Waiting for the Day

This seems to be the theme of things at the moment.

Waiting to see or even hear from my new boss at work. I find it incredible that since he formally took up the post on 1st April, there has been no communication from him to the staff under him. To be fair, he did not actually start in the office until 12th April owing to leave etc. However after a week in the post, you would have expected to have at least received an email sent on his behalf. Still, perhaps its unreasonable of me to expect the boss to communicate with the staff he is responsible for. Perhaps we are all mushrooms.....

Waiting for something exciting to happen in the General Election campaign. Its a snoozeathon until May 6th, when I happen to be out of the country and will miss the excitement of the swingometer etc in the post election night vote counting and analysis. Being a true democrat of course, I have registered for a postal vote and will be doing my duty before I fly to the US of A. It will be interesting to see how they report the election results, if at all. I can't imagine they will give it as much coverage as we gave their presidential elections.

Waiting for the Championship title to be decided. If Middlesbrough had managed to take a point off West Brom today, Newcastle would have won the title today. Those useless Smoggies managed to lose and stop us winning the title today. Mind you given the way they have played this season, its no surprise. Monday at 8pm on Sky TV it is to watch the Toon play at Plymouth. Sounds like an excuse to go down the pub as I don't have Sky TV.

Waiting for the volcanic ash to clear so that planes can fly. Its incredible that the whole of Northern Europe's air traffic can be brought to a stand still indefinitely by a volcano some 800 miles from the UK. Clearly the people of Iceland are somewhat deaf. What we said was give us back the CASH, not the ash. I just hope its all sorted in a fortnight's tie so I can go to the USA. I don't care if it re erupts whilst I'm away- an extended holiday in the USA would be nice.

Now as this is a blog about cycling, I suppose I should mention it. Friday brought a bit of a problem for me. As I was setting off home from work, I discovered I had managed to crack the rim on my rear wheel on my winter bike. I rode the 12 miles home on it very slowly, steadily and gingerly. I did get home safely. The wheel will need a new rim. I was going to take it into the bike shop today before going to see Orient play. I was running late owing to helping Michelle buy a new car, so never got to the bike shop. As it happened I'm glad about that as the bike shop is shut as the staff are away on a cycling week. I suspect they will be late getting back owing to that volcanic cloud.

Well, I must get on preparing my touring bike for tomorrow's audax. I've not ridden the bike for at least 6 months, so it needs checking over. Its the bike I did LEJoG on and the one I am taking to the USA. A 65 mile ride tomorrow should give it a good test, and me as well

Everybody's Talking

Well, today was eventful. I woke up this morning to a text from Michelle telling me her flight tonight back from Manchester to London had been cancelled. Seemed strange that she knew this at 0700 when her flight was not for another 12 hours. I suggested she got the train instead.
Then I put the TV on to hear that most flights in the UK had been cancelled owing to a volcano erupting in Iceland. Amazing that when I went to bed there was no suggestion of any problem yet by breakfast time all airspace in Scotland and Northern England had been closed. As I type this UK airspace is closed to all non emergency flights until at least 0700 on Friday!

Now as today is the day of the first ever TV debate between the leaders of all 3 UK parties, the air traffic story brought to my mind a statement by Harold Wilson to the effect of "Have you ever noticed how England only win the (football) World Cup under a labour government." It could be said that air traffic space in the UK is only ever closed under a labour government - thinking of 11th September 2001 and now 15th April 2010.

Now as I said, it was the first of the 3 TV debates tonight. So, I settled down excitedly to watch this 90 minutes of political jousting and fighting. Expecting sharp replies, great political skill and lots of scoring of political points. Instead, I rapidly realised it was like watching S*nderland, no skill, no scoring and generally about as interesting as watching paint dry. Can't wait for the next one- it will motivate me to clean the toilet.

I managed another 30+ mile commute today. Livened by the complete psychopathic Toyota driver I met near St James Park after him trying to tell me that apparently I should stop for pedestrians waiting to cross the road, he tried to stop me cycling off, when I turned round and road the other way he reversed up the road, tried to drive his car into St James Park and then tried to drive round the roads around the park to stop me leaving the other side. He's a bit dozy as I simply turned round again and rode the other way whilst he was trying to turn round again. Pillock doesn't realise I can take my bike where he can't move his car. Still, it livened up the commute for me. Wonder if he will be around tomorrow? I might not be getting the miles in that I should be, but I am certainly getting them in quickly. today was my second fastest ever commute to work today. Not bad considering it was in rush hour traffic.

I still have not met my new boss, he's only been in the building everyday this week and has still to meet his staff. Given we are a small organisation with about 20-25 people in this office, I have to say I am surprised not to have met him yet. It doesn't do a lot to make one feel valued when a new boss doesn't seem to want to meet his staff. I'm sure he has his reasons......

I started typing this post on 15th April which is a date that no true football fan will forget as on this date in 1989 the Hillsborough Disaster happened and 96 Liverpool Fans were killed at the FA Cup Semi Final. They were doing what so many of us do- supporting their team. It was a tragic accident for which those responsible have never been brought to justice.

YOU'LL NEVER WALK ALONE

Justice for the 96

This Will Be Our Year

Well another day over and another day nearer to my trip to the USA.

I am getting closer to my sponsorship target. Only $202.50 needed to reach the minimum amount I need to raise. I do have a couple of promises of sponsorship which will hopefully take me about $100 nearer. So if you are reading this, then how about making a donation to ensure I get to my target. Sadly at least a couple of people who promised sponsorship have failed to deliver. It would have been better if people didn't make promises they wont keep.

I've been off work today owing to my knee playing up. Its fine when I cycle but it is painful to walk on. I am going to have to try to rest it as much as possible between now and the ride. How can it be that my kneee is ok to cycle but not to walk? Think i will try to get some more physio in before I go to the USA.

Talking of the ride, its only 18 days till I fly to the USA and its 25 days till the ride starts. I have made most of the arrangements for the USA, apart from the car hire and meeting the Ohio Cyclists to drive to the ride start in New Jersey. I also need to start pulling together all the paperwork and details of the hotels, etc I will be using.

Well, last night I went down to Reading to see Newcastle almost guarantee the League Championship title with a 2-1 away win. Sadly Newcastle need 1 point from last 3 games to guarantee the title so the celebrations were somewhat muted. Still it was good to see one or two old faces, even if one of them was only in the pub AFTER the game as he got stuck on the M25 and missed the game. Newcastle don't play again until Monday when they are at Plymouth. Hopefully they will be Champions before then. Here's hoping Middlesbrough can get a point at West Brom on Saturday.

What else is happening in my life? Well, I am meeting up with an old school friend next week. Not seen him for 6 or so years, so will be good to share a few beers with John for it is he.

More mundane matters - recycling of household waste. Whilst I support the idea of recycling and try to do as much as I can, my local council operate a seemingly strange system. They will not recycle cardboard or similar items. They refused my recycling bin 2 weeks ago saying it contained the wrong items but collected the same recycling bin last week. Apparently somehow it now had the right items in it despite me not touching the bin in the intervening week.

Winner Takes it All

Well, its getting nearer and nearer to my trip to the USA. In fact its about 19 days till I leave. What have I done in preparation? Well, I've done one day of 60 miles, a few of 30 miles and that's about it. Not as much as I should have, but......

This Sunday, April the 18th, I'm doing the Whitham Wander Audax cycle event. It is a 106km ride through the Essex Alps. I did this about 4 years ago and I can confirm it isn't the flattest ride. This will be the last big ride before I go to the USA and the first time I ride the bike I am taking to the USA. I am looking forward to it, well the free cakes at the end at least.

I have been cycling 30+miles each commute now, adding on a little loop round St James Park and up the Mall. Quite a picturesque loop. However, I didn't cycle home on Friday as I ended up in the pub for a quick drink. That ended up with me falling asleep on the train home, missing my stop and having to get a taxi home. I'd love to say this was the first time this have ever happened to me, but too many of you know me.

On Monday, a new era began at work with the start of a new Chief Inspector, the big boss. Although there were only about 15 or less staff members in, the new boss was not seen by any of us. I hope this is not the way things are to be.

The good thing yesterday was my fastest ever commute, both ways. My ride into work was faster than I have even managed on a quiet Sunday morning. So I might not be getting enough miles in, but am doing threm quickly. Even Tom managed to get out on his bike on Monday up in Durham with my father. Well done Tom, its not too late for you to enter the Whitham Wander....

No cycling today as I am heading over to Reading tonight to see Newcastle play. A Win tonight will all but guarantee the Championship title. A win would put Newcastle 9 points clear of the 2nd place side with only 9 points left to be played for. So, here's hoping.....