Flibble...

Well, I had a lovely walk today, pushing along my bike, which I just spent £500 fixing up. The cable to the rear derailleur slipped a little bit, then went 'dink!' in, of course, one of the less salubrious parts of East London. For want of a screw... Anyway, the bike is locked up inside London Bridge Stations (next to the bike store, which had better fix the problem for free) and I took the train the rest of the way home.

And breathe...

Mildly stressful thing - our landlady just announced she is going to sell, which means we have to find a new place to live, after three years here. Well that's a fun thing to do this summer! David has decided that it is the time to buy, which means, since I'm the one that knows London, that I'm going to find us a place to live. No stress...

(Where did I put the bubble wrap? MUST SQUISH BUBBLE WRAP!)

I had my job appraisal today. You've not lived until you've had a local government job appraisal. First you get to fill out a 10 page form, where you discuss all your targets, learning goals, etc (many short essays), and then you have a 2.5 hour meeting with your manager to discuss the same. Wee fun! Still though, for whatever reason my manager seems to like me. Suppose it's b/c 'im just such a cutie wootie! ;-)

Some random pics:

A rather precarious chair on a debris pile in Hackney:



This is the kind of fun and excitement we have on a Friday night 'round here. This is David and Robin on the way home from the supermarket. (We're not Dutch enough to actually cycle home with the heavy bags hanging from the handlebars - we just push the bikes).



And isn't this just always the way? ;-) Saw this sign on my bike ride last weekend. It did occur to me as I cycled around on the little dinky 1-lane backroads of rural Essex that, in fact, the fact that the English took down all the direction signs at these intersections to fool the Germans (who would never know the way to such places as Upper Dicker or Cockfosters) must have been terribly confusing for the locals as well!



Here is the trusty steed (before the gear cable incident!)



Here's a thunderstorm picking up steam. A hedge and a wall proved decent shelter from the rain!




One shudders to think...



A wheat field in Essex. Essex has a bad name, given that the towns are full of chavs but the countryside is actually quite pretty - almost Midwestern feeling.



This is the huge metropolis of Coggeshall.



Ooh, is it Kansas, or is it England? (Hint, the wheat grows on the left... ;-)



You can just about see the Olympic stadium in the distance. This is taken from the 23rd floor of the Olympic Delivery Authority, where I went to a very boring meeting in a room with very big windows. Not suprisingly, I spent a lot of time looking out the window.




And finally, what does this package say about the general intelligence level of people who eat Tesco Organic Porridge? Hmmm...