4 or 5 years in my early 30’s

the booze etc years…

glad to be back

i think its fair to say that the mot scottish cities have major stuff to offer a mountain biker looking at a city base. my vote is for edinburgh because, as others have mentioned you got the pentlands on your doorstep. and the lammermuirs and moorfoors for exploring. glen tress and inners a quick drive south and an hour north/west you are in the highlands. its very easy to cycle out the city and be somewhere remote within an hour. cycling infrastructure is getting there as well.

the other thing to factor is all the other city stuff going on in edinburgh itself. having lived in aberdeen and glasgow as well as edinburgh it wins on all fronts. glasgow was horrible in terms of cycling out the city and aberdeen had some beautiful trails if a little limited.

edinburgh

i was asked for ID in the village shop a few weeks back (i was buying Viz, beer and wine)

“seriously? I’m 42!”

made my day…

i once got a letterbox through the post, i opened it and fell into a wormhole…

the short answer is go for it.

the longer answer is have a long hard think, a proper dig about, draw up a business plan, do sums, talk to others and if you’ve not terrified or bored yourself, go for it.

john at industrycottage dot com

ill see what i can do…

Father Yod on lead vocals along Djin Aquarian on guitar, Octavius Aquarian on drums, and Sunflower Aquarian on bass

Zinaru Aquarian was the sound guy – to my all time favourite band YA HO WHA 13

Always like to think of him as the Eno of the band, hence my username. And its slightly more exciting than ‘John’

as a designer myself and having working with loads of clients, I’m glad to report, without exception – companies do seem to be very thoughtful about avoiding anything sexist. i think that as an audience we are also far less likely to just accept stuff thrown in our faces.

i remember as a kid, the peanut backing cards in pubs, page 3 etc etc etc and all sorts of hideous misrepresentations of women. slowly everyone will understand its not cool.

maxxis worked it out recently. it just going to take some longer than others…

i suffered a bit from depression quite a few years back (still lingers on occasion)

the doctor suggested that meditation may help me to switch off from job and home worry but i could never chill enough to get any really benefit from it. however, i continually mentioned biking when talking about things that made me feel better or even great.

thats when he mentioned the idea of ‘active meditation’, that apparently grew out of long distance running. in effect, clearing your mind to do an extended simple task. worrying about the mortgage whilst running or riding over slippy roots and your end up on the floor. if you only think about cycling when cycling your actually in a state of mind thats as different from your normal ‘worry laden one’ as some zen calm.

and pedalling over wild remote places alone 99% of the time only increases the effect. and the fresh air, encounters with nature, a bike that rules etc and cycling is most definitely my ‘happy place’.

I’ve always been amused by ‘memories of india’ between newtongrange/gorebridge.

you are always guaranteed to be reminded of india the following day.

having dealt personally with jeff (bought my spaceframe/truss/loops direct from him) prior to there being any more structured import options to the uk, i think the guy is a star. a unique vision operating on a pretty tiny scale but his stuff really does work. i agree that its possible more folk will arrive independently or otherwise at similar stuff to what he produces which is also the ‘risk’ of the little guy getting it so right.

also dealt with alpkit (a custom frame bag for the sf etc) so I’m sure everything will work out fine.

4/5 years later, my wife still thinks I’m having an affair with my jones…

im a non driver but i hate two sections of road – i just find them sooo dull. strangely both begin/or end in perth

perth to pitlochry (at least heading north you’ve got ills further north to look forward to)

perth dundee (in any direction, mind numbing boring with either perth or dundee to break the monotony)

in the design/creative game myself…

jean and t-shirts for everyday – meeting with a client – jeans and a shirt

i don’t own a suit and seriously at 42, cant tie a tie.

taking my jones hat (helmet?) of, i really like the oddity head badge.

my favourite

256a

in aberdeen, during the fuzzy art school days

my gran was amazing – and came out with loads of crazy stuff.

my favourite was ‘mind and wave to me when you get to the bridge’ when she caught me or my cousins picking our noses…

Tiger6791!!!!!!!

i know i clicked play but that ‘take that’ thing made me vurp,

can i ‘apple+z’ my mind?

silver cranks all the way for me.

a zippy rear tyre for when the trails are hard and dusty. really don’t get on with them in anything other than that. ill only use if its a settled dry spell in the summer, and living in scotland, that means I’ll get years out of mine.

after being a bit strange initially i really like the fizik gobi now.

flexy were needed, stiff were needed – I’m sure theres a joke in there somewhere but I’m a bit sleepy today.

arse – saddle interface is very personal though.

not been on the turbo for a year or so but i found making a playlist on iTunes really useful. strong rhythmic ‘motorik’ stuff…

some music worked amazingly well – simple headphone mind by stereolab/nurse with wound was really great (and lasts 30 mins), the miles davis experiment wasnt so good…

definitely never had the frame of mind to read or watch anything though.

first beers tonight since new year. friday foal.

Our cottage only has a mobile phone reception with O2 and even that was a nightmare when we moved in.
Having no internet would be a deal breaker for me (even before I ran my own business from home).

i had a slightly different situation a few years ago – a friend had lost a baby after a few months of battling numerous medical problems – totally tragic situation.

i told him i didnt know what to say other than i was throughly heartbroken and couldn’t imagine being in that situation myself. months later, we talked about it again and he said he’d taken strength from the fact no-one had the words to make it better. what was comforting was this proved its beyond ‘normal experiences’.

my advice to the op is tell you friend you are at a loss what to say, be totally honest, you saying that and making yourself uncomfortably in doing so ultimately says far more…

im ‘new business developing’ today…

still shaking my flu of and opted for an extended walk yesterday rather than on the bike.

only saw two people in the first 3 hours. one fatty + one cx.

i was in gore glen up near temple, midlothian.

i lost it at a edinburgh taxi driver several years ago. he was in the bike area of the junction waiting for the lights to change. he invited me to a fight. i swearily declined but kicked his wing mirror of at the next set of lights and sped off at warp factor two down leith walk… his passenger applauded me.

not big or clever and decided to be nothing other than zen ever again in similar situations. another perk of now living in the country.

its almost impossible to pin it down to one song but if i had too – id say ‘archangel thunderbird’ by amon duul 2.

music is a big part of my life and bowie is a thread of that. very sad he’s gone simply because he’s been part of the landscape for my entire life. my heavily pregnant mum when to see ziggy stardusts farewell tour in 1973 in edinburgh so it was my first concert in a way… high quality womb music.

whilst he’s not my favourite musician ever, i think his achievements (and passing) is of immense cultural significance. he’s been blaring on my speakers and it seems their is a lot of dust in my office today…

and his final album is a conceptual and sophisticated farewell – a true artist.

RIP

new york? go to ‘other music’ on 15 E. 4th St and spend all your money.

well thats what id do.

i really love my specialized atlas xc shorts. they have a built in bib.

i also really rate mavic red rock shorts but for warm summer ays which seems a million miles away at the moment…

glen kinglas?

glen orchy then through glen kinglas to loch etive and back down to taynuilt?

no idea what its like at the moment with all the weather mentalness though…

over the years… probably burning blue soul by matt johnson or the last two talk talk albums.

i swear by rapha socks, the ‘winter’ socks are fantastic and when things get really cold the ‘deep winter’ versions are amazing. really thick and go up to the knee. and they don’t cost a fortune…

a £7 donation to PETA

the wire
viz
singletrack

sometimes during the same jobby…

the old ‘dropping a pdf into illustrator trick’ is very useful to get a workable eps logo.
especially when a client says, ‘can you not just use the logo from our website?’

i don’t drive but when my wife went car shopping, i had two requirements – the fat fronted jones had to fit in the back and the car can’t be maroon coloured (football reasons).

our shiney new fiat 500 works a treat on both count!

we had finlay (a groovy wee guinea pig) stayed with us for a few weeks earlier this year. was a bit nervy around our house rabbits but great fun. loved getting out in our ‘small animal proofed’ garden, munching on grass and we found out he adored broccoli. made great little almost electronic noises when he was excited as well – gutted when he went back home…

like all pets, just make sure they get attention, care and love. read up on them and you’ll enjoy having them around.