I’ve had a pretty cool weekend overall, having flown out to Bergerac on Thursday evening, spent a couple of days and flown back on Saturday evening. It was a most relaxing time, and certainly felt like more than two days. The weather was gorgeous, with temperatures hitting somewhere in the twenties, and I even came back with a slight tan! Bonus…
Of course it was the usual thing of sitting there with a very fine example of the local produce in my glass, chatting with our wonderful hosts and wondering “what the **** am I doing living in London?!”. That, and wandering around looking at houses and theorising about how much they could be had for. I know – fantasy, but fun!
Oh yes – and Howard let me take his *very* tasty Suzuki SV650 for a spin on the largely empty French roads. Now that was a blast. It’s a wonderfully flickable bike, and very willing to rev – I stopped twisting the throttle when the speedo informed me I’d hit 160Kph. Very impressed, and I can see why my Dad loves them so much. But I’ll stick with my RF for a while; budgetary constraints are only the start of it…
Oh, and the photos are now in the gallery, for your perusal. Please take note of the brilliantly blue sky – truly awesome.
Getting off the plane in Stansted was a shocker, with those icy winds that were sweeping across Essex on the weekend; I couldn’t get back to the car quick enough. But Sunday brought its own fun and motivation to overcome the hangover: the “A Place in the Sun” show in the Excel centre in Docklands. Quite a show, and certainly very motivational – there were stands from sun-traps the world over, and a definite exotic flavour to a lot of it. We came away with the usual complement of brochures and CDs that will probably languish in a corner for a few months before being binned – but hey, you’ve gotta have a dream…!
And so back to work, which is pretty bloody busy at the moment. Now, if I could just get a bit more money for it I’d be a happy boy… But we’re in it for the long haul, or so I keep telling myself – and if I can telework from the South of France, I can extend that haul a bit too! Oh yes, I have a plan – but more of that another time…
To hark back to my last post, I can cheerfully report that I’ve been in excellent health (barring hangovers, for which no sympathy is deserved or asked), without any of the symptoms that had plagued me over the winter. The odd twinge here and there, but then everyone has those – and nothing compared to what I *have* experienced. So I’ll be meeting up with the healer dude this week to have a check-up and a chat. It’s certainly given me food for thought, I can tell you.
[sigh!] After all this jet-setting that I’ve been doing over the past couple of months, I’m a little bummed to be stuck in this country for a while – the next couple of months, anyway. But I’ve been lucky with Ryanair bargains, and they’ll be growing thin on the ground as summer advances. I suppose I’d better get my mountain bike back on the road, and go travelling on that…
And speaking of two-wheeled wonders, my RF is sulking in the garage again – this time with a rear brake problem. I’ve yet to investigate it, but anything that sprays brake fluid over the rear tyre while draining the master cylinder can’t really be a good thing. The bike really needs a service, which I can’t afford just now – and the MOT will be up at the end of May, so I’d better get saving.
To conclude, the sun is shining, the birds are tweeting outside my window, the leaves are beginning belatedly to sprout on the trees in the back garden, the days are getting longer and warmer (slightly) – Summer is on its way, people! And that can only be a good thing – see you in the beer garden…
