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Hmm.

So, yesterday came and went, they turned on the Large Hadron Collider thingy. I was a bit underwhelmed by it, as it turned out, it was just a bunch of people sitting looking at screens, and then eventually a white dot appeared.

Now, I was kinda hoping that the earth was going to disappear, or we would all be sucked into black hole/disappear up our own event horizon, as this would have solved a lot of problems, including a lot of ongoing things at work/home etc.

Anyway, lastnight was the usual THW meeting, and after that, we went to Aneeta's book signing. Then we ended up in a rather cool pub called the Camel. The sort of pub you discover and think... I wish this was my local...

Anyway, Aneeta is somebody I have come to know through bicycles, and is generally an all round fab person. She is a knitting teacher and general troublemaker (amongst other things) and has recently written a book, Knitty Gritty - Knitting for the absolute beginner It's on Amazon and everything. Aneeta might possibly be the most famous author I know.

Now, I had never thought much about Knitting as such, but it is a good book. Aneeta has set all of her cycling buddies who bought copies of her book, the challenge of knitting something!

We will have to have a cyclists non-knitting circle or something.

We will possibly have to make use of Aneeta's Knitting SOS service

Anyway... bizarre.

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!!

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I have started buying R. Whites lemonade again.

And I've taken to drinking it in the middle of the night. I wake up, parched, and I have to have lemonade, but not just ANY old lemonade, it MUST be R. Whites. (and yes, it has meant me going to the 24 hour ASDA at 2AM to get it!) Ridiculous.

This is probably the sort of thing the dentist is going to moan at me about!

Anyway...anyone remember the ads?

Secret Lemonade Drinker

So there you go. I am now a not-so-secret lemonade drinker.

Also addicted to season 2 of Dexter, which I rather dangerously have on one CD now, thanks to Owen... which means the possibility of just staying awake the whole night and just watching them all. I have had to strictly ration myself to one or two episodes per night, or I would only be going to bed when it starts to get light and the birds are tweeting!

Busy working, fixing bikes etc.

Was secretly hoping to have quiet birthday on 2nd, but Facebook seems to have outed me on that one. Got a smattering of cards and e-mails from friends, family and cycling buddies, which was kinda sweet.

Cleaned the kitchen from top to bottom yesterday which took a few hours - one of those cleans which involves pulling stuff out and cleaning behind it etc. So, it is now all sparkly and clean. Rest of house to finish, but feeling much better about things now.

Did presentation for UKNOF at Broadcasting House about expansion project at Telehouse. Pedalled back from there to make a start on the next Wheelers newsletter this evening with Caroline, Dave and David, who made a nice meal, then we set to work filling the big blank gaps in the newsletter.

Applied to go on a course to improve my maths... Went for assessment today to work out how good/crap I am at maths so they can put me on the right level of course... Anyway, looks like I will be going back to school, so to speak... more on that later!

R.

Have fun smashing asteroids into the earth. More specifically, Wales

I know I have not updated this thing for ages. But I am still here and alive etc.

Not much to report.

Did lots of bike week stuff in the week 14-22 June, including the Bike Breakfast, and various other social gatherings. Highlight of the week (for me) was probably the Glamour Ride, pics here:

Kerry's Pics
Bob's Pics

There are also some "official" photos which I will post sometime.

Shout out to Aneeta who helped me to make the mad "dress" which goes round the bike, out of some net curtains and chicken wire and lots of cable ties etc. Owen assisted getting me to mile end park, as we had a few wardrobe incidents with various bits of the bike dress getting caught in the chain/gears etc en-route, so he had to bend things into shape to stop it happening. Also a couple of emergency extra cable ties were needed on the way!

Leigh was not able to be there this year, so in her place we had Sarah Slater from the LCC "Sister Slater" seen in the photos in the blond wig, fabulous shades, red spangly top and pink dress, who did an excellent job of the judging. My character "Betty Swollocks" (for it is she) was not awarded the best woman, bike, or even best man prize though, but just a box of thin air (from South London). tsh.

Things going so-so at work, with projects progressing slowly but surely.

We took delivery of the big new MLX-32 switches today, which arrived in massive wooden shipping crates that took us a while to get in to as lots of screws had to be removed. How we are going to lift them into the cabinet is another challenge, as they are the size of a small wardrobe and weigh (unloaded) about 160 Kg.

I'd buy one of these:-

Flashbag bloats when full

if you're going to sponge off the state, please be decent enough not to get articles written about you in the Daily Mail rubbing it in.

Grrr.

Another issue of the fabulous East London Cyclist hot off the press.

Latest TfL slightly strange video: http://www.dothetest.co.uk/

Have not managed to do any cooking from the book that Nonie gave me, Classic 1000 Beginner's recipes, but will try to have a go this weekend. Maybe.

What goes.... "Clatter... SPLOSH!...... BOLLOCKS!"

Me losing the "D" bit of very expensive ABUS lock in Millwall Dock while attempting to lock bike up to the railing.

I had to pedal back home again and get my old lock! (perhaps another reason to carry two locks!)

(If only Harbour Exchange had proper bike stands. Grumble.)

Hmm. I wonder if it is possible to by a new 'D' part without having to buy a whole new lock?

So. Lesson learned. Never lock to a railing by a dock, or indeed a lock!

Grumps off....

So farewell then Polaroid Instant Films

The firm is to close factories in Massachusetts in the US, Mexico and the Netherlands after the digital age left almost no market for the film.

I have childhood memories of those single-use flash bulbs, and the noise the camera used to make... click... weeee---oooooo----eeeeeee.

Then, take the magic picture and shake it back and forth in your hand (no idea if that helped or not) and watch as the image slowly appeared from the yellow... then blue...

/wipes a tear away from eye....