Crisps & Soup

Homemade Crisps / Potato Chips

Yesterday I decided to try to make crisps - or potato chips as the American's call them. I've been wanting to try for a while now and never got around to it, but looking in the cupboard in the morning I discovered half a dozen left over Baby New Potatoes from last weeks dinner so figured it was worth a try to use them up.

Because "simple" is my middle and last name I looked up on the web the best (i.e easiest) way to make them. The first result was to slice them, soak in vegetable oil, then put in the microwave. I was a little bit dubious that this would really work as to my knowledge a microwave oven never makes things crispy, and by their very nature, crisps need to be crispy! But I gave it a go....sure enough they came out soggy and remained so even after dabbing with kitchen toweling and leaving for a while. Into the bin they went.

The two remaining methods are to oven bake or to deep fry. I chose the latter method to try next, basically because anything I put into our oven tends to come out black. I swear the damned things got a nuclear core. Its not just "fan assisted" its got isotopes as well.

I deviated slightly from the YouTube video I watched first as they used a heck of a lot of vegetable oil. I just got my smallest saucepan, put about a cup or sunflower oil in it and heated it up until it bubbled. Having already thinly sliced the potatoes up - I left the skins on as thats where the fibre is - I added them a slice at a time to the pan. Be careful not to overload the pan as its better to do a few at a time.

I guess they took about 5 minutes to cook. Its very easy to tell because they become golden brown - just like crisps, and when you gently move them around with a slotted serving spoon they feel "crispy". Ensure that they are crisp though because the last thing you want is "soggy" ones. Leave any that arent light brown in the pan a little longer and remove the ones which are done onto kitchen towelling to dab them dry. Add another load of potato slices to the pan so this can be frying while youre doing something else.

Next I put the finished crisps into a bowl and seasoned. I did the three batches of crisps I made into three different flavours. The first I sprinkled Paprika over, put the lid on the bowl and shook them to get them all coated. The next batch I made I finished off with ground pepper, and the final ones I finished off with just salt.

And that was it. Extremely simple really.


Homemade Vegetable & Bacon Soup

This is something I've been making for a few months now and is an adaption of my sister Madeleine's recipe which was amazingly good. This is my cheapskate method, which the family love anyway.

Serves 6-7 people
The 4 of us eat this and theres enough left over for whoevers at home during the week to eat a bowl for lunch for a few days.

Ingredients:

1.5Kg Carrots
1 head of Broccoli
1/2 a Swede (optional)
2 Beef stock cubes (I use "Kallo" brand)
6 rashers of chopped smoked bacon (streaky is good but any type is ok)
1 tsp dried Ginger
1 pinch of dried Chilli flakes
1 tsp dried Garlic
Salt and pepper to taste
4 tsp of Chicken Tikka Massala powder

You will need a hand blender for this recipe too.

1. Put the stock cubes in a large soup tureen. Add the dried Ginger, Garlic & Chilli.
2. Boil a kettle of water and pour this into the tureen, then stir until all of the stock cubes are completely disintegrated.
3. Peel the Carrots and then top and tail them. You can either slice them and put them into a blender or manually chop them into small pieces with a knife. The choice is yours. I opt for the blender myself a its a long job chopping up 1.5 kilos of the buggers by hand.
Either way, you want them small because you will need to blend them again later on and its easier to do then if they're small.
4. Once all the Carrots are chopped small add them to the pot and place onto the hot plate of the cooker on a high setting. If there isnt enough stock to cover the vegetables, add some more water, but be careful not to add too much.
5. While thats heating up chop up the head of Broccoli. Discard the large stem and add the chopped heads into the pan & stir.
6. Bring the whole lot to the boil and then simmer for about 30 minutes.
7. After this period remove the pan from the heat and hand blend the vegetables. You are after a thick finish to the soup, but the density of it is really up to you.

If you have to, add more water. If there is too much liquid, then either break up a couple of slices of bread into small cubes and blend it in with the soup, or add a couple of large peeled potatoes. They will eventually absorb some of the liquid and then remove and discard them. I usually use the bread solution as its cheap and easy if I have to.

8. Next heat a frying pan, add 1 tsp of oil and add the chopped bacon pieces. Sprinkle over 2 tsp of the curry powder, then stir them around and sprinkle over the remaining 2 tsp of powder. Fry the bacon until its golden brown.
9. Place the cooked bacon equally into 4 soup bowls and ladle the soup over the top.
10 Serve with slices of crusty, buttered bread.

A New Toy

For Valentines Day I bought my wife a Samsung N130 Netbook. I had the idea of getting her one of these way before Christmas, but at the time I already had something else for her so I figured Valentines Day was as good an excuse to get her one than any, plus its ages until her birthday.

Initially I was after the Samsung NC10 which is quite old but all reviews claim is still one of the best for the money. Unfortunately I missed the boat by about 4 days as every shop I went to said things like "oh if only you'd come in last week we had stock then" and "its just been phased out, sorry".

I did manage to find two in PC World locally but they were both display models. In good condition but when I asked how much they'd give me off the retail price for buying one they refused to offer any discount. I actually said to the guy "look I'm here now prepared to buy this. You aren't getting any more in and its a superseded model. Surely its in your interests to sell it?" Still he wouldn't budge, so I walked out disgusted.

Giving up on the NC10 I went for the N130 which is one of the newer models and on the face of it just as good. Most of the online stores had it for the same price so I randomly bought it from Amazon UK.

My wife was delighted with it - much to my relief - and has used it every day since. Mostly she will use it to watch BBC iPlayer, check Ben's school website and generally browse the Internet so its ideal for the job and she can sit in the comfort of her lounge chair while doing so.

Added bonuses to the ownership of one of these is that Ben can do his homework on it from the table rather than at my desk plus maybe Chris will be interested in it or one like it when he gets into University later in the year.

The only issue I had with it was getting the wifi to interface with my router. Fortunately a call to BT Broadband Services sorted this out, although it took about half an hour to remedy and involved the engineer taking over the Netbook remotely. If I'm honest it may have all stemmed from a wrong address I put in there initially but which took her a long time to discover.

Anyway I highly recommend this little Netbook for anyone who just wants to surf and watch video's. You may say "Its not exactly a token of love", however I would reply that it certainly is. Okay its not flowers or chocolates, but those things are fleeting. This has use and shows how much I care about her, which is a heart achingly huge amount that I could never express sufficiently.

Of Holidays & Cupboards

I had a day off work yesterday (Monday). The amazingly good thing about it was that it doesn't come out of my holiday entitlement for this year. Even better, it didn't come out of last years either.

Last week my boss said to me that as it was a little quiet I ought to take the two days holiday entitlement I have left over from last year (it was all supposed to used up by x-mas). I remember saying to him back then that as it was busy I may have to defer one or two days over to this year and he agreed that was okay. Now I'm pretty sure that despite being busy I eventually managed to use up all of my holiday in December, although I never told him this. So he has it in his head that I still have two days left over - well, one day now, I guess. Naturally I tried to come clean and inform him of his inaccuracy however something was sticking in my throat whenever I went to say the words.

Sadly the weather was cold and wet and yet again I decided that going out on a bike was the folly of fools and numpty's. However even that would have been better than what my wife had in store for me. If I had but known that she was plotting for us to go out to B&Q to look at kitchen wall units for the utility room. Bugger! That bike ride was beginning to look quite good now. In fact as the afternoon wore on a miserable ride in the cold and wet was looking decidedly superb.

I hadn't quite realised how expensive a wall carcass (sans doors) for a standard kitchen unit was going to be until I looked at some of the prices. Add that to the fact that we wanted More than one of them, plus doors and it was looking at being well over £100. Now I don't begrudge the fact that we need cupboards in the utility room, Ive thought the same myself before, but its not like they're going to be on display to landed gentry or anything. In fact after a week we wont even look at them in awe. Besides, all you see are the flipping doors, and they're probably the cheapest part! I hate spending money on stuff you never see or that performs a mundane task which when alls said and done, you can do without.

After making sure my wallet was even deeper in my pocket than usual, I was considering making a run for it when I spotted some bookcases on racking. There were singles or banks of 2, 3 or 4 units and they came with separate doors or drawers. The oak veneered bank of 3 were only £19 and at £4.99 a door leaf, if we bought three sets this would work out cheaper than kitchen cupboards and we'd have bigger shelves too. More bang for your buck! So we loaded these onto our trolley and paid for them. My wife kept cheerily saying to me "I've saved you some money dear" every five minutes. My reply to this was "Well no you haven't dear. We've spent money whichever way you look at it, so that's not saving anything, and besides I was the one who saved money if either of us could be construed to have done so because it was me who saw the bookcases, not you"

On opening a box to assemble one of the units it transpired that you have to fit the doors at the same time. Not a problem you may think! But you'd be wrong! You see the bookcase is sold on the assumption that you wont want doors on the fronts, so there are no holes for hinges, magnets, etc and all these needed to be drilled. Suffice to say that it took me almost all afternoon just to assemble one of them. Even then I didn't get around to hanging it on the wall, so it looks like I know what I'll be doing next weekend; building the other two units and hanging all three of them up - once Ive located where the studs are in the plasterboard drywall.

I guess the moral of the weekend is this; Don't put off something shitty because it's shitty, because something even shittier will in all probability come along that you'll have to do.

Let Us Spray

So as promised here are a couple of photos of the bike in its two coat primed state. My plan was foiled this weekend by the constant interminably cold & breezy weather preventing me from doing any more spraying.

"Why are you spraying outside?" I hear you ask. Well the answer is that I wasn't when I did these two coats the other week. Instead I hung the frame from the rafters of the sun lounge at the rear of our house and sprayed it there. Everything was going great until at the end of the day when I went to get it down I asked Ben to assist me. As soon as he stepped into the room he said "Dad it's awfully dusty in here".

I was about to brush the comment aside with a jokey "yeah that's because your mother sits on her bum eating cakes all day" (a total lie of course), when I looked around properly for the first time and saw......"bloody hell!!!"

It was only then that something triggered in the back of my mind of spraying my VW Beetle over 20 years ago and the bright Apple Green bogeys and nasal hair I got, plus the green dust everywhere. Back then that was in my dads garage. This was a completely different kettle of fish and a bit of a bollock too. Mrs Kung Foo was going to go absolutely &%*$ing spare when she got home from work!

Quick as a flash we had the bike frame unhung and I got a bowl of water and some wipes. As soon as I started moving things about I could see the difference by the white rings under pots and the concrete floor was decidedly dirty looking. Well I did all of the main areas she was bound to notice; the skirting's, the cills, anything that was supposed to be white, and even did the floor - well mostly - and I am pleased (and relieved) to say that a week later on she still hasn't noticed. I have no doubt that one day she will spot the grey tint to something and investigate further and if I cant do a proper job by then I am doomed.

Especially because that night when standing in the sun lounge, she asked me where I had sprayed the frame & I said "tsk! outside of course. I'm not that stupid. It'd make a real mess in here".

Bits n Bobs

Got some new bits for Bens bike under development today at Wilkinsons - a really cheap shop that seems to sell practically anything.

Drinks bottle cage £1.63

Front brake cable £0.00

Rear brake cable £1.04

Front mud guard £2.17

Rear mudguard £4.99

From the receipt it looks like they didnt charge me for one of the brake cables. The mudguards are the mountain bike type; rear fixes onto the seat post and the front clips around the bottom bar. I only went in there for the bottle cage as it suddenly occured to me that it would be a prudent idea to drill the holes for it before I finish the spraying in case of chips and scratches, but the other items were too good an opportunity to pass by.

I'll post some pics of the frame so far this weekend.

I also noticed they have front and rear lights, inner tubes and tyres in there also which may come in handy in the latter stages of the project. Miles cheaper than Halfords anyway because I bought a front and read mudguard pack from Halfords a few weeks ago at £14.00.

Free on-line Mountain Bike Magazine

http://www.imbikemag.com/

Thats right. Issue 3 is out now and you can browse all 155 odd pages of it online, with movies and hotlinks inside it, plus you can also see the previous issues.

Enter your details to register if you like it and you can get the issue emailed to you free every 2 months.

There isnt much you get for free these days, but this looks like a good idea to me and from what Ive seen of issue 3 so far, its quality stuff. Good to watch on your lappy on the train, plane or even while you should be working :)

Bike Part Problem

Throwing this out there in case anyone can assist me.

I'm about ready to respray Ben's new frame but before I do I wanted to get some cable "clips" for the frame. To explain; the frame itself has no eyes on it for routing the brake or gear cables from front to rear. It looks like it never had any either, which is unusual afaik.

Normally I'd expect to see one or two at each end of the crossbar, and a couple on the rear of the frame, as well as a "stop" one for when the cable ends at the gear/rear wheel hub. But nothings there and no signs of anything having been used.

I popped to the local specialist bike shop and they told me they'd never heard of them being retro fitted to a frame - always coming pre-welded on. Now I'm certain I've seen a blog by someone somewhere where they bought these to fit by drilling the frame and screwing them in, but damned if I can find it nor can I see anything in Google to fit their description.

Obviously being a complete cake-head, I dont actually know what they're called, and I guess I could use plastic cable ties but they just look a bit unsightly and wouldnt hold the cables away from the frame which could result in rattling noises.

So can anyone track them down or at least tell me what they're called?

Murder on My Cycle Route

Before I get to the story, my apologies for generalising here, but I always have the feeling that life in the USA is fraught with gun battles, murder, muggings, and various other nefarious goings on. This is probably wholly untrue and simply my imagination from watching too much T.V. So I was going to start with an apology to any Americans reading if this story didn't seem to be an unusual event.

I wasn't really shocked to hear that someone had been killed in Reading this week, as it does happen occasionally. However this morning on local radio I heard it was an 18 year old woman, murdered, stabbed, and her body was found on a path next to the River Kennet in Whitley. On reading the local news site it transpires that it was on my favoured bike route where I do a circuit of Green Park (you can see my photos of this route in previous posts).

I cycle right under the above underpass which the main road passes over. Indeed I have even taken Ben on this route a couple of times also. Its stunning to think that something so ghastly has happened virtually on my doorstep.

The underpass has a rather steep path either side of the tunnel, and its always been a great place to get some speed up but despite it being only short is quite dark underneath even in daylight and there has always been a little bit of me which thought "nasty" people may be sheltering there. To be honest this helps somewhat in my need for speed through this bit.

Fortunately due to the inclement weather we've been having over the past month or so I haven't taken this route on any cycling rides. I would consider another route too from now on.

Apparently the police have arrested a 19 year old man in connection with the murder and if he's responsible I hope he gets life. My thoughts go out to Asha's family & friends. Its a terrible thing to happen - to end someones life for no reason whatsoever other than your own evil.

Here's the story http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/8469488.stm

Interesting Cycle Blogs

In an attempt to while away the boredom brought on by the freezing temperatures, snow, ice and generally inclement weather for sensible people to cycle in, I have been trolling the internet for things to keep my mind "cycling orientated".

The Guardian Newspaper

I came across this interesting blog page http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/series/bike-blog from The Guardian newspaper devoted to cycling. Not only is it a blog, but it also hosts a podcast which you can listen to on-line or download to your iPod / media player. Its only updated monthly but seems to be well done so far.

Bicycle Tutor

Check out this site! http://bicycletutor.com/ Video tutorials on practically anything you need to know on assembling, maintaining, adjusting and cleaning your wheeled pride and joy. Definitely a bookmark "keeper" in any cyclists web browser.

Both of those sites have links to other cycling related sites, which in turn...you get my drift?

One of the sites which I really wanted to link here I cant find now. Ive no idea where it was or came from but it showed two fantastic video's of an event which takes place in Denmark every year where loads of people in what look like bikes with "bullet shaped" covering shells cycle a long route. As the country has a massive cycle path network this is all done in relative safety, but these futuristic looking bikes (trikes really I suppose) are amazing.

By the way, did you know that in Copenhagen a third of the people there cycle to work, school or University? There are about 217 miles of cycle route around the city, and cyclists have priority over cars and pedestrians at any major junction or traffic lights! They also apparently have a different kind of cycle on the Continent. The most common bike there uses enclosed gears and chain so reducing the need for maintenance caused by dirt. When you consider how grotty exposed deraileur's and chains get, just this somewhat minor difference must be quite a good thing to have.

Long Time - No Post

Been a while since I last updated, pretty much because nothing has really been happening...well except for Christmas (belated merry x-mas all) and welcoming in the New Year (belated happy New Year all).

Today I finished rubbing down the old paint on Ben's bike frame and forks. All those finnicky little areas where the welds and joints are were a pain and rubbing out the surface rust took time. I'll probably give it a going over with some fine wet-and-dry paper before the first coat of primer though. Problem is it's so cold outside I can't spray it properly, and my wife would go ape if I did it indoors. Maybe I'll have a go on the forks and see how the cold affects the finish.

Ben's decided on a mix of red and white for the top coat so looking at some of the bikes in the local shop gave me an idea of a nice split between the two colours.

I bought a front and rear mudguard in the sales, the idea was to use them for my bike but I may keep them to use with his bike - another part I don't need to concern myself about and they look cool. For x-mas he got a trip computer so I will also fit that to his new handlebars when I get it all finished.

Talking of x-mas I got some neat cycling stuff. Firstly I got a 365 page book of cycling and walking circuits throughout the UK. Obviously a lot of them are way too far to travel to but theres some decent ones locally and a lot within driving distance which will be nice when the weather warms up, which brings me to the second - and probably best prezzie which was a bike carrier for the car.

Following Christmas day it rained for a few days and was freezing, but a couple of days ago I managed to try the carrier out on the back of the car and was pleased and a bit relieved that it fits perfectly and is as solid as a rock. I can see some great cycling adventures coming up for us with this present. No longer are we restricted to how far we can cycle from the front door, but we can go out for the day to far away places and ride with packed lunches and do what real men do in the woods and stuff - which I am reliably informed by Ben is to go for a poo and wipe with leaves!

As for my own cycling, well I havent been out on my bike all holiday. I'm gutted! Its been quite busy really and the days have flown by. I'm sure I have put on weight but have not weighed myself recently. Having said that, with the exception of x-mas dinner, I've managed to eat healthily and not overdo it.

So thats it for now - another update in a weeks time, hopefully with more interesting stuff to relate.

Last Man Out

Heavy snow hit the south of the UK yesterday afternoon. We had heavy snow last week on Thursday too and although it was hard it didn't last very long - long enough to cause problems though and with a layer of snow and ice still on many back roads. However yesterdays conditions were exponentially worse.

I was at work in High Wycombe which is basically located in a valley in the Chiltern Hills. This means that to get to work I have to drive up a steep and long hill before going down the other side to get to Wycombe. I got an e-mail from someone passing by Reading whee I live that the snow was falling and that it was 2-3 inches deep. I tried calling home to validate this but could get no answer. Nothing from their mobile phones either, so I waited. 30 minutes later snow began to fall increasingly heavier at work and so I bailed out and headed for home. This was at 4.30pm.

I made it about half a mile, which was all up hill, before I got stuck with the wheels just spinning. People walking down the hill were saying it was like an ice rink at the top and so after trying a little more to make the car go up I gave in and eventually managed to turn around - although it was more like "slide around", and headed back down the hill. I was going to try the main hill out as I figured it would be in better condition but traffic was gridlocked where I was and I couldn't even get back to the office. After parking up I trudged back to work and reached it around 6pm. I found it locked up, no one there. Fortunately I have a key so I let myself in and called home to tell them of the problems. Apparently Reading was similarly gridlocked, all buses cancelled and abandoned in the roads and mobile phone lines jammed.

On a hunch I headed over the road to the local pub and found 4 colleagues in there who were in the same predicament. We sat and drank, chatted and looked out of the windows until around 10pm. The others said they were going to try getting out through the valley which obviated any hills, and I decided to get some food then try the main hill out. If I couldn't make it then Id be staying the night at the office! My main concern was my evening & morning medication, neither of which I had with me.

For speed I went to McDonald's - decidedly dry food even with a coffee to wash it down with. I got a call from one of the guys to tell me that the main hill was closed by the police so I walked back to the car and tried the other hill out that I had attempted previously. No joy; the police had closed that too. Apparently there was too much snow and drivers were leaving cars and lorries everywhere blocking off the escape routes and it was too icy.

On a hunch I tried the next road over the hill along but that was impassable too. Along the way I nearly rear ended another car. There was about 5 car lengths between us as he went to turn a corner at the bottom of a slope and slid, so I applied the brakes gently, lost all traction and slid on down towards him. I was only going about 5 mph but the car just kept sliding and after yanking the hand brake up, jamming the foot brake down, praying to Mustapha I stopped not even a foot away from him. I don't think he even noticed me.

Somehow I got onto a road - don't know its name or even where it was - and a pedestrian told me that it was closed ahead but that I could take some turns and get around the blockage, so I followed his directions and ended up going up a hill in the general direction I needed to get to. Well all I can say is a heartfelt thanks to the residents and pedestrians who were there as there is no way I could have made it without two people pushing the car and another with a shovel clearing the snow from under my front wheels when I got stuck. At about midnight I made it to the top of the hill and the M40 crossover. Snow was hellishly deep at the top. No roads had been gritted and the only possible path cleared was via previous vehicles, but even these tracks were filling up with snow.

I couldn't take it above 20mph maximum before control was lost so I slowly drove down the other side of the hill on a road virtually empty of traffic except for abandoned vehicles and the massive queues the other way. On eventually hitting the M4 motorway I joined it and was pleased to see it had been gritted - the only road I saw gritted that night - but that it was 3 lanes of gridlocked traffic and the hard shoulder crawling with stuck or broken down lorries, cars, etc I must have passed over 100 of them on my way home. I eventually walked in the door at 2am this morning...knackered but quite highly strung.

Needless to say I decided it was prudent to work from home today. We've got about 5 inches of snow on the ground, maybe more. Cars outside our house are stationary again. Kids are going out to build a snowman and have snowball fights in the garden. Happy Christmas :)

The love for your children

Its hard being a dad. No I correct that; its hard being a GOOD dad. This doesn't mean that if you don't try your best you're going to be a bad father as its a little harder to explain than with statements like those.

Take me as an example - and lets be honest about it, this is really all about me! I have Chris who is 19yrs and Ben who is 12yrs. I know I made many mistakes as a father with Chris as he grew up and I deeply deeply regret that I cannot undo those wrongs or make up for them. Despite all of this I love him (and Ben) so much that I would sacrifice my life for them if it was necessary and I hope they love me to a similar - although not quite as reckless self sacrificial - degree.

I got angry with Chris a few times when he was young and I smacked his bottom with my hand. I made him cry, and even though I felt very very bad about it, at the time I felt the reason was justified. I rarely smacked his bottom - maybe only 4 or 5 times in over a dozen years. When I was brought up my mother used to put me over her knee and smack me repeatedly with a wooden spatula when I was naughty. That hurt like hell, but I think the hurt I did to Chris was more emotional than physical. He loved me so much that we would both be crying as we cuddled after it all calmed down, saying sorry to each other and apologising. It used to break my heart to see him so upset but my wife made it clear that I was the one who was supposed to do this discipline stuff in the household with a "wait until your father gets home" kind of attitude.

And yet I have always felt that just beneath the surface hes afraid of me, even today...a bit like layers. The top layer is nonchalance. Just beneath this is fear/concern/anxiety, and then the third layer is love. I see the top layer on a daily basis - heck hes still a teenager, they're all like that. I seldom see the second layer and I hardly ever see the bottom layer.

The other night he was making a cup of tea for us and there was something in his mums cup he was trying to get out - some speck or other - and the continuous "chink chink chink" noise of the spoon was getting on my nerves so I went into the kitchen and said to leave it and I would sort it out. I picked up the mug and threw the contents down the sink and proceeded to make her another cup of tea. I lost my rag with him. I didn't get angry or anything, just told him to leave it and that Id sort it out. He was confused and quite obviously hurt but I was blind to this. I guess I get frustrated and something takes over. It's nothing like Jack Nicholson in "The Shining", its more of a need to sort it out without caring for the other persons feelings. Again it only seems to happen with Chris, but its a failing in me and not him.

My wife took Ben to bed shortly after and came downstairs to tell me Chris was in his bedroom crying. I knew right then that I had hurt his feelings. I realised that I had been an arse and that I had had no right to take out my frustration on him & I went upstairs and we cried together in each others arms. I told him I was a poor father and that I was being nasty for no reason and I was very very sorry. It was nice to hug him as we haven't done that for many years and it was good to let it out. It doesn't make me a good father in any way, but its nice to try to explain to him that I know I am not to him and hopefully help him understand that I try and will in future attempt to try harder.

The reason for his upset turned out to be because his friends had all moved away to go to university, but I think that our tea incident was the impetus for his upset. I really hope that he can make new friends and I am trying to think of something he can do to broaden his social activities. I appreciate his problem and realise its harder than just saying "go out more" but I really want to help him. I love him, even though I may not show it on a daily basis. That part is a man to man thing and men don't really show these emotions well with other men.

As for Ben, well Ben is Ben. He's learned by having an older brother to look up to and I have learned a lot from my parenting with Chris, although I am still learning.

So is there really any such thing as a "good dad"? I'm sure I'm not the only father in the world to lose his temper, to smack a bottom, and is to do such a thing being a bad dad? Is being a good dad something which encompasses more than this? Something which is the whole experience of knowing your children from birth to long after they leave home and unto your death? I don't know the answer, but I know that I want to be better. I also know that no matter how good a dad I am I will always think I could be better, and most of all I want my children to know that I love them with all of my heart until my very last breath on this earth.

Weekly Weigh In & Bike Stripping

Last week = 222.4lb
This week = 222.2lb

The irony of it is that I weighed myself on Wednesday prior to my Diabetic Clinic appointment and I was 220.6lbs.

Whichever way you slice the bread its a crappy weeks worth of weight loss. I didn't go riding at all this weekend which is probably the main reason, as Saturday was spent in town x-mas shopping and today was spent stripping down Ben's forthcoming bike.

So...must try harder! as the teachers would say.

As mentioned, I stripped the bike down. I didn't have a chain breaker tool and I had to split it because the derailleur and front changer thingy had to come off, plus the chain was somehow inside the chain stay. The chain was rusted to death anyway so after trying to use a drift and hammer to knock a pin out I gave in and resorted to chopping it in half with my Mole Grips.

The only thing I haven't managed to suss out is how to get the drive chain cog, crank arm & pedals off. I can undo the crank arm from where it enters the bottom bracket on the opposite side to the drive chain cog and the whole thing is loose and would pull out if the peddle wasn't on but for the life of me I cant get the bugger off. I feel its one of those inverse thread affairs but I've tried both ways. The problem is that now there's nothing really I can grip hold of to put enough leverage onto as the whole bike tries to spin away from me.

There's a guy at work who has stripped and rebuilt bikes before so I'm going to take it into work tomorrow and ask him if he has anything I can use - or better still see if he'll take it home with him to do. The crank arms are in fair condition and a bit of chrome cleaner will take off any of the minor spots of rust so I'd like to reuse them and just buy some blinging peddles.

Ben and I stopped off in Halfords (our local multi-national bike & car shop) on Saturday on the way back from town and we got a tin of spray on primer ready. I also showed him the huge range of finishing colours available and after looking at some of the bikes in the shop he seems to be interested in a blue colour now, although red is still his favoured finish.

I had an idea for a custom made badge for the frame too if I can get a piece of copper plate. I can make a nice design for it using printed circuit board etching fluid and Araldite epoxy it to the head tube.

Temperature today pretty much stuck at 4 degrees C (39.2F) without considering the breeze as well. Working outside on the bike was cold enough let alone going cycling in it. Still I need to do it. Must try harder!

Diabetic Clinic Appointment

I took a trip to the Diabetic Clinic this week for my 6 monthly check up. I was a little concerned as I think I am close to being placed on Insulin instead of the current pill control. I can't think of much worse than having to stab myself with a needle instead of popping a tablet. It just seems like the final corner of a race I really don't want to win. There's no going back onto pills if Insulin injections are started and so it would feel like Id have lost some of my personal control - as much as it is. This is one of the reasons I have started cycling, and I hope turn myself around so I can carry on taking pills for some time to come.

However, getting back to the appointment, I was intending to cycle to the clinic but my crappy cold thwarted that plan and I resorted to driving. I was surprisingly gutted I had to take the easy transport option. It seems that every time I go there I see a different doctor, and this time was no different. After weighing me, measuring my stomach, asking the usual questions about lifestyle etc I was sat in front of a young lady doctor who was really only concerned about my blood pressure being high. Even though it is down on the last test that was done its still something high over something high and she prescribed me a pill to lower it.

I cant take them yet though as after 2 weeks of them I need to get a blood test done to check my kidneys are okay. It seems that in some people they can be harmful and with the forthcoming x-mas period she advised I don't start to take them until after hospital staffing is back to normal after the festive season.

So all is reasonably good. They didn't comment on my weight loss (bastards!) but I don't have my next appointment until May 2010 so I reckon I can lose some significant poundage by then. Recently I have been making mini salads to take to work to eat mid morning in lieu of crisps (potato chips) etc and a Mackerel & cucumber sandwich for lunchtime.

Sods Law

Why is it that in the overwhelming majority of cases, when I book a holiday, that I get sick? Its fundamentally unfair.

I book time off work in order to do things. Plans are made. Destinations plotted and time's agreed. Then as if in the blink of an eye you're full of snot, headaches and its as if you've turned into a moaning hunchback with barely the strength to get up to piss.

On Monday I knew I was getting a cold because I had that raw feeling beginning that's located roughly where you expect the back of your throat meets the nasal branch off passage. I'm sure there's a medical term for it that I cant be bothered to look for. Anyway I expected a cold to occur and by the evening it had developed, but that was nothing compared to what I awoke to on Tuesday morning. It was like I'd aged 50 years. I could hardly breathe and was worn out just turning over in bed.

I spent the whole day - my day off - on the flipping sofa under a blanket. I've lost a layer of skin from my nose because of blowing into tissues. My head still feels like someones thumped it repeatedly and no matter how much I blow and cough I cant get rid of the glop.

In fact I don't think Ive had as bad a cough for some years. Last one I can remember that hurt as much was when the nurses had some kind of tube down my throat and when I coughed they'd whip it up and out to remove the mucus from inside me. It was very painful.

You'd think with 2 Flu jabs in recent months that my body would be at least a little bit immune. Sods Law!

Snack-a-holicking

If I was to attend a meeting of S.A (Snack-a-holicks Anonymous) I'd have to stand up in front of everyone and confess in my humblest voice "I eat snacks".

Fortunately I don't attend S.A, nor do I go to any other dietry meetings such as Weight Watchers, Fat Busters, Lardy Arses or whatever they're called. However I do know I have a problem with snacking. Not at home mind you. If I was to take the day off work I'd not need to snack, and I do less work at home. However at work I nibble like a mouse.

Usually its crisps. For some reason as I sit at my desk, at around 10.00 or 11.00 I need to eat a packet of crisps.

Following on from the "meat free weekend" I have plenty of humous, salsa & carrot sticks left and instead of taking packets of crisps to work I took a selection of the above. Sure enough, come 10.30 I was in a nibbling mood and dug the pots out of the works fridge and started nibbling. Much more pleasant. Much less fattening.

All I need to do now is work my way around to not needing nibbles at all.

A Meat Free Weekend

This weekend I decided that we would go meat free. Just for the weekend mind you!

For Saturday evenings meal I made a thick Leek & Potato soup which we ate sandwiches with.

Sunday was a little more extravagant, and took a darned sight longer to prepare for too. I made Falafel pitta's, stuffed with salad & tomato salsa, and also Hummus dip, salsa dip with carrot and celery sticks.

The pitta's were shop bought wholemeal ones. The carrot sticks were easy to make with my Nicer Dicer. The Tomato salsa was easy to make (also with the Nicer Dicer). I've never made Hummus before and cant remember what consistency its been whenever Ive seen it. It turned out quite thick...thicker than wood filler even, which I think is a little too thick tbh. I also found the taste of it a little bland despite chucking in some Paprika & 2 tsp of Marmite. chick Pea's are fine but have little actual flavour. I could taste the Tahini I added to it but there was something profoundly "absent" which I needed and cant put my finger on. The rest of the family said they liked it though.

The Falafel burgers are basically made from chick peas blended with some herbs. I added some curry paste to the mix for some added flavour and they weren't too bad. Unlike normal beef burgers they refused to solidify in the frying pan so I had to be gentle in putting them into the pitta bread when they were cooked. I then added some sliced Cucumber, Red Onion, Jalapenos, Red Pepper & shredded Lettuce.

In all it was "okay", but I don't think I could go totally meat free. I mean I just couldn't go without my Chili Con Carne...I'd die!

Weekly Weigh In

Last Sunday 223.4lb (15st 13.4lb)

Tonight 222.4lb (15st 12.4 lb)

Another miniscule drop in weight, but its still on the right side i.e going down. I wish it was faster and more of a drop though. Also it seems which website I use to do the lb's to Stones conversion makes a difference to the weight! Theoretically if the difference in pounds is the same then so should the difference in Stones. So in theory if I go by the Stones figure I've lost more :)

Saturday ride & a bike project starts

Saturday was a fine day so Ben and I went for a bike ride. We hadn't been for one for almost 3 weeks so it was great to get out (as Ben said "at last!"). Problems with Ben hurting his leg after a minor accident at school, then he had a bad cold had meant we were jonesing for a ride.

I chose a completely different ride this week, going for a bit of "off roading". We rode about half a mile to the village of Shinfield and then cut down a muddy footpath, around some ruined farming research buildings and came out into a churchyard, then through a small housing estate and across some fields which were really muddy and into the village of Ryeish Green then back across some other fields and muddy footpaths, encountering the largest puddle in Berkshire which we attacked at full speed.

As we came to the end of the second field we were next to some woods and I spotted a rusty old bike. I said to Ben that it might be a bit of work but that it could be a good bike for him if it was done up. The wheels are smaller than his current one - which is really a bit on the large side for him - and it looks a bit like a BMX type bike although I'm no expert on these things.

Anyway it turned out that the ride was shorter than we thought - only 4.97 miles round trip. although it took us an hour and a half. We felt fine until we got indoors, then we both felt like rubber legs had been swapped for our normal ones. We just made back it before it bucketed down too.

Today we took the car up there hoping to chuck it in the boot before anyone spotted us. Unfortunately an old couple walking their dogs came by but we chatted with them in between petting the lovely Golden Retriever and the other whateveritwascalled dog. They said that the bike had been there for some weeks and agreed that it was good that it was taken away and put to good use.

I was busy the rest of the day so didnt get a chance to strip it down but my thoughts are going along the lines of:
- strip it down
- sand down the frame
- spray prime, top coat and lacquer it
- new handlebars, grips, brakelevers, cables, callipers
- fit a handlebar lever action 5 speed (Its currently 10 speed but broken)
- new chain and any other little bits

The saddle actually looks half decent and well padded, plus the wheels and tyres look to be in fair condition. The only bit I will need to read up on is the gearing stuff as I've never had to bother with any of that in the past.

I have a couple of days off this week and so provided x-mas shopping can be done away with quickly I should get it stripped down and start on giving it a rub down with some wet and dry.

Outbid & Future Plans

Well if you read a previous post of mine a week ago you'll remember I was bidding on a rather nice racing bike on e-bay. Bidding ended at 11.30 last night, and throughout yesterday it seemed to be down to myself and one other who were interested in getting it.

Bidder 2 got the bastard thing!

I was determined to only have a max bid of £50.00, and he/she won it at £53.00. People at work have said "ooh you could have got it with another bid" but they fail to see the long game, which would have seen it increase in price exponentially until it got to the other bidders maximum limit. Without knowing that figure, I could have gone on and on and I would have broken my promise to myself to not spend more than £50.00. So I am not really too unhappy, as there will be others I can bid on and perhaps win.

As a side effect of all of this, my wife said to me last night that the New Forest has cycle trails all over it and that it would be nice to do that in the Summer. For those that don't know, the New Forest isn't new at all, but was planted (I think) back in Henry VIII's time as a place for him to hunt. I guess it was new then and so the names just stuck.

The New Forest is just above Southampton & about 1.5 hours drive from us. The astonishing thing is that apart from 10 minutes around the park when we were teaching Ben to ride, she hasn't been on a cycle since she was a kid. She doesn't own a bike and in past years when I have suggested her riding the 10 minutes to work instead of taking the bus or me collecting her she's always poo-poo'd the idea.

Maybe I'm rubbing off on her.

So right away I looked for women's cycles on e-bay and pointed out to her a nice ladies mountain bike. She said "I don't want one off e-bay. I want to try it first". Jeez!! "But it's going for £30.00 dear" I said. "It's a bargain and looks in good condition" but she was adamant about it so I gave up...for now.

I would be reluctant to buy a new bike for her, considering her eagerness will probably fade in a few months. It also leaves me with the dilemma of storing them. 2 bikes in the shed is a tight squeeze. If I get a racing bike it wont fit, even with KY Jelly smeared all over it, and 4 bikes doesn't even come close. I have considered building an extension to the shed at the rear just to store the bikes, but the plans in my head are going to have to get a bit larger.