Househunting

18 July 2011 | Richard

A busy weekend: Saturday started off fairly well with an opticians’ appointment to have a contact lens check at Surrey Quays. On the plus side, there was no change in my prescription but on the minus side I was then forced to go food shopping in Tesco with my glasses on (due to the yellow dye they put in your eyes to check fit).

Then a very enjoyable evening in Epsom with a drink at the Assembly Rooms, followed by a meal at the excellent Cinnamon Spice Indian restaurant and then on to the Barley Mow for more drinks.

Sunday saw lots of bike racing on the telly – MotoGP and BSB – interspersed with househunting. It’s about time I sorted myself out something for the long-term and with my divorce pending, now’s the time to start looking if I buy new.

So off I went to see Berkeley Homes’ Kidbrooke Village Development. This isn’t too far out of London – 15 minutes’ train journey from London Bridge (near my office) but as it’s early on in the development, there’s nothing there yet in terms of shops, bars, restaurant and amenities. Lovely place though but the lack of my own secure and powered garage is still a major issue. Perhaps it’d be better to buy a house in Rotherhithe near where I am as this is a short bus ride from work and I can even walk it (and do!).

Then back home for a Thai stir fry and TV including “Salt” which I’d recorded. And copious wine…

GT Meet Jack, Jack Meet GT

5 June 201113 June 2011 | Richard

Well that was another busy weekend. Friday evening saw me collecting Jack from Stratford and trying to order pizzas using the Domino’s iPhone App. And failing. Repeatedly. Gah! So we rang from Canada Water and our pizzas were delivered just after 9.00pm.

Saturday and after a fabulous full English breakfast at CafÃ© Frizzante at the Surrey Docks Farm, we went shopping for FIFA 11 for the Xbox so Jack can play when he’s at mine. Plus a load of groceries and things. Then we sat and watched England v Switzerland on the telly which was a tad embarrassing for us Brits.

GT rang us to say she was at Waterloo so we jumped in the car to meet her a few minutes later at Canada Water from where we went to Frankie & Benny’s for tea before heading on to the Odeon to watch Hangover II, which was excellent with a lot of belly-laughs for me.

Then back home for a very late night/early morning.

Up to do breakfast – eggs, muffins and cafetiÃ¨re coffee – before Â driving GT back to Waterloo so she could get home.

Jack and I then hung out for a while before hearding off to Oxford Street to shop. This included an expensive lunch at Yo! Sushi in Selfridges – our fault as we kept grabbing interesting-looking dishes – before a lightning-fast visit to M&S to buy me a new suit – dark blue with a woven dark blue stripe – for work.Â Oh and another pair of Jimmy Choos for GT!

Then a horrendously expensive black cab back to the flat to pack us both before driving to Liverpool Street station for a coffee and tea. Jack on the Cambridge train and me back to the car for a drive up North to Wigan again.

Phew!

Late May Bank Holiday Weekend

2 June 2011 | Richard

Well after what was a very busy week last week, culminating with a (literally) flying visit to Athens on Thursday and Friday (with a nice stay at the Athens Park Hotel), the weekend was my chance to chill out … ish!

I only got back in from Greece very late on Friday night and slept in until late morning on Saturday. By lunchtime, I was up and ready to roll: heading off to Chelmsford for Mozie’s 40th birthday celebrations on the ZRX. Â On the way round the M25 I saw the clockwise carriageway was busy through the roadworks so made a mental note about the need to do some “extreme filtering” on my way back.

Arrived at Chelmsford Social Club and grabbed a pint of shandy and chewed the fat with Mozie for an hour or so until I had to leave. A blast back down the A12 before hitting the M25 and some extreme filtering (lane splitting) probably much to the annoyance of a police car on ‘blues and twos’ who was struggling to clear his way through the sometimes stationary traffic with me following and at times running parallel with them with no problems whatsoever!

Back home and a quick shower and change as I drove over to Epsom to meet GT for an evening out and a leaving do for one of her colleagues. Stopping first at Nando’s for something to eat before heading on to the Marquis of Granby, then the Vestry, before heading back to the Marquis of Granby and home to GT’s. Â The night itself was a lot of fun due to her colleagues being a really good laugh … and a lot of alcohol being consumed! We even managed – after only five months! – to get some photos of the two of us together.

Sunday saw a leisurely start before GT cooked me – I assisted a bit! – a lovely prawn risotto for lunch and we then headed off to Bluewater for some retail therapy before a tasty pizza, etc. for dinner at one of the restaurants. I scored by managing to get another pair of John Lewis‘ own brand Oxford shoes for work at less than the listed price as they were old stock and ever so slightly different from their new range (and neither were available on their website for some bizarre reason).

Sadly, I had to leave GT’s on Bank Holiday Monday to head back to the flat to pack and head off to Wigan for a few days of meetings. On arrival at the Premier Inn – compare and contrast with the week before’s accommodation!) – I went next door to the attached Taybarns for something to eat. A bit of an eye-opener as it was absolutely heaving! Check their website for an idea of what it’s like…

Midweek Blast

26 May 2011 | Richard

Well what an evening that was!

On my way in to work this morning, I got a text from Purge asking if I was up for a rideout down to Hampshire. After much contemplation – I finish work late and I’m flying out to Athens later today – I decided that yes I was.

And so it came to pass that I headed off from the apartment down to meet up with Purge, Matt, Pal, Agent64, Pathfinder Rob, Mr Bosch and MP at Alton Station CafÃ©, which I found out was a bike meet! From there we blasted off down to bike night at Loomies where I happily scoffed down some chips with sliced mushrooms and chopped bacon, topped with melted cheese. Fantastic! Â Just as I was leaving, Young Burchy showed up on his 7R so it was good to meet him too.

Not so good was Agent64 getting a puncture in the rear tyre of his ‘Blade thanks to stone chips all over the A31. Bugger!

Despite the evening getting much colder now, we then headed off at a spirited pace to the Pub With No Name at Prior’s Dean where we grabbed a pint and sat outside watching the darkness settle in. I left around 10pm to head home but decided shortly after setting off that I was getting quite cold and should stop off en route at GT’s place for a coffee to warm up, so I used the SatNav’s Bluetooth link to my iPhone and Scala headset to ring her up and invite myself over. Good call (literally)!

Then home at midnight and 135 miles later, only to be greeted by the bad news that YB had dropped the 7R after an incident with a deer on his way home. Bugger!

Jack’s Birthday Weekend

23 May 2011 | Richard

Well that was a busy weekend!

It started on Friday with Amy coming over to stay. A lovely meal at the Rainbow Chinese Buffet Restaurant on Brunel Road before Lucy delivering my ironing – all 24 workshirts!

Saturday morning saw us heading up to Norfolk, collecting Jack on the way before heading into Norwich where we went to Wagamama before shopping: a pair of black Adidas Samba originals for me, two pairs of shoes, a Hollister shirt and Jack & Jones skinny jeans for Jack and a pair of Converse trainers for Amy.

Saturday night and we went back into Norwich to Nando’s followed by the Odeon to see “Attack the Block“, which we all enjoyed. Amy is now being followed and is following Alex Esmail on Twitter!

Sunday saw a lie-in at the hotel for me before heading over to see Jack on his birthday. His Mum had made a great strawberry gateau which we scoffed and later we had bangers and mash – again Jack’s request – before Amy and I headed back down to Royal Holloway.

I then popped over to see GT and eventually got in after midnight. A looooong weekend!

Welcome Home Blue Rex!

14 May 2011 | Richard

Well today I went to collect the ZRX from PDQ post-fettling. And yes, I think it looks great!

Larry mentioned that Nick had test-ridden it just to be on the safe side after they’d achieved their best-ever dyno results for a ZRX1200R on standard carbs/bores. I’d asked for a 44T rear sprocket as before and Larry suggested it would be sensible to go back to a 42T at some point as Nick had come back wide-eyed and declared it a tad berserk… We’ll see tomorrow!

HSBC Secure Key â€“ Goodbye HSBC!

9 May 2011 | Richard

Ah well. Ã‚Â It looks like the time for me to close my HSBC account will soon be here.

They’ve announced that within a few weeks I won’t be able to log in to my online banking unless I use my Secure Key. Now, at the moment if I want to log in to my online banking account, I simply fire up a web browser, enter my twelve alphanumeric character user ID, then my date of birth and then three of six numbers from my security number. Easy-peasy!

Soon, I will have to have my Secure Key with me when I want to log in. I’ll enter my user ID into the website, then put a four to eight digit PIN into my Secure Key, generate a code, enter the code into the website and then enter a keyphrase into the website. Phew!

Much more hassle and a potential inability to access anything if I don’t happen to have yet another credit card-sized device with me.

Grr!

PDQ Dyno Results

9 May 2011 | Richard

Well the results of the engine work and fettling at PDQ are in: up to 158bhp at the rear wheel! Well done to Larry and the team.

Dyno Chart

Also interesting is that that was up from 130bhp before their engine work and after I’d fitted a full Akrapovic system and rejetted it myself a while before.

And to put all that into context, it was dyno’d standard but with an Akrapovic end can in July 2005 and put out 114bhp (up from c. 108bhp as standard at the rear wheel).

Fuerteventura Easter 2011

7 May 20117 May 2011 | Richard

I thought it was about time I took the kids – if you can call them that: 19 and nearly 15 – away with me on holiday, so over Easter I took the two of them to the luxury villa I’d stayed at before in Corralejo on Fuerteventura.

The villa had its own heated pool as well as a heated jacuzzi which meant we could relax around the pool, have a night-time Â jacuzzi or swim to cool down.

We used it as a base before driving out to other parts of the island or to the long, long sandy beach and dunes.

Then our evening would consist of heading into Corralejo itself for a really nice meal in one of the nicer restaurants before heading to the Rock Island Bar to chill out, have a few drinks and listen to some live acoustic rock music. And my girlfriend and friends could keep tabs on us with the audience webcam!

Anyway, here are a few photos including one of the baby mouse that I rescued from our pool one morning!