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.

How time flies.

Well I just realised that this mid term break at this point in time is the time when I arrived in the UK. How time flies when you are kept busy with work and play.

Go to Beer, for a Cider?

The second May bank holiday. Early morning Saturday, standing at Paddington train station, listening to my MP3 player, waiting for the platform to be announced. Platform 5, the usual. There is the common mad dash towards the train by the passengers without seats booked. Suffering from a mild hangover I take my time. I also have a seat booked. Checking my ticket I realise that I am in coach A, which to my delight is the closest coach to the station, just a short stroll for me, while the other passengers rush along vieing for the best available free seats.

Anyway, after what seemed like a short 2 hour journey, I arrived in Cardiff central refreshed and ready for a weekend of camping. Sarah and I decided that we would set off after a couple of detours and head down to Exmouth. With my fantastic new driving license, a pink EU UK one, Sarah handed me the keys and we set off with only a tent and our spare clothes (as well as our sleeping bag, doona, some food and a few other things). Off we went, down the M4 till we reached the M5 and the slow moving traffic. Aparently some other people had heard that there was a long weekend on aswell. Rain and sunshine greeted us along the M5 and it was only a short journey till we reached the beautiful area of Dorsett. From there we went on to Exmouth and the sandy windy coast.

The kite surfers were making the most of the windy conditions and after a nice walk on the beach we headed off to a nice camping ground and set up our tent in one of the only remaining places in the field. Before we set up the tent we did not however get off to a good start with out neighbours. We had to ask them to move their car and the lazy sods were quite adamant that they were not going to move it. But in the end the westies gave in, as I really knew that they were just bullshiting. So after that we decided to keep more to ourselves rather than spend more time with the westies.
I thought that the campsite would be great, however during the night the weather decided to turn. Howling winds, driving rain were apparently the order of the night, but I wouldn't really know as I was sound asleep, snug as a bug in a rug. I did wake up for a while, as someone nudged me but it didn't take me that long to get back to sleep.

Sunday started out a bit miserable, with a bit of light rain, but after we set out and visited the donkey rescue farm and then started to head out off towards Beer the sun, and myself, saw this as a decision from sun gods and they started to shine, so by the time we arrived in Beer we were able to head straight down to the beach and laze about for a while.

Camping in Beer turned out to be a thououghly enjoyable experience, with a BBQ in the evening and lots of lazing about. We found a campsite in the Beer Head Caravan Park and set up our wet tent with plenty of sunshine around to dry it out. The throw away BBQ was fantastic to use. It saved a bit on carrying a heap of stuff along to the campsite and it also gave us some fantastic tasting greese burgers.
But with all holidays as soon as the day dawned on Monday it was almost time to head home. As I didn't get as much sleep as Sarah on Sunday night, she set of with the driving first. We headed off back towards Cardiff with fond memories and pledges to return to Beer. BTW I did think that Beer was one of the best ever named towns that I have been to.

The saviour of the commute!

Well I guess that you are immediatly thinking of a fantastic story that will appear following this sentence, of me reaching out and grabbing somone at the last possible moment before they fall down the stairs on the bus. Well no. I am just going to say how awsome my MP3 played has turned out to be. Now that i went and got myself a SD card for it, it has become the ultimate weapon in the fight against boredom on the bus. I don't know what i was doing before I got my hands on it. Now I can spend my time sitting on the bus listening to music and staring out the window. The joys of the moring commute on public transport.

All that remains is for me to write a letter to Transport for London and get them to take out at least on row of seats on each bus to ensure that I will have a bit of leg room.

Sun today, gone tomorrow...

Made the mistake ofgoing to school today with only a t-shirt on. Well it was a good idea till about 8:05 in the mornign when i got to the bus stop. After that it turned into a bad idea. The temperature dropped, especially when you stood in teh shade. Oh well, a lesson learned. British weather in the best of times, unpredictable.

Hopefully the weather will improve as for the weekend, a bank holiday, Sarah and mysef have decided to try and go camping in Exmouth. Its only 2 hours away from Cardiff, so if the weather turns shit then we can just go home.

Had a big decision recently in regards to my driving license. I ended up thinking that it would be a good idea to go and change it for a UK one. Although it may have been a bit of a wate of money but at leaat I will be able to drive around in the UK in the future. Yay! I will also have this UK license for at least 45 years, wow!

Here comes the sun, do do do do.

It seems like the summer time has come round here in the UK. After a week of brilliant sunshine and clear skies, the weather stayd around so I was able to have a fantastic weekend. The weather was brilliant and the trip down to Sailsbury was great. Hanging around in Lizzies backyard with Sarah and a few beers was an awsome time to spent what seems like the first hot summery weather of the year.