A Study in Light and Dark

Another photo of my favourite tree! The last few days I have been struck by the contrast of sunlight on the walls of the college and the dark shadow of the snaking tree branches at a certain time in the afternoon. This contrast is a result of the angle of the sun at the time, and the shade provided by the now full spread of the oak's leaves. It occurs to me that the midsummer solstice has just past, so perhaps I'm experiencing reversion to old ancestral Druidic worship of sun and oak trees! Atavism isn't it called?

Circular Chess in Lincoln

I went by train to Lincoln on Saturday for the World Circular Chess Championship held on the Sunday at the Tap and Spile pub, returning today. Unfortunately the photos I took have not come out very well, either because the internal views are too dark, or have come out fuzzy due to my bad handling of the camera. This photo taken by Hermann Kok using my camera shows the problem. Despite some enhancement of the brightness, I'm still just a silhouette against the bright sunlight outside.

It was pleasant to meet some old acquaintances from my attendance at previous Circular Chess Championships. I didn't manage to win any games, but think I put up a good fight. The first game I lost to a checkmate, which was apparently a surprise to my opponent as well as to me. The other games I lost with the fall of my flag on the clock. The time allowed is just half an hour for each player, so a game can take an hour at most.

Knight's Tour Notes

I've been making progress in sorting out all my notes on knight's tours, with the idea of putting the material into book form. So far it consists of a mere 75 chapters covering 500 pages! And there are still a lot of files I've not incorporated, plus material not yet put into electronic form. The secret to making progress I've found is to stick to one simple standard layout (A4 pages with 1 inch borders and diagrams with cells 1/5 inch width.) In the past I've tried out numerous different forms, with consequent difficulty in editing them all together. Once I've put everything in it will be time to be more selective in deciding the final contents. It may of course make several books, aimed at different readerships.

On Sunday Radio 3 was devoted to a series of programmes on Haydn, and I listened to quite a lot of them, particularly the symphonies and quartets. His music went well with a warm sunny day. I think he had a sunny disposition.

Changeable Weather

On Tuesday, the day after the last photo, the weather changed completely, it became wet and windy. This photo was a quick snap taken into the wind and rain, looking in the same direction as the day before, but from the top of the promenade. You can see the sea is much rougher; I could hear the waves pounding on the shore quite loudly from where I live, inland further up the hill. You can no longer see the Beachy Head promontory because of the rain or mist.

On the same day I took delivery of a bookcase I had ordered online from Argos. This replaces one I decided to leave behind in Leicester as too weak to stand the move. It came of course in flat pack form, but unlike the stories comedians like to tell all the pieces were present, and I had no trouble the next day in getting it all to fit together. It enabled me to empty about six boxes of books, giving more room. I'm thinking of ordering a couple more bookcases to complete the job.

Today it was fine again and I was able to get out to do some more weeding that I had started on Monday morning. I'd bought a spade from poundstretchers for the purpose, since I left my gardening tools behind in Leicester not thinking I would need any here, since there is only a narrow patch behind the front wall. However there were extensive weeds in the car-parking area alongside the building. Whether it is really my job I'm not sure, but no-one else has offered to lend a hand.

A View from Bottle Alley

This afternoon I went to buy a paper and took a walk along "Bottle Alley" which is below the promenade between Hastings Pier and Warrior Square in St Leonards. It is so called because of the broken bottle glass that was used to decorate the back wall. The photo was taken from one of the semi-circular viewing bays. On the horizon can be seen the outline of what I think is Beachy Head at Eastbourne.

As I walked along Bottle Alley, which is for pedestrians, I was a litle disconcerted to see a car coming towards me! It turned out to be a police car. I suppose only they and maintenance people are allowed to drive there.

Besides the Times I also bought a copy of the Argus to see if it carries any Hastings news, but it mostly covers Brighton and Hove. As it happens there was a small news item about a man found dead at the bottom of Beachy Head. A man from Derby. A long way to come to end your life.

Computer Trouble

After having my kettle blow a fuse, the next day my laptop computer packed up. The enigmatic message "Unknown Hard Error" came up and I could do nothing but turn off the power. When I switched on again all I could get was a blank screen with cursor at the top left. Apparently the fault was in the mother-board. I ended up paying £150for a replacement, reconditioned, computer.

Fortunately I had kept a back-up of most files on a USB stick, and it also proved possible to save the most recent work from the hard disk, so I don't think anything significant was lost. I prefer to use a separate laptop for most of my wordprocessing, rather than the PC that I use for connection to the internet.

As reported earlier I've been making progress in sorting out all my files on knight's tours, with a view to publishing the results in book form. I've also rediscovered a lot of other work on geometry and numbers and puzzles that I'd half forgotten. This could form the basis for several books, if I can find the energy and motivation to complete them.

Angels and Demons

Yesterday evening I went out to the Odeon Cinema in Hastings to see "Angels and Demons". I enjoy this sort of hokum; the mystery and conspiracy side of it that is, not all the blood and mayhem. The last time I went to the cinema was to see "The Da Vinci Code" about three years ago when I was in Lincoln for the Circular Chess. Contrary to reviews I've read I think Tom Hanks is just right for the role of the symbologist, Robert Langdon. He's not an athletic hero type like Indiana Jones or Jack Sparrow, nor an all-knowing master brain like Sherlock Holmes or Poirot, but just a modestly human academic carried along by crazy events.

This morning when I put on my kettle for a cup of coffee the electricity cut out. It wasn't a power cut, but my neighbour kindly pointed out that there is a device by the door that trips when there is an electrical fault, and just needs to be switched on again. I ended up buying a new kettle. It seems it is cheaper to buy a new one than to get the old one repaired.