supafly

Chris definitely needs to get his superfly single speeded, although I'm sure he will have great reservations about the bars :)

back in the day

I used to ride bikes. I rode my bike less than I should have but I rode it in winter, in the dark and even on occasion while inebriated. Until I get my new stem I can't ride any time soon.

I used to ride bikes.

good times

There are far more pressing things for me to do than write here but I'm nothing if not a procrastinator. Trip to London was awesome, seemed like I was there for a month but in reality it was all over in 10 days. Arrived to gatwick where Rohan collected me and took me to Brighton where we giggled our way round a few watering holes (bloody expensive ones mind, £7 for 2 pints!) before demolishing an all you can eat Chinese buffet, the after effects of which haunted us both for a few days. Friday I got a train to London then a bus to Nottingham where I stayed with Ro's folks. They were both extremely friendly and even more useful in terms of finding out about uni and the medical profession as both are GPs and Ro's dad is involved with Nottingham's undergrad applications. Saturday he was kind enough to drive me over the open day which was incredibly informative and interesting. (let's see how many comparitives and superlatives I can get through here) Have to say I really liked the school and made a couple friends that I saw again in London later in the week. After the open day I jumped on a train to Nottingham, got a bus back to London then another train to Brighton where I went back to Ro's. A couple of his mates had come across to see him and they were a bit worse for wear when I got in but admirably managed to keep going till bout half 3.

I headed back to London the next morning and met up with my mum, step dad and my mum's cousin who happened to be over from Australia! I'd stayed with her in Oz 7 years ago so it was great to see her again and over the next few days I managed to meet her a couple more times which was really nice. After saying goodbye to mum et al I headed to Tipa's to meet up again with Ro and have a meal with Tipa, her boyfriend John, her sister rachel and her, Rachel's not Tipa's, fiance Nick. It's safe to say we always laugh a lot together and this meeting was no exception, in fact it may have been the most we've ever laughed thanks in large part to the respective poo stories told. (I never said we were sophisticated)


John, Tipa and Ro enjoy last of the Summer sunshine



Between Monday and Thursday I got to see one of my aunties and my gran who were down to see my aunt, mum's cousin is both long-winded and underestimates the relationship, from Australia, go up the London Eye (which I loved) eat out loads but still not eat enough each day, sleep less than I have a for a while but still have a wicked time. Wednesday I moved to stay with a mate up the road, Fran, who I haven't seen for 7 years. Fran was part of my group in India when we did our gap year and was labelled as my mum from early on in proceedings so it's weird we haven't stayed in better contact. Luckily she was kind enough to put me up for a few nights and it felt like it was only a week between our last meeting. Her flat is unusual in a couple of respects. It is actually meant to be an office but they guy they sublet from wanted a cheap flat for his kids to stay in so leased it and 'made' bedrooms by partitioning sections off. This sounds much weirder than it is, as they end up with a massive communal space and a real homely atmosphere. Secondly, Fran's flatmates include a scriptwriter, a published author and a channel 4 researcher amongst others and they (apparently not always but often) eat together. So it was that I happily ate great food in the company of about 7 or 8 total strangers but felt utterly at home.

Sadly the most pressing reason I was in London, to sit a 6 hour entrance exam, had received little attention and I devoted Thursday to studying as best I could given my limited resources. Friday soon rolled round and despite the hardest exam I've ever sat (2 hr humanities paper, 2 short essays and a 3 hr science paper) I got to the end. Then I met up with Fran and another mate from India I haven't seen for at least 3 years, Sam. He was in fine form and is about to start a phd in Manchester on environmental policy in China. We also met Tom, a friend of Sam's I'd only met once before 8 years ago but at once reconnected with and had great chat with. Pub was followed by great, and cheap, pizza another pub and then a club (by which time I'd decided £3 a pint was bloody cheap for a club) before night bussing home to Fran's and sleeping like the dead. Fran left early doors to meet her boyfriend in Swansea and I trotted around London for a bit before catching a flight back to Madrid. Another long week, tiring but bloody satisfying.

Fran's place

running to stand still

So much more needs to be said than I will here. Had more guests staying, Garry and Lorraine, and managed to cram a hell of a lot of stuff into a short space of time. Not only have they managed to visit almost every Mango store in Madrid (and there are a LOT) but they've also been to the Prado, Reina Sofia twice, Caixa Forum, Retiro twice, done the bus tour, seen the Egyptian temple, the Palace, the Opera and seen the infamous ladies of Casa de Campo on a run! The highlight, thus far at any rate, was visiting our mate Jose's village 2 hrs from here. Portillo is in the midst of a fiesta and in Spain that means lots of drinking, cheesy stage shows and bulls. Officially it started on Friday but they had a pre-fiesta fiesta on Thursday. (what can I say, they like to party) We arrived Monday night, the fiesta runs for 8 days, and saw the main bull run of the fiesta. Beforehand we had thought about doing it, I've only done one before and that was a few years but when we saw the route, very narrow streets and very few exit points, and Jose's mum's face when we told her (aghast) we reconsidered.

There are different types of bull runs, the one I'd done before had been the 'little' ones so I have to admit the word when I heard Jose's mum say 'gigantes' I thought better of taking part. In the event there were *only* 2 and they ran back and forth at a canter rather than a charge. Unlike the runs you see in Pamplona they set off at different times and mosey up and down the streets while people try to get them worked up. The locals were disappointed how boring it was this year but we were all pretty excited. Tuesday saw another bull event, this time the locals rode on horseback herding the bulls from the outlaying fields up a steep hill to the town square. Only one bull made it up as the other had other ideas and pissed off back into the fields, albeit after injuring someone (again *only* 2 injuries and a dead horse this year...) As we walked towards a bar with some disheartened locals we managed to end up on the street the bull who had made it up the hill was taking centre stage on. It only took a few moments to realise what everyone was looking at and scarper but as the tonne of beef made small dashes at people we started getting closer and closer. I daresay we would have got closer yet except whenever you tried to run back through the metal gate fences some fat old boy would get his ass through but then stop and block your path, it certainly added spice to an already exciting activity. Eventually the bull headed for the bull ring and we made it to the bar.

Pretty awesome week, great company and a lot of fun tomorrow I head to London to see old friends, go to an open day sit an exam and see my Auntie from Australia I haven't seen in 7 years! Another busy week then.


They were pretty big


Note man in window...


Start of Tuesday


The only one who made it


Friendly once you get to know him


Locals try to get to know him


Bull returns gesture


Contemplative


Proof I've actually done one (and yes I was bloody pegging it!)

night and day

To say this camp was better than the last is a slight understatement; it was Asda own brand beans compared to the Heinz variety. I lucked out with a really good class and we covered (well I made them talk about) immigration, religion, race, homosexuality and other major topics that seem to crop up here in fairly one-sided ways. (A view which in itself is biased!) Anyway after some probing questions, unusual examples and real life experiences I think a few more young minds are open to challenging the way things are versus the way they could be.

Chatting about immigration I asked if anyone knew any immigrants? A few said there were lots of Moroccans in their town but didn't really know any immigrants.

"None at all?"
Nah, not really.
"Except me of course?"
That's different...

So it went until we established race was a major factor in seeing immigrants as bad or dangerous. I asked if they knew Lance (another teacher at the camp who is African American) they did so I asked if someone had stolen a bag and it must have been Lance or I that took it, who stole the bag? A few more lightbulbs blinked into life.

Well until Tana, the Director who was sitting in on the debate, told them I probably stole it, lol!

Rambling here but I was genuinely very proud of my little group and pretty sad to see them go :'(

must dash some *sniff* thing in... my eye

ghost town

Another bank holiday so everyone's away, Carla, Alex, Sandra, the rest of Madrid except me. I've got another camp which I leave for on Sunday fingers crossed it's better than the last one although as Alec pointed out I didn't actually write much about it except the food was bad. Well it was bad! Anyways I think I've sorted everything I need to do on the internet, our connection in the house is still goosed mind you it's only been 10 days (!). Bastards. Sat the first of my entrance exams for uni yesterday went much better than anticipated; the practice one I'd downloaded was nails. To the point where I couldn't see how it was physically possible to complete it in the time allowed, I was seriously thinking of jacking it in- it just didn't seem feasible. Anyway went fine although next one is much harder and cost a lot more to sit, I've sold the LeMond to fund it. I never even rode it :'(




Think I'll go for a longer pedal tomorrow, only managed a couple hours since got back because of the heat but it's been a lot cooler last day or so. Until then I shall indulge in some English language tv and write my personal statement for uni. Fun times.

disconnected

It's been a while but I'm back in the tourist office exploiting their free wi-fi as our phone and internet hasn't worked since we got back from Scotland. Despite spending 30 euros on mobile phone credit to call and ask what's happening and when it'll work again we're no further forward. The shitty service is unbelievable, they refuse to reimburse the money we've spent calling them because we used our mobiles (eh we don't have a fricking landline because it's broken) and they can't tell us when the problem will be sorted. Awesome. Welcome back to Madrid.

Leave on Friday for the next camp, fingers crossed it's better than the last. Also paid (ahem well Carla has paid) the £200 entrance exam fee so I can apply, not even get in just apply, to study medicine at 2 of my 4 choices of university. So the gorgeous LeMond is up for sale. I didn't even get to ride it :'(