Sunday 29 Aug 2004. I took part in the Cheviot Challenge yesterday, this year a 22.2 mile event with 4100+ ft of ascent, starting at Alwinton. My time was 8 hr 17 min. A very pleasant day. I hope Neil continues with his long distance walking, and eventually joins the LDWA.

Friday 27 Aug 2004. So the problem with the car heating system was caused by a faulty sensor. This was fitted just two months ago to repair the heating system which was not working properly at the time. At least Priory, Daybrook, replaced the part free of charge! If the repair had not been possible today, I was to be offerred a courtesy car for tomorrow, to get to the Cheviot Challenge, where I will be walking with a long time walking friend from Newcastle! I bet the car supplied would not have been the MG ZT model!

Thursday 26 Aug 2004. Problems at the Arnold Post Office this morning when collecting a pension. One cashier persists in stamping the book once, across the stub AND the slip, instead of twice, once in each circle provided. I had previously checked this with head office at the Dept of Pensions, who insisted that it should be stamped twice. So today, when this happened again, I commented that his procedure was wrong, and was promptly told not to tell him his job! Unfortunately he also short changed me by £2, until I challenged him on that. Post offices wish to keep our custom with the new rules for their payment. I can see that other arrangements will be made in this case. It is so much easier to have the money paid directly to a bank and to withdraw when needed by cashcard. It will also save queueing as well.

Wednesday 25 Aug 2004. The payments into my bank account from various sources continue to occur. It's better than working!
The problem of what to do with my gmail invite was resolved today. Why not email joanne.barker@gmail.com ?

Tuesday 24 Aug 2004. I have had gmail for four days now, and it is working well. The notifier .exe file was installed, and the pop up that appears on receiving new gmails shows the first part of the message before disappearing. Although only four days usage so far, I have this evening received an invite to pass on. Here is the message; Thanks for using Gmail and helping us improve the service. We're ready to expand our test to a few more users, and because you've been a trusted early tester of Gmail, we're looking for your help. Please invite a few more people who you think would like Gmail and could help us make it even better. Anyone out there interested? Probably everyone reading this will already have gmail!

Friday 20 Aug 2004. Wednesday saw me taking John round the Bourne Blunder. No mistakes this time, and we completed the 20 mile walk in 8 hours. John hopes to join a couple of LDWA group walks, and I hope that will then persuade him to join the LDWA.
A two hour download of Windows SP2 last night, followed by installation overnight. I then installed the patch to enable more P2P connections, cancelled any operations that could clash with exisitng programs, such as the firewall protection, copied SP2 and patch to disc, and here I am. No problems so far! It pays to work with legal XP and to wait for the final versions of new software.
Thanks to fluffy on adsl I now have a beta gmail address: johngurnhill@gmail.com
Having recieved an email from SVP Communications detailing their latest offers, I want to buy blank DVD's for lappy. But what type does it take. I am informed by the shop that it will work with both DVD + and DVD -.
So I have just ordered 50 from www.svp.co.uk for �13.99 + �4.68 p & p.

Monday 16 Aug 2004. I received a beautiful dark green shirt for the Dovedale Dipper in the post this morning. Unfortunately it was not meant for me, but for David Griscock. I have emailed to get the correct address, and I will then forward the package on.
A message from Paypal: "The payment for your subscription to KDAV failed because of a problem with your credit card. Renaissance Broadcasting, Inc. has been notified of this failed payment.". This stems back to the purchase of Lappy. Because the purchase was out of step with the usual payments, a block had been placed on the card. Despite my ringing up MBNA and a reassurance that the block had been cleared, apparently it was put straight back into place! Odd that! I am assured this time that it has genuinely been cleared, so that when payment is claimed again in a couple of days time, it will work properly. It seemed alright this morning, as I paid the �7.50 on-line for �10 worth of calls . I had wone the one-tel auction for them! Well, every little bit helps, and this is a saving of 25%.
Now why would anyone want to google for 63.208.219.39* , an IP that used to visit my site regularly?

Sun 15 Aug 2004. Thank you Derek Summers for the refund cheque for the Cambrian Way trip. I need to point out that I was able to finish the walk, but the speed you were going at times led me to believe that the fourteen miles on the penultimate day would be completed in the dark, something I wished to avoid. After all, we did take two hours to do the first two miles on that day. I hope you have received the CD with the 400+ pix. But a word of thanks would be appreciated.

Sat 14 Aug 2004. At last the printer works with lappy. Apparently there were two installs, and the default application failed. Setting the default to the correct install solved the problem. And the new printer is ooooh so quiet!
I received an email this evening from Bernice, whom we met after our first day travelling north on the recent Cambrian Way expedition. Great to hear from you, and I am pleased that you finished the whole of that difficult route.

Wed 11 Aug 2004. Lappy refused to link up to the internet last night. Conflicting 'help' from ntl and PC World did not assist in resolving the problem. However, disconnecting the ntl feed to the USB modem restored the service.
Having had my USB headset for a while now, I eventually linked up with Joanne in New York state, using yahoo messenger and its conference facility. Free 'phone calls' to her from now on! However, the echo in my headphones from my voice at her end is irritating, and will only be resolved when she gets a headset of her own. By using this in conjunction with our webcams, we were able to see each other as well as speak. Nice to see her three children as well.
I hope you have been watching Countdown on C4 for the last couple of weeks. Jack Welsby, an ex-pupil of Arnold Hill School, has emerged as champion by winning each of the eight contests. This means he returns late in the year to appear in the final rounds. Since almost all his scores were over a hundred he will take some beating, and stands a good chance of being the overall winner of the current series. He studied Maths & Further Maths at Arnold, and I briefly taught him some A level Pure Maths in the 6th form. So I can take no credit for any success! He was also captain of the Durham University team in University Challenge, losing eventually in the final. Further, he holds the world record for visiting all the London Underground stations in the fastest time! I recall he had his own website almost before they were invented. He currently is employed as a sub-titler for live TV programmes.

Tue 10 Aug 2004. After the purchase of lappy, my laptop, on credit card, a block was placed on the cards use because it was out of line from its normal usage. Apparently MBNA had tried to make contact using my old BT phone number, obsolete for about five years. The block meant that two transactions yesterday had to be approved before being allowed. Although this was inconvenient, it is pleasing to see the card issuer taking this trouble with unusual purchases.
My daughter Joanne asks me to update the world with the fact that she has moved on from Canada, and is now living in New York State. She has set up her own website to present her digital photographic designs. CLICK to visit. Add a message to the guestbook. I see it is getting visitors already!

Mon 9 Aug 2004. Sold United Utilities A this morning, as it moved up against the rest of the market. A small profit of �66 was made in 5 weeks.

Sun 8 Aug 2004.Bought a laptop today. Seems to be working well. Its performance is better than my 3 year old PC, and was somewhat cheaper into the bargain!
Saturday saw me participating in the challenge walk The Poppyline 50. This 52 mile walk from Sheringham took me 15hr 28 mins. For the second half of the event I walked with the Strider cover person for Dec 2003, Brian, although he was unnamed. Interesting we walked past the spot where the pic was taken on the same event last year.

Wed 4 Aug 2004. Because of computer problems I did not receive the email that contained the following extract until today. I would like to thank you on behalf of us all for the beautiful collection of photographs taken on your Hundred mile walk that you sent. You certainly know how to compose a scene, Any one of those would enlarge to make a wonderful picture. You have captured the shades and shadows to perfection. They all have a focal point drawing the eye into them.We are adding them to our collection of holiday photos to treasure. Such sentiments make the effort worthwhile! You can see them towards the bottom of this page , where there are four people on the clapper bridge at tarr's steps, Exmoor.

Mon 2 Aug 2004. Sold my small long term holding in Abbey National shares today. Maybe there will be another bid, but as the price has improved so much over the past few days, the opportunity was too good to miss. I still hold those bought a month ago for the time being, but they must go eventually, as I do not want the Spanish shares.
Why is it that people cannot write email addies clearly and distinctly? As you may be aware, on occasions when I take pix, I ask if the subject of the pic has an email address so that I can send them the results. On the two occasions that this has happened in the past week, both addresses failed because of the difficulty in reading their writing. Handwriting, even when the writer thinks it is clear, leaves a lot to be desired these days.
And that reminds me; what happened to the thanks from Pete Dowse, of Cygnet, who had the pix from Wales a few days ago? There was even mention of them being published somewhere. Maybe he has not arrived home yet, or the email went astray.

Sun 1 Aug 2004. The Challenge Walk today was the Dovedale Dipper, 25.6 miles from Hartington. I completed the walk in 7 hr 15 mins, being amongst the first few who had not jogged at any stage. Gubbs snr, who I have been training up to take on Challenge Walks, completed in 8 hr 55 mins. Conditions were ideal in the morning, but as the sun burned away the mist the afternoon became very warm indeed.
At the end I took the following pix of Davina: Davina. And a quote: "you have certainly got an eye for taking photos".
I received the results by post for the Chevy Chase. As they were exactly the same as those I had downloaded and printed, the �1 was a complete waste of money. I would complain, but cannot find an email address for the Wooller Running Club, the new organisers of the event. I was assured that the postal results would contain all the details of the split times. This was not the case. A pity, as that detail is of great interest to participants.

Tue 27 July 2004. I have recently spent a few days walking in North Wales, with Derek the map, the man who knows everything with hindsight. He even knows the Morris 1300 estate car I bought in 1969 was "still a Morris Minor though" ! Here are a few of the more interesting pix from this walk. Click Here

Tue 13 July 2004. I have finally returned from my Chuck Berry tour, attending his concerts in Grimsby, Manchester, Liverpool and Oxford. Despite heavy handed tactics to prevent photography, many people were able to obtain their chuck Berry pictures, myself included. Lighting was better at Liverpool and oxford, and my best pix from all concerts are posted here: PIX HERE
Interestingly, on leaving, I heard a comment about my LDWA shirt, from a member who is doing the Poppyline in a few weeks, and hopes to do the Chiltern 100 next year, as it is his local area.
MSN, google and yahoo are all reported to be developing their search engines to include material stored on the computer's hard drive. One company has already developed the software needed, and I have downloaded the beta version. It manages to pick out appropriate emails contained seach words mentioned. We will have to see how it goes!

Fri 9 July 2004. Just back from seeing a living legend in concert: Chuck Berry, in Grimsby. No pix this time, but maybe more luck in Manchester, when he is joined by Jerry Lee Lewis
The results have arrived by email for the Chevy Chase. Here

Wed 7 July 2004. The walk today was about 20 miles, covering much of the route of the Belvoir Challenge. Weather conditions were generally sunny, if a little gusty at times.
As I have been using my email address connected to my first domain name, jg4fun.co.uk , for nearly four nears now, many spammers have found it and use it regularly. This has had a dramatic effect on my ntl email box, as the limit is soon reached, and later emails are not saved for me to pick up in Outlook Express. However, yahoo has recently improved its mail service, with a 100 Mb limit, and spam filtering. Accordingly, I have pointed john@jg4fun.co.uk to jg4fun2007@yahoo.co.uk . Three quarters of mail now goes into their spam section, to be automatically deleted within seven days, while the rest is picked up every two minutes by OE. A satisfactory result all round

Mon 5 July 2004 I competed for the third year in the Chevy Chase, a 20 mile fell walk and run race, from Wooler YH. Conditions were fine at the start, but worsened towards the top of The Cheviot above 2000 ft., with squally showers, and even thunder later. I don't like wasting time putting waterproofs on in those conditions! I reached the summit 2 minutes later than in the previous two years, and I lost a further 20 minutes on the hard and steep descent from The Cheviot and the following ascent of Hedgehope. Even coming down from there was slower than before, but I was able to make better times between the later checkpoints.
This year the event has been taken over by the Wooler Running Club, which meant a few changes. The CP at the summit of The Cheviot had been moved further along the track towards the stile on the Pennine Way, but an improvement was the introduction of the electronic timing system. A tag was strapped round a wrist before the start, and at each CP this has to be placed in the device recording the time. All the data was immediately relayed back to Event headquarters, and so, on completing the event participants received all the split times immediately. My overall time of 7:11:40, 6th in my category, was about 32 mins slower than last year, and even slower than two years ago when I was misdirected. Some photographs are available here: Chevy Chase 2004
Today is the deadline for marking the Ucles overseas exam papers, and tomorrow will see the end of the OCR GCSE marking. As I have been marking from the end of April, starting with OCR coursework, it is pleasing that I am now finishing.......until the next batch arrives in October. However, there is always the possibility of re-marks from appeals before then. I now look forward to being a Chuck Berry groupie, having tickets for his concerts in Grinsby, Manchester, Liverpool and Oxford over the coming long weekend! This is followed by the welcome break of a holiday in North Wales, walking the second half of the Cambrain Way.
Several share purchases made at the end of last week have yet to show profits. After making a quick �250 on BT in 20 days, I bought back in at a reduced price. I hope it moves ahead as quickly as it did before.
Having got my Logitech webcam set up and working well using Yahoo Messenger, I am reluctant to try it with other services such as AIM or MSN. A new version of Yahoo's service was downloaded, incorporating the excellent Launchcast Internet radio service recommended to me by another participant in the Chevy Chase. This consists of several stations available on the free service, including my favourite, the "50s rock", as it is wrongly called. There was no "Rock" at that time (they weren't bands either!). It plays mostly rock n roll, with other top tunes from that era, but the playlist is not as wide as the world's best radio station, available by subscription only, www.kdav.com However, I do like the way that Launchcast shows the tracks as they are played, on the messenger service.

Thur 1 July 2004 Interesting news recently from Edexel, the examination company running some of the GCSE s in England. I know that they are scanning in candidates work, and that it is then being marked by examiners on-line. but it came as a surprise to learn that this has been outsourced to Australia and America, and that the rates of pay are apparently higher than here. Advantages of this are that 24 hour marking can take place, and that papers can be double marked, not something that has happened in Maths. A disadvantage is that the examiners are not allowed to go back to remark an answer if they realise there has been an error, or simply to check that the marking has been consistent. However, I think this is the thin end of the wedge. As part of a public company, I believe the profit motive will prevail, and that the tmepatation to outsource marking to India, for example, at a huge cost saving, will be too great. We will just have to wait and see. I do not mark for Edexel, by the way!

Wed 16 June 2004 I am now right in the middle of the GCSE marking period. Having just completed the coursework for OCR, I have had two meetings in the past couple of weeks to prepare for IGCSE and OCR. All is going well so far, if a little slowly at first!
On the expectation that a new product is due to be announced by a large ISP I invested most of my spare self operated ISA cash in their shares. They have certainly had a good morning today, having finally moved into profit after six days, and are now showing about �66 up at 10.22am.

Wed 2 June 2004 Time for some catching up! I did it! Yes, I completed the tough 100 mile Exmoor 100 walk in a time that is very good for me: 39 hrs 58 mins. The walk started in Minehead on Sat at 10 am, and I walked until Mon 1.58 am. In that time officially there was also 13,000 + ft of ascent through the glorious countryside of Exmoor. My pix can be seen HERE
I have been added to UCLES list of possible examiner and teacher trainers for Mathematics overseas. Maybe visits will follow, initially shadowing an experienced trainer. I heard mention of Spain and Egypt. Injections? Ugh!