photoshoot

Accompanied by some decent music.
Thank you friend for introducing it, today.
:)

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x17av8t_jose-gonzalez-cycling-trivalities_music 

i don't have many notes this week. I'm sorry! I supply photoGRAPHIC wallpapers...

two lips

moody

Lord Admiral

THE best view

powderblueeeee

SS

Hidden Cathedral

A Weeeeeeel... 

fair competition

high ball stepper

I open with a TEEEEEWNN! Jack White provides such anticipation ahead of releasing his second album, by offering this rockin’ instrumental. Perfection? Thank you Jack.

My  intial note, this week is a cryptic reminder for me to rant.

Nike Air

I refuse to name, personally, but instead I complain about the store. Waitrose in Surbiton, is an amazing supermarket, and I continue to use. However, I was left exhasperated, earlier in the week. I was waiting to access the ‘disabled/baby changing toilet’. I was outside, accepting the fact, but made myself convinced that the only ‘wheelchair accessible loo’ was being wrongly used, by an able-bodied customer (as this is regularly the case). Wrong, but I accept. 5 minutes, I’m still waiting. Hmmmpf! I tap on the door, no response. No sound. I return to my ‘waiting spot’… The door opens! Hooo ray! To my utter astonishment, not only is the man able-bodied, without accompanying a baby, he is wearing a Waitrose uniform!! A member of staff!

I am in no rush, but sheer disbelief.

Although I see no baby, I ask him ‘Where’s the baby?’ He looks at me, puzzled. I read to him the sign, explaining those who may use the loo. I look in despair at his uniform,  and point my eyes to the ‘Waitrose’ sign, in desdain. He tries to tell me that he used it because ‘the other one was busy’. Hmmm, ok. Wrong, but ok, but WRONG!!!

Grrrrr. Wonderful facts of wheelchair life!

OK, I ensure that this blog is positive, so I want to share giving my congratulations to Sir Bradley Wiggins.  A 9^th placed finish, ahead of Tom Boonen, at Paris-Roubaix, is an amazing result. I consider myself quite a big cycling fan, but I cannot remember any Tour de France winners, also with such a good Paris-Roubaix palmares. I am 29, born 1984, so forgive me if I have missed anyone?...

  

I admit that I am a coffee addict, so watched much of the race courtesy of Eurosport, on my phone, outside a café, last Sunday, in the sun!

Pics, I managed to capture, include Boonen attacking (with about 60km to go), and above, Mathieu Ladagnous, displaying my favourite kit, that of Francaise Des Jeux.

More music. Both, female acts, but very different.

Pins, I first heard Radio6Music,  album out now.

Thursday, I visited central London again. I love my iPhone. I take it everywhere and am constantly using it as a camera! When sunny, and art-deco architecture is viewable, I snap away, at joy.

I started off at Surbiton, obviously!

I turn around, and spot Bank by the roundabout! I am stunned that I have never really looked at this before. To be investigated.

I get to London, knowing that I wish to head for Fleet Street. On the way however, I stop off at Somerset House (below). The shot below is taken just before two girls arrive and take their own photos of the same shot. However they are shooting each other (fair enough). They are both standing off-centre!

I cannot believe it. I call out, telling them that are committing a crime.

A ‘crucifixion’, is what I call it! I explain why, and offer to take a photo of/for them both.

There is even a flagpole pointing towards where you stand! Tut tut.

Art Deco classic, the Telegraph building, Fleet Street.

I finish, by rambling about coffee. My note,

double shot is cheating?

Whilst coffee is amazing, beautiful, and I love it, it must have a negative side. Too much of anything is bad. I know this, and readily accept that ‘too much coffee’ is bad. A double-shot coffee, tastes absolutely perfect, but there is no wonder at this, it’s twice as powerful! Twice as ‘positive’, must mean twice as ‘negative’.

It is like EPO (erythopoetin), for professional cyclists. By having one shot of coffee, it is the fair standard amount. But now that there are cafes wanting to increase their sales, they provide double shots, to the innocent, unknowing customer. They do taste amazing, but this is not fair. They are not playing fair competition!

Like EPO, when one ‘races at a higher level’, everyone has too. Is society prepared to make the jump, to having stronger coffees?

nothing

This is another post typed early (Thursday), outside 'live'. I am sat outside, by the river in the sunshine. Coffee does not accompany, I am not in heaven yet!

I am noticing a problem. it is too bright and I cannot see what I type, so 'apologies'! By living so close to the equator, I should be more used to this problem! I joke.

Ok, serious now. I awoke the other night startled by what I thought I was remembering.

I remember kicking my bike out of the way!

I awoke, and then immediately reached for my phone to notify this unique recall. Truthfully, I don't know how real it was, but when I contemplate the issue, it seems quite possible that it was in fact, so real.

Seven and a half years ago...

meow

As last weekend Spartacus (Cancellara) won Der Ronde (Tour of Flanders), he has got to be a favourite to conquer The Hell of the North (Paris-Roubaix), on Sunday. Unusually, the race is also being targeted by Sir Bradley Wiggins. So, I know who I'm cheering for... Hmmm, the knight will need his shining armour as he battles through a cobbled hell.

C'MON BRAD!!!

Now, it is Friday afternoon, and I finish typing.

Every now and then, I stop, and the truth hits me hard in the face. It hurts me, but it startles me when, I begin to think where I was and the things that I have passed through in the past seven years.

Crazy.

There is no way anyone would have predicted accurately, anything. Please learn, and accept that nothing, nothing, NOTHING, is certain for anybody.

Life is full of waves, rising to crests, but for crests to exist, there must be falls to troughs. I realize that I regularly seem to create symbolic language relating life, to cycling through mountains, but no. Everyone’s fate is much more free flowing, deep, with endless waves of crests and troughs. Whilst we all must focus on positives, riding the waves, beware, it can be a slippery, slidy rope down.

Life’s an ocean.

tomorrow...

de l'autre source

Blog :

We have to live life for the moment 'now'. I wanted to plan too much. It was difficult, but I knew that there was a distant purpose to all of my actions. 

Now I understand that we cannot 'design' everything. Things happen. We do not control everything. We can experience everything, but cannot have 100% control of what we experience. We must, however, learn how to attain the best results of our experiences. There are positives and negatives of everything in life. Although we must recognise both sides, it is to our advantage if we focus on positives.

My week’s first note, introduces the post, ‘above’. It may be viewed as very ‘self-absorbed’, by myself, but hey did you check the name of the blog?

It can be argued that I am very superstitious, and this is very true. I believe that everything can be viewed differently, always. There are constants though.

For example, hehe, black cats. I was travelling to work on Wednesday morning, when…

…Black cat left to right, sees me, halts and turns to walk away.

I was left astounded, pondering what this could mean. The black cat did not cross my path in any particular direction, it actually made a conscious decision against doing such! I was flummoxed.

Accessibility. Hmm, hehe. I was learning earlier this week, whilst essentially ‘teaching’. I was teaching a French staff member at one of ‘my’ cafes, how to position the access ramp. They had it fine but, my missing French term, was for ‘upside-down’. I told them in English, but was then taught to use  the term ‘del’autre source’. So there, ‘de l’autre sorce’ means ‘upside down’!

Maintaining the theme, I like to drink an espresso + water, instead of a black coffee, or ‘Americano’.

A cappuccino how it is supposed to look:

Although many of us enjoy trying to design our lives, we must not.

Life just happens. Don't try and design your fate.

My penultimate note of the week, is not an instruction, more, a bit of advice.

 Preemptive politeness works!

I spend my current life in a wheelchair, and I feel comfortable with often using my tactic of ‘pre-emptive politeness’ works well. If you start off, by setting a good mood between yourself and another person, they will automatically feel under pressure to be nice and helpful in return (mwahahaha!). I do realize that I am very fortunate in being able to negotiate issues in doing such, but this is such an obvious fact of life, you are seriously missing out, if you cannot do such.

I have been cycling on my gym-bike a lot recently, noticing a slight improvement every time. I feel, however that I may have reached a ‘limit’, or ‘peak’. I cycle for 20min periods, varying total distances reached by hundreds of metres, most days. I had found that the most effective accompanying sounds are that of Erick Morrillo. Anyway, I have ‘peaked’. I try to beat my current record, missing out by ten metres! Twenty minutes of cycling, to miss out by such a small margin, shows me that I am at my max!

A couple of pics from last week's trip on the Southbank...