I can't keep my mind in one place at the moment.
Decided I'm not going to strip the bike down completely now, I'm just going to buy a new rear shock and new foam for the seat. If that all works, I may look at the fork internals to see if they need upgrading too.
Still not got my new log book from DVLA, so still can't ride the bike - it's been nearly a month now, and seeing lovely weekend weather doesn't help me much! If it doesn't arrive by Wednesday, I'll have to contact them again, mentioning Watchdog this time lol
Booked tickets with my brother to go up to Twickenham in early December to see the Final Challenge - the Barbarians vs New Zealand in the rugby. Should be a fun day out.
Monday, 26 October 2009
Monday, 19 October 2009
Londinium
Pete was over from HK for a quick break, and wondered if I wanted to meet him in London on his way back to Heathrow.
We organised a Travelodge near King's Cross station for Wednesday night and met up at the station - I'd got the train up from Yeovil to Waterloo, and then Northern Line'd it to Euston and walked over to King's X.
Dumped the bags and caught the tube to Oxford Circus and a quick trip to the Apple Store so that I could buy some bits I wanted. Then we wandered all over central London - sometimes on foot, sometimes by Tube, buying stuff and just generally looking around.
Back to the hotel for a rest and then back into town for tea and beers. Tea at Henry's in Covent Garden, then beer in a few pubs, ending up at the Salisbury on Charing Cross Road where we met Matt and Tess from Maryland and had a few more drinks.
Thursday and I wasn't feeling well at all - feet ached (Wrangler boots not right idea from tramping around London!) and lager not sitting well in tummy! Pete was flying out that afternoon, so we had breakfast in Guzel, a cafe at the top end of Gray's Inn road, and very nice it was too.
We wandered around the middle of London again, between Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square, ending up back in de Hems Dutch bar on Macclesfield Street. I was on the Coke still as still not right from the lagers.
We went back to the hotel at about 4, picked up our bags and got back on the Piccadilly line - Pete heading towards Terminal 5 and his Hong Kong flight, me to Hammersmith for my second hotel at the Ibis in Earl's Court.
Silly mistake - I should've got off at Earl's Court where is was a half mile walk to the hotel, rather than Hammersmith where it ended up being a 1.6 mile hike! Boy was I shattered when I checked in - so much so that I just ate in the hotel restaurant!
Friday and I slept in - left the hotel at around 11, tube from West Brompton (third of a mile from the hotel - even closer!) and back into town for more wandering, even though my feet were now seriously aching! Brunch of a cheese and Marmite panini at a Starbucks and then, after more wandering, back to the hotel. I was meeting a guy from the Africa Twin website for a drink in the early evening, so wandered along to the Warwick Arms on Warwick Road, where we were lucky enough to have some free Indian fare as the landlady was throwing her birthday bash. A good night.
Saturday and my brother was driving up from Yeovil for the day - I'd bought him a tour of Twickenham for his 40th last December, and he decided to share it with me, so tube to Richmond and then £13 taxi far to Twickers :-O I got the bus back :-P Good tour, bought a couple items of clothing, then back in to the hotel for a quick rest and check emails.
Saturday night I met a couple of lads from the Adventure Rider website at the Princess Louise bar on High Holborn, so I had a pancake from My Old Dutch opposite the pub first (pancake, gouda, mozzarella, chicken and pepperoni).
Stayed on the Sam Smith's bitter all night, and that was lovely stuff! Home to the hotel by about 1am - I think I'll go for a closer hotel to the centre next time lol
Sunday dawned and time to check-out. Was on the train by about 11.45 and back into London one last time. I wandered around for a bit and then, as my shoulders got tired from carrying the backpack, I gave up and got the tube to Waterloo - a couple hours early for the train, but seats!
Train back to Yeovil, arrived at Yeovil Junction at about 20:20 where dad picked me up. Back home by 20:30-ish.
Didn't even really unpack, just started charging the Macbook, and uploaded the few photos that I'd taken.
Next time, I'll have to do the stuff I wanted to this time - Emirates, Highbury, museums, IMAX cinema, all that sorta stuff. Still, at lesst it means another trip - wonde if I'll have company for that.....
We organised a Travelodge near King's Cross station for Wednesday night and met up at the station - I'd got the train up from Yeovil to Waterloo, and then Northern Line'd it to Euston and walked over to King's X.
Dumped the bags and caught the tube to Oxford Circus and a quick trip to the Apple Store so that I could buy some bits I wanted. Then we wandered all over central London - sometimes on foot, sometimes by Tube, buying stuff and just generally looking around.
Back to the hotel for a rest and then back into town for tea and beers. Tea at Henry's in Covent Garden, then beer in a few pubs, ending up at the Salisbury on Charing Cross Road where we met Matt and Tess from Maryland and had a few more drinks.
Thursday and I wasn't feeling well at all - feet ached (Wrangler boots not right idea from tramping around London!) and lager not sitting well in tummy! Pete was flying out that afternoon, so we had breakfast in Guzel, a cafe at the top end of Gray's Inn road, and very nice it was too.
We wandered around the middle of London again, between Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus and Leicester Square, ending up back in de Hems Dutch bar on Macclesfield Street. I was on the Coke still as still not right from the lagers.
We went back to the hotel at about 4, picked up our bags and got back on the Piccadilly line - Pete heading towards Terminal 5 and his Hong Kong flight, me to Hammersmith for my second hotel at the Ibis in Earl's Court.
Silly mistake - I should've got off at Earl's Court where is was a half mile walk to the hotel, rather than Hammersmith where it ended up being a 1.6 mile hike! Boy was I shattered when I checked in - so much so that I just ate in the hotel restaurant!
Friday and I slept in - left the hotel at around 11, tube from West Brompton (third of a mile from the hotel - even closer!) and back into town for more wandering, even though my feet were now seriously aching! Brunch of a cheese and Marmite panini at a Starbucks and then, after more wandering, back to the hotel. I was meeting a guy from the Africa Twin website for a drink in the early evening, so wandered along to the Warwick Arms on Warwick Road, where we were lucky enough to have some free Indian fare as the landlady was throwing her birthday bash. A good night.
Saturday and my brother was driving up from Yeovil for the day - I'd bought him a tour of Twickenham for his 40th last December, and he decided to share it with me, so tube to Richmond and then £13 taxi far to Twickers :-O I got the bus back :-P Good tour, bought a couple items of clothing, then back in to the hotel for a quick rest and check emails.
Saturday night I met a couple of lads from the Adventure Rider website at the Princess Louise bar on High Holborn, so I had a pancake from My Old Dutch opposite the pub first (pancake, gouda, mozzarella, chicken and pepperoni).
About 16-18" in diameter - yummy!
After dinner, I wandered over to the Princess Lou where I met Paul and Ray from the website - Ray had ridden down from Manchester for the night, staying with Paul! Respect!
Stayed on the Sam Smith's bitter all night, and that was lovely stuff! Home to the hotel by about 1am - I think I'll go for a closer hotel to the centre next time lol
Sunday dawned and time to check-out. Was on the train by about 11.45 and back into London one last time. I wandered around for a bit and then, as my shoulders got tired from carrying the backpack, I gave up and got the tube to Waterloo - a couple hours early for the train, but seats!
Train back to Yeovil, arrived at Yeovil Junction at about 20:20 where dad picked me up. Back home by 20:30-ish.
Didn't even really unpack, just started charging the Macbook, and uploaded the few photos that I'd taken.
Next time, I'll have to do the stuff I wanted to this time - Emirates, Highbury, museums, IMAX cinema, all that sorta stuff. Still, at lesst it means another trip - wonde if I'll have company for that.....
Thursday, 8 October 2009
Monday, 5 October 2009
Stress - go away and don't darken my door again!
I was hoping that stresses would be lessened when I moved back to Yeovil and outside of work they have been.
Work though, there hangs another tale! 9 or 10 programmers creating work, and who is there to test it? Me
Too much stuff going on, too far behind in the work, too much work coming to me and not working as it should! It gets frustrating and a teensy bit demoralising.
Work though, there hangs another tale! 9 or 10 programmers creating work, and who is there to test it? Me
Too much stuff going on, too far behind in the work, too much work coming to me and not working as it should! It gets frustrating and a teensy bit demoralising.
Saturday, 3 October 2009
Houses...
I'd seen a house coming up for auction at the end of the month in Yeovil, so went over to the estate agent's in Crewkerne to get the details. While there I picked up details on a couple more places and went for a wander around the town centre.
There's some lovely unmolested houses in Crewkerne, a lot of hamstone terraces, so if the prices were to drop some more it could be an option - two supermarkets, banks, butchers, fishmongers, hardware store, all the stuff a small town needs :-)
Decided that the property, at a guide price of £80,000, would take up all my available funds to buy if I could get a mtge of 75%, leaving me nothing to spend on it which, bearing in mind it has been in the same family for 200 years with no central heating etc, could leave me a little short... Lovely little place though
I shall continue my quest for a new home though, in the hope that I can find something suitable in my price range :-)
There's some lovely unmolested houses in Crewkerne, a lot of hamstone terraces, so if the prices were to drop some more it could be an option - two supermarkets, banks, butchers, fishmongers, hardware store, all the stuff a small town needs :-)
Decided that the property, at a guide price of £80,000, would take up all my available funds to buy if I could get a mtge of 75%, leaving me nothing to spend on it which, bearing in mind it has been in the same family for 200 years with no central heating etc, could leave me a little short... Lovely little place though
I shall continue my quest for a new home though, in the hope that I can find something suitable in my price range :-)
Thursday, 1 October 2009
A new month, a decision made..
Well, having slept on it, I'm gonna keep the Africa Twin and spend some money restoring it.
The rest of my life? Meh, ups and downs still, drifting again, missing friends, needing some direction.
I'm losing some weight, which is good, although not trying to do it consciously, just comes from eating more healthily I suppose. Going to go look at some houses coming up for auction to see if the style, age, etc suit me - at least they'd give me a project, something to do in the evenings apart from come online, rueing my life and past decisions.
Not sleeping well doesn't help, mind - my brain is going off on motorcycle journeys as I try to fall asleep, planning where to go and what to see. Why can't someone invent a switch so that I can turn that part of me off when I want to? The happy Ben is still inside me, and comes out to play every now and then, I just want him to be there more often - the question is, how to do that?
The rest of my life? Meh, ups and downs still, drifting again, missing friends, needing some direction.
I'm losing some weight, which is good, although not trying to do it consciously, just comes from eating more healthily I suppose. Going to go look at some houses coming up for auction to see if the style, age, etc suit me - at least they'd give me a project, something to do in the evenings apart from come online, rueing my life and past decisions.
Not sleeping well doesn't help, mind - my brain is going off on motorcycle journeys as I try to fall asleep, planning where to go and what to see. Why can't someone invent a switch so that I can turn that part of me off when I want to? The happy Ben is still inside me, and comes out to play every now and then, I just want him to be there more often - the question is, how to do that?
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