Author Archives: Fordiebianco

The Dahon D7. An interim review after 2 months of commuting.

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It’s now more than 2 months that I commute 1 km with the Dahon D7 from home to the train station and on arrival in London another 6 km to work (and return). It’s been easier than I thought: my fellow passengers on those busy commuter trains seem to be ok with me and the folded Dahon. I always make sure to enter the train last, after the initial rush, just to avoid any irate travellers with chain oil on their trousers/skirts. The actual bike ride continues to be a joy, and the bike seems to be taking it well.

Apart from a slight reduction in break power due to a natural decline of the break pads everything is working spiffingly. A change of shirts and a wash on arrival at work reduces any complaints of body odour (I am still not fit enough to arrive at work semi-drenched) and so far the weather has been kind. 

I am sure there will be rain drenched morning where I will be refusing to take the bike, but so far there was no reason not to take the bike in the morning. Even my two favourite local Indian/Bangladeshi restaurant have been kind enough to just accept me wih bike and let me place the folded Dahon behind my seat.

I have gained an considerable amount of shape to certain regions of my physique and the best girlfriend ever has been very complimentary about the overall effects. 

Would I recommend it? Heck yes. Those daily kilometers on the bike don’t only increase my fitness, but they also add a considerable amount of fun to my commute, reduce my carbon foot print, keep my budget healthy and shrink my weight and bloodpressure. 

What’s not to like?

Curiosity killed the Cat

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Sometimes it is important to acknowledge one’s past, even if it might sound daft or trivial to others. In 1987 I pretty much heard only one song: ‘Down to Earth’ by Curiosity killed the Cat gave me so much joy for such a long time that it’s worth to remember them from time to time.

So here they are, thanks to YouTube and a speck of nostalgia:

Shall we move our affluent booties? Shall we?

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Last night the best girlfriend and I went to see perennial favourites Hue and Cry. On the day they launched their new album “Open Soul“, a good natured crowd of ca 1000 punters in their early forties gathered in the exceptionally beautiful Bush Hall to celebrate the Kane Brothers’ remarkable career.  13 albums over a 21 year career ain’t bad, and the songwriting has never been better. So what if nobody under forty knows them: at least the gigs are peaceful. And so was last night’s: a happy, peaceful crowd that knew all the lyrics by heart danced, cried and hopped around to the Kane’s impressive band of musicians. Pat Kane’s Glaswegian twang needed a bit of translating from time to time, but the brothers were definitely in good mood, and the suited Pat wriggled himself happily around his microphone cable. Accompanied by a funky trio of bass, guitar and drums and the luxury of horn and saxofone, the band was tight and, as the best girlfriend said ‘quite funky’. High praise indeed.

The new album was showcased, but always interspersed with the highlights of Hue and Cry’s impressive back catalogue. ‘Looking for Linda’, ‘Ordinary Angel’, a raucous ‘Labour of Love’, ‘Stars Crash Down’ were greeted with enormous cheers, and even the new Single, ‘The last Stop’ was celebrated. When the Kane’s suddenly started to channel Beyonce with an amazing version of ‘Crazy in LOve’ everybody started to go wild.  Finishing the regular set with ‘Labour of Love’ and then giving a little more measured encore ended an excellent gig. Me, I din’t get my ‘under neon’, but the best girlfriend ever commented that this was probably the best gig she’s seen in a long time.

I think I might agree…

Republican America: An alternative Reality.

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Judith Warner, who blogs for the NYT, did the ultimate experiment: she ventured between the hockeymums during a McCain/Palin in Fairfax, Va. She wrote a deeply unsettling report from the frontline battle for values and god, summarising:

“Palin Power” isn’t just about making hockey moms feel important. It’s not just about giving abortion rights opponents their due. It’s also, in obscure ways, about making yearnings come true — deep, inchoate desires about respect and service, hierarchy and family that have somehow been successfully projected onto the figure of this unlikely woman and have stuck.

Dan Hoyle from Salon.com drove through rural America and listened to ‘working-class’ people describing their unease about Barack Obama. He quotes this guy saying

“”Obama, he’s not our kind of people,” said Middleton in a gruff, bitten-off speaking style, taking a break from canning green beans at the couple’s double-wide mobile home. “He don’t believe in the hereafter, and the Lord, the way I look at it … he’s Muslim.”

12 percent of the American people apparently still believe Obama is a muslim (as if that mattered, but still) and therefor would not vote for him. Rush Limbaugh, ever the diplomat speaks about the Democratic Party being undermined by

” …the feminist tentacle of liberalism, then you’ve got civil rights coalitions, and you have all of these groups, and they’re all given seats at the table of power of the Democrat Party. “

Honestly, what’s wrong with these people? Why isn’t the libertarian wing of the Republican Party yelling and saying ‘hey, you neolithic abrahamian faith mongerers, all we want is fewer taxes and people just being people without government interference!” . When did the GOP suddenly become a two issue (God and Patriotism) party?

And how can anybody with a university degree vote for them?

The current manifestation of Republican politicics is now so far removed from real life (and literally lightyears away from what Europeans believe should matter in life) that they seem to be moving in their own alternative reality in which everybody hunts, collects guns, goes to church, doesn’t have sex before marriage and devotes their life to sock it to those pesky muslims (and Europeans). And wage war with everybody they believe looks at them the wrong way.

I am sure there would be real money in a alternative reality videogame that one could sell at gun conventions: ‘Republicanism, the videogame’ would feature in small town america, and the main character would gain points for swearing at people with foreign names, praying and barbecueing the juiciest burger.