Lyon evening

It's evening in Lyon. I get one of the Velo'v hired bikes out of the station and take to the 'Berges du Rhône' - the non-stop north-south route made for cycling and running.

I stop by the bleachers that are dotted by little groups of people out savouring the night air. The air is a little fresh but full of the sounds of mid-evening in a European city. Behind me to my right is a duo playing Eastern European music on the Violin and Accordion, and in the distance I can hear the faint sound of the bongos.

Then there are the lights. The bridges are under lit with different colours, each one having it's own character. The Basilica on the hill stands out as a beacon, visible from the hills far the other side of Lyon. The replica Eiffel tower,  bristling with cell phone antennae.

Wheeling off for home I head downstream and pass by the pontoons of the various bridges, around which the Rhône rushes noisily. There must have been rain upstream. The swans have roosted for the night in a small eddy by a pier. They are being watched by a large white cat that I scare off as I swish onward toward the bike station towards the dark end of the river. 

What we learn from Jesus series

The Watchtower published a series of articles with the heading 'What we learn from Jesus - About ...'

Just for reference sake here are all links to all the articles in the series:

• What We Learn From Jesus—About the True God 
• What We Learn From Jesus—About God’s Kingdom 
• What We Learn From Jesus—About How to Treat Others
• What We Learn From Jesus—About Hope for the Dead
• What We Learn From Jesus—About Prayers That God Hears
• What We Learn From Jesus—About “the End”
• What We Learn From Jesus—About Mankind’s Future
• What We Learn From Jesus—About Family Life
• What We Learn From Jesus—About True Worship

Accrobranche

Last June - Simon and John came over to visit. Since Simon is a pretty energetic character I decided that we would have to think of something active to do to keep him busy.

A popular pastime in France is 'AccroBranche'. The name is taken from a shortened form of the word 'Accrocher' which means 'hang on to', and 'Branche' which is where we get our word 'branch' from. Thankfully, while Accrobranche does involve climbing trees you have more than Branches to hang on to.

When you arrive at FranceAventures they provide you with an abseiling harness with two climbing clips, and a zip-line pulley. You grab your pair of gloves, head for the forest

After safety briefing, you follow a short training course where you are observed by a member of staff to make sure you have understood and will comply with the training.

There are a series of courses with increasing levels of difficulty. The hardest for me was climbing the nets. It looks simple, but it's extremely taxing.

A view of the Saône from the canopy near Fourvière

Eliminating the overflow in GPS Visualiser

If you are using GPS Visualizer you may find that you end up with too many points in the Marker List at the right of the map. You might end up with scroll bars, that prevent you from being able to print the full list of markers. For example:



To fix this problem:

• Show advanced options General map parameters section
• Append the following to the Custom HTML styles field

#gv_marker_list { overflow:visible !important; }
#gv_marker_list_static { overflow:visible !important; }

• Click 'Draw the Map'
• Click 'save your Google Map' or click the 'view' link.
  

You should see that the list of markers extends below the bottom of the map.

Adding a Firefox quick search to find the origin of a family name

If you use Firefox you can add a quick search to find the origin of a family name.

Here's how to set it up:

- Open Firefox
- Right-Click the Bookmarks toolbar at the top of the browser (underneath the web address bar)- Click 'New Bookmark'
- Fill in the following values:
Name: Last Name Search
Location: http://lastnames.myheritage.com/last-name/%s
Keyword: lastname

- Click save, and then you are done.

To test it, type this in the address bar:

lastname jones

Hope it comes in handy!

Pennines

Last April and May I spent some time in the Pennines near a place called Loxley where, legend has it, Robin Hood was born.

He wasn't around by the time I got there, but there were a few trees around that looked old enough to have been. The whole area was at one time covered with forest, but now a lot of land is farmed.

Here are some of the images I was able to capture whilst I was there. Damflask reservoir was the cause of a famous flood in Sheffield in 1864, when the Dam wall burst.

What is a Shrew?

By popular request - here is a photo of a shrew, here is an article about these little cuties ...

Having said that the one I saw could be a pygmy shrew ... it was a little hard to tell and I didn't have the courage to ask which type of shrew he was. It's just not good manners.