Canada and New Zealand Dates Updated

When am I going to be in NZ? Good question.

Jan 9 - 16th, a whole week. Sunday to Sunday. Then back at the end of March for a week or two to go sailing.

Going to Canada on my way to NZ to catch up with Sergio and Heidi and go snowboarding. Flights as follows:

To Canada
=========
Flight: LH 4723 operated by: LUFTHANSA
from: LONDON GB HEATHROW, TERMINAL 2
to: FRANKFURT DE INTL, TERMINAL 1
Departure: 01. January, 09:10 h
Arrival: 01. January, 11:40 h
____________________

Flight: LH 492 operated by: LUFTHANSA
from: FRANKFURT DE INTL, TERMINAL 1
to: VANCOUVER BC INTL, TERMINAL M
Departure: 01. January, 12:25 h
Arrival: 01. January, 13:45 h


To New Zealand
==============
Flight: UA 1137 operated by: UNITED AIRLINES
from: VANCOUVER BC INTL, TERMINAL M
to: SAN FRANCISCO CA INTL, TERMINAL 3
Departure: 07. January, 13:16 h
Arrival: 07. January, 15:35 h
Class: Q, confirmed
____________________

Flight: NZ 7 operated by: AIR NEW ZEALAND
from: SAN FRANCISCO CA INTL, TERMINAL INTL
to: AUCKLAND NZ, TERMINAL INTL
Departure: 07. January, 19:30 h
Arrival: 09. January, 05:15 h
Arrive 5.15am Air New Zealand flight 7.

Back to London
==============
AIR NEW ZEALAND NZ 2
DEPART SUN 16 JAN 05 AUCKLAND 10.30PM
ARRIVE MON 17 JAN 05 LONDON - HEATHROW 9.50AM
TOTAL TIME AUCKLAND TO LONDON 24.20

xmas and boxing day

Crikey. Rode all 'round the houses. Click map for proper view.

(1) Stayed xmas eve at Lisa's in Acton. Woke up very early with beautiful cold blue sky and had to get out in it.
(P) Rode through Hyde Park even tho you're not s'posed to.
(2) Got to work where I had left all my xmas day stuff then Bex called to see if I was going to make it to Jeff's in time for brekky which was soon and I was hungry so I said yes.
(3) Ride up to Jeff's took an hour because I went the wrong way and had to stop lots to check where I was. We opened pressies and played games and misbehaved until it was today.
(4) Woke up early again, got on my bike and once I was in town, decided to take a ride down Oxford St, considered going to Selfridges for Boxing Day sale but there were queues at 9 and it opens at 11:30 and I was afraid it would put me in a very bad mood so I took off...
(5) back to work where i am typing with cold fingers and empty tummy

2nite

2nite I'm meeting Hannah at Brindisa

Revision - Rome

Rome Photos
From September if you missed them. Mad holiday with Leith staying in a flash hotel when I still hadn't got a job.

sitting room monday evening

Jolly well looking forward to going home in a couple of weeks. Not that there is anything wrong with here. Typical week-night. Got home about 8.15 - bike is in the hall just past the stripey shirt. Polished off a healthy shot of Baileys, no dinner to cook 'cos I had a Marks and Spencer ready made meal at work at about 6.15. Finding I sleep better if I have dinner early.

On the table is my Natwest credit card which arrived tonight. Finally after over 3 weeks. I now have some means of getting money apart from going into my bank and cashing a cheque or using my NZ cards. Still no sign of a cash card tho. And the silly tossers only gave me a £700 limit. Fortunately my blood-pressure has calmed down since I've started going to the gym lately so I'm able to cope with these infuristrations.

The plier thingeys are on the table cos Alex went all xmassey at the weekend. He got a load of nuts in their shells and arrived home drunk the other night and ate a bunch of them. The mirror is here because I used it while shaving my beard this morning. Washing is hung up around the place; feels like a constant stream of business shirts, underwear, t-shirts and socks, wondering if I can justify getting an extra weeks worth of shirts and having them cleaned at the drycleaners week and week about.

What else.. ah.. listening to funky music. I'll see if I can get a bit of it up on the site...

Will be lovely to see everyone at home tho.

guardian angel

mm.. I am just noticing how convenient and pleasurable it is to read a paper where I am actually interested in most of what it has to say. Its such a treat to find myself absorbed in the front page, excited as i turn over to the next and feeling mentally exhausted by about the 4th. And no rugby.
Nothing against rugby and i've never really complained about it before but.. what a relief not to have it dominating an already measly paper like the herald.

Fascinating me today is the political drama surrounding the now acrimonious and curiously backward custody battle between the blind home secretary David Blunkett and the glamourous, married magazine publisher Kimberley Quin with whom he had an affair. Incredible example of a politician taking the opposite of the standard approach ie. he is not denying any failings and pretending everything is cool. I'm not sure who I feel sympathy for but it is utterly intrigueing.
Guardian Unlimited Politics | Special Reports | Private lives, public crisis

Then! Naomi Klein author of No Logo replies to the Acting US Ambassador in London giving evidence that the US appears to be systematically trying to prevent journalists, doctors and others reporting or even counting the number of civilian casualties in Iraq. This was publicly requested by the Ambassador in a fairly unusual move by him trying to get previous statements retracted. More and more and more interesting.
Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | You asked for my evidence, Mr Ambassador. Here it is

first ride on new bike

very busy day.. woke up 6ish, lay in bed trying to sleep and failing browsed the net looking for a good deal on a bike and 2 hours later i was gingerly dealing with london traffic on my way home with a beautiful 2nd hand Specialized Crossroads hybrid, mountain/road bike. Lovely, lovely. Alex (flatmate) kindly took me for my first ride and gave me an intro to london traffic and a fantastic tour which you can see here.
sunday cycle route
I now have a rather sore arse but otherwise very happy.

Something that made me laugh this morning...

while eating breakfast at the lovely yellow cafe near my place. not just laugh of course but definitely some half stifled gaffaws whilst not wanting to appear wierder than i already did eating breaky on my own in a trendy cafe.

Guardian Unlimited | Special reports | Our man in the US: Israel uses TV show to find its best spin doctor

Deptford to Tower Bridge

Ok, this is the start of a NEW thing and the big news since last time is my flat:

55 Barfleur Lane
London
SE8 3DD

I'm deeply in love with it and the trip to work which is just 12 minutes up the Thames on the ferry. Fantastic. Beats the hell out of taking the tube. Here's an aerial photo of the flat. We're in Southeast London just 20 mins walk from Greenwich. In the top right you can see the Millenium Dome. I should write more but its after midnight and I'm exhausted.



Here's more photos of my flat and my trip to work in the morning and home again in the evening. Click this link to see them.
Deptford to Tower Bridge