Weon

Anne and I got back from a week in France last night. Eight days, seven barbecues and eight-hundred and eighty-five miles of driving later and we both felt pretty chilled, slightly tanned and ready of the rest of the summer. Time away with friends (shout out to Paul, Laura, Vanessa, Vicki, Sarah and Caz) is always welcome and this was no different. Plus we only had one day of rain.

The Orange has had to go back to, er, Orange who have apparently removed the offending bolt. Hopefully I’ll have it back for early next week.

However, in other bike news…

Pikeys have broken into our shed again.

Sin:Dee and Anne’s Cinder Cone were both half-inched. The thieving scum bags pulled the roof off the shed and lifted the bikes out, locked together, then broke the lock and rode off on them. Now that means I have to sort it out with the Police, claim on the insurance and put a new (and improved) roof on the shed.

Bugger.

Fire & Flight, taken this morning at about 6:30am.

Genius.

While tightening one of the bolts that connects your swingarm to your frame, snap the bolt off in the frame, rendering the entire bike screwed.

I have my fingers crossed that Leisure Lakes can work some magic on it.

When my car needs servicing (or any kind of work for that matter) I take it to a quality little garage over in Gloucester called Cloverleaf. Unfortunately they don’t exactly have a fleet of cool little courtesy cars to lend out. In fact, remember that bit in The Mask when Stanley Ipkiss goes to the garage and has to have “The Loaner”? Their cars are a bit like that. They run OK but everything apart from the drivetrain is pretty much knackered. Check out the awesome way the passenger window rolls up to be outside the frame. Class.

Last week I took delivery of a new set of pivot bearing and a gear hanger for the Orange. I intended to fit them over the weekend but first I needed to buy a torque wrench.

Well, the rain came down so that put paid to my plans. Even more annoying though is that the torque wrench I bought starts at 20Nm but I need one that works at 16Nm so now I have to go back to Screwfix and exchange it. What a dullard.

What a cracking weekend it was. Friday saw me take the day the day off to go hot air ballooning. Sadly the weather put paid to that but things were on the up from there on in! Anne and I cruised to Bristol to see my sister Emma, husband Var and their boys Isaac and Noah. As soon as I was through the door, Isaac was trying to persuade me to decorate myself with some temporary Spider-Man tattoos. Ever eager to please I obliged, right down to putting one on my forehead (well, there’s plenty of space).

Later we headed to the Thali for a great meal with our mutual friends Paul and Laura. Much hilarity ensued and was accompanied by the invention of the Disco Balloon and the Speedo Chest-wig all-in-one.

Saturday saw me head out with Brett and Olly for a few hours riding. We cruised up Leckhampton and over to Cranham where the boys introduced me to loads of new tracks which I loved! Lots of swoopy, slippy, fun stuff that wore me out well and truly.

I headed home to watch the FA Cup with Anne and Pete. Unfortunately Cardiff didn’t win but it was a much better match than last year’s. It was great to see Mr Jones again - apparently his golf game is coming on a treat…

Anne and I watched The Curse of the Golden Flower in the evening which is for you if you liked Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon or Hero. To be fair, it’s not as good as either of those but it is visually stunning and has quite a melodramatic feel to it. There is more focus on plot and character development than on stunning set pieces but still remains entertaining and certainly had me guessing until the end.

Sunday saw us head over the Lechlade to meet Anne’s family for a lovely meal at Colley’s Supper Rooms. It was great to catch up with Anne’s parents, sister Jane and her boyfriend Dave. In true fat boy style I had two puddings (mmmmm) but justified it to myself by saying it would offset my ride from the day before! We also had a small wander around Lechlade, taking in the canal and the bizarre Christmas shop (Christmas stuff all year round - crazy).

On the way home we stopped at the garden centre to check out their aquatics section and I bought some plants for my fish tank. It’s slowly turning into the tank I want it to be - more fish are needed now though!

So that was my weekend. How was yours?

Yesterday’s forecast:

Tomorrow will be overcast with light showers

Translation:

Tomorrow will see very light drizzle as you leave the house, turning into full on, drench-you-to-the-bone rain as you get closer to work.

To add insult to injury, the rain is just getting heavier. Mmm, I am so excited about the ride home…

In other news, O2 have just sent me my fourth K850i. Three have broken so far (since Feb) so I’m not holding out much hope for this one. I have to have four go wrong before they’ll let me choose a different phone. Also, their customer service is shocking. I think it’ll be Vodafone for me next time. They might be more expensive but apparently their service is great. </rant>