Look, Skyrider!

That has to count as one of my weaker puns ever...

Sorry - couldn't resist.

Yesterday here in London was the Mayor's Skyride day - and several of London's main roads were shut to traffic for 8 hours and opened to us mere mortals on our two wheeled vehicles. (OK, to be honest, some had more than 2 - but all were pedal powered)

But what is always good is when there is corroborative evidence of the event, something that proves you were there, and something from a third party, not from your own source. So thank you must go to the Mayor of London who provided the following photographic evidence that I was at the SkyRide...



Just in case you wondered - I am the one with the sunglasses and the cap - not the one with the helmet, blond hair and lovely smile.

The clue is in the name

Imagine if I told you that "British Airways" was a train company, or that "Barclays Bank" was a sweet shop. You wouldn't believe me. Not just because you recognise the brands, but because the name and the enterprise don't go together...

So you'd expect a government agency called the "Health Protection Agency" to be an AGENCY that PROTECTED our HEALTH.

Well you try explaining that then to the mother of 2 twins boys who are in hospital with e.coli after contracting it at a farm in Surrey. And the Health Protection agency have today admitted that they could have acted quicker in closing the farm, given that the first case linked with the farm had in fact been reported nearly three weeks previous.

So far around forty cases have been linked with the outbreak at the farm and 14 children are in hospital being treated.

The head of the HPA has apologised for the tardiness of his agency in reacting. Sadly, his apology is just a statement and won't help the parents of those 14 youngsters, some of whom are suffering from kidney failure as a result.

Health Protection Agency....
The clue really ought to be in the name.

Hockey in the Surrey sunshine

Hockey is usually a winter sport, but just on ocassion you end up playing a game in lovely sunshine.

However, when that "game" is a pre-season tournament, and the "warm" day is a glorious autumn day and you find yourself playing three shortened games on that day, then you start reconsidering your enthusiasm for the coming season...

Still, it was a great day out. However, having previously thought I was enjoying some degree of fitness, my laboured breathing and impersonation of a puffing steam engine (lots of noise, and not much puff...) I soon realised that I need a lot more fitness work before the season proper gets going.

That was Saturday.
Sunday was what is known to athletes as a "rest day". In truth however, just about every muscle in my legs has gone on strike. They are very annoyed at the trauma I put them through yesterday...

My biggest worry is that it usually takes two days for muscles to fully reach their most painful.
That means tomorrow is going to be anything BUT a good morning.

A lost part of London

I love finding these types of bits of information...

It would appear that something that has been a core and central part of London since Roman times is now no more than a little know piece of rock behind a metal grill - the London Stone.

I found the story of the London Stone a few days ago and, almost more out of disbelief than anything else, had to go and find it for myself. How many times must I have travelled past the London Stone without ever noticing it, let alone knowing it was there.

And yes, there it was, mythical, legendary, known to greats like Shakespeare and Dickens, unknown to millions of Londoners.

I just hope that this piece of London's history isn't lost to us all!

Change is in the air - almost...

It is September, the Southern Hemisphere just rejoiced at the advent of Spring, so I assume we here in the Northern Hemisphere should have celebrated the advent of Autumn.

And yet, today was absolutely beautiful. Once the cloud cover of the morning had burnt away, we rejoiced at a truly beautiful day, with a rather warm and lovely temperature.
Ideal therefore to take a late evening cycle through Wimbledon Common...

What is happening is that the sun is setting much earlier now, so by 8 this evening the sun was starting to set over the last golfers on the Common Golf course. Despite this in other parts of the Common the sun managed to stay up just loing enough to show that Mother Nature, despite a Summery day, was of the opinion that Autum was arriving... Some trees are starting to change colour, their leaves having become a brown or red, the start of the Autumn colour change that will precede the mass leave disposal that happens every year...

And yes, London, that means just one thing.
Anytime soon the Tube will stop due to "leaves on the tracks"!