Woke up fairly early, but failed to start work early which was a tad silly. Anyway, today I had to finish off the presentation as it was the final day. So the bulk of the day was spent doing that. Walked Sasha, weather stayed quite nice. Went to Combat, Liz has now gone so Trudie did the class, I was expecting all the bloody ladies coffee collective to turn up and try and dominate the front row, but not one turned up, so was fairly uneventful. Came back and started on my ‘proper’ work. Did that for a few hours, still compute shaders, made some reasonable progress on it though. Ate salad. I don’t think I’ve had a poo today. Think I’ll have a fairly early night and read yet another flying exam book. May be hit Jamie with a sock every time he beeps or vibrates.

So yesterday I was supposed to do a short warmup, followed by an hours solo flight, then a break and an hour solo out to the north. The weather looked bloody iffy anyway, but after studying forecasts it looked like the wind would be steady at 7kts. So we went for it. After about forty minutes the wind was up to 15kts at ground level and 30kts+ at about 600ft. We taxied in and gave up. A bit of a waste of almost three hundred quid. But still, any air time is time, so counts for something. Came back and did some more studying, took Sasha out then did another hour on the books. Showered, changed and we went to Andy and Lisa’s for the evening. We ate, drank everything and then some more, played silly games, then went to bed.

This morning started with coffee, then another coffee, breakfast and the paper. Did an hour on the books. Took Sasha out, had lunch then went out Geocaching for four hours. Picked up a few, ended up in a wood, lots of fun. Came back and did another hour on the books. Had bath. Now time for my atomic vindaloo.

So started on work again, I knew I needed to get onto this power point presentation today. So spent the whole day doing something else. Still on compute, it’s still annoying me. Walked Sasha, weather looked a bit iffy, but turned out quite nice. Got back in time for the shopping to arrive. Did more work, then went off to Pump. Hung around afterwards to have coffee and a chat with Laverne. Came back and finally started editing the power point stuff. Still needs a few more hours on it really. Captain James texted me earlier and said he was concerned about wind. I failed to send an amusing text back. So we are now waiting on TAF’s and METAR’s. So no idea what’s happening tomorrow, but looks like it will be too windy and turbulent to do the two sessions as planned. I’m just waiting now for the F215 to be updated. Oh, the excitement.

Oddly I was having a dream about missing the phone call from the tyre man. Then I was awoken by the phone ringing, which was the tyre man. Started work. Still playing around with compute lighting shaders, it still isn’t as quick as the pixel shader version. Think I may add some 2D culling as well as a last resort.

Little man arrived. Fifteen minutes later he was done. The most painless tyre change I’ve ever had and fairly cheap as well. Will certainly use again, last time waiting at that Halfords auto-centre was just painful. Walked Sasha. Did a bit more then went and did a home check in Downend. Did a bit of Geocaching while I was there. Came back and did more work.

Torture porn night, not sure what I’m in the mood to watch.

So started at 6:20, took Dillon to daycare, went back to bed. Started a bit late but got on with it. Took Sasha out for her walk. Then picked up Dillon. At the top of the main road coming round the corner I started to here a weird rattling sound. I pulled into the car park of the pub. Looked around, and noticed a large hissing sound. In the back tyre was jammed a ‘wheel balancing weight’, like a knife through the tread. I pulled on it and it just made it worse. Drove the remaining half mile home, it handled fine. It’s now very flat. Mobile tyre fitter coming tomorrow. More money. Had to walk to the gym, then do Pump, then walk home again. Did a lot more work.

Now here’s the fun thing, when did I mention flat tyres? Oh yes, yesterday. And when do I have one….If I ever mention ‘R22 engine failure’ as a title, book a day off for a funeral.

If anyone’s listening, it’s an Astra VXR 225/40R18 92W. It has one of those stupid inflation kits which is probably knackered. Always afraid of getting a flat, actually one of the wheels did have a nail in it for three years. I know someone who may have about six of these jammed down the back of the couch. So this morning started with Jamie being some what amorous and actually put in quite a good effort. He’s doing the Clean 9 thing, so yeah, nice. Started work. Still on my bloody compute shader, finally got it all working. Currently it’s slower than the pixel shader variant, but it’s early days yet, as it’s only really just started working. Didn’t take Sasha out, left that to Jamie. He went out and came back with Callum. I went out and left them to it. When I came back Callum was outside with the RAC man, he didn’t have a spare tyre either. Spent about an hour and a half going through exam questions. Feel quite tired.

Usual Monday problems. I couldn’t really get into anything until the afternoon. Walked Sasha. Then finally got on with stuff. It was soon time to go to Combat, was Liz’s last class. Been three and a half years. She could be a tad over enthusiastic and annoying at times, but she was pretty good. Laverne will be taking over again, which means the ‘ladies who do lunch’ set will be back again and then the class will be empty after about a month. Came back and did another few hours work. Working on splitting up the compute shader now, going quite well considering. Watched the end of the Grand Prix. Weather looks like its going to be pants this weekend which will hamper flying somewhat.

So started this morning with coffee and breakfast, then had a poo. Drove up to Staverton, when I got there only Stuart and a student was there. They departed shortly after, I was the only one left, I said I would steal anything. I was just left with about 10 million quids worth of helicopters in the hangar and all the keys. James turned up, it had been a long time. We had a chat and got going. To be honest it was a bit like riding a bike, I started up and did all the radio calls without much thought, I was out over the Malvern’s in 10 minutes at 2,000 feet. We did a few off site landings in fields and then a few auto’s. Finished with a couple of circuits. I actually felt very relaxed and in control. I don’t think he was too thrilled that I did that safety course, as it can kind of put people off, but actually I think the education made me feel more confident within myself. No solo today, but we have plenty booked for next weekend, the object is to get to about five hours solo by the end of it. Then we will start doing cross country.

Came back and had lunch, the went off Geocaching for three hours. Came back and had another bash at those light bulbs. An alternative did arrive today, but in comparison to the Easybulb stuff it was crap. So with some serious brute force I made them all fit, and I’m very pleased with them. Did a couple of hours of studying, pleased with how thats going along. Had a bath. Now it’s almost midnight so must be time to start cooking.

So last thing last night I tried one of these EasyBulb GU10 bulbs, and it didn’t fit in the downlight. I’m not going to piss about with it, they are just going to be sent back, so that was annoying. This morning started nicely, coffee, breakfast, paper. Finally got up and did some studying. Then took Sasha out. Did a bit more studying, then Jamie and I ventured into town. Was a nice day for it. Got some tickets for an upcoming musical. Came back and finished ‘meteorology’. So some revision and then ready to take the test. Flying tomorrow, first in quite a while.

So woke up this morning with rather a large headache that could only be cured by much coffee. Also there was mass panic about some review which was moaning about dropping frame rates. I finally read it as I thought would irritate the crap out of me and to be honest it was a pretty fair review, there were some inaccuracies, but I really don’t know what all the fuss was about. There seemed to be mass fire fighting going on. God, if we have to jump up and down at every bad review the earth will shake. You will never please all of the people all of the time. I like to try and displease all of the people most of the time, it’s a much more achievable goal. No one reads the bloody reviews anyway, and most people take them with a pinch of salt. God, do you think car manufacturers would stop giving cars to Clarkson (okay, moot point now) if they thought every time he said ‘this is a complete pile of wank’ it made one iota of difference. It’s all about exposure, advertising and joe public. No one gives a shit about reviews. I still have ‘the worst football game ever written’, doesn’t get me down, he did have a point though.

So flying booked for Sunday, we’ll see how that goes. Walked Sasha, chatted to Laverne then went out for a couple of hours. Pizza time.