Hunting for Espresso Cups

Today was the day that not only I woke up early but I had an unnatural urge to go to the local shopping town of Reading, yes on a Saturday and yes in the middle of the post-Christmas sales... GASP!

For what reason??!!

Well I just wanted to get some nice dinkly espresso mugs to go with my little coffee machine :o)

So off I headed for shop opening time (there is a limit to what I'll go to - and being in town after 11am when the hoards will be there is not one of them)... let me just say at this point my car registered it -5 degrees C!.... Hummm... So I was parked up by 0915 and commenced my mission. I thought I'd try John Lewis (after all I had vouchers so any purchases would be free right?!) ... humm but first I thought I'd reccie what House of Fraser had to offer... yes some crockery in the sales, none of which were espresso cups, and in fact no suitable espresso cups in sight. No probs, I had the vouchers and John Lewis would surely have something. Free foder and all that.

Having survived the freezing road crossing going from the shopping centre (mall) to John Lewis I headed to the basement, strangely excited at the prospect of spending voucher money. And so I hunted. Through the sale items. Through the non sale items. Yes there we espresson cups BUT they were all fine china... ME AND FINE CHINA... I don't think so.

So voucher free or not I did not purchase.. HUMPF.

Not to be outdone, I headed back to the Oracle Shopping Centre to Debenhams, surely they'd have some coffee cups....

NO!

DRAT!

I had no reason to stay beyond my 10am watershed and so headed back to the carpark.... and saw my fav coffee shop (in the UK), Caffe Nero's... this for those Atlantans out there is I guess most similar to Petite Carabou.... great atmosphere with excellent strong coffee.... so I popped in there for a decaf (go figure) skimmed (aka non-fat) latte with a couple of biscotti and a quick read of the paper.

I looked at the cups in there... I liked them...

I sighed...

Then it hit me.... I wonder if they're sell me one, two... or more... OH OH OH! I took a little sneaky look around and couldn't see anything to purchase (unlike the old starbucks stuff)... humm do I (a) ask the barister if he'll flog me a cup (or three), or (b) just get my phone out and google to see if they have a website.

I did (b).. and they do.... so I got back home (via the craft shop which is another story entirely) and ordered some cups on line!... AND THE CROWD WENT WILD (ok so the crowd was only Muffin and I think he went wild as he sniffed one of his cat-nip toys)!!


Success!

On another note I was thinking about a ride today but as I said it was minus 5 first thing and still zero when I got back... so was I going out.... not on your nellie.... so I kept the bike on the turbo and did another 30mins, again 10mins warm-up, some single-leg drills then a warm down. Haven't pushed it and haven't keeled over either. Well done me!

Getting back on the bike

OK folks... I did it.. I braved the turbo trainer!

I've done nothing but rest these last two weeks but felt it about time I gave some exercise a go! I dusted the turbo down, hooked up the bike and sorted out my Garmin sensor and got going.

Obviously this wasn't going to be a stress-test! So took it easy for 10 (easy gear with cadence at about 80rpm), then did 10mins of single leg drills... interesting and I am so outta control with that one!.. then 10mins easy.. for a total of 30mins and just over 6 miles.

Didn't feel horrid, didn't feel great either but don't believe I overdid it... baby steps Karen, baby steps.

Having done nothing but eat chocolate and cheese during my convalescence I thought after the ride I'd do the decent thing and make myself a carrot, apple and ginger juiced drink... Very refreshing and a nice starter before my pea and ham soup :o)

If I feel ok in the morning I may do another 30min spin out or maybe even go so far as going for a swim!

New beginnings.

On another note - I thought this an interesting map of the places I visited and swam, biked or ran last year.... didn't do anything in every location I went to (at least not with the Garmin), so the likes of Tremblant and San Francisco are missing their red blobs!

Deflated

This is what greeted me this morning!

Having seen in the New Year with some "Balderdash" (which is a game ok!) and some oiling (of the wine and champagne variety!), I crashed at my friends house..... Three of us crawled out mid morning to go for a refreshing, cobweb blowing, walk in the woods with the hounds and that's when we saw my car with a little looking flat rear....

On closer inspection there was.. ok still is... a rather LARGE screw embedded in the tire... "Oh... FONT!".... so we went for a walk anyhow then got back, put the hounds in the garden, yard for my American audience ;o)... and set to work... girl power ensued and yes although one of could have done of it we all three participated and managed to swap in the spare! Huzzah! Girl Power!

So Happy blinkin New Year car - thanks for that challenge.... !!

Got to get the car to the garage tomorrow as the tire can probably get mended (which will save me £200 on a new one!) and the spare is actually for the right hand side of the car (the tread is going in the wrong direction at the moment!)... so got to get that sorted before my mileage next week!

Right - I think I may have to get some food to help me with my hangover!!

HAPPY 2009 ...

Resolution number 1.... no alcohol for the month of January... oh did I really say that!!?? Clearly I must be feeling almost back to my old self... just in time for work tomorrow!!