New bike

The new bike has been collected from Mr Edinburgh. I'll get some better pictures in daylight (it's pissing down as I do this).

It has all the properties of a new bike ... everything works alarmingly well and you can go everywhere in top gear. The lights are fab.

Its dimensions are weird - high enough but "tighter" so I am having to adjust. I guess I will.

A bargain, everywhichway. Met Mr Bikology at the North Lane lights who said nice things.

Walk number 9

Jen and Jessie have called for 99 walks around Leeds and today I provided their 9th. This was very intimidating as they started by telling me about some of the others: Maisie, who took them on an 8 minute hike from her house, up a ginnel, visited the sweetsop, then to the playground. Barefoot (yeah, in October).

It was billed as "the Riots Walk" which it was, sort of, but it was really a shameless opportunity to show them bits of Leeds that I like. Either they liked it or were very polite.

The Bourse is one of my very favourite urban views. Well done archtitect. Shortly after this, we saw a really very rare pillar box on King Street - I won't publish a picture so that later visitors can have the excitement of seeing it for the first time.

The John Poulson section of the tour was in an exceptionally lucky state.

The International Pool is now simply the canopy roof: below it a number of JCBs are playing some sort of game. There is a window aperture through which mortals [us] are allowed to watch.


J and J especially liked the spooky tunnel, I think. But who wouldn't, eh? 2 marks available to anyone who knows where the bottom picture is actually taken.

We culminated in the unfashionable part of Holbeck:
This is Low Hall Mill (see the carved name at the head of the arch) and it says rather more to me about Holbeck than the chintzy part just down the road.

Perhaps the most useful thing I did was to introduce them to The Grove, which technically was after the end of the walk. Derek was playing his fiddle, but they didn't meet him.

Jessie (or was it Jen?)
Jen (or Jessie ... ) - it wasn't meant to be this unflattering.

Coffee

Coffee is the #1 product in Ethiopia. I know these beans are FairTrde as the farmer pushed them up my nose when the car stopped in his village. The bag cost Birr20 - a quid - and would have cost 60 in Addis.

Note that the beans are - err - unprocessed.

Here you winess me roasting the beans according to careful instructions given in Ethiopia. I know I did it right as I asked 3 people and they told me 3 different things.

In the background, you see Normandy Pork in preparation.
And then you grind 'em up.

Suffice to say this did not work AT ALL - there was a subsequent messy phase with a pestle & mortar that you can imagine.
Et voila.

This fairly transparently (pun) didn't work, but it does provide a benchmark of sorts. If I ever get a cup of something remotely like coffee, I'll certianly let you know.

Ethiopia

Here are some words I wrote down. There is a story attached to each

1. Friends hold hands
   
2. Beasts of burden
   
3. Shanty satellites
   
4. Churches and mosques
   
5. Showshops
   
6. Tyres
   
7. Oranges and chocolate
   
8. Cobbles (D)
   
9. Hayricks and mobile phone masts
   
10. Bilharzia
    
11. Camels
    
12. Customs
    
13. Dashen beer
    
14. Shoulder shake
    
15. BPR
    
16. Flowers on the table
    
17. Student Services donkey
    
18. Casettes
    
19. Bajaj
    
20. Power cuts
    
21. Grads teaching
    
22. Coffee/tea/water