A visit to Kinnego Marina

See that big puddle of water right smack in the middle of Northern Ireland? That’s Lough Neagh. Legend has it that Fionn mac Cumhaill, our national giant, scooped up a giant-sized handful of earth and tossed it into the sea as a stepping stone over to the UK mainland (the hole became Lough Neagh and the stepping stone the Isle of Man, both roughly the same size). The lough is about twenty miles from north to south, so big that all you can see is water on the horizon when you look across it - like you’re on the edge of the sea. I’ve been interested in the lough lately because I can’t get the notion of boating out of my mind. I live a mere ten miles south of the lough, so it’s the most appropriate place to exercise this potential new hobby of mine. A couple of days ago I visited Kinnego Marina on the southeast corner of the Lough, and took a few snaps. Beautiful, isn’t it?

The marina also has an indoor boat shop, so I went in for a browse. The boat that really caught my eye was the Bayliner 246, which is the one you can see me crawling about inside on the photo. I say crawling because, curse my DNA, I’m six-foot-four (I blame that on all the excessive milk-drinking I did as a kid). It would be nice to stand up straight inside the lower cabin of one of these boats, but I’m out of luck. Thankfully there’s one spot where I can stand with my hair touching the roof. Any further towards the bow (that’s the front of the boat; see, I’ve been learning boating terms), the roof slopes downward and I have problems. The saving grace in all this is that the standing-spot-for-tall-freaks is right by the cooker, and the cabin is so small that you’re not likely to be doing a lot of standing, anyway.

I love the thought of taking friends out to the middle of the lough, doing a bit of fishing, then gutting and cooking the fish on board. As the sun sets, with a boat this size, you have the option to drop anchor and make a night of it. The lough has access to the sea via the north coast of Ireland, so there’s the potential for long range trips - to the Isle of Man (and the various other islands in and around the UK and Ireland), Scotland, Wales; maybe even to the likes of France.

I’m dreaming. These boats are selling for silly money, like around £30,000. However, I did see plenty going on eBay second hand for much more affordable prices. Most of them are in England. How would I get one home? Well, smaller boats are often sold on trailers, so I could take the jeep over on the ferry. But I’m a lot more interested in a bigger cabin cruiser. These are generally berthed on a river somewhere. The idea is, you buy the boat and pilot it home on water. Wouldn’t it be nice to be sailing home in a second-hand boat only to hear the engine sputtering to silence when you’re in the middle of the Irish Sea? Did I say sailing? Oops. This is a motor boat and there is no sail. Something tells me I won’t be buying a boat from so far away. What am I talking about? I don’t have the money to buy one, anyway. Like I said, I’m dreaming. And why not?

Cycling vs. driving - Part III

Well, I’ve made good on my decision to cycle to work every day. We’re experiencing some erratic weather here in Northern Ireland these days: continuous brief showers, often several times a day. This has sometimes meant that I wake up in the morning to a pleasant, dry atmosphere, only to open the back door after breakfast to find the rain pounding down. A couple of times I’ve had to bring a change of jeans with me to work. Then there are those evening times (like yesterday), when I venture out on my bike wearing a T-shirt, because the weather has been nice all day, only to feel the first drops of rain on my face when I start to head up the road. I sometimes feel the rain waits for me to emerge from my house before pouring down.

But weather is the least of my problems. Motorists are the big problem. If there’s one rule that should be written into the cyclists’ road safety manual, it’s this: “Expect no courtesy.” Of course, I can’t tar all motorists with the same brush, but a significant percentage of them are bad-mannered and dangerous enough to put me on my guard for every eventuality. Some motorists simply do not view bicycles as traffic. I guess they see a cyclist as something between a pedestrian and a motorcycle, so maybe they wonder what set of rules are supposed to apply. And sometimes they choose pedestrian. This is evidenced by the fact that a motorist barely overtook me before turning ninety degrees left into a side road, causing me to break and yell, “Wake up!” One of the teachers in the school car park did the same thing to me, and I was fuming. On another occasion, a car was emerging from a side road and was required to give way to me; I was cruising along the main road. I saw him preparing to gun forward and I yelled. Unfortunately, this was in the town centre, and every shopper within earshot suddenly whirled around and looked at me, to my embarrassment. Well, at least I got the guy to stop. Sometimes, when I ride my bike, it feels like I’ve put on an invisibility cloak. Once, I stuck my right hand out as an indicator, and the motorist behind me decided to overtake me regardless. Some other jerk had the bad manners to overtake me then blare his horn at me because I wasn’t keeping to the edge of the road; what I was actually doing was trying to filter into the right hand lane of a road that was branching into two. There are now certain junctions that I simply will not cycle through. I get off and walk, and it’s a terrible reflection on the attitude of motorists today. Another trouble spot is when I have to overtake a parked car, and I can hear another car approaching behind me. You’re never sure whether the guy is going to cut you off and force you into the back of the parked car or allow you to overtake it.

I’m not the sort of guy who is prone to outbursts of anger, so I disappointed myself on those couple of occasions when I let loose. It doesn’t happen any more; I’ve learned to simply accept that there are many idiots in the world and some of them drive cars. So I shrug off anything bad that happens. Notice I haven’t spoken out particularly against the “boy racers.” I’ve been quite alarmed that people of both sexes who are older (and should be wiser) are equally to blame in their poor attitude to cyclists.

On another theme, school kids (who recognise me from the school) can react strangely to things that are not often seen - like a member of staff on a bicycle. Often it’s a pleasant, “Cool bike,” but once, some guy spotted me and started laughing his head off like I had just cracked the joke of the century. In his trendy, teenage, pop-culture-infested excuse for a brain, I guess the idea of a thirty-four-year-old on a mountain bike just didn’t compute - because thirty-four-year-olds are just ancient and couldn’t possibly take an interest in something like personal fitness. Oh, of course. How could I have been so dumb? I must look like a fool; I’ll sell the bike immediately and go lie down on the sofa.

I’m now quite a bit fitter than I was when I bought the bike a few months ago. Chinese takeways don’t even have their full flab-increasing effect, because I have to fly down on the bike to get one. Well, in all honesty, I don’t think I’ve lost much weight, but my thigh muscles feel really strong and my endurance levels are much higher than they were. Cycling’s also a lot more enjoyable than all the jogging I put myself through in recent years.

In mid May, I allowed my car insurance to lapse. I actually came very close to selling the jeep (something I’ve been thinking about since a post I wrote in summer 2006), but in the end I put the insurance back on again. Although most of my activity revolves around Portadown, there are certain things that four wheels are indispensable for. I’m especially thinking of my long-standing desire to get into canoeing or boating. Can’t exactly tow one of those on a bicycle.

A couple of days ago I took the jeep out for the first time in about two and a half months. Thankfully, nothing had seized up (although I did find a little moss growing in the door). Today, I’m in work - and, yes, I got here on my bicycle. Now that I’ve managed to make this change in my life, there’s no way I’m going back to driving to work. Well, a good hail-storm might make me keep the bike in the garage, but that’s not going to happen very often. So, my life won’t be going completely “zero emissions,” but close … at least until I get myself a big stonking diesel-sucking cabin cruiser! Well, a guy can dream.

Welcome to the new blog

Well, I’ve decided to migrate my blog from Blogger to WordPress. Whether it now looks better or worse than the old blog, I’m not sure. One thing’s for sure, it’s more functional.

One of the most important things to me about blogging is receiving comments from readers. You’ll notice the new blog lists the last five comments down the right-hand side - a nice touch. Those of you who were in the habit of commenting regularly, please keep ‘em coming. Obviously, you’ll no longer log in from your Blogger account (if you had one), but comments are open to everyone. Just state your name and post away.

You’ll notice there’s now a “Categories” section on the sidebar. This should give a bit more exposure to some important older posts, like my writing and filmmaking tips, that are currently floating way back in the mists of time.

I always hated the navigation (or lack thereof) on the Blogger template. Now, I’ve been able to move all the clutter that was on my sidebar into handy pages along the top.

Expect further changes and enhacements in the coming days.

Welcome to The Dead Club

Last weekend, Midnight Pictures was invited to travel up north to the seaside town of Ballycastle, to do a one-day filmmaking workshop with the town’s already established Film Club run by our friend Harry Hamill (who stars in several of our own films). Only two people showed up to take part (maybe due to the rain), which meant we couldn’t film our intended story. Nevertheless, Andrew Harrison and I didn’t let that dampen our enthusiasm. A quick scout around an adjacent ruined building got us thinking along post-apocalypse lines. It really was a fantastic location (as you’ll see). And what post-apocalyptic scenario did we choose? Do you really need to ask? Well, for the first time since 1993, Midnight Pictures returns to where it all began … zombies!

I’m quite proud of how this movie turned out. We managed to record a complete six-minute movie in the space of five hours, complete with zombie make-up and blood (courtesy of some art paint we found on the premises). I spent yesterday and today editing the movie, and it was a real joy seeing it come together. I was especially pleased with the climactic fight scene, which felt genuinely tense to watch.

Hope you enjoy The Dead Club …