Saturday 30 March 2002

I am bad, bad, bad. Watch me burn in hell. The past couple of days have lightened the marital pocket somewhat ... How's that for an understatement. But oh so enjoyable and productive too.

Item the first:

I couldn't help myself, it had been so long ... It was like the lust for a drink, a smoker's urge for a cigarette ... Its an addiction, I know it. I'm not necessarily proud of it. But hey, surely being hooked on books and having amazon.co.uk as one's most visited site is better than snuffling up or swallowing narcotics?

Yesterday I ordered; The Time Quartet (A Wrinkle in Time, A Wind in the Door, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters) and the follow-ups A House Like a Lotus and An Acceptable Time, all by Madeleine L'Engle; The Blue Sword, Robin McKinley; Ender's Game, Orson Scott Card; Small Wonder, Barbara Kingsolver; and Ian McEwan's Atonement. See why I'm gonna burn in hell? For the eclecticism, if not the capital outlay ... Mmmm mmmmmmm. Oops and I also ordered Ladysmith Black Mambazo's Ultimate Collection. The delivery dates will be a bit staggered, due to availability but ooooh I can't wait.

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Item the second:

I am now the proud owner of a Specialized Crossroads A1 Sport FS. That is, a lovely top of the range hybrid bicycle with an aluminium frame, mostly Shimano bits and pieces, um I mean components (index gearing, braking etc) and BodyGeometry ergonomic seat and handgrips. In a purty dull goldy colour. I'm so proud. Her name is Phoebe.

I've wanted a bicycle here for so long. Sam has a swish Specialized roadbike which he is very fond of and takes out for a spin most evenings and several hours on the weekend (as a result my best-beloved has yummy cyclists' legs mmm mmmm and is getting pretty fit), so not only have I been racked with envy but also being left behind is no fun. Wah. My main rationale for actually *needing* a bicycle (as opposed to mere want) is to increase my cardio-vascular fitness and give me access to another form of transport besides my own feet and Translink, both of which have their limitations. Convinced? Yep, me too.

So, what sort? First and foremost, it had to be comfortable. Riding for hours in a scrunched up position not an option; I had to choose a bike that I could sit on with a straight back and "loose" arms, and as little shock to the neck and shoulders as possible, also the bottom and hips put in a bid for a comfy seat. So it had to be a hybrid, preferably one with front suspension, an aluminium frame and index gearing. I did a lot, I mean a lot of research, surfing the web, asking people at The Usual Suspects, reading all of Jessie's and Secra's bike related entries. So I had a good idea of exactly what I wanted before I went into the bike shop. In fact I knew what I wanted before I went into McConvey's Cycles; they have a website after all. It had to have been the easiest sale the salesguy ever made. I also got a groovy bike helmet - not one of those big round chuppa-chup things but a sleek melted looking all-aerodynamiccy blue and yellow job. The saddle feels comfy enough even if it does bear more resemblance to a barbeque fork ...

That was Thursday. Phoebe was delivered this morning. Its currently hailing (of course) so I'll have to wait until another entry to let you know how the first ride went. After all, I haven't been on a bicycle for approximately twenty years ... and I know for a fact that "it's just like riding a bicycle" translates to "you fall off a lot".

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Sam and I did our weekly shop at the "big" Tesco this afternoon and I got all excited when I found a whole brand-new section devoted entirely to gluten-free products! (!!!)  Okay okay, so I am obviously a terribly boring and sad person to get so very happy over such a mundane matter, but oh oh bread that tastes like bread, of all things. And pizza bases,  and several kinds of biscuits, and cereal even. I haven't eaten anything remotely resembling cereal (note: I do not include particular brands of "gluten free muesli" in that category) for nearly four years.

Sam managed to hold me back, so while I threw (literally, with gay abandon) bread, pizza bases and cereal into the shopping trolley, I hummed and hawed over whether to get chocolate digestives or custard creams. Decisions decisions ... I finally went for the chocolate digestives (because, well, you know, chocolate) but will definitely give the CCs a go someday soon.

Guess what we're having for dinner?

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After yummy dinner, at chez nous, we went to the cinema with a bunch of Sam's geekmates to see Blade II. To say I was lukewarm about the choice might be understating things a little, but hey, I figured it would be a bit of fun at least. I'd only ever seen the first "act" of Blade, with the vamps in the nightclub etc etc, after that my interest sagged and I never did finish watching the video. However Blade II was good, and I actually enjoyed it. Basically a shoot em up, SFX spectacular (and some of those effects really were spectacular), an interesting enough storyline, not too cliched, with a few surprises, and of course Wesley Snipes who really is very yummy. So it was okay, it didn't hurt too much, although certainly not a film I would have chosen to go to or watch again.

Sam kept comparing the action and scare factor unfavourably with my beloved Buffy. I just said there was no point comparing as they were two totally different genres (in spite of the whole vamp thing) and besides, Buffy doesn't exactly have the same budget. I also figure that Sam related more to the hi-tech, masculine version as opposed to the feminist lo-tech version. Give me Buffy.

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Oh yeah and there was a journalversary in there somewhere, around about 17 March, naturally I forgot completely and I'd feel a bit fraudulent celebrating a year of A Mere Bagatelle when I've only been online for about two minutes of that time. Gah.

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