16 - 20 Jan: Back to lower altitudes

Mon - I was washer woman and Waitrose shopper.  Assembled my new bike and gave it a ride, gears were fine to get up Shire Lane, but I started to puff.  I will have to get serious about hills for the Raid.

Charge Juicer Mid 2011 - Tiagra Triple: click on picture for shop (if its still for sale)

A classic.  It is steel (springy for the nasty roads around here and stable fast descents) and all black with understated decals. It was not easy to find one with a triple chain set at a reasonable price that isn't cheap and nasty.  The posture is like in the picture (plus pedals of course!), I'll have to get used to bending down more aerodynamically, my other bikes have a more upright position.  This is the last bike I expect to buy, now I'll weed out the others so the garage looks less like a cave with stalactites of bikes hanging from the ceiling.

Friends of Chorleywood Common meeting in the evening.

Tue - Frosty sub zero morning, but decided to tog up hand runs round Common.  Very pleasing result - 5k in 35 mins at a 6.99 min/km pace - fastest so far, and felt fine.  What a difference to 6 months ago.

Brian came round to discuss turning the bathroom into a wet room - I like the idea of a digital shower (Aqualisa Axis).  he will do it whilst we are away in Feb.  Then to Ikea to procure under cabinet LED lighting for kitchen, and to Tesco to buy Neon Android phone for £79 - I can't face paying £600 for an iPhone (my Blackberry screen failed in Chamonix and it will not recover) - should do the trick of getting emails on the go, and its fun to find out about Android.

Fitted light, cricking my neck as you have to lie upside down on the worktop to work on it.

Sang some Choraline for the pieces we are doing tonight at Choir.  Went OK.

Wed - 45min spin at William Penn, then a short 15 mins swim, my arms and neck ached from fitting the light yesterday so I took it easy and stopped before I got irritated with myself.

Played a lot with loading iPhone lookalike apps on the Android phone.  Not as sleek or slick or as fast or as consistent and integrated as the iPhone but for £79 I'll put it with that.

Thu - Wet, drizzly and warmer.  Dr M off to do exam stuff at RCA, we just got down for the 7:23 in time, having thought trains were at 30 past as 'normal'.  7:28 met line was cancelled.  Clearly nothing is normal around the commute peak hours.  Then I went for 55 mins swim.  Didn't count the lengths as I was day dreaming most of the time and planning fox and chicken scenarios to get transport to/from Pyrenees and Spain in Sept with bike.  Much less aching than yesterday, and ear seems to be back to normal DV.

Weather cleared and sun peaked out of clouds, so decided to go for a run.  When changing I realised I had left my googles at William Penn, so ran there to see if they had been handed in or could be found. So sad, they hadn't, and I really liked them and can't buy them anywhere again.  5.5km and I ran pretty fast there, short break then ran back though walked a few mins up the hills.  No Garmin as the batteries ran out.  Then 3rd shower of the day, and change to go out to Sadlers Wells Nutcracker:

Thanks to Branson for yet again driving and with his unerring 'find-a-parking-place' capability.  Nice meal at The Brassiere (renamed from the Fish Restaurant) in St Johns Street.  Ballet was light and enjoyable, but I preferred the heavier Covent garden version.  Afterwards, having by coincidence met Angela (of Helen Odell wedding fame), we were taken backstage by the Christian Wallace to see the gadgets and props.

Fri - G to hair, then eye appointment in Watford, then to M&S for me to buy some trousers, with success.

In evening took Lulu to Heathrow to catch her flight to Sydney.