Belglandia

So yeah, here I am again typing away on my phone. You would think that, given the general annoyingness of doing this, that I would actually blog when I'm at home and in front of a computer screen. No, much more important to do things like check the weather in Antarctica... Anyway, yeah, I'm in a super dinky little hotel room facing the market square in De Panne, Belgium. It's a small little town on the North Sea. Lots of money. Very boring on a Weds night. That's ok. I had a lovely dinner of a sandwich, lunchmeat and a banana bought from a corner store. Nothing but the finest! Been watching the Nat Geo channel in Dutch (program is in English w subtitles). Anyway, I was supposed to leave at the crap of dawn today and cycle about 105 miles, but as yesterday was David's bday, that didn't happen. So, I got ul this morning, dorkified my bike by putting a rack on the back, and took the train to Dover. Lots of farting around at the port, where the staff are rude and generally useless. The ferry was about an hour late, but I guess they really paddled, as we were only about 30 mins late to Dunkirk. My first, and accidental port of call on the ferry was the trucker's lounge. I have to say, European truckers make their American counterparts look, well, classy! Nothing says hi, I'm a dork like showing up in a super fluorescent bike jacket amidst a bunch of Romanian truckers! Yeah, so, the ferry actually docks about 10 miles from Dunkirk, in the middle of a flat and dead industrial wasteland. Nice. So, I waited for the mad scramble to get off the ferry finished, then set out, completely alone, across the bleak coastal plain. Not exactly what I had expected... Dunkirk itself was fairly unremarkable, some of it quite ugly, though I have to say this for Tue brief stretch of French road I traversed... Smooth! And then I hit Belgium, and and, there we go, bumpyass roads that would make England proud. Still though, it's kinda cool to cross an international border where the former border post is now a chocolate shop. Tomorrow it's 90 miles across Belgium, to Brussels, and a night on Alex's sofa...

Sunday bike ride

So, yeah, wow, I must be back on a train, tippety typing away on my phone, as that seems to be the only place I actually get around to writing. Though headachey and more than a bit of a space cadet today, I still had a very nice 70 mile ride up to Cambridge. The heavens did open at one point, but thanks to the wonder of goretex I managed to stay dry and comfy. What always gets me about this area of England is how much it reminds me of the Upper Midwest, with rolling fields of wheat interspersed by oak woodland. It is not an unpleasant place. I bought my tickets back from Berlin for September, which means I actually have to do that now. I hope that isn't a silly idea! Yeah, so, my birthday. David and I had a lovely afternoon at Kew, followed by dinner with Robin. We all rushed home then to catch the opening ceremony. I have to say, with the exception of wheeling out embarrassing old fossils (Ali and McCartney) I thought it was fantastic, and I loved that I have been in this silly little country long enough that I actually felt a part of the whole ironic "in-joke" aspect of the whole thing. I don't know, I may have actually felt proud to be British? Now that's something that's going to require a few years of therapy! ;-) Anyway, I loved it. Back to work tomorrow. Gotta start working on the fellowship. Maybe I will actually have a brain tomorrow? Dare to dream!

Southbound

Sigh. Well, that certainly went quickly. Typing this on the 1430 back to London, just heading out of Edinburgh. It's always a funny thing, coming back here. It's one of the very few places I go from which I don't want to go back to London. I don't know what it is about this place. I've wondered before if maybe it was because it was where I studied abroad, or if it was because it was where I had my first kiss (I still know the guy, btw; he lives not far away from me now). I don't actually think that's it. I've changed and the city has changed. It was actually a little bit weird staying back in the dorms. It felt a bit incongruous, somehow. The city though still has a grasp on me though I can't shake. Last night, after a lovely dinner with Doug and James, I walked, through the rain, to the top of Calton Hill, from where the city spread out in all directions. I could see north, across the Fifth, to the distant Highlands, and the blue and pink late evening glow of the sun below the northern horizon (the rain was clearing by this point). I don't know, I hate to use words like "special" or "magical", because they are dorky and cliched and overused, but it kind of was, to be honest. Anyway, Jennifer and I spent the afternoon yesterday wandering in the pouring rain, her in a sensible long raincoat and me in my screamingly fluorescent waterproof bike jacket. We climbed Arthur's Seat, which is actually a little bit dangerous in cycle shoes with metal cleats, on wet rock. Still though, no one died, but it's quite possible that we got very very very wet. No matter. I still showed up to the nice little restaurant for dinner with Doug and James, looking like a drowned rat. I told them that Jennifer was going to a poetry reading, to which Doug said, "is she a lesbian?". No, just literary... So, not much sleep again last night. Princess and the pea could feel all the springs in the surely well loved dorm bed. I really am a delicate flower. Anyway, I got to have the minor thrill this morning of stealing food out of the dorm cafeteria. It wasn't as much fun though as when I was a student, when they actually had old women stationed at the exit to prevent such thieving. Now they just have signs. Cutbacks, I'm sure. ;-) So, yeah, it was a pretty cool time, and has convinced me that yeah, I want to cycle all the way to Berlin. Tomorrow though it's back to the splendour of Hackney and back to work. Yippydoo.

Dorm glory

So, tonight I am tapping away in the Spartan splendour of Pollock Halls, a sprawling mass of University of Edinburgh dorms at the foot of Arthur's Seat. The last time I was in one of these dorm rooms was 19 years ago, as a student. It's quite weird actually being back in them. Partly it's a bit nostalgic, but it's definitely peculiar as well. For one, there is just about no one here, except for some Olympic athletes, who, unfortunately do not seem to be in this building, but more because I feel like I have tried to step back into a very different part of my life. The basic structures are still there, but the people and activities that completed it have moved on. However, Jennifer is also in town, which is the main reason I'm here. Jennifer is the reason I first came here as well, so, in this way, it actually feels complete. She and I both decided to go to Edinburgh, 20 years ago, after meeting two very sexy guys from here at this dive of a hostel in Vancouver. It was that experience of that trip that led me to the UK, yet, oddly, this is the first time we have been here together. Jennifer met Craig this evening as well, whom I'd not seen in years. Anyway, today was a 60 mile ride through the beautiful Scottish Borders. It was all hills and one proper pass, and I loved it. The only slight issue was the wind, which was relentless, yet, luckily, mostly at my back. I did think I was going to blow over though, at least once. Today has upped my courage level though for cycling to Berlin. I think I'm going to do it. I keep talking about it, yet I get scared away by distance. I'm definitely not ready for this ride to be over yet. I think it's time for a long one. And, it's also time for bed. Lots of wandering to do tomorrow...

Spread eagle

So I am, in the aptly named Spread Eagle Hotel in the bustling metropolis of Jedburgh, Scotland, not too far from the English border. I never seem to actually write anymore except when I'm out cycling, when I actually have to tap this out on my phone. I just never seem to get around to it. Work, gym, sleep, rinse, repeat. I guess I've been feeling a bit in a rut of late. There is one work related opportunity I'm going to try to follow, a fellowship through UCL for GIS work in a non academic establishment. Anyway, I can only try! (As I'm not too sure how to pay for another degree). Right, I digress. So, yeah, I'm spread eagle in the Spread Eagle Hotel, apparently Britain's longest continuously licensed hotel (I read the brochure). It's on the main drag of Jedburgh, a pleasant, and, at the moment, very quiet Border town. I spent the day cycling 71 miles up from Penrith, via mucho many hills. It was generally a fab day, marred only slightly by having to get up at the crap of dawn, and by my bottom bracket, which is creaking and clunking and generally being a pain in the ass. Hmm, an unintended pun. Anyway, I have to say I really am just about my happiest when slogging my way up a long grade. There is probably something wrong with me, but that's another story. ;-) It's good to be out of London for a bit. For one, it reminds me how much open space and how many really friendly people there are in the UK, but also bc there's a lot of the country that really is gorgeous. Can't wait to start my Europe riding next month! Anyway, I'm so exhausted I'm going to start to dribble (and I'm looking at what I've written and it's mostly drivel, but whatever, and bite me ;-) ). More tomorrow, I guess. Oh, btw, a really good way to blend right in to a small quiet town is to walk around in very noisy cycling shoes with cleats and wear a neon jacket. Apparently it's not always quiet though. During the festival they throw around some sort of a ball that's supposed to be an Englishman's head. Those wacky Scots... ;-)

In a class of my own

Or so it seems. I think I may be the only one in this first class carriage. Definitely worth the extra £5! On the train from Birmingham back to London, typing on the phone again. Today was a rather different ride from yesterday. For one, it wasn't pissing down great buckets of rain, which made a nice change. Still grey and cold, but that doesn't bother me as long as I don't have to dump out my shoes! I started off in Hereford, after my obligatory full English (minus the tomatoes and mushrooms, of course).
I spent about an hour walking around Hereford, which is actually a really nice town. Think I want to go back there. Today's cycling, 61 miles, was through rolling farmland. Corn, wheat, rapeseed and hops mostly. Nearly all of it was on little pissant country roads. I love those roads. I have to say, the USA really lost something by insisting on sensible roads. They do emphasise though how terrific it is to have a GPS on one's bike, bc omg I would have been hopelessly lost otherwise! This country must have been truly impossible to navigate during the war, when they took all the signs down! Anyway, I ended up in Birmingham, which, even more than London, seems to have really shitty areas right up next to posh ones. Unlike London, however, when the city was obliterated during and after the war, it was redesigned for the car, which means enormous roads, one way systems and roundabouts, not to mention dreary brutalist architecture and no real defined centre. Fortunately, they are doing a lot to gentrify and rebuild the centre and, of course, the gays are moving in! I hung out with Matt for a bit in his new flat with a fantastic view of the city and all the new builds. So, a pretty good way to spend two days. I saw a new part of Tue country, I've gotten to eat huge amounts of carbs, and now I get to sit in my very own first class carriage being a stinky slob and not caring!

Jubilee Bike Ride

Well, ok, so it wasn't exactly a traditional Jubilee activity. Part of me kind of wishes I'd been on the river today to watch all the ships go by. I'm not much of a royalist, but you gotta give Her Maj some credit for sticking with her job for 60 years! Anyway, I took the opportunity to do a 2 day bike ride, my first in over a year, from Cardiff to Birmingham. I'm typing this on my phone, which is extremely slow and tedious. My shoulder aches and is annoying, but I seemed to have made it through the first day ok, about 68 miles. The weather, initially, was ok until I headed north, away from the coastal plain. Not surprisingly, just a little bit of lift was all it took for mile after mile of rain, the last 15 or so torrential. I had purchased these waterproof shoe covers. They were great until those last 15 miles, when the water just ran down my legs (I was wearing shorts) and pooled up in my waterproof shoes. I don't mind riding in the rain as long as I stay dry, but the last 15 miles were just terrible. The scenery was beautiful, but all I could think of was a nice shower. Finally made it to this very nice little hotel in Hereford, absolutely full of Titanic photos. I'm not sure the woman who runs the place was very impressed by this drowned rat that showed up at her door! So I showered, had a yummy pub dinner, and decided I couldn't he bothered to walk around Hereford in the wet and the cold. Maybe tomorrow morning. Ah, I forgot, I was actually rather surprised how many Union Flags were flying in Wales. Maybe not as many as in England, but still a pretty good show for a bunch of grumpy nationalists who speak a silly language! Ok, tired of thumb typing. More tomorrow, as my thumbs allow.