E is for Elm Trees#
Wed Jun 26 19:23:32 2024
E is for Elm Trees. Once a common sight, but since 1970 Dutch elm disease has killed approximately 100 million elm trees in Britain. These trees are, according to the Conservation Foundation, Sapporo Autumn Gold, which is a hybrid of a Japanese and a Siberian elm (thanks wikipedia). I don't know how long they've been there but they must be from the 1980s or later.
Chadwell Springs Golf Centre is also conveniently close to the Harlow branch of Sport Bike Shop, where I picked up some earplugs, a cargo net and a tyre pressure gauge. My front tyre is about 4psi too low, it turns out (probably more, as I'd been riding for an hour when I measured it)
I could have nominated earplugs for E but they don't really photograph as well as elm trees do. Here's a shot showing the cargo net though, which looks like it will prove to be a useful bit of kit. Hooked to two small hooks near the numberplate holder at the back, and to the pillion peg bracket at the front.
What else?
- trip counter (which I reset after filling the tank) is on 107 miles and the low fuel warning hasn't come on yet. Can't be long now can it?
- tried filtering, didn't hit anyone or crash. Did tut quite strongly at a van driver who put his left indicator on whenever I tried to come alongside him, but I was able to pass him and leave him behind 30 seconds later when he had to stop for traffic. Filtering between lanes on a multilane road is much much easier than filtering down the middle on a two-way road, andI don't know why I should find that surprising.
- bluetooth headset! I bought a cheap "Freedconn" helmet speaker and paired it to my phone so that I can have turn-by-turn directions and actually be able to hear them. Works quite well at up to around 60mph, haven't yet internalised which way to turn the volume control to make it louder. It also works for phone calls (already accidentally dialled my wife once) and Zoom meetings - although I wasn't on the bike for the Zoom meeting
- think I need to repurpose one of my old phones - preferably one with a replaceable battery - for directions and maps and things, because I get about two-three hours of screen-on time on my primary phone before the battery dies and that could be awkward if I needed to call someone