Suiting Up

Today was the first weekday since my return to London that I didn't have to put on a suit and tie. I think at day 3 (maybe day 2) I started my longest running series of consecutive days in a suit.

All last week, and continuing into this week, was Milk Round. I can't get a clear story as to the origin of the name, but it consists of begging big fancy companies for jobs over snacks and drinks. Although not all of the conversations were boring and tedious, that was kind of the general trend.

In other news, I think it is relevant to mention that I haven't even seen a turtle in at least 12 fortnights.

Bike Dust

So I hadn't ridden my bike in a while:


I'm not sure how well it came out in the photo, but I recently found a more than noticeable layer of dust had settled on the saddle. Sunday, which was an unseasonably sunny day here in London, was my first ride in well over a month. I just had time to ride laps around Regent's Park, but it was great to get back on two wheels and remind myself how to drive a bike.

Without an indoor trainer I'm at the will of the weather and my ever increasingly packed schedule to find times to ride, and the two rarely align. Although my bike hasn't yet transitioned into solely part of my bedroom's decor, I'm not too excited about the prospect of having to dust it from time to time.

Rough Trade

Yesterday I wandered into Notting Hill to meet a friend for coffee and took a bit of time to explore the Portobello Road Market. The outdoor street market was full of stands selling your standard market goods: veggies, fish, bread, used books, antique jewelry, or knee-high boots.

After buying a loaf of wholemeal bread, I spotted Rough Trade.

The ground floor was split evenly between vinyl and CDs. In the basement was a huge collection of vinyl that I didn't take the time to properly explore. All of the titles were sorted into some 25+ genres such as, Dubstep, Post Rock, Ed Banger, Warp Skam Rephlex, and others that I had no idea existed. My personal favorite was:

You can also see a bit of the sticker in the bottom of the picture that has a description of the album. Every title in the store has a similar sticker that contains an undecipherable set of obscure band and genre references to either entice or confuse the buyer. In my case, I just picked up the BPB album in the picture and have been enjoying the live versions of some of my old favorites.

Welcome to Durango

After a wonderful holiday and getting to spend some quality time with family and friends, I packed two pairs of gloves and headed west to the state where beer flows like wine.

The nordic center got two feet of snow in the last 48 hours so the track was a bit soft, but the views were amazing.

What's This?

I'm home visiting friends and family for the holidays, and people are asking about the whole not blogging thing. Right, well, I'm not going to make excuses; I just haven't updated this thing in a while.

I'll just mention a couple highlights of the last few months.

Fall in London was really lovely.

(View from my building's roof)

Once November rolled around, it started to rain and get a little bit muddy.



Then in December, a bunch of us from school decided to run around London singing Christmas carols in Santa suits.

Bike Lane

Ok, so maybe it is just me, but I’m constantly shaking my head at bike lane signs here. They are pretty much the same vintage all through this side of the city. Each one has its own bit of erroneous character, which suggests that they were painted by hand, a classic sign of British efficiency.

Temporary Residence #3 – School Hotel

Ok, it has been a while, but it has been hard work getting settled into London. I now have a UK bank account with pounds in it and a mobile phone with a funny number. I have made two successful attempts at riding my bike on the wrong side of the road. And after hours of walking around, I have a much better feel for the neighborhoods around the school.

Being based out of the school for the first few days made everything a little bit simpler. I knew it was only short term when I booked it, but I wish I could have stayed until my flat search was completed. It was a nice room, and the student rate was more than fair.

In other news, watching the Olympics from a British perspective has been quite lovely. The coverage I've watched has been on the BBC, which means that it is pretty much commercial free – try that NBC. It also means that I was able to watch all 200 laps of the men’s Madison with no interruptions. Additionally, the medal tables are sorted by number of golds, rather than total number of medals won, to bump the UK up a few places.