My submission to everyday-carry.com, where people send in photos of their obsessive personal equipment. I am no less obsessive so here is the stuff that’s in my pocketses.
Key-Bak Super 48 Heavy Duty retractable Kevlar key reel
Leatherman Micra
Fenix LD01 stainless steel limited edition
Spyderco Grasshopper (UK carry legal)
True Utility Firestash waterproof petrol lighter
Boker Plus XS non-locking folder (UK carry legal)
Fisher Space Pen
Keys-Cut.com #121 pull-apart keyrings
When at work, I usually wear my Leatherman Wave in a Nite-Ize tool holster. When I’m off-duty, the Wave isn’t carry legal, hence the inclusion of the Spyderco and the Boker Plus XS. The latter is a slipjoint folder which can be opened one-handed, but doesn’t close easily, and has a large finger choil for security. It feels very solid. I prefer drop-point blades, but I’ve no complaints about this one.
The Micra is my favourite of the small Leatherman tools. Though the knife blade isn’t much good, the scissors are excellent. The only thing I really miss from this is a bottle opener, which the Style CS does have, but I prefer the Micra in every other respect.
The little pull-apart keyrings are nickel-plated brass and have a spring-loaded ball which locks the keyring closed until you press the release button. This keeps things really secure on your keyring, yet it’s very easy to detach them - easier than a carabiner or spring clip. My house keys and car keys (not shown) are on one of these. They’re great for things you don’t always carry, and which rotate on and off your keyring.
The Key-Bak key reel is massively solid, clips securely to your belt with a steel clip, and has a 900mm Kevlar cord with a spring retractor and a 14oz pull, so it can support heavy gear without unwinding. Made for the law enforcement and security market.
The Fenix LD01 needs no introduction and gives amazing light output from a single AAA battery.
More music by early-to-mid-90s bitfield. I was quite pleased with this until I realized I’d basically written “Everybody’s Free (To Feel Good)” by Rozalla. Still, I wasn’t the only one.
I have a vague memory that I was sick at the time, hence the title.
This was taken with my DSLR mounted on the telescope tube, and using the telescope’s motor drive to track the sky for a five minute exposure (click to embigulate). We have looked at the Pleiades before, but I’m quite pleased with this picture because it brings out some colours, and a tree in my garden managed to sneak into the frame. You can see that the tree blurs slightly as though it’s moving; actually, the tree stayed still, while the camera and the sky moved.
More music by my ambitronic alter ego, bitfield. This was made some time in the late 1990s, using a Yamaha QY-300 hardware sequencer (pictured). It was a nice machine which I kept for many years, and wrote a lot of music with. Including this piece, featuring steel drums, sitar, synth flute, Hammond organ, marimba, and General MIDI patch no. 124 (‘Birdsong’). I remember I made an interesting rhythm break (at 01:51) by double-tracking the drum loop and time-shifting it forward by one MIDI clock, creating a phased effect and a satisfyingly fat kick drum sound.
I have set up a bird café in my garden, and I have already got some interesting diners. Here are some intrusively candid pictures of them (no release forms were signed).
