The unexpected

I've mentioned before that the thing I love most about biking is the unexpected human contact (by this I don't mean that I knock pedestrians down). I was stuck in a traffic jam one morning on my way to work when I suddenly heard a voice in my ear
"Oh hello" said the voice
I nearly jumped and turned (the last I remembered, there had been a van there between me and the kerb). There were two (middle-aged) men in the van grinning at me, expecting to have startled me. So I grinned back and said 'Hiya!' and said that the coffee they were drinking (Gregg's) looked good and then had to pedal off because the traffic had started moving again. But it was just a random fun hello in a busy morning.

The frozen biker

There are good and bad things about biking, which is how I mostly get about nowadays. I love the freedom of it. I hate being stuck behind a gas-belching bus. I love going down hill. I hate struggling up hill. I love the way it's so easy to strike up conversation with a bike (sorry, with people when I have my bike).

In this country, especially, the thing that influences a ride the most is the weather. I don't mind the cold, since I get warm very fast when I'm biking. I do mind the rain though, because the rain here is cold! I came out of a meeting in Waterloo today to bike to the Strand and then to New Cross. As soon as I had unlocked the bike and started off, there was a hail storm. It then poured all the way from Covent Garden to New Cross (about 6 miles) and it was freezing. I was a cold drowned rat at the end of that one. And yet, there were good bits to it too. Like the parking attendant who grinned at me at a traffic light, looked up at the sky and said "It's not nice, is it?" Or the solidarity you can feel from other cyclists who are as wet (and presumably as miserable) as you.

So I love it, in spite of everything

Things I never thought I'd do (contd.)

For anybody who was worried...there were two men lifting the organ - I just helped. And the vicars were in frames (you know how churches have pictures of all the old vicars framed...). St James is moving out of the building temporarily so that it can be rebuilt. So all the stuff needed to be moved out. And since we're a small church, everything had to be done ourselves. And that included carrying organs and vicars :D

Things I never saw myself doing

I never thought I'd see the day when I carried organs and vicars :P

A stroll through China town

We were in town on Wednesday to get a job done and we decided to head to China Town to buy pork buns. China Town is absolutely gorgeous. All the shops, the arches, a little pagoda where old men play board games and, of course, the food. We first tried the pork buns at one guy's stall and then decided we simply had to go around the corner to the other stall and try the buns there so we could compare :P The buns were yummy!! We sat on the steps near the place where the old guys were playing their game to eat the buns. I cannot believe I didn't know about them earlier, coz I can see Pithu being very happy with pork buns :) We then spent the rest of the evening wandering in and out of the Chinese supermarkets finding random things to exclaim at - Chocopie (Kutty would have been thrilled), wife biscuits :D Healthy Boy chilli sauce (we'd been looking for it) and live crabs. All in all, a very fun and random evening.

Biking

I got my bike (cycle) in March and I've been biking to work and back ever since. I also use the bike to get around town if I'm going to places like Waterloo. My longest ever ride was from Russell Square to New Cross Gate. I haven't done any biking apart from the regular work run for a while, so I was glad of the chance to cycle to church yesterday. The only problem with South London, however, is the number of hills. And yesterday's route seemed to mostly involve going uphill :P I tend to write my directions on a map  - no posh GPS or Satnav, sadly - which usually means that I get lost at least once on a new journey :D The most memorable part of yesterday's ride was when, after steadily going uphill for sometime, I looked at my directions and found I had to turn right onto Langton Rise. I did wonder whether that meant that it rose. And it did :P Steeply :P

The fair's back in town

Benson's fun fair visits Brockwell Park in May and August in Bank holiday weeks. I was thrilled the first time I saw them to watch a proper fair setting up. There were caravans and trailers with.....
*pauses to jig along to Armstrong's Spooks*
....as I was saying, caravans and trailers with all the stuff to set up rides. We went last year (2009) with Aunty Hazel. Such fun! It was the first time I had cotton candy in London. The only sad thing about the fair was that the best ride (or so I considered it) was a massive bouncy slide...and only kids were allowed on it :( but we did go in the Bumpem/Dodgem (depends on how you look at them) cars. Aunty Hazel belonged to the former category. She had such fun going round in circles, ramming us at every opportunity :) :) I still haven't taken Great-Aunt Betsy to the fair...maybe this weekend :)