La Piola and cycling to work

So yesterday, after we had been for our run and watched the Wimbledon tennis final between Nadal and Djokovic, Fruitfingers and I decided to take a stroll seeing as the weather was so warm, sunny and generally glorious. We had only been walking a few minutes when Fruity suggested we eat out seeing as it was approaching teatime.
We decided that we would walk to Newland Avenue (a popular area of Hull generally inhabited by lots of students and an increasingly vibrant cafe/coffee house scene) and see where we fancied eating once we got there. After walking past a few places we like, we decided to experience a new place 'La Piola' a restaurant/cafe/bar, a venue we had been wanting to try out for a while.
We entered the restaurant and asked to see the menu and deciding that the prices suited us, we chose to sit out front on the veranda in the sunshine, in a nice spot with partial shade.
After a few minutes a very friendly waitress came and took our drinks order (a bottle of house white) and a short while later we supped wine and chilled water and awaited our meals. Fruitfingers ordered a simple pasta dish of Linguine, tomatoes, cream, mushrooms and pancetta and I ordered the Pizza Deviola - topped with red onion, fresh chilli, Oregano, and lemon soaked Olives. The food was reasonably priced and a standard portion size and tasted absolutely fantastic!!! Usually when I order a pizza out, I feel a little bit like I'm missing out on experiencing something a little more special to mark the occasion of eating out and not just something I could have ordered from a takeaway, but this pizza was something special and taste wise, I could not fault it. Fruity also enjoyed her pasta, of which I had a little taste and concurred, it too was a tasty and very enjoyable dish. Definitely a place to go again and I'm certain we will! Later we took a stroll back home and inevitably drank another bottle of wine.

So today is Monday and this meant back to work! Although I wasn't looking forward to another week of late finishes due to the day being unintentionally dragged out by the joys of training new starters and delays due to the plant standing down for a Cyanide charge, I was looking forward to trying out my new bike on the way to and from work. So I didn't find it too difficult to arise from my eternal pit of sleep and tiredness.
The ride in at 05:30 was nice although a bit tough, due to my thighs being very sore from the weekends jogging escapades, and when I left at 15:45 the ride home was a speedy dream! My other ride is described by my colleagues as an armchair on wheels, my new bike....a multicoloured razor blade! I now look forward to meeting up with Nick and Col from East Coast Bicycles and other customers tomorrow night for a single speed jaunt around the streets of Hull, ending in a beer or two at Pave bar.

Failures, Fights, Fitness and My Fender

So last night I went to my friend Coop Coopers house to watch the Haye v Klitschko boxing match, I had already been to the shop and bought myself 8 beers to take with me and when we arrived after getting a lift with friends Grant and James via a takeaway stop off, the first obvious thing to do was open a beer and talk about manly stuff such as Coopers latest DIY projects and general rubbish. When the other guys had arrived (Frosty, Edgy and Matt) we migrated to the living room beers in hand and Coops revealed that despite inviting us round to watch the fight a week ago, he hadn't actually ordered the fight. So for the next hour 5 of us repeatedly rang the sky box office lines trying to get through but failing miserably, all the while telling Coops that his organisational skills needed to be improved, and recounting tales of his other epic failures, much to our amusement.
At half nine we made the decision to ring up some pubs and watch it there. Darley's was the nearest choice and we set off beer in hand for the 15 minute walk. Once at the pub, Coops bought us all a round of beer or two, to make up for his failings.
The boxing itself was rubbish and I ached longingly for a return to the good era's of boxing, such as the 80's and the Marvelous Marvin Hagler's, the Sugar Ray Leonard's, the Tyson's etc.
After the match we had another beer then walked back to Coops house and James who wasn't drinking, drove us home!

I awoke today feeling a little rough after the many beers the night before and thought the best thing to do was get out for another 4 mile run, which we completed in 39min 50sec. I found it easier then yesterday, despite stopping a few times for Fruitfingers to stretch out and catch her breath and feeling a little hungover, the jog felt good and I felt better for doing it...after a shower that is! We even had some bonus entertainment as we ran past a group of people doing community service, removing graffiti under the supervision of a Police officer.

My agenda for today is to get back into playing my guitars, my lovely Fender 'Big Apple' Stratocaster and my acoustic Yamaha Compass. First job was to get onto Ebay and buy some new strings, then I picked up my acoustic and started reacquainting myself with the finer joys of playing music.

I also aim to watch a few more episodes of Game of Thrones before the days end.

New Bike

So I was at work yesterday when I received a text from Fruitfingers saying she had a surprise waiting for me when I get home, of course I was excited, I love surprises, who doesn't? So when the end of my shift came, I jumped on to my Electra 'Hellbilly' Cruiser and slowly made my way home. I had been wondering and trying to guess what my surprise was since she had sent me the message earlier and had not had any ideas at all until I was riding past East Coast Bicycles on the way home. I had been into the shop a few weeks ago and spoken to Nick the owner about buying a new single speed and subsequently layed down a deposit on a particular bike that I liked.
As I passed the shop I noticed my soon to be new bike was gone from the window display, of course it hadn't been sold, there was only one explanation (it's a small shop and he had not put a new bike in it's place, therefore ruled out that he had just placed it further into the shop) Fruitfingers had obviously bought me my new bike and taken it home to surprise me. I was very excited at this point and increased my peddling rate, to arrive home even quicker!
As I came through the front door it was there in front of me, in all it's colourful glory, I put my other bike away, gave Fruity a big kiss and said thankyou and was just about to fly out the door to take it for a spin after a quick visit to the shop for a photo (Nick always takes a photo of his customers with their new bikes) when I received a call from my friend Alex who was on a flying visit to Hull with his wife Gina and was just outside my house and in need of a cuppa! So I sat there and chatted with Alex and Gina for about 45 minutes until they had to leave, then grabbed my new bike and off I went!!! All in all a very pleasant and lovely end to an awful week!

Started watching Game of Thrones last night, waited until the full series had been aired so I could watch it all at once (or at least over a few days) and I have to say I'm impressed so far, it's looking very promising although I have not read the books and have no idea where it's going!

Today I woke up still feeling lethargic and also restless at the same time so after the old folks had been over for a lunch time barbecue, Fruitfingers and I decided to go for a 4 mile run. Fruity was struggling from the start and I was struggling to keep at a slow enough pace to stay together as my natural running pace was trying it's hardest to pull me along faster! When we arrived home 40 min 24sec later, I decided as a cool down to take my new bike out for a 10 minute ride at a decent pace. I felt very good when I arrived back home!

Time now to get a shower and ready for a visit to Coopers house tonight for the boxing!!!

Spartacus and Lathargy

Well I have finished Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, the follow up mini series and prequel to Spartacus: Blood and Sand, and I have to say I was very impressed with both series, the nudity and violence was of course an enjoyable aspect, but it was the plotting, scheming, the twists and the building climax of the two series which kept me glued to my seat! I'm looking forward to the next series with anticipation and excitement and cannot recommend this programme highly enough, but must now move on to the Lord of the Rings-esque Game of Thrones!

I have been feeling a considerable amount of lethargy and tiredness at work this week, not sure if it was the effects of the weekend taking it's toll on me, or perhaps it was the hot weather or maybe a bug that's had me out of sorts. Whatever the cause, I'm glad that I'm not on the rota to work this Saturday, I definitely need a full weekend to spend with my wonderful wife and crazy cats.

It's been a welcome relief this week to have been training the new guy Nic at work, he's a step above some of the people I've had to train over this last year and it makes life easier when you're training someone who grasps what your telling them and why!

Looking forward to the weekend, it's the Haye V Klitschko fight on Saturday evening and I'll be heading to my friend Coops house to watch it with the guys and a few tasty beverages!

One final thought...is it really worthy front page news that Cheryl Cole has dyed her hair a different colour??? Really, the British obsession with "celebrity" never ceases to amaze me, but whatever makes people happy I suppose!

Anyway, as I sit here in my Danger Mouse Slippers, I have more important things to be getting on with, such as the Chicken Jalfrezi and cold beer that awaits!!!

BBQ weather is back!

Once again I try to get back into some form of regular blogging after another lengthy lay off!!!
It will be yet another thing for me to try and split my time doing, when I already struggle to find time to do other things I enjoy, such as watching movies, getting out and about with my camera, trying to learn Spanish, playing my guitars and Ukulele, playing games on my XBox and catching up on TV series that I like (although I don't actually watch live TV regularly)
Currently I'm watching House Season 1 and Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, with Game of Thrones, Rome, The Pacific and Breaking Bad waiting in the wings!

I like to read wich I also struggle to find time for, and as well as currently reading Born to Run by Christopher McDougall and the Nights Dawn Trilogy by Peter F Hamilton, I'm also waiting to start reading Game of Thrones!

Only today do I feel back to normal after getting extremely drunk at the weekend, yes it's Barbecue weather again and Fruity and I thought it would be a very good idea to go out and buy a BBQ and invite a few friends over for an afternoon of booze and meat, of which both were consumed in excess, which I was reminded of by the fact that my body can no longer take the punishment!
On Sunday we decided to take a walk around the Humber bridge country park to clear our heads, we thought a bit of fresh air would do us good rather then sitting in all day feeling sorry for ourselves and it worked too!

Fruithawk playing the water flute

December...destroyer of finances!!!

Still no internet so I'm being very sneaky on another computer! Christmas is nearly upon us, it's been a very expensive month already, it was our first wedding anniversary on the 4th and then it was Fruithawk's birthday on Sunday. Both occasions required me to take her out for dinner and drinks afterwards, not to mention presents and champagne with breakfast, and having people around for a small lunch time party, it all adds up! The cats really got into the party spirit though!

The days events went something like this.....

I woke up early on Sunday still full of cold and chest infection, I got up and proceeded to blow up 20 ballons, then put up a happy birthday banner on the wall. I then placed all her presents and cards on the coffee table with a sprinkle of happy birthday and star confetti.

I then cooked a breakfast of sausages, bacon, eggs and toast and and placed it in the living room with the champagne.

I called for her to get up and she came down stairs and had breakfast and opened her cards and presents.

We finished the champagne and were then in the party mood (sort of, I still was not feeling great) and listened to her new CD's whilst preparing to have a few friends over for some nibbles and drinks (and jelly and ice cream of course!) and then we hit the rum and wine.

A few short hours later we hopped onto a bus into town and I took her to see Burlesque which she has been itching to see for a few months, due to it featuring her fave artist Christina Aquilera.

Then we headed to another part of town and I took her to a Moroccan restaurant iv'e been wanting to visit for ages called Marrakech. The food was superb and I think it is my new favorite place to eat in Hull! I opted for the Lamb Tagine and Fruithawk had a Red Snapper grill accompanied with a bottle of wine, we just had a main as we were still full from the lunch time party food.

We then stayed out and got ridiculous and worked our way through another 4 bottles of wine in the various bars and cafe's down from the restaurant.

We headed home and the following day she stayed at home feeling worse for wear whilst I had to get up and go to work (feeling worse for wear). That's the difference between having an actual job and someone who does a PhD. :(