Broke the Camelbak

Over the weekend I went out and bought myself a new backpack. I use a backpack on a regular basis and my trusty Camelbak backpack has started to fall apart and needed to be replaced.

In December 2009 I was invited to speak at a conference in Auckland in New Zealand.

I flew out there and took two bags with me, a large suitcase and a carry on suitcase. Having arrived in Auckland and checked into my hotel, the following day I had some time to explore the city. I realised very quickly that a carry on suitcase wasn’t going to cut it. I went out and on one of the shopping streets in a basement was a shop selling kit for outdoor activities, hiking, and so on. I was looking around for a suitable bag, if I remember correctly there was a few to choose from. I saw the Camelbak and it was reduced. I have no recollection of how much I paid for it, but I thought at the time it was good value.

What I didn’t know or realise was that Camelbak was a brand of backpacks that could be used for hydration. So the bag came with water bottles and tubes. When I got back to my hotel room the first thing I did was remove all of that.

What I liked was the bag, though relatively small, had two pockets and could carry quite a bit of stuff.

My usual load was a laptop in a padded laptop bag, as the Camelbak had no protective padding for an unprotected laptop. I did once dent my laptop when not using the padded bag.

The bag was well used over the years. I did actually semi-retire it for a while in 2016 with a Berghaus rucksack. I remember trying to find a replacement Camelbak, but I couldn’t  find one. I did use both bags for a while, one for work, and one for non-work stuff.

However the zip broke on the Berghaus bag a few years later and as it was frustrating, despite a temporary fix, it finally wasn’t going to be practical anymore. 

The Camelbak I did notice was getting rather tired. Recently I noted that there was rips around the zips, and then in the sides as well.

I did look on the Camelbak website, but alas no joy. So I headed into town to buy a new backpack.

My new bag is a dedicated laptop rucksack, the Vic Laptop Bag from Mountain Warehouse.

The Vic Laptop Bag was made for work and travel. With a modern design and plenty of features, including a zipped laptop compartment with padding, an organiser pocket and a padded mesh back, so you can carry your belongings comfortably and securely. 

What really sold it to me was the padded 15″ compartment to keep your laptop/tablet safe in transit.

It also holds thirty litres. I may use this if I am staying away and travelling by train, rather than take a suitcase. It also says it is cabin friendly so might be useful when flying as well.

First test will be a trip to London and Edinburgh.

Not so Victorian

market stall at Christmas

When I was working in Oxford ten years ago, I really loved how festive the Oxford Covered Market was, and some of the stalls made it feel very Victorian.

Obviously I have never being to a Victorian Christmas market, I am not that old. However, that concept of what a Victorian market could have been like, reinforced by Dickens, film, and television, meant that when I was walking around the Oxford Covered Market in December I did think I had gone back in time to the Victorian times. 

On a recent visit to the Oxford Covered Market, ten years later, it felt a little different. It was still quite festive, but it didn’t feel traditional and Victorian any more.

However quite a few places had changed hands and were now eateries. There were more coffee shops, a pizza place, and other stalls (shops) to get something to eat.

The classic butchers had closed down, there was no fish stall, though there was a really long queue for the cheese stall. The fruit and veg stall was still there two.

This was still the Oxford Covered Market, but I did feel it had lost a little of the magic that had made it so special ten years ago.

Stuff: Top Ten Blog Posts 2023

In 2023 I published 99 posts. Now in 2022 I published 429 posts on the blog, though I really only published 40 “original posts” then, with 365 photo a day posts and 24 advent posts. In 2021 I published just 46 posts to the blog. I did 423 posts in 2020, in 2019 it was 68, in 2018 I did 89 posts.

The tenth most popular blog post was the Movie Advent Calendar #24 – The Muppet Christmas Carol.

The post at number nine was Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s Part One.

The post at number eight was Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s Part Three. 

The post at number seven was Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s Part Six.

Whilst the sixth most popular post was Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s Part Two.

Fifth most popular post about Changes at the railway station in Weston-super-Mare.

The fourth most popular blog post asked the question “the cafe on tv at weston super mare is it real” which was a post about people Google searching that phrase and ending up on my blog. Now those same Google searches send people to this page rather than the original post on Cyril’s Cafe.

The third most popular blog post, dropping two places, was a nostalgic post about Remembering the Bristol Temple Way Flyover.

The second most popular post on the blog was a reflection on Young Sheldon about The significance of the cow…

Rising one place, the post at number one for 2023 was “I guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it.” Which was Michael J Fox joining Coldplay on stage in New Jersey in 2016, playing Johnny B Goode from Back to the Future.

My top ten tweets of 2023

Last year I posted my top ten tweets for 2022,  and I did the same in 20212020, 2019, 2018, 2017 and 2016. It was interesting to see which tweets of mine were popular.

However Twitter is no longer what it was. I stopped using the Twitter in September 2023, as it was no longer a place I wanted to be, and lots of others were thinking and doing the same.

I will admit to visiting the site now and again, but I am glad I left. Still not fully engaged with Threads and Bluesky as alternatives.

Mendip Hills (again)

For Christmas I got a National Trust membership. It’s being a few years since I was last a member, but now looking forward to visiting new places and going back to places we have been to before.

Back in 2016 I did start to keep a note of how much we saved with the membership, but looking back over the blog, I never kept up to date with that, but with this membership I am intending to blog about the visits we do this year and the savings we made.

You don’t need a membership though to visit the Mendip Hills. We walked up Crook Peak, before walking back to where we had parked the car.

Only clocked on the trip that it is Crook Peak and not as I have been calling it for years Crooks Peak.

Crook Peak has been important as a landmark and boundary from very early times, and the origins of the name are unclear. The local parish council state that ‘Crook’ comes from the Old English ‘Cruc’ meaning ‘peak’ or ‘pointed hill’.

Mendip Hills

Dramatic gorges and ancient woodland rising above the Somerset Levels.

Current saving £188.85

No admission fee or parking costs

Total saving £0

Cumulative saving £365.15

Membership cost £133.80

Net cumulative saving £231.35 Continue reading “Mendip Hills (again)”

Cars on Marine Parade

So let’s be frank about this, I really don’t know that much about classic cars, however I have thought in the past it would be nice to own an old classic motor.

These photographs were taken at a car event in Weston-super-Mare today, I can guess what some of them are, but please add a comment if you are more confident than me in what they are (and correct me if I got it wrong as well).

1. Dodge ?

2. Pontiac?

3. Pontiac Firebird

4. Ford Consul

5. Vauxhall

6. Mini Clubman

7. Mini Pickup

8. Jaguar

9. ?

10. ?

11. ?

12. MG

13. ?

14. Morris Minor Police Car

15. Triumph Herald

16. Volkswagen Beetle

17. ?

18. Ford Torino “Starsky and Hutch”

19. Hot Rod ??

More photographs of classic cars.

Stuff: Top Ten Blog Posts 2022

In 2022 I published 429 posts on the blog. In 2021 I published just 46 posts to the blog. I did 423 posts in 2020, in 2019 it was 68, in 2018 I did 89 posts.

Okay so 365 posts were from a photo a day project I did in 2022. So that leaves 64 posts, well I also did a movie advent calendar, so that means 40 “normal” posts.

Most of the top ten in 2022, as they wee in 2021, are nostalgic posts about the Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s.

Tenth place was The Café a post on filming The Café at Weston-super-Mare.

The post at number nine was Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s Part Three. 

The post at number eight was Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s Part One.

Whilst the seventh most popular post was Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s Part Two.

The post at number six was Bristol Harbourside in the 1990s Part Six.

Fifth most popular post about Changes at the railway station in Weston-super-Mare.

Fourth post was a post reminiscing about The Longleat Miniature Railway

The third most popular blog post asked the question “the cafe on tv at weston super mare is it real” which was a post about people Google searching that phrase and ending up on my blog. Now those same Google searches send people to this page rather than the original post on Cyril’s Cafe.

The post at number two was “I guess you guys aren’t ready for that yet. But your kids are gonna love it.” Which was Michael J Fox joining Coldplay on stage in New Jersey in 2016, playing Johnny B Goode from Back to the Future.

The most popular blog post in 2022 as it was in 2021 was a nostalgic post about Remembering the Bristol Temple Way Flyover.

Redcliffe Parade

I had been out for drinks at The Ostrich and took some photographs of Redcliffe Parade as I was walking back to my car.

I do like the row of coloured houses on Redcliffe Parade, which overlook the harbourside.

From the Redcliffe Parade car park there are some nice views of the harbourside and in the distance you can see the Lloyds Bank building.

Over on the other side of the harbourside is the Thekla nightclub. Never been to it.

Another view and perspective of the Redcliffe Parade.

A view of the Mud Dock.

The view looking the other way.