This week's song of the week is another classic, this time from 2001. It's probably Jakatta's third-best single. Maybe fourth best. Unfortunately, Maps did not travel back to Phoenix with me for compassionate reasons, so this song has been rattling around my head for most of the week whilst I have been trying to entertain myself. I never thought that I would miss the company of someone who reads the small print of hire car insurance documents, but there you go.
This week's
horse of the week makes an early appearance in the blog, as she's technically
last week's horse of the week. I'm planning on skipping
this week's horse of the week and then moving on to
next week's horse of the week as per normal and hope that it will all work itself out before I come home.
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| Super Fun Time! |
Here we are having a fun time with Trixie's Christmas present! And her horse, of course :)
The flight back to the US wasn't too bad, although I was cooped up like a damn battery hen:
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| I Feel Like Chicken Tonight |
Thanks to a very strange contractual clause of our programme, we had to fly to the UK and back with American Airlines. We are also entitled to the travel class above economy class, but American Airlines do not offer a premium economy class, so we had to travel business class. Interestingly, American Airlines does not fly the Phoenix - Heathrow route, but it is a code share flown by British Airways. So, thanks to a very strange clause in the contract, we flew to the UK and back in business class with British Airways, and very nice it was too!
Although I'm here alone, I'm not really alone as I brought my mountain bike back with me. I couldn't stand looking at the mountains from my hotel window any longer! The last time I went on a proper bike ride was Day 1 of our honeymoon at Bike Park Wales and my bike was still bearing the scars. So, I took the time to strip it down and give it a good clean, but this is easier said than done in a hotel room. A bit of 'blue-sky thinking' got me there in the end though:
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| Bath time |
You wouldn't believe that there happened to be a bike shop conveniently located 300m down the road from the hotel... ...but there is. In fact, they took nearly all of my living allowance money from me this week as I bought some new handlebar grips, some degreaser, a chain cleaning tool, some dry lube for the desert conditions and a new pair of tubeless tyres with all the accoutrements. I made the decision to swap to tubeless after reading lots online about desert cycling - essentially, there are too many cacti around and they wreak havoc on inner tubes. There are additional benefits of going tubeless too: lighter weight when compared to inner tubes and no risk of pinch punctures, which in itself is a benefit but also allows the tyres to be run at a lower pressure which gives better grip in dry conditions. The only drawback noticed so far: they are a pain in the bum to get seated correctly and it really needs to be done with an airline. But overall, it should be an interesting switch.
Anyway, on Saturday I headed to
South Mountain Park with my nice, clean bike. And what do you know, there happened to be a secure company car park just for me!
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| South Guard Post. Deserted. |
A long climb up the hill gives a great view over Phoenix:
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| Me with bike, cactus and Phoenix in the background. |
On Sunday, it was time to take the road bike out for a spin to my favourite bagel shop:
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| Me, looking at a bagel |
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| A bagel, looking at me |
And then, time to finish off the week with a quick dip in the hot tub...
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| Hot tub party. Just waiting for everyone else to arrive. |
Finally:
- Work's OK.
- Matched betting's slow, but I'm still chipping away for a bit of free cash here and there.
- I am shortly to become a crypto currency speculator.
- I'm investigating other online ventures...
- Trixie's flights are booked!
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