Betting on a horse called ebay

Two days ago I bought a camera to replace the one that I used to take diving until it died, today we bought a trailer tent for when we start travelling around Europe. All this on ebay! It's meant to be a good way to shop, which it is, as we have bagged two bargains, but it has a darker side.......

Ever been to a horse race and had a wager? You know when the horses are rounding the final bend and your horse is neck and neck with another horse, and they both keep swapping the lead. You know how your heart starts beating faster, your palms get sweaty and the adrenaline floods your body as you hope that your horse wins and you can claim the prize.

Well this is the same.

You are bidding against people you can't see and you don't know how high the bidding will go. The final minutes are a frenzy of bidding, the last few seconds you debate whether you should increase your bid just in case someone slips in with a slightly higher bid, you watch the seconds count down, constantly refreshing the page so you can see if anyone else will bid higher. Then you "win" and it's all yours.

My daily tour of London

Four days every week I ride to work and back. It's just a bit more than a 20km round trip and takes about forty minutes each way, and even when it's pouring and I am saturated, it's still better than catching the tube.

My route takes me mostly along the Thames, so everyday I pass lots of tourist attractions. First I pass Battersea Power Station, which (apparently) is a very famous, decommisioned power station in the heart of London. Next I pass Parliament House.....

....... the London Eye (which is just a big glorified ferris wheel)..........

........... then Waterloo Station (the one ABBA wrote that song about!), the Millenium Bridge and the Tate Modern art gallery, then finally the Tower of London........

.......... and Tower Bridge.

As you can see I haven't managed to get photos of all the sights. I carried the camera around with me for about a week just to get these few photos, but there are some really selfish girls who ride their bikes to work, and they always seemed to appear when I was slowing down to stop and take a photo. Being male, I'm not allowed to let a girl overtake me, so I would have to speed up and continue on, missing the opportunity. Women!!!

Anniversary in Paris

We went to Paris for the weekend to celebrate survivng our first year of marriage - I suggested that I go to the Red Sea while Sarah was in Paris but apparantly that's not how it works........ We stayed in the Latin quarter because I like it!

While England was flooding we were enjoying balmy nights with the windows open to catch the breeze. Unfortunately it also meant you could hear the traffic and noisy American neighbours.

We did a bike tour around Paris for a couple of hours on the Saturday on 'californian cruisers' - very laidback!

After such a big workout I relaxed with a baguette and brie.......

........then headed back to the hotel for a quick nap, followed by a dinner of traditional french fare, topped off by a bottle of champagne in the hotel room.

Next morning off to the food market for baguettes, cheese and fruit........

.......then on to the Sacre Coeur for a picnic lunch, with views over the city (the photos do not do it justice).

We then managed to fit in a quick cruise on the river through the heart of the city, before boarding the train for home.

Hyde Park Calling

Finally a music festival! I can't remember the last festival I went to, it's been a few years I think....Hyde Park Calling was a nice reintroduction - it was a very laid back with a line up that was reflected in the crowd. The headline act was Peter Gabriel, with Crowded House and Buena Vista Social Club preceding, so there were a lot of older people and kids. First festival I've ever been to without witnessing ecstasy fuelled revellers sucking lollipops and still dancing when the music has finished!

We arrived late as we were primarily going just to see Crowded House, and it had been raining most of the day. The sun had come out and everything seems relatively dry, but there were threatening purple clouds on the horizon. We caught a bit of The Feeling, watched the end of the Borne set, then went and waited for Crowded House who were playing the main stage outside.

Crowded House were fantastic, but as with all festivals, there was a conflict in the schedule - Buena Vista Social Club started playing on another stage in a huge tent half way through the Crowded House set, and I wanted to see them. We decided to head to the tent for a couple of songs, then go back to Crowded House. After a couple of songs the heavens opened up outside and it started pouring, so we stayed for a little bit longer. Eventually we decided to brave the rain and go see the end of Crowded House, but as we were about to leave the tent we heard that it had finished early due to the rain! We stayed and boogied (salsaed?) to the Social Club.

When the rain stopped there were saturated people everywhere, the ground was sodden, and there were puddles galore. Thank god for waterproof boots! I think the highlight for Sarah was when she found herself with a beer in one hand and fairy floss in the other!

Peter Gabriel was crap...... We waited and waited for him to do 'Sledgehammer', which he finally did, but we had to listen to quite a bit of his new garbage to get to it.

Check this below. Looks like seats don't they? The puddles underneath should give it away......

They're not seats, they are portable troughs in the mens toilets!

Almost halfway

I turn 35 tomorrow. The last 24hrs have seen two big changes in my life - neither was planned with my birthday in mind, it just occurred that way - and both may lead to a mid life crisis!

Firstly, today I rode my bike to work. I haven't been riding much for a few years but recently decided it was time to get back on the saddle. I expected a lot of pain, but so far I'm alright. The plan is to ride four days a week and catch public transport on the fifth day when I will take a weeks worth of shirts etc into the office. It's great to be back on a bike again!

Secondly, I had my thyroid hormone levels tested last week and got the results yesterday. Everything was fine, but I have raised cholesterol levels. So now for the first time in my life I have to go on a low fat diet.

Doesn't seem that long ago when riding a bike was the norm and dieting was something only other peple had to worry about..........

Red Sea diving

Got back late last night after a week at Marsa Shagra, Egypt, diving and sleeping in tents on the beach.

The diving was fantastic (21 dives in 6 days).

There were onshore winds though, so there were plenty of jellyfish around....