I was awake before dawn again. Could it be that my body has grown attuned to the zeitgeist of Thames Ditton? Am I perhaps sensing that the day will be particularly nice and that I shouldn't waste even a minute of it? Eventually, the good weather will be gone, the rains and cold will return and reassert themselves.
But right now it is so lovely out. I ate, showered and dressed quickly and have put the dog out. (I am writing this while she is out sniffing around.) I think even she can tell that it is going to be a particularly nice day. When I let her out she tore up the stairs and disappeared into the back yard. She didn’t even come back down as I was making and eating breakfast.
She is now out there walking around the garden taking far more time than absolutely necessary. It's obvious she is enjoying being outside on this lovely morning. I think I'll give her ten more minutes and then will have to hop on the bike for my morning ride.
Wherever you are, I hope you're enjoying your morning!
Don Bergquist - 18 July 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK
18 July 2007
17 July 2007
Too Much To Do
I had underestimated the number of things that would accumulate on my desk over the weekend. Yesterday, after getting to the office, I did my normal administrative stuff, and got my day organized. After my second cup of coffee, I didn't get up from my desk or really become aware of time passing until nearly 13:00.
I am taking a French class at the office and so I need to be at the office by that time so that I can make it to class. (I'm doing okay in French Class, but having learned Spanish when I was living in Florida, is making it harder rather than easier. Sure, a lot of the words are similar enough to recognize, but French is pronounced nothing like Spanish and therein lie my problem.)
After lunch I was at my desk again and working until 17:30 when I finally realized the time. Saga and I went for a walk after I returned from my evening ride. This morning, they're predicting an afternoon of thunderstorms. I suppose it is time to get my ride in in the morning again!
Wherever you are today, I hope that you're getting things done!
Don Bergquist - 17 July 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK
I am taking a French class at the office and so I need to be at the office by that time so that I can make it to class. (I'm doing okay in French Class, but having learned Spanish when I was living in Florida, is making it harder rather than easier. Sure, a lot of the words are similar enough to recognize, but French is pronounced nothing like Spanish and therein lie my problem.)
After lunch I was at my desk again and working until 17:30 when I finally realized the time. Saga and I went for a walk after I returned from my evening ride. This morning, they're predicting an afternoon of thunderstorms. I suppose it is time to get my ride in in the morning again!
Wherever you are today, I hope that you're getting things done!
Don Bergquist - 17 July 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK
16 July 2007
Change In The Weather
The forecast for today is that the weather, though it will start nice, will get warm and stormy by afternoon. That being the case, I am going to ride before work and that means I have to get moving this morning.
Sorry for the short entry today, but I have a massive amount of paperwork that I have amassed over the weekend.
Wherever you are today, I hope that you have a great day!
Don Bergquist - 16 July 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK
Sorry for the short entry today, but I have a massive amount of paperwork that I have amassed over the weekend.
Wherever you are today, I hope that you have a great day!
Don Bergquist - 16 July 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK
15 July 2007
Lovely Morning
I had a lovely ride this morning!
The weather held-off until about lunch time allowing me to get about twenty-five miles in. Other than the wanker who walked into the street as I was riding past him and then blamed me, it was a great ride. I kid you not! As I was riding up Surbiton hill (by the Surbiton Rail Station) this total tosser goes and steps off the curb without even looking. No indication that he intended to cross the street, nothing! He was walking along the road and suddenly turns and steps into the street!
"Bloody Hell" he yelled as he kicked my tire, "Watch where you're going! You're a menace!"
(Well, isn't that the pot calling the grass "dope"!?)
Other than that, the entire trip was lovely. I even included a trip down to Walton upon Thames to my ride because the weather was so lovely.
Riding through Bushy Park, while there was another brief encounter with a yobish jogger (he decided to play chicken with me and eventually I was driven off the path) but otherwise, there was nothing to spoil the beautiful morning.
As if to underscore how lovely and relaxing the weekend days could be, this group of deer were seen chillin' out under a tree in the park. They've got the right idea. It put me in a mood to set the folding recliner out in the back garden when I got home and spend the afternoon reading the papers.
But that was not to be. After a long and thoroughly enjoyable ride, Saga and I went for a walk and that was about as long as the weather was going to hold-out for us. Not twenty minutes later, the rain started falling and the rest of the afternoon was on-and-off showers.
Instead of relaxing in the garden, I worked on my computer; organizing files that I have been meaning to set in order and doing some writing (getting my blog ready to post, etc.) instead.
Wherever you are today, I hope your day has been enjoyable, productive, relaxing, or a combination of the three!
Don Bergquist - 15 July 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK
The weather held-off until about lunch time allowing me to get about twenty-five miles in. Other than the wanker who walked into the street as I was riding past him and then blamed me, it was a great ride. I kid you not! As I was riding up Surbiton hill (by the Surbiton Rail Station) this total tosser goes and steps off the curb without even looking. No indication that he intended to cross the street, nothing! He was walking along the road and suddenly turns and steps into the street!
"Bloody Hell" he yelled as he kicked my tire, "Watch where you're going! You're a menace!"
(Well, isn't that the pot calling the grass "dope"!?)
Other than that, the entire trip was lovely. I even included a trip down to Walton upon Thames to my ride because the weather was so lovely.
Riding through Bushy Park, while there was another brief encounter with a yobish jogger (he decided to play chicken with me and eventually I was driven off the path) but otherwise, there was nothing to spoil the beautiful morning.
As if to underscore how lovely and relaxing the weekend days could be, this group of deer were seen chillin' out under a tree in the park. They've got the right idea. It put me in a mood to set the folding recliner out in the back garden when I got home and spend the afternoon reading the papers.But that was not to be. After a long and thoroughly enjoyable ride, Saga and I went for a walk and that was about as long as the weather was going to hold-out for us. Not twenty minutes later, the rain started falling and the rest of the afternoon was on-and-off showers.
Instead of relaxing in the garden, I worked on my computer; organizing files that I have been meaning to set in order and doing some writing (getting my blog ready to post, etc.) instead.
Wherever you are today, I hope your day has been enjoyable, productive, relaxing, or a combination of the three!
Don Bergquist - 15 July 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK
14 July 2007
Around Long Ditton
Saga loves to go to Long Ditton Park in the afternoons and reassert her ownership of the village park. 
On Saturdays, the Dittons Cricket Club plays games in the park and it is fun to sit and watch for a while.
Of course, all she sees is that people are running around where there are so many interesting things to get out and smell (and occasionally to roll in!) but I enjoy watching the game for a while. (Okay, a very short while. I can see that this game is one that is definitely improved by the consumption of beer! The game is a bit dull, when you come right down to it.)
After allowing me to sit and watch the game for a short while, Saga reminds her daddy that it is time for her to run around and sniff things, pee on things, and generally make the park hers again.
The clouds are threatening rain. If it holds, Saga and I will go to the pub tonight.
Wherever you are today, I hope you have a chance to take time out for yourself.
Don Bergquist - 14 July 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK
On Saturdays, the Dittons Cricket Club plays games in the park and it is fun to sit and watch for a while.Of course, all she sees is that people are running around where there are so many interesting things to get out and smell (and occasionally to roll in!) but I enjoy watching the game for a while. (Okay, a very short while. I can see that this game is one that is definitely improved by the consumption of beer! The game is a bit dull, when you come right down to it.)
After allowing me to sit and watch the game for a short while, Saga reminds her daddy that it is time for her to run around and sniff things, pee on things, and generally make the park hers again.
The clouds are threatening rain. If it holds, Saga and I will go to the pub tonight.
Wherever you are today, I hope you have a chance to take time out for yourself.
Don Bergquist - 14 July 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK
13 July 2007
Silent Morning
What a strange morning it is. I was awake well before my alarm; there was no reason for it… I just was. I rolled over and looked at the clock and it was just after four. The false dawn was bright in the sky and I could see the houses across the cul de sac in the bright, pre-dawn light. It was still quiet out and any noise that may have awakened me was over by now.
The rains predicted for today, have yet to materialize, which is nice because it enabled me to take a nice, long fifteen mile ride before work. I had thought to take the normal six-mile route across the Kingston bridge and along the tow path, but the world was still this morning and quiet! There was no traffic as I crossed the Thames so I decided to ride around Bushy Park.
I began to wonder as I entered the park if the whole country was celebrating some sort of bank holiday that nobody had told me about. It is usually quiet at the time of the morning that I ride into work, but this morning it is almost too quiet. It occurred to me that other than a milk float (which runs on an electric motor so as to not wake-up the whole neighborhood) and a parked police car, I had not seen another person on the street.
My musings as I rode through the park ran to a statistic that I heard once. Apparently, except for some of the more remote parts of Alaska, the Sahara, and the two arctic circles, there are very few places on the planet where one cannot hear some sort of human-made noise.
Perhaps it is because, having finished the audiobook I had been listening to, I wasn't using my MP3 player, and perhaps it was because it was unusually quiet. Whatever the reason, I was aware that there were very few sounds. I heard the wind in the leaves. The occasional sound of a jet taking off (Heathrow is less than ten miles from where I now sit in the office) was the only thing to shatter the illusion that I was alone in the world.
It was a lovely, quiet, relaxing morning. Of course, now that I've arrived at the office, the noise of the village is starting to pick-up and be noticeable. But at least I have this lovely, quiet morning to remember.
Wherever you are today, I hope your day has its moments of quiet.
Don Bergquist - 13 July 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK
The rains predicted for today, have yet to materialize, which is nice because it enabled me to take a nice, long fifteen mile ride before work. I had thought to take the normal six-mile route across the Kingston bridge and along the tow path, but the world was still this morning and quiet! There was no traffic as I crossed the Thames so I decided to ride around Bushy Park.
I began to wonder as I entered the park if the whole country was celebrating some sort of bank holiday that nobody had told me about. It is usually quiet at the time of the morning that I ride into work, but this morning it is almost too quiet. It occurred to me that other than a milk float (which runs on an electric motor so as to not wake-up the whole neighborhood) and a parked police car, I had not seen another person on the street.
My musings as I rode through the park ran to a statistic that I heard once. Apparently, except for some of the more remote parts of Alaska, the Sahara, and the two arctic circles, there are very few places on the planet where one cannot hear some sort of human-made noise.
Perhaps it is because, having finished the audiobook I had been listening to, I wasn't using my MP3 player, and perhaps it was because it was unusually quiet. Whatever the reason, I was aware that there were very few sounds. I heard the wind in the leaves. The occasional sound of a jet taking off (Heathrow is less than ten miles from where I now sit in the office) was the only thing to shatter the illusion that I was alone in the world.
It was a lovely, quiet, relaxing morning. Of course, now that I've arrived at the office, the noise of the village is starting to pick-up and be noticeable. But at least I have this lovely, quiet morning to remember.
Wherever you are today, I hope your day has its moments of quiet.
Don Bergquist - 13 July 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK
12 July 2007
Game Night
Last night at the game club I go to, I got the opportunity to test play a new game that one of the guys I have met before brought in. He is a game designer and is working on a game that is sort-of like Clue on Steroids.
The basic premise is that you are the suspect in a murder mystery. (So is everyone else in the game.) You have to establish your innocence beyond a doubt so that you can prove your innocence at trial.
The game is played on a map of the town and you and your opponents travel around the town trying to gather evidence that your have alibis for the time the murder was committed, that you have witnesses that can substantiate your alibis, while trying to get rid of any evidence that may tend to tie you to the crime scene, the victim, and the murder weapon.
There are also motives that are randomly collected. If you get on, you either have to transfer it to another player or collect a friend who will offset the motive by vouching for you. Additionally, there may be witnesses that can place you at the scene of the crime. These witnesses have to either be bribed to vouch for you or otherwise "dealt with."
It was a fun game, I am not sure about the mechanics of the trial at the end. I have a basic issue with the fact that there is no winner, per se. The point of the trial is to determine who is the least successful at getting rid of the evidence against them and collecting exculpatory evidence. There is no mechanism to determine who was the best at this.
It was, none-the-less, a good game and I cannot wait to see the next version that the designer comes up with after the input we had for him.
Wherever you are, I hope you're having fun today!
Don Bergquist - 12 July 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK
The basic premise is that you are the suspect in a murder mystery. (So is everyone else in the game.) You have to establish your innocence beyond a doubt so that you can prove your innocence at trial.
The game is played on a map of the town and you and your opponents travel around the town trying to gather evidence that your have alibis for the time the murder was committed, that you have witnesses that can substantiate your alibis, while trying to get rid of any evidence that may tend to tie you to the crime scene, the victim, and the murder weapon.
There are also motives that are randomly collected. If you get on, you either have to transfer it to another player or collect a friend who will offset the motive by vouching for you. Additionally, there may be witnesses that can place you at the scene of the crime. These witnesses have to either be bribed to vouch for you or otherwise "dealt with."
It was a fun game, I am not sure about the mechanics of the trial at the end. I have a basic issue with the fact that there is no winner, per se. The point of the trial is to determine who is the least successful at getting rid of the evidence against them and collecting exculpatory evidence. There is no mechanism to determine who was the best at this.
It was, none-the-less, a good game and I cannot wait to see the next version that the designer comes up with after the input we had for him.
Wherever you are, I hope you're having fun today!
Don Bergquist - 12 July 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK
11 July 2007
Saga
Saga is sitting on the rug at the base of the stairs down into the kitchen. She is really going to town on the rawhide bone I gave her a few minutes ago. It's breakfast time and I am sitting at the island eating my bowl of fruit, cereal, and yogurt and thinking about what a nice morning it would be for a long ride into the office.
The skies are overcast but the wind is dead. The temperatures are still in the mid-fifties so, provided I can get out of here in the next few minutes, I would have a good three-quarters of an hour to ride before I am due at the office. But that would require that I stop sitting here watching Saga gnaw on that bone.
She is just so cute, laying there, trying to get the position on the green-and-beige bone just right so that she can shred it with her molars. When I gave it to her, she stared at it intently, as if trying to suss-out exactly how to best attack the bone. For the past ten minutes, as I was making my cereal and coffee, and as I was getting the counter cleaned-up, she has paid attention to nothing but that bone.
I'm not quite sure how I feel about that… she isn't begging, that's good… but she is not paying attention to anything but that bone either. I tired offering her my yogurt carton (a treat she often attacks as soon as offered) but she had no interest in it today. Today, she has eyes only for that bone.
Repositioning herself and the stick or chlorophyll and pig skin so that she can get its point deep into her mouth for a better chew, she is in her own little world. I guess I may as well get the breakfast dishes into the dishwasher and get on the bike trail. (The only thing I have to figure out is how to get the bike out without disturbing her; she is directly in front of the bike's storage area.) I guess I'll sit here a while longer. She is fun to watch!
Wherever you are today, I hope you have something that can hold your attention.
Don Bergquist - 11 July 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey
The skies are overcast but the wind is dead. The temperatures are still in the mid-fifties so, provided I can get out of here in the next few minutes, I would have a good three-quarters of an hour to ride before I am due at the office. But that would require that I stop sitting here watching Saga gnaw on that bone.
She is just so cute, laying there, trying to get the position on the green-and-beige bone just right so that she can shred it with her molars. When I gave it to her, she stared at it intently, as if trying to suss-out exactly how to best attack the bone. For the past ten minutes, as I was making my cereal and coffee, and as I was getting the counter cleaned-up, she has paid attention to nothing but that bone.
I'm not quite sure how I feel about that… she isn't begging, that's good… but she is not paying attention to anything but that bone either. I tired offering her my yogurt carton (a treat she often attacks as soon as offered) but she had no interest in it today. Today, she has eyes only for that bone.
Repositioning herself and the stick or chlorophyll and pig skin so that she can get its point deep into her mouth for a better chew, she is in her own little world. I guess I may as well get the breakfast dishes into the dishwasher and get on the bike trail. (The only thing I have to figure out is how to get the bike out without disturbing her; she is directly in front of the bike's storage area.) I guess I'll sit here a while longer. She is fun to watch!
Wherever you are today, I hope you have something that can hold your attention.
Don Bergquist - 11 July 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey
10 July 2007
Acclimatization
It is funny the things one gets used to through repetition. Things that you never thought you could live with you find yourself not even noticing. For example, I used to live in Memphis, Tennessee in a cheap little apartment off the MSU campus. I wasn't a student; just poor… it was the best I could afford.
One of the things that made it so cheap was that not twenty-five yards from the spot where my head hit the pillow every night was a major rail line. The Southern Railway's main switching yard was just a half-a-mile up the tracks to the west and trains ran past my apartment day and night on an average of four per hour.
If you have never lived on a rail line you really can't appreciate the noise that they make as they pass. Tons of locomotive, thousands of horsepower of diesel-electric generators, and their cargo going past a stone's throw away from you gets your attention, at first…
Visitors to my home used to comment on the noise. "Doesn't the noise of those trains drive you crazy?" visitors who had come over for dinner or to play cards would say as the dishes in the cabinets danced.
"What train?" I would ask completely seriously.
The point is that you get used to things. Quite seriously, if you are exposed to anything you get used to it. This is a good thing if you live next to a major freight rail line. Not such a good thing if you start missing the cool thing that are going on around you because you've gotten used to them.
I got to thinking about this the other night as I was taking a nighttime ride home from the pub. It was about eight and the sun was still an-hour-or-two from setting. It was a cool evening and as I was making my way across the village the clock in the Home of Compassion clock tower struck the hour. It suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't heard that in a while.
Sure, I had heard it… by which I mean the vibrations in the air reached my ears, but I hadn't heard it! I had become accustomed to hearing it. When I first got here, it was one of the things that I thought was really cool! The village clock tower, chiming the hour so that everyone knew the time. I'd be lying in bed at four fifty-something and wondering if it were time to get out of bed when I would hear five bells toll from across the village.
I've decided not to take things for granted. It is going to be hard not to get used to things and take them for granted, but there it is… A mid-year resolution if you will: Don't take life for granted.
Wherever you are today, I hope you'll take a minute to appreciate the great things that surround you that you've started to take for granted.
Don Bergquist - 10 July 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK
One of the things that made it so cheap was that not twenty-five yards from the spot where my head hit the pillow every night was a major rail line. The Southern Railway's main switching yard was just a half-a-mile up the tracks to the west and trains ran past my apartment day and night on an average of four per hour.
If you have never lived on a rail line you really can't appreciate the noise that they make as they pass. Tons of locomotive, thousands of horsepower of diesel-electric generators, and their cargo going past a stone's throw away from you gets your attention, at first…
Visitors to my home used to comment on the noise. "Doesn't the noise of those trains drive you crazy?" visitors who had come over for dinner or to play cards would say as the dishes in the cabinets danced.
"What train?" I would ask completely seriously.
The point is that you get used to things. Quite seriously, if you are exposed to anything you get used to it. This is a good thing if you live next to a major freight rail line. Not such a good thing if you start missing the cool thing that are going on around you because you've gotten used to them.
I got to thinking about this the other night as I was taking a nighttime ride home from the pub. It was about eight and the sun was still an-hour-or-two from setting. It was a cool evening and as I was making my way across the village the clock in the Home of Compassion clock tower struck the hour. It suddenly occurred to me that I hadn't heard that in a while.
Sure, I had heard it… by which I mean the vibrations in the air reached my ears, but I hadn't heard it! I had become accustomed to hearing it. When I first got here, it was one of the things that I thought was really cool! The village clock tower, chiming the hour so that everyone knew the time. I'd be lying in bed at four fifty-something and wondering if it were time to get out of bed when I would hear five bells toll from across the village.
I've decided not to take things for granted. It is going to be hard not to get used to things and take them for granted, but there it is… A mid-year resolution if you will: Don't take life for granted.
Wherever you are today, I hope you'll take a minute to appreciate the great things that surround you that you've started to take for granted.
Don Bergquist - 10 July 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK
09 July 2007
Back to Normal
I'm happy to report that the friggin' flower show is over! My fellow cyclists and I are back to only having to contend with the few small groups who occasionally amble along the tow path and block the cycle route. 
Usually, they are pretty good at getting out of the way when you ring your bell.
To celebrate the end of the Hampton Court Flower Show, some friends of mine and I went to The Albany (a pub on the river) to watch the people who went try and get out as the show ended. We sat on the river, sipping our beers and watched as the queues for ferries or tried to make their way along the towpath carrying armloads of various vegetation purchased at the show. To show that it isn't just he inability to reason how the cycle paths work that visitors to the show lose. They also lose their money sense.
As Terry pointed out, as we watched the huge queues slowly dissipating as the ferries came and went, you could get a ferry from one side of the river to the other for a pound. But if you got the one that dropped you at the train station, it would cost you £1.50. The extra fifty p apparently to save you the two-hundred-yard walk along the tow path and across the bridge.
Usually, however, there is no problem getting through the bike path. Personally, I am so happy about the end of the flower show that I took the long way (along the river) to work, then again today at lunch time. What a lovely day! They are predicting that the weather will fall-apart around the time I plan to leave this evening… just the way, eh? Oh well, as my friend and mentor, Ruth used to say: "We'll just have to jump off that bridge when we get to it."
To close this I think I should quote a book; the last line of Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco: "Right now, it's so beautiful"
Wherever you are today, I hope you're faced with lovely weather - whatever "lovely" means to you.
Don Bergquist - 09 July 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK
Usually, they are pretty good at getting out of the way when you ring your bell.To celebrate the end of the Hampton Court Flower Show, some friends of mine and I went to The Albany (a pub on the river) to watch the people who went try and get out as the show ended. We sat on the river, sipping our beers and watched as the queues for ferries or tried to make their way along the towpath carrying armloads of various vegetation purchased at the show. To show that it isn't just he inability to reason how the cycle paths work that visitors to the show lose. They also lose their money sense.
As Terry pointed out, as we watched the huge queues slowly dissipating as the ferries came and went, you could get a ferry from one side of the river to the other for a pound. But if you got the one that dropped you at the train station, it would cost you £1.50. The extra fifty p apparently to save you the two-hundred-yard walk along the tow path and across the bridge.
Usually, however, there is no problem getting through the bike path. Personally, I am so happy about the end of the flower show that I took the long way (along the river) to work, then again today at lunch time. What a lovely day! They are predicting that the weather will fall-apart around the time I plan to leave this evening… just the way, eh? Oh well, as my friend and mentor, Ruth used to say: "We'll just have to jump off that bridge when we get to it."
To close this I think I should quote a book; the last line of Foucault's Pendulum by Umberto Eco: "Right now, it's so beautiful"
Wherever you are today, I hope you're faced with lovely weather - whatever "lovely" means to you.
Don Bergquist - 09 July 2007 - Thames Ditton, Surrey, UK
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