Wulf's Webden

The Webden on WordPress

11 April 2025
by wpAdmin
0 comments

Rivella

The other day, I was given a bottle of a Swiss fizzy drink called Rivella. Apparently it is somehow derived from milk (whey plus lactic and other acids as well as sweeteners). I was intrigued to try it and would describe the taste as not unlike Refreshers, fizzy sweets available in the UK (doubtless also full of acids and sweeteners).

I didn’t fall in love with to the point that I’d hunt down more supplies (Rivella isn’t commonly available in the UK) but I’d happily drink it again if I wanted a sweet fizzy drink and it was available.

10 April 2025
by wpAdmin
0 comments

Unrecognised Encounters

In January I noted that I had a surprise reunion with a friend from my undergraduate days. I mused about how many other former friends and colleagues might have crossed my path without either of us realising. We finally had a chance to sit down for a longer catch up over coffee today and it turned out that had already happened with this particular friend.

I mentioned how I was presently singing with the University Choir and she responded that she had joined them for a period fairly recently. After a little more enquiry, it was clear that the concert she performed in was one I had attended. We had both been blissfully unaware. While we weren’t expecting to bump into each other in January, that was in an office with just a couple of my colleagues. It is clearly much easier to get lost in a crowd!

Of course, what would have been embarrassing was if it transpired that she had been singing with the choir last term and taken part in the same Christmas concert Jane and I had been in, although even that is not entirely beyond the realms of possibility. We probably miss much more than we ever notice, which is why there is so much to notice when we slow down and pay attention!

9 April 2025
by wpAdmin
0 comments

House Numbers

In the UK, most houses can be identified by a postcode, a street name and a number. There are exceptions for very large houses, blocks combining multiple dwellings and houses in locations so small they don’t really have street names but that applies in most cases. I would also expect one side of the street to have even numbers and the other side to have odd numbers. That is such common knowledge that there are even jokes built off it: if 666 is the number of the Beast, 667 is the house opposite and 668 is the next door neighbour of the Beast.

I have come across a few exceptions but, as far as I recall, they had all been complex roads with side branches containing multiple houses. I remember one such road in the village I grew up in. You couldn’t predict what number would be on the opposite side of the street but you could trace an even side and odd side. I got to know that one pretty well both from people I knew who lived there and from doing a paper round that included it.

Earlier this week, I was walking down Station Street in Loughborough on my way to work and it suddenly struck me that all the numbers on the side I was walking on went up one by one. Looking across the other side, the numbers were much higher and ascending in the opposite direction. However, when I turned onto a street that bisects it, which looks to have housing stock of a similar vintage, it was back to the pattern I expected. Checking an online map, I see some of the nearby parallel streets also follow the “up one side and back down the other” pattern.

I’ll have to mark that down as another bit of “knowledge” that isn’t quite as certain as I thought it was. I wonder how common it is in the UK to have streets that go 1, 2, 3, 4… rather than 1, 3, 5, 7…?

8 April 2025
by wpAdmin
0 comments

House of David – Season 1 Completed

I’ve now finished the House of David series on Amazon Prime that I blogged about recently. I was a little cautious of it then and I remain that way now. Compared to the biblical account, it covers from about 1 Samuel 15:7 to 1 Samuel 17:51. That isn’t a massive chunk of scripture for 8 hours of television although I can see the logic in framing the series around the critical encounter between David and Goliath.

My problem with it is not that the script writers have chosen to pad it out but that they have chosen to pad it mainly with folklore and supposition. There is some biblical material alluded to but there could have been much more. For example rather than the story of Samuel’s miraculous birth being relegated to a few lines in one of the final episodes (#7, I think), the story of that, his role as a judge of Israel, the failure of his sons and the people’s subsequent demand for a king (who turned out to be Saul) could easily have filled an episode. Another example would be Ahinoam, the wife of Saul. She is mentioned once in the Bible, simply as his spouse, but House of David turns her into Lady Macbeth. It could done with have downplaying the “behind every powerful man is a corrupted woman who makes a series of fatal mistakes” fantasy subplot and perhaps made time for David’s grandmother, Ruth, who gets a whole book about her story and is truly significant compared to what the series gives us of David’s imagined mother.

I feel a little conflicted as I still enjoy and would recommend The Chosen, which also makes plenty of free-wheeling “artistic” choices. However, I think that pulls towards faith while House of David pulls towards pure fiction, a borrowed setting for something that is as much like Game of Thrones as the biblical story. I wouldn’t flag the series as “avoid” but it certainly isn’t going to persuade me to stretch my Prime subscription out past the free trial.

7 April 2025
by wpAdmin
0 comments

Toob

Assuming that you are reading this via the Internet rather than by magic, my switch to a new broadband provider has gone reasonably smoothly. For several years I’ve been with Virgin Media and I’ve been paying over the odds for the service since the contract ran out. I’ve investigated one or two alternatives but nothing quite panned out. However, I gave it another push when I got notice of another price rise from Virgin and I’m seeing if Toob, a relatively new service that has recently been advertising locally, can do the job.

So far it works although I’m not seeing any sign of “blistering” speeds promised. However, fast enough and back to the kind of price I was paying five years ago is good enough for me for now.

6 April 2025
by wpAdmin
0 comments

Hare

On the way back from last night’s CCB gig, I came across a hare. These creatures are larger and faster than rabbits but much less common in the wild. It probably doesn’t help that, given a long, flat surface like a road, they seem to have a tendency to run along it rather than to get off it. I slowed down and hung back on the side road where I saw it and I think it got off the side when we reached the main A6006. I hope so anyway – fast as they can be, it isn’t going to outpace a car whizzing along at the national speed limit.

It seems like quite a long time since I last saw a hare and I can’t remember if I’ve seen any in the Loughborough area. Hopefully the one I spotted and its fellows will learn enough road sense to keep them safe and there will be a chance of spotting them again in years to come.

5 April 2025
by wpAdmin
0 comments

CCB @ East Leake – Spring 2025

Time soon to go and dress in black, which is the uniform for this evening’s gig with Charnwood Concert Band at St Mary’s Church in East Leake (LE12 6LN). The event kicks off at 7pm but that means I need to arrive somewhat earlier. Tickets are £8 (under 16s free) and there might be some available on the door… but don’t arrive too late as it always seems to be very well attended.

Why black? Probably the best chance for musicians to look somewhat smart! It is going to be a cracking set, with lots of songs we have been working hard on.

4 April 2025
by wpAdmin
0 comments

A longer bar

My little DeWalt electric chainsaw is very handy but sometimes I could do with a slightly longer bar. I had a large log to saw up this afternoon, which has been used ornamentally in the garden for a couple of years and I had to keep rotating it to get all the way through… and it is very hard to keep everything lined up on a large, uneven log. I reckon a 15″ bar would have made it easy. On the other hand, the 12″ bar I’ve got is fine for most of what I work with and I did get through it eventually. Job done!

3 April 2025
by wpAdmin
0 comments

Reader, Beware!

Leicestershire Libraries recently switched to a new OPAC system (online public access catalogue). I’m not sure why but it turns out the new one isn’t very good at sending out reminder emails that your books need renewing. When I checked last night, I discovered that I was a little overdue and it would have cost me £7 in fines if the librarian hadn’t kindly waived the fees. I think I’m not the only one who has been caught out by this.

Apparently the new system makes it a little easier to create a new card for another person at the same address as an existing cardholder, which is faint praise given that I asked what improvements it had brought! I wonder if the switch was not increased quality but a cheaper contract? I am now going to have to get back in the habit of putting a note in the diary about due dates. Welcome to the 20th century… except at least in those days the library helpfully stamped the return date in the front!

2 April 2025
by wpAdmin
0 comments

Let There Be Drums!

My neighbours will be pleased to hear (or not hear!) that I haven’t taken up the drum kit as another instrument. However, one of today’s activities was picking up an unused electronic drum kit from one local church, cleaning and testing it and bringing it over to Hathern Baptist, where it will be on long term loan. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect when I started the day but the kit turned out to be a set of Roland V-Drums – a high quality set and still in decent working order.

Our young cajon player took to them like a fish to water. He has had some drum lessons in the past but that was several years ago but he has an excellent sense of rhythm and that confidence I have seen in many good drummers for sitting down and throwing himself into playing. I’m looking forward to seeing how he grows into that with a bit more experience under his belt.