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Today we went for a walk in what was  a nice sunny day at the time, we are trying to make the most of the end of summer (we’ve really notice how much shorter the days are getting already)!

So we toddled over to the local ecological park, which is about a 30 minute walk from here and on the way home we stopped off at the local basin which is apparently a bird sanctuary.  The park would be even more peaceful if it wasn’t right beside the train line.  But its nice enough.

Today’s theme for pictures was apparently berries…  so we walked and stopped and took a pic of some berry tree/shrub/bush, oh look then another type and then some more… and so on. It kept Mike entertained, got us both out of the house, gave us some exercise and we got to enjoy the sunny weather.

[Hi, it’s Mike here.  Just a note to say that the reason today’s theme was berries is that within a very short time on the walk I noticed that there were soooo many berries around. It reminded me that one of the women at work that lives in the Countryside (she does seem to manage to say it like it’s got a capital C) and goes horse riding was saying that all the blackberries and apples around the place have got ripe so much earlier than usual this year.

There were also a lot more types of berries that I took photos of, but I got pretty bored cutting them out and sticking them together… Sorry!]

It’s the last long weekend until the end the year here this weekend, so we’ve been trying to make some use of it and the nice-ish weather to couple some chores with some fresh air and exercise.

So yesterday we jumped on the bikes and went to have a look at the Thames Barrier. “That’s hardly far from your place”, I hear those of you that have been here say. But if you look really carefully at the above picture you might spot that it has been taken from the other side of the river!

Luckily we didn’t have to swim across towing our bikes.  Just a bit further east is a dinky little roll-on-roll-off ferry that shuttles backwards and forwards across the river.  Of course we got the timing completely wrong both ways, getting to it just a little late, and had to wait for a whole crossing to complete before we could jump on, but that gave us time to make friends in the queue with a guy playing some primo reggae Floyd on his car stereo.

The “chore” part of the whole exercise was to go and get some bamboo steamers from an Asian cash and carry in North Greenwich, but as it was our first time exploring down there a tour we took the long way. Which started getting a bit long for one of us (someone was a little cranky now and then), but we got there in the end and got our steamers. And somehow a collection of little bowls fell into the trolley too.  Hmmmmmm.

We took the shorter way home (but still had to wait for the ferry…)!

Well, today I became a British citizen!

The last stage in the long, long process (well to be honest once I was allowed to put my application in that only took five weeks, it was just getting through the qualifying period that took so long, especially as they kept changing the rules) was a ceremony at one of the local council offices where you do your swearing and collect the all important citizenship certificate.

I was even slightly nervous waiting for my ceremony, though I’m still not sure why?  I even managed to convince Mike to come with me. Actually I didn’t have to do that much convincing as he thought it was a good idea that someone could bring a camera along and take photo’s to mark the event.

It’s an interesting little event. There was a huge mixture of people from different cultures.  I feel sorry for the Registrar trying to correctly pronounce all the names (she did a pretty good job though)… Especially as mine and only one other person’s were basic English names (there were about 25 of us).

So after we listened to some councillor talk about joining the local family and also about the local community or something, off I went to swear allegiance to the Queen.  Then after some photo’s with the councillor and Mike (who (the councillor, not Mike) was quite particular about where you placed your hands when holding your certificate) that was pretty much it .

So now I am officially a British citizen.

You may be wondering why there is no picture with this post as that was pretty much what Mike came along for? Well that’s because Mike left the memory card for the camera sitting attached to the PC after taking the shots of the swimmers this morning… hee hee hee!!!

Someone seemed to think that it was a good idea to get on a microphone at about 8am this morning and drive us all from our peaceful slumbers. Well, to be honest I’d already got up about 7:30, but still.

Some idiots (about 1,000 of them apparently) were taking part in the Great London Swim in the dock.  That’s a one mile swim. That’s actually quite a long swim!

I know someone who’s mad enough to be doing this through work.  I’ll have to find out what he thought of it all next week… And check he hasn’t come down with any yucky lurgy! Oh, and didn’t drown!

Update: It’s now noon, and he’s still going strong on that mic!

It was that time of the year again last weekend.  Outside our place all last weekend long were nutters swimming, biking, and running around all day. London triathlon weekend 2009.

How anyone could bring themselves to swim in the dock, I’m not quite sure, but there were wave after wave of them lining up to jump in and risk whatever disease that’s listed on all the signs warning everyone not to swim in the water (along with the signs saying “Danger of Drowning”. Erm…. yes…. thanks. I guess.)

Then they were off on the cycle.  Some of them must have had quite a picturesque little trip up to Westminster and/or Tower bridge on the Sunday, if they had time and energy to look around.  It was quite a nice day for it on Sunday. Sunny, but not too hot, and no rain like on the Saturday.  Though I suspect there might have been a small but annoying headwind most of the way in one direction.

And then the run. Only the 10k to finish up for those completing the Olympic course I believe. Again, not too bad along the docks and through the trees etc…

For those wanting top indulge in a bit of celeb spotting Jenson Button was competing.  We’d seen that on the F1 show a week or two ago, and by some amazing piece of fluke we walked out of the house at the exact time he was running past. we couldn’t have timed it any better. Photo? No, no photo. We weren’t quite prepared enough for that, but then I’m sure by that stage of the race (about 2k left) he was probably pretty sick of people taking photos of him. However, quite what he thought about the man with the TV camera that was following him on a motorbike I’m hoping to find out when there’s finally another F1 race to spend Sunday afternoon watching. I’m sure they’ll have a section on how he found it all.

Anyway, I don’t know what it was like from a competitors point of view, but as a resident and spectator the organisation seemed fantastic. About 6,000 people per day out on course, and at least double watching with no hiccups or problems that we saw. And once again we were pretty impressed by how quickly the whole area was back to normal.  By the time the sun was going down on Sunday, all the cups and water bottles were gone, almost all the cones and fences had been taken down and if not carted away at least stacked up neatly waiting to be picked up. The area was almost back to normal. And by the time we left for work in the morning, you really couldn’t tell there’s been anything on at all.

Maybe next year I’ll give it a go. Actually, maybe not…

Since getting the bikes a while ago we’ve been looking to do a decent length ride, but due to time or weather we didn’t get around to it.  Until yesterday.

On our various trips on the bikes to supermarkets, DIY stores, and clothes shops, we often pass the start of The Greenway, a long pedestrian and cycle path built over one of the main sewers apparently.  Read about it here to save me some typing… Transport for London link So that was the start of the trip. A nice long pretty much straight cruise across east London in almost perfect cycling conditions. Not too hot, not too windy.

We did find that a stretch of the Greenway was closed, presumably so they can get it properly sorted out for the Olympic games as it will be one of the main ways to get to the stadium in 2012. So we had to make a short detour around a couple of blocks, but then we got back up to the Greenway to find that apparently pretty much overnight a visitor viewing area looking over the Olympic Park had sprung up.  They even provided us with free water to help replace some of the sweat we’d lost biking into the slight headwind most of the way.

From there we finished the last stretch of the Greeenway and headed for a picnic in Victoria Park and a break to give our legs a brief rest.

After a quick cycle around the park, we joined a canal towpath that took us most of the way down towards Limehouse.

Here we encountered having to bike on roads for the first time on the whole trip. Most of them were empty back streets though, apart from about 2kms on a slightly busier one through Poplar. Then after visiting the ducks again, we were back to our home cycle trails.

Here’s a Google Earth path of the trip for those of you with access to that.

So all in all, I think the whole trip was about 25ks, but only 4 or 5 of that was on roads. It was quite enjoyable really.  Now we just have to workout what to do for the next one…

On Saturday we wandered down to one of the local pubs in the hope that they were going to play the SA/Lions game on TV, and to have some lunch.  They decided to play the women’s Wimbledon final instead (which we could have watched at home if we’d wanted, unlike the rugby which was only on Sky, AND they didn’t even bother to have the sound up…)

So there we were sitting outside in the sun instead enjoying another absolutely beautiful day when 2 biplanes came skimming just over the roof of the pub with a wing-walker standing on each of them. All conversation in the pub pretty much stopped until people processed what they’d just seen.  “Somewhat surprised” sounds a fair assessment of the mood!

It turns out that it was the London City Airport Funday 2009, and when we walked down to the docks after finishing lunch we were able to watch some helicopter and plane aerobatic displays etc from across the water.

All a bit of a bonus on an otherwise quiet Saturday, but another reminder that it’s possibly always a good idea to take a camera with you wherever you go as you never know what you’ll see!

And then when we finally got home in the early evening we noticed that there was a big problem with the building aerial. I.e. it wasn’t working. Apparently, according to the concierge,  no one who fixes aerials works the weekend so that means no TV again until at least Monday – how were we expected to watch the Wimbledon men’s final on Sunday afternoon? And were we going to have to talk to each other all weekend?! ARRGGHHH!

Thank you the BBC for streaming the match! It’s been a while since we’ve had to plug the laptop into the TV, but it was a bit of a lifesaver today!

Today we’ve been for 2 bike rides!  One this morning to the shops and supermarket, and once this afternoon to see what the water fowl were up to.

Not much, was the answer to that!

The second ride was actually pretty short, but it’s got a huge hill in it, which is why I suggested we go and do that. If I practice it enough I’ll be able to get up there without getting dead, burning legs!! I can get up riding all the way, but it’s currently about the limit of my endurance.

When I say huge hill, I actually mean a main road flyover. I guess it’s not really that steep, but it is a very long climb. Well, it’s a bit of a climb… At least it’s a nice feeling free wheeling down the other side though.

At least there’s the birds to look at when we stop at the other end. Otherwise Bec would get even more bored waiting for me to recover so we can turn around and go back home. Luckily it’s a lot shorter climb on the way back, and a longer cruise down.

And no, the bike might look flash, but I think it’s only because it’s red. It was the cheapest one in the shop. We’ll see how long it lasts!

I think it is best to start this post with ‘ouch my %#$^£ arse!!!’….. not said once during the trip, but said many many times throughout. Especially after getting off and forcing ourselves to get back on the bikes! OH and that just didn’t come from Mike, my butt too was hurting from yesterday.  It’s amazing how tender it gets when you haven’t ridden a bike for a prolonged period of time. For at least a large number of months. Even years!

I am sure it can only get better the more you ride (here’s hoping)!

Even starting off on today’s travels was a bit daunting. We made a few bike adjustments (seats, brakes etc) from yesterday throughout our venture in the hope that it would assist our aching bits.  We didn’t go as far as we had planned due to the obvious issues. But we did manage to bike up some hills and then coast down the other side, and of course we stopped at a pub to rest our dear butts for a bit…. Then back on and off to get some groceries.

On the return trip (please note laden down with some very, very heavy groceries on our backs) we stopped at a little park to recover somewhat before heading back up the bloody hill and came across a number of little ducks lined up in a row (very cute) waiting to dive into the water….  But because we disturbed them a bit they kinda huddled together to get in there even quicker and we were too slow on the camera shots to get the row pics, but we got some pics of their quick getaway.  It was still a good excuse to stop for a minute! And any excuse would do for Mike!

All in all I would have to say Mike faired much better today.  But I am just not so sure he will be able to walk tomorrow. And I am not so sure that I will be able to race him to the tube tomorrow morning either. Give me a run any day!

After relying on public transport for over 10 years now, we’ve finally had enough of the DLR and Tubes being out for maintenance every weekend that we’ve had to invest in some non-public transport. So yesterday we took a big red bus and went and bought ourselves some push bikes!  (I’ll spare you the story about how long it actually took us to get to the store.  That involved another DLR and  bus trip, coupled with a return trip back home to get the right address, then the right journey…)

Picking bikes was reasonably easy once we managed to grab the one shop assistant that actually wanted to help us buy anything!  Bec  didn’t want anything pink, and I just wanted a bike, and we wanted something that was actually in stock so we could go for a ride the next day when the weather was meant to be fantastic.

Strangely enough it wasn’t quite as easy as you’d think to match all of those criteria, but we just about managed it in the end. The only bikes they could sell us that met possibly the most important criteria of us being able to use them the next day were still broken down in boxes, and we’d have to make them up ourselves. Apparently not a big job, but it just meant we’d have to get two huge boxes home somehow first.

Or did we?…

A small brainwave later, and we were ensconced in a small alley just around the corner with bike bits laid out everywhere, and spanner and Allen keys in hand. A bit of sweat, swearing, grazed knuckles, some odd looks from passers by, and just one trip back into the shop right at the finishing stage to grab the sales guy so he could tell us why Bec’s handlebars kept turning around while  her bike didn’t, and we had some functional bikes on which to get home.

Then we just had to get home! Now if you know me well you’ll find it not too hard to believe that  currently I’m not the world’s best example of fitness. There were a few more stops then there really should have needed to be on the way home, but in my defence it was about an hour’s long ride, along some pretty busy mainish roads in London (weekend) traffic.  And did I mention that there were some hilly bits?  And that my seat was really too low so I felt like I was back on a BMX? And that tight jeans didn’t make it easy for my thighs to move? It gave Bec something to laugh about anyway. “Are you really that unfit?!”. Thanks, I needed that understanding and encouragement! And for that I made her ride behind me at my pace for a while while my legs recovered somewhat.

But we made it! And without even getting too lost on the way.The bikes then were put to bed for the night in the bike shed downstairs. I have to say that whoever decided to include a bikeshed in to plans for this apartment block was pretty much a genius.  Looking at other buildings you see bikes on balconies, in living rooms etc.  I’m just really glad we don’t have to deal with trying to get a bike in a lift, then through the front door.

How am I feeling today?  My back twinges a little, and my bum hurts! The first from putting them together, I suspect, while I’m not in much doubt about the why for the second ailment! But I’m still keen to go out today. After a bit of seat adjustment etc, and with a camera so I’ve got an excuse to stop a few more times now and then… I guess at at least I managed to avoid any chafing so far!

Now we’ll just have to hope we have a little more luck than our friend Pete and manage to not have them stolen, or at least until after summer’s over!…