Velovision
Anyway, the shop I got the mag from was in Notting Hill and on the bus there I again thought what a shame it was that unlike France with the little maps on their buses that correspond to bus stop names, you can't tell in London where you are from the bus stops. Well I was wrong! Looking at my print out from TfL of the end map (door to door), instead of bus stop names it showed two-letter symbols. The one I had to get off at was called PP, and the one before it PQ. Well, these are the little red round badges at the top of every single bus stop in central London! So, I just read the badges, and was able to tell when to ring the bell and get off. No stress, well done TfL!
Now, I didn't know, but the bus let me off somewhere I'd not been before.
Portobello Market, which
I think must have had a fair proportion of tourists.
There was more too it than I was interested in
seeing, I saw fruit and veg, French and English
bakeries and an Aussie style smoothie/milkshake
vendor. I didn't buy anything. I just walked though,
following the road by road walking directions from
TfL. It took me past 2 reggae shops (surrounded by
David Cameron type houses), and then, presently, the
bike shop.
I was surprised to find
hanging in the window, two of my favourite bikes, a
Like-a-bike and a Bridgestone Moulton! Well, that
was enough excitement for one day. I took the bus
back and it went past the fantastic Vauxhall bus
station. I love the way it towers over everything
else.
Bike upgrade
Something has to change, my puncture rate has been so high since riding a Moulton that I must have been doing something wrong. So I've ordered some Big Apple tyres. Perhaps I should have considered Marathon Plus tyres, but I'm not sure about their rolling resistance, so those will be the last resort. Th big Apples are 50mm wide, so wide, I'm not sure mudguards will fit, I'll have to see.
Manchester and Leicester
That evening instead of
going home, I went to Leicester to see old Uni
friends, James and Wayne. Nick travelled up from
London. A bit of a cock-up on my journey across the
Pennines.
It wasn't exactly clear
at Manchester's departure boards, since they don't
show trains, they show destinations, so I took the
first train to my destination. This turned out to be
a slow, cramped Northern Trains train. I should have
asked really, before I got on the train "Shouldn't
this be a Trans-Pennine Express?", but it didn't
occur to me that the two trains could leave within
minutes of each other. Anyway I got to Sheffield
about 15 minutes after my connection had left, so I
took the next train (Virgin), which only went to
Derby, and the train from Derby (MML) was cancelled.
I was an hour late in the end.
Anyway had a great time, some curry, some drinking,
some clubs and a nice walk around the old town. I
finally visited the city museum on New Walk, which I
had walked past countless times on my way into town,
when I was studying in Leicester.
I was expecting, yes, the dinosaurs, but not much
else. Instead, it's rather good with exhibitions on
the Egyptians, and endangered species and other
stuff, some of it tied in with recent BBC documentary
series. Good stuff for kids, although I didn't stay
too long as I had to go into town to meet up with the
others.
Paint for PVC Double glazing?
Garden first though, no, Bathroom first!
Cooking tonight
On e va!
Something's wrong with my CD-ROM drive so I've not been able to rip this yet, but I've been listening to Creole music all day. Like this, which is just great, I love it. I played this stuff at my mum's wedding too, I don't think anyone objected, it's just so smooth and relaxing. Cool.
Hopefully all my message this time will get saved, half of the last blog got lost...
Anyway, here's a pic of my fixed bike. It cost £275 to get repaired and the service was slow, still I'm back on the road at least.
I read on Thinksecret that the new MacBook will have 1280x720 resolution, this would mean it is wider but shorter than the iBook. I hope not, I went to a Sony store yesterday and their 13.3 inch laptops look pretty good at 1280x800, hopefully Steve agrees.
Third time lucky?
Got up at 11 today, which is good, finally some sleep! Did some shopping and cooked dinner for both of us tonight, a bit more tasty than last night's disaster:
Tonight's menu:
Chicken with Bajan seasoning,
Pilau rice (thank you Knorr)
Oxo granule gravy
and a side order of Tesco finest coleslaw.
Of course the gravy turned out a bit lumpy, but it all tasted nice.