Personal Space

One of the biggest changes I have had to adapt to is the lack of personal space when in public here. I am sure there are those of you that scoff and call me names because of it, but in general if I don't know you I don't want to touch you. Unfortunately for me I end up in a bus or train or tube, or something on a nearly daily basis that I end up doing way more rubbing or bumping or whatever than I really want to. But today....oh lord, today....I was about as close to an aneurysm or my eye popping out of my head as I have ever been.

Once I finally got to Reading I got in line for the bus out to work. There were already 20 or so people waiting so I knew it was going to be too close for comfort. Luckily I have devised a number of secret weapons to combat the over crowding. No I don't mean have a conversation with myself about aliens or scratch my butt constantly so nobody sits by me, but other more civil ways or not getting squeezed like oh so many oranges.

1. Find the smallest woman and sit next to her. Yes it may be an old lady but talking about coupons is way better than someone's backpack continually hitting you in the crotch.

2. Sit in the special seats for strollers and pray that none show up. My favourite seats in the bus face inward and are great for me since they allow more leg room. All the normal seats I don't fit in due to my ridiculous femurs. If I sit there I end up having to point my legs one way or the other and end up being that guy that is doing all the rubbing up on people, or get my knees smashed by everyone that walks by.

Ok so today I went for the special seats and was butted up next to the wheel well on one side so was constricted to some extent. Everyone piled on the bus and it seemed like I wasn't the only one who had devised strategies for the best seats. Unfortunately for me they guy who spotted the seat next to me must have had a plan as well. He skipped all the open seats in the back of the bus and made a bee line right for me. I will apologize now if anyone takes offense to the next part but its important for the story. So he plops down and he is HUGE! I mean like NFL lineman size. And I swear he must have had bad circulation and no feeling in his extremities because he was literally on me. I had no where to go, couldn't stand up because the bus had filled up, and had the wheel well on the other side.

I kept trying to slide away but I think I was supporting the weight of his arm and thigh it seemed like if I moved just more of him would slide over and take its place.

To make matters worse we go round like 10 roundabouts on the way to the office, and the shocks on the bus are complete crap. It was full on torture. One of the guys I work with was standing two feet away just laughing.

He told me afterwards that when the guy initially sat down I looked like someone had punched me in the stomach, and as the ride went on he could see me getting redder and redder as I got more and more angry.

I am not quite sure if this is a story of tolerance or intolerance, but for him it was pure comedy. Gotta love public transportation. I am buying an a giant van when we move home and never letting anyone ride in it. Just me and my personal space.

DPZ!!

Just found out that they have DPZ in the pop machine at work....

This could get expensive!!!

We are ready for visitors

I've been waiting to post pics of our place with our stuff until we had a bed in the guest room. While it finally arrived after waiting a month for it to be delivered. Once again customer service is lacking in London. The guest bed is a little on the small side and it is on wheels, so I will apologize in advance, in case you sit on the bed and it rolls out from underneath you.  Then I will laugh because nothing is funnier than people falling down.

Our son, Kok Poo, we adopted from China.

Guest Room



Desk in the guest room. You can watch TV on the computer from bed. Cozy huh?



The guest room has a lovely view of the garden



Entry way into the kitchen and the only bike Bob had for about 3 weeks.

Worlds smallest TV. I guess I shouldn't complain it came with the place, but seriously I can't read the TV Guide when I am sitting on the green couch.

Kitchen. We have probably eaten 4 meals at the breakfast bar.



Fireplace with all my travel books sandwiched between the Brooklyn Bridge and a vase Aunt Debbie got me. I am still waiting on flowers to put in it though.



Well I hope I have convinced you to come for a visit. We miss everyone and can't wait to see you.

Happy Chinese New Year

Well I guess we are a week late, but it took me some time to get this posted. Anyway, last Sunday we went to check out the celebration. Supposedly its the biggest Chinese new year outside of China. I believe it!! They said there were 300,000 people out on Sunday to check out the festivities. Trafalgar Square was so packed we didn't even try to find a spot to watch the bendy acrobats or the other performances, we just walked around China Town for a while. It was super packed, but really cool. Definitely want to go back when its not so busy.

Just one of the Dragon's that were "dancing" through the streets

I don't know it just looks cool

The entrance to China Town

Dragon Cake with tons of icing, Bob stopped and stared like a little kid

The Dragons would come by and eat the cabbage, don't know why, but you knew one was on the way

After too many people and not enough lunch we went to grab a bite in Leicester Square. There is a restaurant called Bella Italia, that has no less than 4 locations within a 3 minute walk of each other, so we thought it had to be pretty good. Turns out we were right!

Race Report 2/12/2011

After taking last week off to play with the puppies I was eager to race today. Not so sure it was really eager to race but excited to ride my bike in general. I headed to Hog Hill early this morning just in case I had to deal with a train debacle like last time. No such issues and we were ready to go for a 12 30 start. I think winter is pretty much behind us now here, its been about 50 all week (don't hate me, we had our fair share of cold). It rained last night but cleared up and actually got to see the sun for a bit while we were racing.

Everything was good today, I say good but not great, and no mechanicals to speak of. 26 3s to start the race but that didn't last long. Probably 15 minutes into the hour plus 5 laps someone put in an attack on the climb and that was pretty much the story of the race. A group of 11 of us went away and never came close to coming back. That is pretty much how it stayed for the rest of the race. There were 2 guys in the group who everyone was marking so there wasn't much excitement until the finish. I found out today how the points system for British Cycling works and now it makes a lot of sense why there are always freaks dominating the 3 races. You essentially have to prove your category every year or you are automatically catted down. So if you are a 2 you have so score like 30 points just to stay as a 2 or you get bumped. So in the break today were 3 2s from last year and some pro Mtb guy who has won the last 4 races in a row. Will be nice not to have to race with him any more. Anyway everything stayed together till the last time up the climb and then everyone sprinted it out for the finish. Ended up 7th, just didn't have they legs for it I guess.

Since I was already there I signed up for the 2\3 race which started exactly 10 minutes after our finish. In all reality I just did it to get more miles but man it was hard. Not that it was so much faster but that I was so tired. Literally split right from the gun. I think two guys went on the second lap and never came back. They did have teammates that made up like half of the field but impressive none the less. It was actually probably slower on a whole than the 3 race since there was a lot of soft pedaling but everyone in a while it would pick up and I would go cross eyed. There ended up being 6 or 7 dnfs ,d then I brought up the rear. Turned out there were on 3 3s in the race out of 30 so I didn't feel that bad.

Good day as a whole I am still out of shape and have no snap in my legs but apparently its the same for everyone else. No racing next weekend stay tuned for our exciting trip and big news about my new team!

Oh and I almost forgot....I got kicked out of the underground on the way home. I guess I had just been sneaky before but there was no getting around this one. No less than 3 underground workers asked me to leave. Apparently on certain lines are bike friendly. Fine if that is how you are going to be I will just ride my bike there and you won't get your 5 pounds.

Furry Friday!!

The girls had a play date last week with a bunch of their new friends.  I was in North London so there were all kinds of new experiences.

The Girls first Tube ride.  The didn't seem to mind but Bob wasn't so excited about the picture.



Turbo didn't know which end was the front

Hampton couldn't decide if she wanted to play ball or eat dinner.

Needless to say the other dogs were scared!

Wow!!

We had drinks at a dog friendly pup afterwards...yep that says 1535

She didn't even think twice, just jumped right up there.

 There was a bus ride too, but buses aren't much for pictures.  The girls had a great time, and slept all evening afterwards....so did Bob.

Olympic Road Race

They finalized the route for the Olympic road race today. I guess its first time the my Olympics have really seemed real. Tickets go on sale next month, so we will have our schedule fully booked in the next 3 months. 532 days and counting!!

Cycle to Surrey and back: Olympic race route revealed News