Back on the Boris Bikes

As the title might suggest, I'm back on the Boris Bikes again. Weather, health, depression etc all played their part in keeping me out of the saddle for a while. Grrrr.

Then in early April I suddenly realized that I really, really wanted to ride one, as I sometimes do, as the very first leg (aha) of my homeward commute. It was sunny but horribly cold and there were some bikes free, which there often are not. I bagsied one, inserted the Magic Boris Key: red light, b*gger off Vogel. Not pleased.

To truncate a long story they had some stupid computer glitch which prevented me from doing anything with it for weeks. I needed to update my payment card, but could get into my account to do so ... resets not working, endless calls to customer services not working either ... all a bit annoying. (Although I should add that the customer service people were lovely, and did try hard to help, eventually getting me in touch with the right people ... now read on ...)

In the end a nice IT person wrote to me directly - he had reset my password, here was a temporary one ... and off I went! Minutes later I was on my first bike of 2013 and loving it, again. 

Since then I have used the system a lot. I've done two 10 km round trips in the last week (which I know is nothing for some, but enough for me, as a start) and a myriad of little runs. I'm a bit peeved that the access charge has doubled, but I suppose on the bright side it makes me want to get value for money once I've taken a bike out. Today I did Clerkenwell to Charlotte St W1 (Phil Parker's since you ask!) to get a friend's birthday present - it was glorious sunny weather, the bike paths were good and the roads not too bad - a lovely little ride.

I could and should write more about the bike scheme but for now just let me say that, despite its faults, I do really love it!

Skyfall weeperoonie: a small but delicious wager

I will give a small but reasonably generous prize of chocolate (or fruit if you would prefer) to the first person who can correctly guess which one scene made me cry in Skyfall. 

Hints and clues an ting are not available. Multiple tries are allowed, up to some reasonable limit, which is unspecified but probably falls short of trying the entire script line by line. (Let's be realistic - it's not that much chocolate ...)

If you already know, because I already told you, then you are disqualified. Yeah, I might give you chocolate anyway, but please don't post the answer here.

Note: I'm using "scene" here in a broad sense of "something in the film" rather than some formal filmic/technical definition with a scene number in the  script or change of shot or whatever it takes - I really wouldn't know about that stuff. This probably doesn't matter but I didn't want to risk confusion.

Over to you. :)

Back at St Anne's

Hurrah! After a horribly long gap I'm back, to my huge delight, at London's Finest Lunchtime Gig Church™ for a guitar recital by Isabel Maria Martinez.

What with one thing and another it seems for some time to have been very difficult to get along here, which is bad, but I'm here now, which is good.

I love it here so much. It's not just the music, lovely though that is; it's the warmth, the peace, and the sense of community.

That said, Ms Martinez is as I write (tut!) giving us a gorgeous recital of Llobet, Rodrigo, Gerhard and Villa-Lobos. She's a wonderful player, of great subtlety, control and drama, and makes a beautiful, luscious sound.

I'm glad I came.

Location:Gresham Street,City of London,United Kingdom