I’m back…in a digest stylee

Bless me and forgive me, for it has been six days since my last post. Much turmoil and busy-ness (work sucks and blows) has prevented me from posting in the last few days but, as usual, Sunday morning provides a brief window during which I can try and catch up a little – so here are the edited highlights:

iPod: Like most of the world, I love the thing and like more than a few owners who use the Shuffle random play function a lot, I have noticed that my iPod seems to favour certain artists or displays ‘algorithm favouritism’. I’ll just have to buy more music to confuse it, won’t I?

Qumana/Blogjet: Haven’t really played with either much as I haven’t been posting but fully intend to as and when life quietens down a little.

Transport: For those that are new here or don’t ‘do’ archives, I’m a London-based former cycle courier, sometime bike commuter and occasional tourer, who somehow has turned into a 40 year old car driving middle manager. I have recently decided to ditch my company car in favour of a combined bike/train commute to do my 50 mile round trip between East London to Heathrow each day. I am 99% set on using a Brompton folding cycle to use at each end of the train journey.

Whilst an experienced cyclist, I have never owned a Brompton before (though I am lining up test rides), I have been reading a bunch of sites like those of The Folding Society and the Brompton Talk Yahoo group to get myself up to speed. Some colleagues, including a Brompton owner, are supportive whilst others think I have lost my marbles, especially with winter coming on. Even though I won’t be getting the tax break advantages of one of the Government’s best kept secrets, this move will hopefully diminish the stress of a daily drive through London, save me thousands in tax and congestion charges and do a bit for the environment.

Running: I have been a lazy illegitimate over the last two weeks but have got back into the groove this morning with a gentle plod around the Isle Of Dogs‘ South Dock, where the brig Stavros S Niarchos, one of the Tall Ships Youth Trust vessels, is currently moored.

Family fun: With family over from Switzerland and down from Wakefield, much food is being consumed so this afternoon we plan to walk off some of the calories with a walk along some of the East End’s canals. Amongst the gifts exchanged, I was chuffed to get a lovely small framed picture of a 1927 supercharged 2.3 litre Bugatti Grand Prix Type 35B like the one below. I had a small diecast model of this car when I was a child and the picture will now hang under a limited edition print of Graham Hill taking the Loews hairpin in his BRM on his way to victory in the Monaco Grand Prix a few months after I was born.

photo: Neve Engineering & Restoration Services

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