🚶 3858 steps ❤️ 56 bpm
🚶 08:32 Shepway Walking 21'00 - Really been skipping the step count, and coincidentally am pulling on the kilos. So need to get back out there, even if it's cold and dark. this morning slightly nippy but a very calm sea. Not dark, obvs. Have dinner to cook at lunchtime and possibly a trip to school to deliver a forgotten lunch, so won't be walking again until it is dark.
Everyone's talking about getting a proper radio for emergencies. We're a bit too used to internet for everything. We listen to the radio a lot, but through a smart speaker, which relies on internet. What if that goes down? I asked the google, while it's still there:
For a UK-based emergency or survival scenario, the best radio balances reliable multi-power options (like AA/AAA batteries alongside solar or hand cranks) with the ability to tune into local FM and BBC broadcasts.
Top Radio Recommendations for the UK
- Midland ER310 Pro / ER310: Widely considered the best all-around emergency radio, featuring a massive 10,000mAh battery (good for hundreds of hours of playback), USB-C device charging, a hand crank, solar panel, torch, and FM/MW reception.
- Philips TAR3500: A rugged, IP55 dust- and water-resistant portable radio that runs for up to 60 hours on a single charge, features an AM/FM tuner, and can be powered via USB-C, solar, AAA batteries, or a hand crank. It also includes an orange SOS emergency siren and a phone-charging USB-A port.
- Kaito KA500 Voyager: A durable, multi-power survival radio (solar, hand crank, USB, AC, and 3x AAA batteries) with AM/FM and shortwave bands, making it great for extended off-grid situations.
- Yaesu FT-60R (Ham / Two-Way): If you need to transmit voice rather than just listen, a rugged handheld amateur ham radio like the Yaesu FT-60R offers superior frequency agility, local VHF/UHF line-of-sight communication, and independence from ground wire networks.
Key Survival Radio Features to Consider_
- Power Sources Beyond the Crank: Wind-up hand cranks are useful in a pinch, but built-in rechargeable batteries degrade or go flat over time. Look for models that also accept standard AA or AAA alkaline batteries, which can sit in storage for years and work the moment you need them.
- UK Frequency Reality Check: Skip American-market radios that heavily advertise NOAA weather alerts—those weather transmitter networks do not exist in the UK. Instead, prioritize clear FM reception to tune into local BBC news and emergency briefings.
- Avoid DAB/DAB+ for Survival: While digital radio is great for everyday use, DAB drains battery power and hand-crank energy much faster than traditional analogue FM/AM bands.
- Durability & Utility: Water resistance (IPX4 or IP55 ratings), a built-in LED flashlight, an SOS beacon, and a USB power bank to top up your mobile phone add vital multi-use capability.
I'll probably be ignoring all this and keeping the DAB+ for now, as long as I can find one to do both, as 99.99% of this radio's use would be in a non emergency situation still plugged in to the mains. We can shift to FM when we have to. What about medium wave or long wave, is that still a thing?
Looking for that top example on amazon, I find this one at £128 1... but look at the price history there! It was £50 in July.
I think I am going to look for a Roberts one that is rechargeable or takes batteries. All the recommended emergency wind up radios are out of stock. By the time I choose one the zombies will be here.
Oh of course the little boom box T1 just got has got a radio on it, now how many batteries will that need..?
Time to stop looking at this stuff and make the dinner. Sausage and mash today.
Thick cloud and a gentle breeze, 9 - 11℃.
Another competition prize, an actual competition prize won legitimately we think. I had said T1 had started buying CDs, mostly from his time working in the charity shop, but also a new Radiohead one recently. He had no CD player, I knew mum and dad had one they didn't use, and this is what they brought down:
They said it was yours, I said I don't think so! I did have a CD cassette type thing that I'd left at their house but it wasn't this one. Think mine was a Philips, bigger, squarer, detachable speakers. And possibly I left it at the pub that I worked at one time? We're not sure where this one came from. The only thing I can think of is I won something like this on a McDonalds scratch card in about 1988 or 1989, could this be that?
T1 is pleased anyway, once he'd worked out how to play it. He was putting CDs in and pressing the play button on the cassette part and telling me it's not working... We got there in the end.
Yeah me going in McDonalds. I was vegetarian then but not vegan, did I get it with a drink or just some fries? Or could you just ask for one? Friends remember me winning a stereo of some sort. This could be it. We don't have a better explanation.
Light cloud + a gentle breeze, 9 - 12℃.
I have been feeling slightly guilty for years over whatI thought was a rigged competition. I though I won a Gibson Les Paul in a competition that a friend ran about twenty years ago. I had it, I gave it to the bro-in-law because I couldn't play guitar, then I asked for it back and gave it to the nephew as I still couldn't play guitar, and then when I gave the beetle to the nephew I hinted that T1 is playing guitar now and I wondered if he could help at all in the electric guitar department..? It came back to us this weekend, and T1 is very pleased. He is a very moral upstanding citizen though and he couldn't understand why I ever had one when I couldn't play it, and I said, er, I won it, even though I can't possibly have won it. So I dug back through history and my memory is wrong, it was not a rigged competition. Here is mention of the competition, back in 2008 and it was for a different guitar. The competition was run by Gibson, not by popbitch, and it was for a Slash signature edition Les Paul, which this is not. I think this must have been sent to popbitch as a sweetener in order to promote the real competition. This is a very nice guitar, but it is the studio version, not the Slash one. This is maybe £1500 worth of guitar, rather than the £15,000 that the top prize would have been. So this one is more or less legit!
Here it is, it's still very nice:
Mum and Dad brought it on their visit this weekend. We've had a lovely time, not done much, but it has been nice. We got a takewaway curry on Friday night that they paid for, and it was great. Watched the finale of Traitors. Poor old James Acaster, he seems to have had a proper panic attack. I wish he had not been recruited as a traitor, he could have won it. Then went to Hythe for a bit of a charity shop bimble on Saturday, I got a book. Then I made a pasta based dinner on Saturday, while T2 went out trick or treating. Then we watched Strictly Come Dancing for most of the evening, and drank all the wine.
I bought Isaac Asimov's Foundation in the charity shop, sure friends have recommended this.
Premium bonds prize on Monday surely, I am owed. Then the money for the shares I sold should be there too, so I will probably have a bit of a spend up instead of sensibly keeping it for the new car deposit as I'd originally told myself, as it will be pay day this week too...
Did a bit of work and a bit of coding too, have rearranged the weather report in these posts for more reusability. Didn't realise it hasn't been added to run stats for ages. And the work was to set the AI running trying to solve a problem that I have not been able to, will see if it has managed it tomorrow morning. And also what kind of a bill it has run up if it has struggled with it. I also got it to make a summary of all the work I'd done on Friday. On Monday mornings we report back what we did on Friday and I always struggle to remember it all. It came back with a very impressive list, I will do this every week from now on, it made me sound very productive.
Light cloud + a gentle breeze, 9 - 12℃.
🚶 3987 steps ❤️ 57 bpm
Tech improvement day yesterday, I genuinely improved lots of tech.
Tesco announced they're selling Czechia and Slovakia business. I worked a lot on the integration of these businesses into our bit, the de-integration will be easier on our side. Sure to be tricky across the whole business though. What will it do to the stonks? I just sold a load. Hope they rise sharply before my share save actually ends.
Mum and Dad visiting, bringing lots of goodies, especially for T1. And it's a lovely day! Happy Halloween.
Sunny intervals and a gentle breeze, 7 - 13℃.
🚶 13452 steps ❤️ 57 bpm 71.4㎏
🏃 09:00 Folkestone parkrun 5.0K, 5'37/K - Lovely conditions today, much warmer han expected. Nice and sunny, very slight breeze. The running was ok, energy levels good, but my knee started to go about halfway round. So I have to stop for little micro breaks, stretch my knee, and carry on. Could have been worse.
Folkestone parkrun results for event #561. Your time was 00:28:21.
Congratulations on completing your 237th parkrun and your 216th at Folkestone parkrun today. You finished in 205th place out of a field of 421 parkrunners. You were the 159th male and came 18th in your age category VM50-54. Take a look at this week's full set of results on our website. Your PB at Folkestone parkrun remains 00:20:50. Your best time this year remains 00:24:35.
Just realised when I look on Garmin I can see the weather report, so can I get that from the Garmin API? It said it was 12.8℃ and sunny with a 15kmph easterly wind.
Partly cloudy + a gentle breeze, 7 - 13℃.
🚶 4398 steps ❤️ 53 bpm
🚶 13150 steps ❤️ 50 bpm
🚶 18:32 Shepway Walking 43'27 - Dark walk home. Walking home the slightly long way, no shortcuts until spring again.
Sun was out and it looked like a nice day out there. But no time to go out in it, bit busy round lunch. Even just making my own lunch, I was busy, back to work again. Then, by the end of the working day, it's just too dark out there to enjoy. My only time away from the desk really was taking wife to and from the station.
I mentioned the boys made their own lunch, T2 did mini bagel pizzas, and T1 did some marinated tofu in the Ninja 1. Very creative.
Good TV at the moment, Bake Off last night and the new series of Celebrity Race Across The World tonight. I remember I was getting annoyed with it in the last couple of series though. Then Traitors tomorrow, then it's the weekend!
Partly cloudy and a gentle breeze, 9 - 15℃.
Of course no-one recognises this man, what a terrible picture! Get some better CCTV! Also, who has £3k worth of cigarettes at home??
We would like to speak to him following a reported theft of around £3,000 worth of cigarettes from an address in Dewar Close, Fareham on Saturday 15 August between 3:00pm and 3:30pm.
The is a man described as,
- White
- Between 30 to 40-years-old
- Large build
- Sun hat, shirt, and shorts
If you were in the area at the time and recognise this man or saw anything you believe may support our enquiries, please call 101 and quote 44260402753.
This is an interesting result, I'm glad this guy has been found guilty of something, he doesn't seem like a nice man. But him vs The Daily Mail? It's like this anti-migrant protesters vs Wetherspoons story from Gosport. I just don't have skin in the game! Lock them all up / shut them all down! It would be like a fight between Russell Brand and David Walliams, I'm not a fan of either side. I don't know why that image just came to me.
From that story though, who's that guy on the far right? Lols. No really the guy on the right, he's wearing my hoodie that I lost, one that I left at Parkrun one time. I think it was a Nike one and I really liked it and they don't make one like it now. His one is probably several sizes larger than mine was.
Partly cloudy and a gentle breeze, 9 - 15℃.
Sun is out and work is more productive. Coincidence? I do not think so.
Wife is in London today, I was up early to take her to the station in case either of the boys wanted a lift anywhere. It's nearly half one and T1 is only just out of bed (it's half term). T2 has been sitting under a blanket all morning while the cleaner was here, and now he's migrated up to the lounge. In front of the TV now she's gone, making a mess of our lovely clean house.
I have not made them any lunch, they say they'll get their own. Terrible dad, I will chop them some vegetables so they don't just have toast.
Bolognese for tea, the other half of the double portion I made last week, nice and easy.
Sunny intervals and a moderate breeze, 8 - 15℃.
Paulʼs weblog - I live in A sleepy town in Kent. Married + dad to two, I'm a full stack web engineer, and I do javascript / node, some ruby, other languages etc. My hobbies are pubbing, running, restaurants, home automation 🤖 and other diy jiggery-pokery, history, family tree stuff, TV, squirrels, pirates ☠️, lego, + TIME TRAVEL.
🏷 paul clarke 🏷 pauly 🏷 blog 🏷 2003 🏷 exercise 🏷 step count 🏷 school
Yep, deliberately unstyled.