As there were a couple of references to DVDs in yesterdays posting on books, it’s only fair that I continue the DVD theme by presenting a few ideas on that theme. Especially as there’s a big public holiday looming and the seasonal television choices are as safe and predictable as ever…

The first suggestions are based around history. Yes, I’ve got an O level in history, but it’s Caroline that’s more interested in such matters (I’m more of a Horrible Histories buff myself).

That could be because I’m more interested in modern history, the stuff that wasn’t really taught when I was a lad in the early to mid 1970s. I can still remember some bits from my O level days, but that’s about it.

Andrew Marr’s The Making Of Modern Britain and History Of Modern Britain have just been repeated on BBC2 over the last fortnight – in a mid-afternoon slot. As there’s been little of note on over that time, I’ve fed the DVD machine with both series when Caroline’s been working late shifts (there are only so many times you can watch the same episodes of NCIS…).

Yes, there’s some memorable events missing from later programmes (the climbing of The Old Man Of Hoy, the Torrey Canyon and Braer oil tanker problems, The Herald Of Free Enterprise and the first flight of Concord/Concorde), but both series are still very watchable a few years down the line from their original broadcast dates.

Oh, and there’s also Andrew Marr’s History Of The World too. I’ve started, so I’ll finish, but I’ll also have to remember to turn the audio description track off when the DVD is put into the player. It took a while to realise what was going on when I first played Disc One, but now that I know, I hit the set-up menu before starting to watch the programmes.

As I’d enjoyed the Andrew Marr programmes so much, I put Simon Schama’s A History Of Britain on a wish list a couple of years ago and it turned up as a present a month or so later.

I missed this completely when it was first shown on TV, but it’s proved that I wasn’t as much of a historical heathen as I thought I was, because I did remember a few things from my teenage years history lessons. The stories told, the locations and the quality of the location camera work all sank in and this, like Andrew Marr’s History Of The World could be getting another viewing next week.

Along with London The Modern Babylon, Julien Temple’s take on London since the dawn of the 20th century. The story is told using film and television footage from the archives along with specially shot interviews from those who were there (famous and not-so-famous names) and a soundtrack of familiar and unfamiliar songs that helps bind the tale together.

There’s also a great bit of sound editing too in a political story that always raises a smile – watch it and see if you can spot it!

The last of the history related DVDs is The Story Of India with Michael Wood. It’s a two disc set with all six programmes plus some bonus material. Yes, it’s been shown recently on Yesterday, but the story works best when it’s not interrupted by adverts or programme trailers. It’s also a good excuse to get a couple of curries in whilst watching it over two nights!

On a completely different note is The Illusionist, a wonderfully made animation from the director behind Belleville Rendez-vous. Yes, there’s an Edward Norton film with the same title, but this is from a screenplay by Jaques Tati which tells the story of an old-school entertainer who travels to Edinburgh.

Those who know Edinburgh well may recognise quite a few places that are onscreen. I certainly did in both this and the more recent telling of the story of Burke & Hare.

The Illusionist though is the one I ended up talking about when The Independent On Sunday stopped me one afternoon outside the BFI to ask whether I’d seen any movies that had captured the look and feel of a city. The first and only time I’ve been in the Sunday papers – which is more than could be said about a few politicians or celebrities!

When it comes to travelogues though, there’s one master of the art – Michael Palin. Most will be aware of his multi-part series shown on the BBC and The Travel Channel, but he also contributed to two programmes shown on the BBC in the 1980’s and 1990’s.

Michael Palin’s Great Railway Journeys covers his 1980 trip from London to Kyle of Lochalsh and his 1994 trip from Derry/Londonderry to Dingle Bay in Kerry. Palin is as amiable as ever and both trips are worth watching when it’s a cold, wet and miserable night with either a glass of Drambuie or a glass of Jameson’s in hand.

If memory serves me right that 1994 series of Great Railway Journeys also featured a trip made on Chinese trains by Clive Anderson. I only saw it the once and haven’t seen it repeated or made available on DVD. Which is a shame really, because it was a pretty good programme!

If trains are your thing, there’s also a fine story available about the making of the steam locomotive Tornado. There’s two versions of the DVD out there, but the one I have is the longer one of the two at 103 minutes duration.

I’ve not been on Tornado yet, but I’ve seen it at both Corfe Castle and Swanage stations and yes, I’m going to save up my pennies in order to make a train journey on Tornado when I can. There is a certain irony though – Tornado was built a couple of minutes away from where I used to live in Darlington and I didn’t know what was going on, even though I passed the works around twice a day at one point!

There are also plans to head off to the Isle Of Man. As the famed Laxey Wheel is being worked on at the moment, I suspect that it may not be in 2015. Unless of course everything is being done to get the work done before the start of the tourist season and the famous TT Races.

TT Closer To The Edge is the last DVD that I’ll write about here. I knew next to nothing about bike racing or much about the Isle Of Man before buying this DVD, but there’s part of me now that wants to get over there to explore the island. Caroline’s been before and wants to return there, so she may well be my guide on that visit!

From what I’ve seen of the island, it is a place I want to go. I don’t have a bike licence so it will be exploring by bus, car or rail and it definitely won’t be at the same speed as some of the riders featured on TT Closer To The Edge.

Guy Martin and Conor Cummins survived their crashes in 2010 and have raced the Mountain Course since, but others haven’t been so lucky. Will Guy Martin win at least one TT next year? Here’s hoping, especially after it was confirmed yesterday that he’ll be riding BMW bikes in 2015!

Yes, it’s getting closer – and all I can tell you at the moment is that there’s baking going on at Wisepacking Towers as mince pies and cheese scones are coming out of the oven…

Now you may have realised by now that I’m a great fan of the Kindle. It’s light, it’s compact and the battery life is pretty good for most eventualities.

There are times though when the Kindle isn’t quite the answer to everything (that’s still 42!).

I still prefer paper guide books to electronic ones as they’re easier to access, don’t rely on batteries being charged on the device being used at the time, relevant sections can be photocopied for use on our travels or older versions can be cannibalised to serve the same purpose.

There’s also the still popular concept of coffee table books. Doesn’t matter if they’re paperback or hardback, the glossy photographs and the text alongside the pictures can still inspire in a way that viewing on an electronic screen can’t in my opinion.

But hey, here’s a quick round-up of what’s out there. Some titles have been around for a while now and that’s a good thing as it’s a testament as to how good the book was in the first place!

Some books are easy reads, whilst others require a little bit more attention once they’re opened. It’s thirty years since I first read Robert Pirsig’s Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance and it’s still quite challenging.

The Travel Book – A Journey Around Every Country In The World (Lonely Planet) is one of those glossy books that make you want to grab a bag and get out there. Once seen, it’s likely that you may need something with a little more detail about any country that’s highlighted in the book.

Which is where the world of the guide book kicks in. Preferred reading here usually comes from either Lonely Planet or Rough Guides, although DK and Berlitz works are also on the bookshelf at the opposite end of the room to this computer.

As High Street bookshops sometimes offer their travel stock on a 3 for 2 promotion, it’s not uncommon for me to buy both a Lonely Planet and a Rough Guide to a particular country, especially if the country is being visited just two days after booking the flights!

Bookshop offers have also tended to include phrase books in the past too, so getting some lingo learned at the last minute can also come in useful even if it only to order a beer, coffee or to ask for a pack of Rennies in Lagos!

Wandering around a bookshop can also bring up some timeless works too. Harry Enfield’s bicycling dad Edward Enfield’s Greece On My Wheels and Downhill All The Way are on both my bookshelves and on my Kindle. The paperbacks were on offer when I bought them and when the Kindle versions were on offer over the summer, I succumbed once more. And did the same with Just A Little Run Around The World by Rosie Swale Pope…

The recent re-runs of Michael Palin travel programmes Around The World In Eighty Days and New Europe on The Travel Channel reminded me of the mix of paperback and hardback versions of his travel books (and the relevant DVDs too) that are on the bookshelves in my upstairs office.

Yes, the paperbacks keep getting new covers, but the content is still very readable thanks to Palin’s observational powers and his willingness to try things out (I’d still pass on eating a freshly killed and cooked snake though!).

Another Michael that’s moved on from his original career is Michael Portillo. There’s quite a few books (and yes, DVDs) of his British, Irish and Continental Railway Journeys available along with copies of the various Bradshaw’s Handbooks that have been used to inspire Michael’s travels.

A recent visit to the Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington near York meant that I spotted one Bradshaw which could provide the inspiration for a spin off from his rail travels. Bradshaw’s International Air Guide from 1931 was the tome in question and it could be a good choice for a brand extension by Mr. P… especially given the number of thumbs up given to his programmes in The Guardian’s online television section.

Oh, and another thing… Given the recent problems with deliveries from online retailers, take a wander into a bookshop.

If it’s an independent shop then so much the better, because a wander around could bring you into contact with a whole set of delights to either buy on the day or file in the memory banks in readiness for the next visit.

After all, there is a very wide choice out there – especially if you’re passing Stanfords in Covent Garden!

The visit to any bookshop may damage your wealth – but in a good way!

Compact is the word…

Back in the day, I used to sell the Primus Field Cup Set. It’s a compact eating kit for when you’re on the hill or wandering around town and have the munchies.

There’s two cups, a lid and mini knife, fork and spoon. The cups have respective capacities of 400 ml and 200 ml, the whole package weighs in at 156g and there’s a good choice of colours available too (providing of course that the shop has ordered in more than one or two different colours in the – my former employers did central buying, so we got what we were given such i.e. orange). Everything packs into the largest cup which can then be slipped into a pack or day bag once you’ve wiped or washed away any food residue. The price? £10…

http://www.primus.eu/field-cup-set-green or a host of outdoor shops around the UK and beyond.

Need some protection? Try Aquapac’s Small Stormproof Pouch…

We’ve not had any snow yet, but we have had some heavy rain around Wisepacking Towers over the last week or so, so much so that there’s been a couple of occasions when Caroline’s come in from either a leisure ride or her commute and she’s done a very good impression of a drowned rat called Nigel…

Sometimes you know that there’s going to be bad weather and sometimes you don’t.

It’s a by-product of living in the UK I suppose, but when you get soaked on a visit to The Algarve and the temperatures have been in the mid-thirties C, then you can get caught out somewhat. There are also times when the rain in Spain doesn’t stay on the plain!

Help is at hand though and it’s the first of wisepacking’s suggestions of useful items that you can give as gifts over the festive period or if someone’s an awkward sod who has a birthday on the 3rd of January (like me!).

Aquapac’s Small Stormproof Pouch (£15) is one for the traveller that might get caught out in a rain shower or who gets soaked on a stormy Monday. It can hold pocket items like digital compact cameras, phones, cash and cards when out on a trail or on a fishing trip and it’s 100% waterproof too.

It’s just part of Aquapac’s range, a collection that is always getting added to as they conjure up new products to cover potential eventualities when you’re out and about. The sharp eyed amongst you may have seen one of their radio pouches being used by James May last night as he made his way from Ilfracombe to Lundy Island by boat in pursuit of a toy glider – the whole programme is probably on BBC’s iPlayer if you want to see more.

But I digress. Aquapac’s stuff is good, it works and items such as the Small Stormproof Pouch are pretty light too – 17g for the pouch and 5g for the lanyard.

More details and buying opportunities on http://store.aquapac.net – this also has full details of the whole Aquapac range.

Although we had the option to take hold luggage along with us to Portugal as we’d booked our flights with TAP Portugal rather than a low cost airline, we opted to travel hand luggage only.

Yes, we got a look of surprise from the lady behind the desk at Manchester Airport when we checked in, but it didn’t take long to realise that we’d made the right decision, especially when we got to Lisbon.

All we did was get the bags out of the locker, shoulder them once out of the plane and then hit the way through Passport Control and Customs. Once through, we found the nearest ATM to get cash before getting the only taxi used on our trip. Now the taxi driver wasn’t too happy about us not putting bags in the boot, but we were happy that we weren’t paying additional charges for putting the bags in the boot.

One thing we did notice – we had the smallest bags of anyone in the queue on the taxi rank – one couple had hand luggage each, hold luggage each and a bag of golf clubs each (and were holding the queue up as the bloke wasn’t doing a very good job of steering the fully laden trolley in the general direction of the line of taxis!).

Caroline and I both use Osprey Farpoint 40 packs. These take what we want to take, have a full rucksack harness under a zipped back panel and a couple of grab handles that allow for picking the bag up quickly in order to run for a bus, Metro or train. Caroline’s also has the provision to use a clip-on carrying strap, mine doesn’t – the joys of buying our bags separately from two different suppliers (mine’s the slightly older version!).

There’s also a decent size pocket at the top of the bag which is great for stashing away the obligatory clear plastic toiletries bag and my prescription meds.

Why was I packing toiletries? Because of the guide book comments regarding shops closing at 1pm on a Saturday afternoon – it was only when we got to Lisbon that we found out they didn’t! The toiletries bag also contained a full bottle of Lifeventure Fabric Wash for wash & wear use.

So what was in the main bag? A plastic file containing the paperwork, my Kindle in a Rohan neoprene pouch, a set of Rohan packing cubes containing clothing and travel towels plus a pair of Crocs, the charger for my compact camera, a small LED torch, a Moleskine notebook and a comb.

Rohan Core Silver t-shirt

Inside the packing cubes were three Rohan t-shirts (one white and one blue Element shirts and one red Core Silver shirt), a couple of Rohan dress shirts (one Envoy, one Worldview) as we were spending some time in a Pousada, one pair of Rohan Grand Tour Chinos, and three pairs each of Rohan Core Silver trunks and Rohan Hot and Temperate socks.

Yes, those last couple of paragraphs sound like an advert for Rohan, but they’re not – Rohan just happened to have the clothing that I wanted to take along with me. None of it was new and a fair amount had been bought in a couple of sales the company had been running in the year or so before we flew off to Portugal. Years as a retailer, instructor and gear tester have taught me to go for the best I can afford at the time and make it last rather than buy cheaper stuff and replace it more often.

The clothing choices matched the climate and had the necessary wash and wear qualities to enable using hand luggage. Another consideration was the ability to mix and match the items, the ability to layer if the weather changed and accommodation dress codes.

Rohan Trailblazer trousers (top) and Rohan Grand Tour Chinos (bottom)

Which is why I was wearing more Rohan in the shape of another Core Silver shirt, a pair of Trailblazer trousers and a Stronghold shirt on the flight out. The pocketing arrangements on the last two were useful means of carrying my wallet, passport, camera, UK change for the cafe, pens and keys plus mints and a small packet of Wet Wipes.

Everything was easily accessible, especially when it came to placing stuff in the tray at the security check station and putting it back into the clothing once it had all been scanned or inspected. The Trailblazers also have a plastic belt buckle, which meant that there was no need to remove it at airport security on the way out…

My shoes? A pair of now discontinued Rohan by brasher approach shoes with a silver lining – non-waterproof given the temperatures that were likely to be encountered.

Caroline was also using a fair selection of wash and wear travel clothing with Rohan jeans being worn alongside Travel Linen trousers and an oldish pair of capri pants. Tops were a mix of Rohan Essence vest tops and a couple of Royal Robbins sleeved and sleeveless tops that she’s had for a few years now. Footwear? A pair of Merrell sandals and some Ecco Blom Lite Mary Jane shoes.

My wash kit was minimalist  – toothbrush, toothpaste/mouthwash combination, mini shower gel and a part-used roll-on antiperspirant. Larger bottles of toiletries were bought when the little ones ran out – Caroline and I share shower gel and sun creams, so it’s a bottle of each to save money.

Travel towels worked a treat for drying ourselves in hostels and on the beach and to roll washed clothing in before drying. A small first aid kit was packed alongside my post-stroke meds, the all-important copies of my prescriptions and hospital discharge papers that explain everything.

When everything was packed, our bags were around the 7kg mark for me and 6kg for Caroline for the two week trip. We could easily have done it by packing less clothing and doing more washing and wearing, but this was a treat trip after a rough year and we’d added the nights in the Pousada at Sagres as a bit of luxury halfway through. We’d also packed a full guide book – it will be a cannibalised version next time!

There’s a good reason why I’ve been trawling the memory banks recently.

Today is the tenth anniversary of stroke survival.

Mine was caused by atrial fibrillation and it came without any warning signs.

I’d had a fair amount of treatment for a leg injury caused by a bacterial infection over three months in 2004, my partner Caroline is a nurse and I’d just had a medical three days beforehand when I registered with a GP after moving to Yorkshire. Nothing came up to suggest any atrial fibrillation problems.

The outer damage healed (I hit a wall and then the pavement with my face as I collapsed) and whilst there’s some effects still ten years after, I consider myself to be very lucky considering the percentages related to stroke survival

My thanks go to the ambulance crew, the team at the A&E department and the stroke unit at Airedale Hospital who spotted what had happened and also to the driver of the Polish registered car who stopped to see what had happened when four UK registered cars has driven past me as I was lying on the pavement near my flat.

A special mention goes to the makers of The West Wing too – I’ve watched the whole thing every year apart from this one as a means of testing my memory out by remembering story lines, lines of dialogue and that I really should miss one episode of the last series in future!

And also to Caroline for everything before and since!

Yes, it’s one of those weeks this week. Too many memories, which is probably just as well given the anniversary that looms at the weekend – and it’s not a wedding anniversary!!!

What it is will be revealed later in the week, but there was a brief mention of it on the comments section after a piece The Guardian ran on their website at the weekend.

This one though was prompted by another piece on the same website that I commented on – that Newcastle was voted Best City here in the UK by readers of The Guardian.

One of my day jobs was working in a couple of branches of a clothes store/tailors in Newcastle for most, but not all of the 1980’s. When a store closed and I started work as an outdoor instructor and writer, I still spent a lot of time in the city as I was reviewing bands, seeing press shows of films and having nights out up there, even in the days when I was at University and living in (dare I say it!), Sunderland.

Newcastle has a lot going for it. It’s a party city, it’s a shoppers paradise, it’s a cultural centre and it’s a place you can just wander around and chill out in. No need for cabs, buses or the Metro if you’re staying in the city centre, but the good mix of public transport ensures that you can get out and explore the locality without any difficulties.

Now I’m not a party animal, so I tended to stay away from The Bigg Market and the Quayside on most nights of the week (ever seen beer glasses flying from one side of a market to another on a Friday night? That was twenty years ago though.) and I’m not overly fond of football, so what is it about Newcastle?

Shoppers can hit Northumberland Street, Eldon Square and Eldon Gardens or High Bridge. There’s a host of stylish bars and eateries either in the city centre or around Jesmond, Gosforth and over the water in Gateshead and there’s traditional drinking dens too.

There’s galleries, museums, and parks. There’s the great views of all the bridges from the Quayside and there’s The Baltic and The Sage just across the Tyne. There’s some fine hotels, there’s backpacker hostels too and then there’s the cultural stuff that doesn’t include the consumption of beer, lager or alcopops.

The Tyneside Cinema used to be a regular haunt, as did The Tyne Theatre, Newcastle Playhouse and The Live Theatre. One memorable place has come and gone though.

The Mayfair Ballroom had a reputation amongst local gig attenders and bands alike – Lemmy from Motorhead allegedly dedicated the song ‘No Class’ to that venue when playing City Hall on the No Sleep ‘Till Hammersmith tour. Finest shows seen there? Nirvana, The Cure, Roger Taylor from Queen and Ned’s Atomic Dustbin…

Newcastle City Hall is still around and was always one of the finest hall venues in the UK. I was lucky to get tickets for Sting and Dire Straits playing home town gigs, plus tickets for Madness, OMD, Ian Dury, Elvis Costello, The Mission, Thunder, Thin Lizzy, Steeleye Span and the original Lindisfarne Christmas shows.

The musical connections at the time also involved managing a trio of bands based in the North East and subsequent roles as one of the live music reviewers on The Northern Echo newspaper and music/film editor of Street Magazine. 160 + bands per year? No problemo!

The mix of music reviewed covered the Harambe Africa Festival, Jason Donovan, Chesney Hawkes, Alice Cooper, Marc Almond, The Rolling Stones, The Chieftains, Manic Street Preachers and others at the main venues in the city, but there was one hotbed of live music that made it’s mark on the local music scene in the 1980’s and early 1990’s.

The original Riverside Club had a 400 capacity, perfect for up and coming bands or those who wanted a relatively low-key place to play as a tour warm-up. Local bands were given the chance to do support slots and the mix on offer every month was an eclectic one.

Comedy shows included The Joan Collins Fan Club (a.k.a. Julian Clary and Fanny The Wonder Dog) whilst music over the years came from The Housemartins, Ian Gillan, Smashing Pumpkins, The Pixies, The Damned, Billy Bragg, Thunder, Fish, Youssou N’Dour, Desmond Dekker, The Blind Boys of Alabama, The Bhundu Boys, Julian Cope, Buzzocks and many, many more.

Such nights out were balanced by walks around Leazes Park, early morning or lunchtime runs down and over The High Level Bridge before making a left turn and running back over The Tyne Bridge or seeing in the New Year with a firework display before heading home in driving snow.

Or watching gritty fodder onscreen. Michael Caine in Get Carter set the cinematic tone and it’s closely followed by Stormy Monday. I never really got into The Likely Lads/Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads, When The Boat Comes In or Our Friends In The North.

I did go to see The Lindisfarne Gospels, exchange a bit of banter with Nick Hornby at a screening of High Fidelity and have a night out at a Genesis new album playback party in a posh bar on the Quayside (music, fodder and drinks only – the band were on tape and nowhere near Newcastle!).

It’s a while since I’ve been back – too long in fact. Old haunts such as The Mayfair, Riverside, The Broken Doll and others are long gone. There’s still friends up there, so I guess that a visit in the Spring could be the way of heading back up there to see whether the city had changed much and whether my memory has been playing tricks with me.

Or not as the case may be…

After posting Kindle surprise on Wednesday, it had to happen!

Trust me to make a comment about how often I was reading or watching DVDs instead of tuning into television…

And then remembering almost at the last minute about a programme I wanted to see – Great Continental Railway Journeys with Michael Portillo.

Yes, he’s a former Conservative minister, but I don’t hold that against him as he played an important part in saving The Settle-Carlise Railway Line. He’s also carved out a good name for himself as the presenter of several series of programmes dedicated to travelling by train.

The reason I didn’t want to miss Wednesday’s programme is because journey’s end was in a city I want to go back to – Krakow.

My last visit was in June 2000 as a guest of Helly Hansen to do some exploring of Krakow, head down a river in punts and then do some walking in the Zakopane area before returning to Krakow for a memorable night out. The hospitality, food and drink was excellent, the company convivial (a good mix of journalists, Helly Hansen management and staff plus Jane & Fiona, Helly‘s PR crew. Oh, and the kit worked well – the Helly clothing and the Scarpa boots that everyone had been kitted out with for the trip…

Our return to Krakow though came with a surprising last night. After checking into the hotel, I went on a mission to get some cigarettes and a bottle of Zubrovka bison grass vodka for one of my friends from Uni. Then it was off to a restaurant in the Jewish quarter for a good meal, good craic and some fine music too.

Next up though was an after dark guided walk around the Jewish quarter. Words flowed from our guide as to past events and the reasons why buildings hadn’t been kept in order, restored or modernised. As such matters weren’t on the history syllabus when I was at school, most of what I was hearing was new to me, and I suspect to a few others in our party too.

When we got back to the main square and found a bar that we could sit outside whilst having a beer or two, the party was unusually quiet. There were a few party animals among our number, but even they were relatively quiet on this particular night.

Now that may have been down to the previous night on the town in Zakopane (beer the equivalent of around 60p a glass if memory serves me right, the discovery of a jazz club and the return of some wayward souls at 6am…), but no, it was down to history lesson on the walk we’d just been on.

And yet I still want to go back to Krakow to spend some more time there and explore a bit more of the city itself. I can’t see me hiring a guide with a Trabant as Michael Portillo did, but I would like to get the walking shoes on again to explore the city on foot in the same manner that Caroline and I explored Prague a few years ago.

Or even the final destination of Michael Portillo’s next Great Continental Railway Journey – Lisbon. Caroline and I really enjoyed our visit there in 2013, so the plan is to pay a return visit and spend a little bit longer there. One of Portillo’s other stops on his programme is coincidentally one of our other planned destinations on our next trip – Porto.

And guess how we’re planning on travelling around Portugal on our next visit – by train of course!

I’ve gone on about my Kindle before, but as I’ve been working from home for a few weeks, there’s a few books that I’ve read over that time which have been a break from the norm in terms of what my normal reading matter is.

Book of the Year so far is still My Autobiography by motor cycle road racer/television presenter Guy Martin, It’s sheer coincidence that the latest series of Speed with Guy Martin finished at the weekend, but as I’ve taken a good look at what’s on television for the next week and found the selection of programmes to be even worse than what’s been aired over the last three weeks, then it’s probably a good job that the Kindle has been loaded with a few books that I haven’t got around to reading yet!

So, the TV has been switched off several times over the last few weeks. There have been two or three nights when I’ve fed the DVD player with Terminator, Terminator 2, Total Recall, Young Montalbano or Julien Temple’s London The Modern Babylon, but for the most part, the Kindle has come into play big time.

I may have taken (and failed!) an A-Level in English Literature, but I’m not an avid fan of fiction, yet Starter For Ten by David Nicholls and The Montalbano Mysteries by Andrea Camilleri have whiled away a few hours. The former was made into an enjoyable film with some fine talent in early roles by producer Tom Hanks a few years ago and the Inspector Montalbano television films have been one of BBC 4‘s success stories in recent years.

The book versions of Starter For Ten and the three Montalbano Mysteries definitely differ from their screen counterparts. Some deride screen versions of books, but I’ve found that out of all of the books I’ve read after seeing the film or television version first, only one has disappointed – Bridget Jones’s Diary!

Caroline is a fan of both the book and the film version of Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons, whilst those who have known me for a few years know that I have a certain affinity with both the book and screen versions of High Fidelity by Nick Hornby.

So much so in fact that it’s probably the film that I’ve seen on the big screen most times – in either the UK or in Norway. (The last time I saw it in the UK was as part of a Q & A night with Nick Hornby in Newcastle upon Tyne when I made him smile by telling him that Climber magazine had just made it their movie buy of the month rather than Vertical Limit!).

What’s next on the agenda given the state of play on TV? The Hundred-Foot Journey by Richard C. Morais, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stephenson, A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, The Thirty Nine Steps by John Buchan and The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas.

The first is the most recent, but it is a known quantity thanks to the recent Helen Mirren film of the same name. The others are all classics of course. I switched off the modern film adaptation of The Three Musketeers on Film 4 recently, but the others have been read (and seen before in the case of the Robert Donat version of The Thirty Nine Steps and the Robert Newton take on Treasure Island) and they all are long overdue for another reading.

Will it be at home or elsewhere? Who knows, because there’s a week’s break in the diary for next week, but no plans have been made – yet! One thing is for certain – some of these books didn’t cost me anything to download onto the Kindle!

Freebies, don’t you just love them!

Once upon a time, in an outdoor and travel world not so far, far away, if a down sleeping bag got wet, you were kind of screwed.

The bag may have provided good warmth levels for a small pack size, but down loses its lofting and insulating properties when it gets wet, so your chances of a good night’s sleep in a warmer environment go out of the tent or bothy door faster than you can say ‘bother’ or something a little saltier…

But not any more it seems. As you can see from the above picture, proofing and after-care specialists Nikwax have come up with a solution to the wet down problem with Nikwax Hydrophobic Down (TM).

The pictured demonstration of a bag filled with this down didn’t take place on the Dead Sea, but on a lake in deepest East Sussex. Luis Brown floated from one side of the lake to another in said bag and emerged warm and almost completely dry when he exited the bag.

This is down (sorry, but that word usage just begged to be typed!) to the Nikwax Hydrophobic Down treatment that absorbs 13x less water than standard processed down. It apparently also retains more loft to keep user warmer and dryer in damp conditions than other fluorocarbon-free treatments that are on the market.

As Nikwax put it “Nikwax Hydrophobic Down is guaranteed to be water resistant, highly durable and therefore suitable for use in a much wider range of conditions.

The science behind NHD lies partly behind the encapsulation of each down filament with a flexible Durable Water Repellent [DWR] finish, created by Nikwax. This reduces absorption of moisture, protecting down from perspiration, condensation and precipitation, whilst also maintaining loft and insulation in cold and damp conditions. NHD also demonstrates improved drying times and will withstand repeat washing. Additionally, no extra weight is added to NHD-treated down.”

Nick Brown, CEO and Founder of Nikwax says: “Taking the ethical route rather than the easy-money road is a difficult decision for some, but minimising our environmental impact was always the way for me.  I am proud that Nikwax can solve problems in a sustainable way and we achieve results superior to those offered by competing, less environmentally friendly  formulas.  It’s a win for the customer and sustainability.

The floating sleeping bag, by the way, should not be taken as a literal example of what to do with Nikwax Hydrophobic Down sleeping bags. Please do not go to sea in your sleeping bag or use your Nikwax Hydrophobic Down jacket as a buoyancy aid! It is designed to show the high performance of Nikwax Hydrophobic Down in damp conditions”.

Personal thoughts? I’ve been caught out on the hill and had to bivvy for the night instead of putting a tent up (playing with metal tent poles when there’s lightning around is not recommended!), have slept outside a Lakeland cave rather than in it when another University group got there before we did and then slept in a car park during heavy rain the following night rather than wander back to said cave after a night in the pub.

On each of these occasions (and a few others besides), I’d checked the forecasts out and had decided to take a heavier and bulkier synthetic sleeping bag with me rather than a down one. If Nikwax Hydrophobic Down had been around then, there would have been a down bag that would have been packed and used instead of the synthetic one inside the usual bright orange survival bag.

A game-changing announcement?

More than likely, especially as the processes involved don’t add to the weight of products made using Nikwax Hydrophobic Down.

nikwax.co.uk

Picture courtesy of Nikwax and Spring PR