications services, to then click on my Adsense Ad boxes 69 times on the 22nd June.  Not only that, they were superfast at arriving, clicking the Ads and departing too.

Out of 80 Direct Traffic visits for June 2011, 44 occurred on the 22nd.

Direct traffic sources show a big spike on the 22nd

Another blip in Switzerland, the data shows that from Fribourg and Montreux areas, there were 27 visits, resulting in a Bounce Rate of 75%. The pattern for the rest of Switzerland is in single figures, as expected.

Apparently I'm popular in Switzerland

Of course I have no idea how the attack was carried out. Perhaps my Google account was hacked to gain access. Naturally I've changed passwords everywhere, just in case. I'll see what the next batch of Google Analytics data shows before taking any further action.

Life's Little Surprises

I've just seen my Google Analytics results for the month of June 2011 for this Blog. Rather a lot of traffic from one particular part of Switzerland. It's produced a big red blob on my traffic map. In a 14 day period, there were 16 visits from the Fribourg region of Switzerland.

Maybe my Blog is worth reading after all.

Warfare

I've just had notification from Google Adsense that they have pulled my Adsense boxes and refunded the money I had earned over several years to their Advertisers. This they said was down to invalid click activity. It's not my activity, so this Blog page has likely come under attack from another party. I have a good idea who as well, but as it's so petty I can't be bothered to counter it, or launch a formal appeal with Google.

Well, I really don't care about Adsense, I never received a penny from their Advertising, so I've removed their poxy boxes from this Blog. As far as I'm concerned Adsense sucks, I've run the Ad boxes for years, and got nothing for it.

BTW Google, I don't see these Adverts I'm supposed to have clicked on  as I've used Adblock Plus for years :)

Onwards and upwards, free of horrid little adverts!

Marjal Peniscola

In Peniscola there is a freshwater Marsh directly behind the hotels on the seafront,  and it is a protected conservation area. The Marsh is fed by groundwater springs which form small lakes known as Ullals.

 
When these overflow, it forms the marsh. The area is managed by the building of drainage ditches which channel the excess water through the lower part of the town and out to sea via South Beach. The largest is the "acequia templera" or Templars Channel. Keeping the channel free needs a special sort of boat.

 The Marsh is home to the Valencian Samaruc which looks like a Goldfish, and is in danger of extinction. It's also home to another rare fish, the Spanish Toothcarp, known locally as the Fartet.


The heart of the marsh is now accessible on foot via a boardwalk. Visitors are urged to remain quiet while walking across and not disturb the many resident birds. There is a "hide" for birdwatching.

There is visitor information posted in several languages along the route. I'm guessing that the No Moped sign on the main map is aimed at local teenagers!

Fruitcake and Frenemies

2 years ago I felt moved to Blog about an experience I'd had on Facebook, when someone I thought highly of, acted out of character, leaving me with a profile view consisting of 1 line of text. I'd thought it was an error, at the time.

Since then, I have been fending off angry emails from this man, raging at me for seemingly most innocuous comments made by me on a variety of public online forums. all of which he perceived to be about him. I have been driven off one skiers forum by him. His attacks are exclusively by email or forum message. Lately he'd resorted to threats, the "change that or I'll do this to you" sort of stuff. The threats had no effect on me, for example, I really don't care if he tells everybody that I'm rubbish at skiing.

All of this had left me a bit bewildered, as I'd no idea what I'd done to upset him in the 1st place, or why he was still really angry with me. I'd been concerned about the use of some photos of me on his website, which I'd downloaded a long time ago, and used on my Blog. They were used by me in accordance with the non commercial use copyright terms quoted on his Blog. The photos and links were on my main email address, until they disappeared, along with my ability to see his website to see what was wrong. I kept seeing "Not Found" messages.

My Blog now had holes in it and looked awful.

I thought it was maintenance, but then found my IP address had been blocked, a divert appeared to a BBC recipe for Fruitcake. Not good, even if it was a really nice recipe, which I tweeted. It got worse when a page of threats appeared, police, legal action, some data act or other, they were changing each day while I was still trying to find the images to repair my Blog.

I've archived the threats online using a Web Archiving service. Seems he was cross about me using proxy services to recover the photos of me that appear on his pages, which are now part of his commercial venture.
He's not asked my permission to use the images of me, but having seen where they are on his site, I did what I needed to and I'm not bothered about them. What else could I do, he'd blocked my IP address, and the last time I phoned him, he called me back and told me he wasn't going to talk to me.

I'd had enough of being silent about the continuing email abuse I've received so went public, as the page of threats had now accused me of being a stalker and downloading his photo a zillion times. It was this that tipped me over. It would appear that he has been stalking me online as I travelled around Europe this spring, well, whatever floats his boat I suppose. Personally I have better things to do with my time, but we are all different.

In case you are wondering no, it's not my style, and neither is he. It's possibly (so I've been advised) a Firefox Accelerator thing affecting his website every time I log on to my email. I've also been advised that there may be a Google Mail issue with the way their package treats his links as well. Maybe he's placed tracking cookies in mails to me,  he's certainly been closely following my online activity, which must be a bit time consuming.

I now have a new email address, so hopefully he won't be foaming at the mouth every time I answer mails from friends and family. In the meantime I've been busy removing all evidence of his mails, and all contact details from all my online places. There are many years worth to be gone through and destroyed.

One of his friends has now told me via my Facebook Profile that he'd wanted nothing to do with me, no friendship, no contact, nada, and this had been the case for a number of years.

The man who gave me the news was one of the folks I'd trusted when I'd asked for help to clear up the problem 2 years ago. He said he'd not known then. He did know how upset I was though, so just how long has he known, and allowed this to continue?

I'm left wondering just how far back this hatred of me went. Was it there when he gave me a Christmas card for my household 6 months before he did the FB thing. When he led me skiing off piste? Did I mistakenly place my trust in a man who did, and still does hate me?

It would certainly explain the tone of the emails. My last comment in reply to one of his nasty mails in November 2010 asked the question "I really don't know why you hate me so much?"

Now I know at last, I can look forward to opening my email package without trepidation.

Finding this out is actually really good news for me. It's his problem not mine, and now I know that it's nothing I did in the first instance to start the sequence of events. If he ever sends me any more hate mail, I now feel liberated to respond in the way I feel to be appropriate for the time and situation.

Mostly Warm....

Skiing in April is always fun. It's often powdery, usually warm and quite social. It's about long lunches after powder filled mornings, peeling off the layers and sitting on restaurant terraces. Not every day is sunny, which is good, because that empties the slopes and covers the hills with powder!

Getting a table at the Buvette was not a problem that day

The cook at the Buvette having to work hard on his cigarette break!

The Salomons demonstrating just how soft they are!

Spooky sky

The L'Omen Rosso Avalanche from our lounge. This slide skilled 3 ski tourers.

Wishing he'd ridden his Thunders that day, and not some soft skinny Salomons

The Powder Virus

Plenty of fresh snow to play in off piste

Action in the 6Park Snowpark in Grimentz during April

Off piste with some friends. Lots of fresh snow and more low clouds!

Crossing a stream is a larger problem if you have short legs!

Getting onto the spring powder at just the right time of day

Late season small slab Avalanche high up the system

Enjoying a coffee break in the sunshine

The Learning Curve

Last month I took some ski tuition. It's been a while, so I chose a ski teacher that I've worked with before. A couple of people I know had recently been rude to me about my skiing skills, so I'd outlined what I wanted to work on prior to arriving for private coaching. A quick hop over the Col de Forclaz and down into Chamonix, where it was very, very warm.

Managed to check into my hotel thanks to a visiting postman wanting a signature and being keen to find some staff. My room had a view too! 

Made contact with my teacher, Chris Fecher boss of Tinderbox Ski School who kindly offered to collect me from my Hotel next morning. I headed into Chamonix to see the sights.

 Next morning and after an overpriced and rather basic breakfast, Chris collected me and we headed up to Grand Montets, so he could see what I needed to work on. It's been a while since I was there, and I initially could not get my bearings. The snow was pretty firm 1st thing so we stopped for a coffee to allow the surface to melt, and my teeth to quit humming.

After spending the morning on drills we skied down to Argentiere. It was little soupy bit skiable. I spent the afternoon sightseeing in Chamonix again. It's been a while since I was here, and the town is looking smarter.

Next morning and in search of some quiet slopes for videoing we headed up to Le Tour. The conditions were deteriorating fast but there was still plenty of snow for carving exercises!  Chris is a very supportive teacher and makes skiing seem so straightforward.

Apparently I can carve, and I'm not so bad a skier as some folks have been saying. I'd like to suggest that my detractors take that feedback and put it where the sun does not shine, however as they are already so far up themselves there is unlikely to be any room.

Onwards and Upwards!

A Little Off Piste

Fairly recently, someone who used to be in my circle of friends made a comment to me about my skiing (or lack of it in their opinion) that has prompted me into a bit of a retrospective Blog entry. So, I've looked back over my photos over 5 winters and pulled out the best off piste skiing photos of me. Just two of them definitely do not have me in them, as I was taking the photo, you get the idea!

Rocket Science

After doing damage to my Stockli's last month and getting bad news from my dealers I faced the challenge of finding some new skis head on. It should be really straightforward to buy new skis, walk into a ski shop, point at a pair and wave a credit card. Many retailers now only offer skis and bindings as a package, not much use if you need a flat ski, and a toe lift plate.

So I did some web surfing and thought I'd found a decent ski and binding pairing from Telemark-Pyrenees in France and placed an order. A few days later an email arrived to say that they were out of stock of both the ski and the binding. It would seem that their web store is not linked to their stock levels, which is a shame.

I can't find any other supplier that can get me the ski I want at other than daft prices, so my 2nd choice ski came from Sport-Conrad in Germany and the bindings from an Ebay trader, Winter Shack, in Scotland. Everything arrives, and it's all fine!

I'd already been in contact with a guy who mounts skis and does servicing, advised him what I'd got lined up, and as he'd done the mounting for my Black Roses I anticipated no problems with a straightforward mounting of some Dynastar Bindings on Dynastar Skis. That's where everything started to go pear shaped.

I sent him some photos of the skis and bindings and read his response with a certain amount of dismay. Apparently I'd need some Driller Killer Inserts, a Custom Made Toe Shim, Machine Screws, because my heel piece screws would be too long, toe piece screws too short and he can't make them shorter/longer, and he'd need the skis for a week as the glue for the inserts needs 48 hours to go off.  Most ski shops do this work in an hour, how hard can it be?

Hmmm, not good. I offered to get shorter screws, no response. These are only screws after all.

Time for Plan B which involves a second opinion. Luckily my bootfitter carries all the Dynastar binding spares nationally, and is very familiar with the bindings I want to fit, so I send him the photos. I then take in the skis and bindings, and he puts them in position, they will fit straight onto the ski. He can't see what the need would be for all the inserts and custom made stuff I'd been told about.

He finds a slightly shorter screw for the heel pieces because I'm not using the Heel Lifter Plate, and confirms that I don't need longer screws for the toe pieces, the ones Dynastar provide will do nicely. He was even able to offer me alternative Race Plates for the toe pieces. They would fit straight on as well.

So, now, all I have to do is cart the skis to Switzerland and ask my local ski shop to do the mounting. What could be simpler.........

Frustration

I was given an old sewing machine at least 25 years ago, and up until today I got by. It's a very old machine, and only really did 1 sort of stitch, until today. So, I'd decided that today would be a good day to replace the main zip in my favourite ski trousers. I did all the unpicking, pinning, and tacking up yesterday, and was ready for the big sewing machine session.

1 slight problem, I now can't get the Bobbin to work, the cotton is pulling from the wrong place and after an hour, I admit defeat. It's an old machine, and the parts are very worn, nothing I did made any improvement. My trousers remain tacked up and I've now spent a shed load of money at Amazon buying a machine to replace it.

Of course, the price for a new pair of ski trousers, and a sewing machine is about the same. I'm justifying the purchase based on other repairs I might be obliged to make in the next (n) years.

Never mind, as it dates from 1917, I expect I can sell it to a collector, it must be worth a few quid. Apparently not more than £10, delivery charges exceed the value. I will be spending more as I'm now obliged to drive it to the tip since our garbage collectors won't take anything heavier than a Larks tongue these days.

Downhill All The Way

 

  January came around, and I packed away my skins to make the best of the pistes and easy to grab off piste that is all around the Anniviers. Had a great drive down across the Jura on the way out, stopping briefly in Kent to give a lift to a pal who was staying in Zinal for a week.

We got stuck in to the unpisted areas within the resort boundary and had a blast. The conditions varied widely, some slopes had breakable crust, though anywhere in the shade stayed powdery. 

It was cold again, so I was back wearing lots of layers, only this time I found myself having to say to Andy, no, wear more! We still saw skiers with no hats or goggles though, they must be more hardy.

Having been cruising in the back seat, Andy finds some Breakable Crust and decides to take a rest, and why not, he's on holiday!

My friend came round from Zinal, and brought all his friends with him, we had quite a crowd. We took them onto the same slopes we'd been skiing, smiles all round.

Most days we took a picnic and stopped at one of the Mountain Huts as the sunshine was glorious.On one occasion we had a visit from a confident local bird!

Spent a day in Zinal where there was still plenty of good skiing, though the bottom of the Freeride area was a little thin with a couple of streams showing through. Easy to avoid though. The main part of the resort had some Paragliders practicing for the Mauler Cup, which is a pretty big competition, so standards were very high.

The air was so clear that we were able to see the Cabane Becs des Bossons from the Corne du Sorebois in Zinal.

 A day in Vercorin offered us this great view across to Chandolin and the Illhorn drag lift, which is quite steep, and not just from this distance.

Back in Grimentz we'd been watching television and web reports on how bad the snow conditions were in France and Switzerland, um okay, if you say so.

There was a Skier and Boardercross competition in Grimentz, which also brought in the Freestyle skiers to the 6Park. Standards were quite high. You won't catch me doing this stuff!

 I took my Stockli's into the local ski shop for a service, and needed to sit down when the technician told me that the edges were so thin, the shop could do only 1 more service before they were scrap. I love my Stockli's so this is bad news. They also now seem to attract stones, and I spent several evenings with a P-Tex candle repairing the day's dings and holes.

I've not been counting my days on skis this winter, but in case you are wondering, it's 24 so far, more to come, hopefully.

Bring It On

Santa came to Grimentz a little early and brought some snow with him. I made full use of this early and very welcome gift. One of the village hotels looked really pretty in the snowfall.

A nice fresh fall of snow meant that the Snowpark kickers could be built.

New snow of course, meant new risks, so some places were unsafe to ski. As not every day was sunny, the flat light also caused problems.

As it's so dull, it's not possible to see the how this slope falls fairly steeply towards the skidoo. It's a red graded run and the bottom is often icy at the junction. I don't know if the helicopter was called out to a fall or a collision. This was someone's ruined Christmas.

My New Years' Resolution should be : I must set my alarm clock earlier and make the best of the new snow more often. On the day I did make the lift opening, it broke down, and did not start up for 35 minutes!

There were a few really stormy nights while I was there. I heard none of it, but could see the snow had drifted at the top of the Orzival lift.

All that wind was bad news for the new snow, which turned to breakable crust!

In between skiing days, I managed to order a new mattress for our bed, which arrived just as I was leaving for the UK. I became aware of the delivery with the sound of a revving engine and skidding tyre noises as the van tried to get up the footpath behind the apartment. The car park and entrance path would have been so much easier.

When I left for the airport, my flight was listed as on time. On my arrival it was listed as at least 2 hours late, so I headed for the information desk to try for an earlier departure. To my surprise I was successful, and my rearranged flight (now late also) left at the time my later flight was originally supposed to leave. I have my suspicions!

The check in hall was overflowing with passengers trying to check in and looking at all those unhappy faces really saps my willpower. I had needed to ask where the information desk was, I could not see it, there were so many people in the check in hall plus a long queue for "something" snaking back into the main part of the airport. Flying with budget airlines seems to bring with it a whole new level of travel misery.

A Little On The Chilly Side

Because the lifts were currently closed weekdays in Grimentz and Zinal, I hopped on the bus, caught the train and headed round to Zermatt for a few days. I would have been on the slopes by about 10am, but was delayed slightly trying to find a working locker for my bags in the basement of the station in Zermatt.

I made it up to Trockener Steg and met up with friends Steve and Nina for a quick ski down the Black run from Furgg to Furi. The run was in great condition, but it's a little dark in the afternoons so early in the season.

Zermatt had it's best party frock on for Christmas, but there was no escaping the really cold weather!

 

Yes, I'm wearing a Balaclava and a Buff. What you can't see, is the 2 pairs of thermal underwear as well!
I've not skied in consistently cold weather like this before, this was day after day in temperatures past -20c plus wind chill. I got chatting to some guys from Zurich in a gondola, one of them had Frostbite on his face, skiing in shades with no scarf, not nice!

I caught the Gornergrat Railway one day, to ski a little lower down, it was just as cold! Lovely views though.

I was very pleased with my Hotel choice. If I tell you where it is, then it will be full next time I want to visit! Lets just say, economical, traditional, friendly, superb buffet, warm and central. My room had a balcony with this view. The hotel was pretty full, and each morning I said Guten Morgen to a woman on an adjoining table. Turned out she was French and from Paris!

A txt one night saw me meeting up with another friend Tino, in the Brown Cow bar, for a quick beer. Several beers, much talking and 3 hours later......
It was great to chat and catch up on news, though I did feel a bit guilty as he had to get up at 5am next day!
The slope conditions during my stay were firm. The pisteurs had done an excellent job in keeping the snow cover, and were topping up with snow cannons during the day. This was the first visit on which I'd been able to ski to Zermatt village, because of good snow cover, and the first time I'd never skied from the top lift, which was closed to skiers because of stormy weather. The off piste was all windblown and crusty, horrible!.

On the way back down to Visp, I passed this.

In the village of St Nicklas of course!