So the reason for no exciting updates recently is that i moved to London to work on a contract for 12 months.
This is my first time living in London, a place full of parakeets where it takes an hour to get anywhere in the city, no more no less.
Perks are that there are loads of gigs to go to, and i joined a football team, (last year they were effectively the 2nd worst team in London.) which turned out to consist of friends of my schoolmate and esteemed web host, Mr C. Black!
What else, what else. not much really. work, sport, noisy busy city where everyone seems to be looking forward to the day they can move somewhere else.
Colleagues trading war stories about their 3 hour horror commutes, while i walk 30 minutes to the office.
Cycling through the city is a bit crazy - happily the new bike superhighways provide some protection from the traffic, but the repeated scrums of 30 cyclists at the traffic lights are entertaining, and have
seen some people with indicator lights on the back of their helmets when they turn which is cool.
You've got a hierarchy of speeds: slowest the heavy boris bikes, then the foldign bromptons with their tiny wheels, then the middle crowd which i put myself in, and finally the lycra clad speed demons, coming out of nowhere.
Not sure how long i'll be here at this point. The money is undisputably good, and life isn't too bad, apart from the daunting distance from here to anywhere wild...

Techy blog upheaval - Flickr have decided to limit free accounts to 1000 photos. So i've had to set up more accounts, and change some code around so they get merged in my backend database. Seems to work!

Bit after the fact, but in summer of 2018 i tracked down another me!

All i knew was that this guy with my name played for a village cricket team in Kent, so i took advantage of a warm summer weekend to take a cycle ride into the country and see if i could find him.
Fortuitously, his team was playing the league title decider against their local rivals, so i got the bonus of an entertaining afternoon of sport, with Stu ending the day holding the trophy!
After some anxious hanging around at the end i finally introduced myself, and got more Pinchins than i bargained for as his Dad was also present, and completely gobsmacked - fair enough, i would be!
We couldn't find any distant family tree links, but its nice to feel part of a wider clan none the less.

Not much to report.
Went to Les Arcs for some snowboarding, using the tried and tested method of flying to Geneva and getting the Altibus.
It wasn't during the worst of the "beast from the east" coldness, but it was still minus 22 centigrade up the mountain some days, and the visibilty was generally poor - low cloud without bringing new snow.
So i spent half the time sitting in the hostel, run by an enigmatic english couple, eating croissants and ruining the seasonaires lives by introducing them to Monopoly Deal card game.
This was fine, since i was using an "a la carte" ski pass, where you only pay for the days you use it.
And on the few bluebird (new snow + sun) days, it was fantastic - vast swathes of off piste, DIY slalom runs through the trees, the monster top to bottom, 8km (2km vertical) non stop Aiguille Rouge run.
Also went across to La Plagne for one day, which was ok once the sun came out, again some great off piste off the top of the glacier, and then a race against time to get the connecting "hand bag" gondola back to the Les Arc side of the valley before closing.

Next stop Hong Kong, just for a contrast i thought i'd check out one of the worlds most renowned high rise cities.
What i did not appreciate (until i started researching) is that Hong Kong is more than just the city, it has loads of national parkland, mountains and beaches, spread across four? islands.
The mixture of chinese daily life and the remnants of british administration is fascinating, with UK road signs on streets lined with dried seafood stores, bakeries and dim sum restaurants.
A 1920's tramride (20p fare along whole route) got me to the Happy Valley racetrack, an impressive horse racing arena where every wednesday, drunken expats and chinese alike fill in reams of paper betting slips.
The remaining colonial era buildings are dwarfed by the high rise of modern steel and glas [...read the rest]

first time trying to embed a video:

GH010249i from stuart pinchin on Vimeo.

[...read the rest]

So in Nottingham i've been crashing at my friend Callum's place, an australian immigrant web developer.
His cousin was getting married in Thailand, so i tagged along for some winter sunshine.
After the celebrations on the beaches of Koh Samui, i headed to Koh Phi Phi, famed for being the location of the beach used in the film "The Beach".
The beach is now submerged beneath throngs of daytripping tourists, including boat loads of chinese snorkellers, many of whom can't actually swim and just bob around in their bouyancy aids and water wings.
Amusingly though, by walking through a bit of jungle one can reach equally idyllic sandy coves with no one else ruining the view!!!
After another quick ferry ride to the refreshingly quaint colonial town of Phuket, i embarked on something [...read the rest]