Very Nice in Nice

What a great weekend. Catching up with SJ and Chris, spending time in the sun, relaxing and also getting to the beach for a swim and a relax.


Setting off at 3:30 in the morning to get the night bus to get to Stanstead, sounded like a great idea, but not quite. Caught the night bus with Sarah and got to the Airport with only a mild panic from myself when I saw the que to the check-in counters. But no problems at all. Got to Nice after sleeping most of the way and as we arrived it looked like the weather would not really cooperate. Clouds greeted us as we flew in over the mountains, but as soon as we got off the plane the sun had burned them off and it was looking like a good day. This would be the routine for most of the weekend, clouds in the morning but they would burn off by lunch.

SJ and Chris met us straight away as we walked out of the gate and then off to the Avis store before leaving in the fantastic spaceship of a car for Fayence, where SJ and Chris had booked into their place. We went straight to the airfield, had lunch then said goodbye to Chris as he left for his afternoon flight into the mountains. The conditions apparently had come good and on Chris' return his joyous face told the story of his amazing flight. The stories of ridge soaring following fantastic final glides enchanted me and at the same time made me feel like I should get involved in the high performance sport.

An afternoon of lazing about in the sun was just what the doctor ordered. The peaceful and for a change form London, quiet surroundings of the B&B garden were fantastic. We went off to find, or as it turned out, to discover where Sarah and myself were going to be staying for the next couple of nights. It was in the next village over and was just as idyllic and peaceful as the other one, except that our one had a pool. We only off loaded our stuff before we went back to SJ’s and Chris’s place for dinner on the way then football. It was a nice afternoon. I think that SJ’s hectic rate of travelling around was showing on Chris.

Saturday dawned a nice and clear day, Sarah and I got to try out the pool in the morning, then off to Fayence for their markets, which were interesting but at the same time just a small town market. Not too big, but a little too small for my liking. After woods we went off to check out his Flower Festival. It turned out to be a lot of displays set up in this small village on the hill. All the plants remained in their pots to ensure that they didn’t dry out, a bit boring again but worth checking out. I was a little more interested in the tiny village village, which had very narrow lanes and very few actual roads to speak of. More like a village that you could drive to but not amongst. Saturday afternoon was more of the relaxing and lazing about in the sunshine, soaking up the rays. Football of the European Championship followed, The Dutch winning a fantastic match that ended up beating the French thoroughly.

Sunday was check out day and we all decided to head off to Antibes for a bit of swimming in the Med as well as lazing about and also a bit of sight seeing. I really enjoyed my time in the city. Sarah and I lazed on the beach till we started to burn. A distinct lack of planning led us to this lack of sun cream and towels, but we managed to overcome the towels by sitting on the rocks till we were dry then sitting on our clothes. Sarah was strangely excited when I used her dress as a towel to change my shorts; a quick swim had her brought over to my reckoning, as the water was much to my liking.

We spent the afternoon sitting in a bar having a couple of beers and listening to the funky sounds that eh dj delivered. After that It was a drive down the coast to the Airport where Sarah and Myself too our leave and caught our plane back to the harsh reality of jobs and city life in the UK. As for me I much prefer the climate that we saw in the French Provence region.

A flat feeling

So, I am ready to go riding off to work on my fantastic new bike, but when I get down stairs to the bike I discover that the back tyre has gone flat over night. Oh well, all that effort and when I really need the bike it has a flat tyre.

Next stop the bike store for some tyre levers and a puncture repair kit. Seems to be a bit of a curse.. well not really.

A new set of wheels.

Woah, what an effort. After a week of traveling almost half way to work on the bus then having to walking the rest of the way, this is due mainly to Thames water deciding to dig up half the road, I decided to get myself a bike. I hunted around in Gumtree and ebay for a while before I came across a bike that looked ok. It turns out to be worth pretty much what I payed for it. but for thirty pound I am happy with it. At the moment it has a 10 speed deralier that is a bit worn and fiddly, new cranks, new break levers, new brake pads, the dodgy old-school brakes, a plastic seat and mountain bike handle bars.

Already I am thinking of getting rid of the rear 5 gears and converting it to a single speed freewheeling bike. London is so flat with hardly any hills so you can get away with only one or two gears. The other thing I am thinking of doing is getting rid of the wide handle bars and trying to find myself a cheap pair of courier handle bars, ro ill just chop them off. Squeezing through the gaps between cars and busses will be made so much easier. How I came to these decisions, well that is quite a journey.

I met the bloke at Redbridge tube station after school and had a little try on the bike. Already I realised that the gears were a bit didgy and shit, but for a cheap bike I was willing to put up with gears that were a bit twitchy. After handing over the money, I decided to let this guy show me the way to the nearest train station. You cannot take bikes on the tube, you have to take them on the overground, even then getting a train to where my house is is almost like trying to get a train to chatswood from Ryde via Sutherland. So I set off on what I had originally found out to be a 1 hour bike ride, of about 3 - 5 miles. Not that far, I know. But as it is, without knowledge of the streets and arriving at the locatioin via the tube I was completely out of my depth.

A quick call to Sarah to get on the internet for some directions resulted in no pleasure. So back to plan C, following, what I guessed were familiar bus routes, but were in fact bus routes that took me on a explotory journey across the NE of greater London. I went from Redbridge to Ilford and back again, on to Wandsworth flats, on towards Leyton, where I had once taught for a day, continuing up north towards Walthamstow Central train station. Here is where I had thought I had rounded the corner back into familiar street knowledge. However I did make a silly mistaake and continue on Past Walthamstow Central following the 230 bus route in the wrong direction. Woah.

So back to Walthamstow Central, then following the 230 bus towards Turnpike Lane, where I fianlly met up with Seven Sisters road and that is where I knew where I was... I had set off at around 6:00pm and arrived home close to 9:00pm. Quite a journey, and one that I didn't particulary want to take on an unfamiliar bike. But in the end I guess I now know what my bike is really like. I just have to sort the rest of the stuff out...

Tunnel vision...

Went and saw what has now become known ans 'the Banks Tunnel'. It is a disused tunnel that at the start of May became the scene of a series of artworks that focused around the street art culture. Well since the start of May some of the works have been removed, mainly a car on the wall, however all of the wall paintings have remained. I really liked many of the artworks that I saw, especiall the stencil works that have been created. Any how here are some of the awsome artworks that are there.