I ran a 16km race today, which was fantastic (despite staying up until 2 last night playing risk and drinking wine). About 50 000 other people were running, which was crazy.
It went really well, despite having a headache and feeling sore now! I ran with Dominique (a friend of James' from the Candy shop). There was a lot of support along the way. And also an amazing amount of paper and plastic cups used - crazy. They were giving away bottles of ACE drink at the end - better than the Coke you normally get at the end of a race in SA, but still very artificial.
I also got a medal, and thought briefly of starting a medal recycling business - in another life time perhaps!
It's amazing how people identify with a brand here - they really "live" the Nike/Asics/whatever dream. It's a bit scary, but I'm very glad I grew up when and where I did. In SA it definitely was the case that not everybody had the money for brands, so you wore whatever you had, or if you did, you had parents who had better ideas of what life should be about...
Okay, enough ranting!
I'm off to Dalfsen tomorrow for the Toxics planning meeting - should be exciting!
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Cheers Mbeki
Thanks for the economic growth, jobless though it was. Looking forward to see what Mbete can do in about 4 months!
BUT seriously, let's talk about Manuel with you. He's done wonders for the big companies and the rich, but to keep him on now?
Bring on the populist Zuma...
BUT seriously, let's talk about Manuel with you. He's done wonders for the big companies and the rich, but to keep him on now?
Bring on the populist Zuma...
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Travelling
On the weekend I went to England to visit a friend. I got caught up in the madness following the fire in the channel tunnel - basically meant that a 8 hour trip amsterdam - Canterbury turned into a 10 hour trip (still not too bad). The bonus was that I got to take the ferry which was a first time for me. The coasts of France and England were fantastic, white cliffs of Dover and all. I won't say which were better as I might offend certain people.
Once I got to Canterbury I checked out the Youth Hostel and then went to pick up Elodie from the station. We dropped our stuff and then went to town for supper and drinks and dancing etc. Good fun!
On Saturday we saw Canterbury Cathederal, which was just awesome and had me all mixed up about my Christian roots. One thing that really struck me where the plaques on the walls all around the inside of the cathedral commemorating people who had died. Mostly men in defence of the Empire. Wouldn't it have been amazing if we had the ideas of using kindness to get people onto "our" side like we had during the Iraq war. Imagine going into these (then) far flung places and using our "advanced" knowledge to heal people we encountered and bring them similar benefits to their quality of life.
Anyway, I digress. We went to Herne Bay later to walk on the beach (and got distracted by chloe and some fine lads drinking beers) and took a bried nap in the sun. We walked the pier and then caught the bus back to Canterbury. We had supper, took in some live music and then got an earlier night with me feeling a cold coming on.
On Sunday we had a Boho breakfast and then caught the train back to London, where I hopped onto the now running (slowly) Eurostar and made my way back to Amsterdam.
Once I got to Canterbury I checked out the Youth Hostel and then went to pick up Elodie from the station. We dropped our stuff and then went to town for supper and drinks and dancing etc. Good fun!
On Saturday we saw Canterbury Cathederal, which was just awesome and had me all mixed up about my Christian roots. One thing that really struck me where the plaques on the walls all around the inside of the cathedral commemorating people who had died. Mostly men in defence of the Empire. Wouldn't it have been amazing if we had the ideas of using kindness to get people onto "our" side like we had during the Iraq war. Imagine going into these (then) far flung places and using our "advanced" knowledge to heal people we encountered and bring them similar benefits to their quality of life.
Anyway, I digress. We went to Herne Bay later to walk on the beach (and got distracted by chloe and some fine lads drinking beers) and took a bried nap in the sun. We walked the pier and then caught the bus back to Canterbury. We had supper, took in some live music and then got an earlier night with me feeling a cold coming on.
On Sunday we had a Boho breakfast and then caught the train back to London, where I hopped onto the now running (slowly) Eurostar and made my way back to Amsterdam.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
I fixed my other bike...
Only one more to go... Since James stole my brake lever I have had a dodgy left hand brake lever turned upside down and lacking some crucial silver bits. I am please to announce I have all the silver bits necessary now. I'm also quite keen to minimize the cycling to work in sandals phase - sandals and fixies don't always mix well...
As soon as I've fixed my mtb's front tire (it's flat) I will have three functioning bikes again. The coolness.
I'd also like to say that webcams are fantastic :-)
And one more thing. That Zapiro cartoon, now there is something to talk about. And I'm glad it's working!
As soon as I've fixed my mtb's front tire (it's flat) I will have three functioning bikes again. The coolness.
I'd also like to say that webcams are fantastic :-)
And one more thing. That Zapiro cartoon, now there is something to talk about. And I'm glad it's working!
Sunday, September 07, 2008
Fixing my bike
I got back from 6 days of meetings, usually from 8:30am until 10pm at the Greenpeace Agriculture campaign planning meeting yesterday. It was a fantastic experience although quite tiring! And the Agricuture team are awesome - we had a lot of fun in any available time.
I got back to discover that someone had let my tire down and kicked in my back wheel. So I did the sensible thing - locked up my bike and went off in search of a party on the tram. The party in question was my end of student loan party - finally paid it off! It started with three bottles of prosecco at the Greenpeace office and ended at 4 in the morning eating chips with some of the agriculture campaigners on Rembrandt Plein. Good times.
Saturday from 10 until about 2:30 was spent fixing my bike. At first I tried to find a second hand wheel, and after a number of failed attempts, I eventually decided to buy a new one. All the time I was riding back and forth between my dutch bike and the cycle shops on my fixie, carrying various spare parts. My bike was on the top of the big bicycle park overlooking Amsterdam, so at least I had a good view while fixing!
In the end I got it fixed and now it works fine, with a shortened chain and a shiny new rear wheel! And for all this work, I spent most of the weekend on my fixie, which is SO much fun!
A good weekend, to now be rounded off with an early night!
I got back to discover that someone had let my tire down and kicked in my back wheel. So I did the sensible thing - locked up my bike and went off in search of a party on the tram. The party in question was my end of student loan party - finally paid it off! It started with three bottles of prosecco at the Greenpeace office and ended at 4 in the morning eating chips with some of the agriculture campaigners on Rembrandt Plein. Good times.
Saturday from 10 until about 2:30 was spent fixing my bike. At first I tried to find a second hand wheel, and after a number of failed attempts, I eventually decided to buy a new one. All the time I was riding back and forth between my dutch bike and the cycle shops on my fixie, carrying various spare parts. My bike was on the top of the big bicycle park overlooking Amsterdam, so at least I had a good view while fixing!
In the end I got it fixed and now it works fine, with a shortened chain and a shiny new rear wheel! And for all this work, I spent most of the weekend on my fixie, which is SO much fun!
A good weekend, to now be rounded off with an early night!
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