Liverpool on Dr. Cox

I am now the proud owner of a Trek 1.9. I have, after much consideration, named it Dr. Cox, my favourite TV character from Scrubs. Will take the bike on its first tour tomorrow. A two day solo trip from London to Liverpool. First night stop at Birmingham. Will be carrying a history of the Tour de France and a Paul Auster as companions. Plus music.

Hope to spend a whole day in Liverpool, take a Beatles Tour and visit the Anfield Museum. Can't catch a match unfortunately as I have to get back to work. That's for next time then.

Will let you guys know how this goes.

St Albans Walk

Went on a walk to St Albans the other day. Really great hike. Mostly through woods and meadows but longer than I expected. About 30 Kilometres. Lost a couple of Kgs I think. Pictures below. Blogger is messing with me. Hence the weird captioning. As usual click on picture for larger view or click here for the Picassa web album.

(1)Woods at the trail's start (2) Meadows (3) View from the hilltop

(1)At a stud farm (2) It was a clear, sunny day (3) More woods (1)The Cathedral at St. Albans (2)St. Albans Park (3)Autumn in St. Albans

Went to the Annie Leibovitz exhibition yesterday. Unfortunatley the colour Lance Armstrong wasn't exhibited. Not one of her better known works but I like it a lot. The Demi Moore, Brad Pitt, Hillary Clinton and Sarajevo pictures were all there though. There were also a number of pictures of Leivobitz's family and Susan Sontang. Twelve pounds well spent . Now that I think of it, her pictures are a damn sight better than mine.

Cycles

I will be test riding these three bikes tommorow and will buy one on Tuesday. Your last chance to comment and make reccomendations is now. In terms of specs, the Specialized is a full carbon frame and fork with a Shmano 105 groupset, as is the Binachi. The Trek is Alpha Black Aluminium with the superior Shimano Ultegra groupset and Botranger race tyres. All of them cost about the same. For full details click on one of the bikes.

Specialized Tarmac Elite 2008

Bianchi C2C 2008.

TREK 1.9

News this Friday

Mr. Malhotra is at it again. Consider the following submission made by him to the Delhi HC:

"AIDS is already spreading in the country and if the gay sex is legalised then the people on the street would start indulging in such practises saying that the High Court has given approval for it. Legalising it would send a wrong message to our youth."

I rest my case.

Came across these pictures on poverty today.

Mumbai has started a movement called EcoMove. It allows people to rent bicycles from an ecomove stand and then leave them at another ecomove stand after they complete their journey. This is indeed a big step by the city in encouraging cycling. More on this movement here. Cheers to Aneek for directing me to this.

Free Art Fair

The Free Art Fair in London is indeed an inspirational event. Based on the philosophy that art should be posessed by the people who love it most, and not only by those who can afford it, the exhibition is free to view and all the artwork is given away to the audience at the end of the event. And its not just junk that being given away. The fair features some of Britain's best known artists and some of the pieces will fetch as much as 5000 pounds on the market.

In order to ensure that people only chose a work they really love (instead of just queing for whatevers on offer) the policy of the fair is to let people choose according to thier place in the que but only give the piece away if it has not already been chosen before. You have two choices and they don't tell you whats already taken.

I went and stood in que for four hours today but came away empty handed (people had been queing over the weekend). Well, not quite actually: While I was standing in the que (and explaining to an art student why a lawyer was queing for free art) a guy with a white beard and a backpack came up to me and asked me the time. I told him it was 5:20. He asked me whether I meant AM or PM. I gave him a look and said, "PM". He thanked me and asked me if I would like a drawing to go with the time. I said, "sure" (not being at all sure). He told me that he would draw me a simple drawing as he did not want to "humiliate me with his perfection". I told him I appreciated that and he proceeded to draw me the picture below.

So I got a picture and a story for my four hours. More information on the Free Art Fair (including pictures of the huge Que) can be found here

Dinner

Heard this weird story about one of the partners at one of the City's top law firms. As soon as his trainee comes in for the day he asks him what he had for dinner last night. After the trainee answers, say he says, "rice, dal and potatoes" the partner goes onto write the items on the whiteboard. He does this for every day of the week, thus keeping a close eye on the diet of his trainee.

Its a lovely sunny day. Just came back from a walk to borough market (pictured below) for lunch.

Quote of the Week

This one from an Banking Partner in a Law Firm:

"I can't speak to you right now. Some banks have collapsed and I am a bit busy."

Below is the latest edition of the Economist.

Toots

Heard this funny story courtesy a friend from college a few days back: Archbishop Desmond Tutu had, on winning the Noble Peace Prize, donated part of the prize money to the student body of King's College London to for "cultural purposes". The student body, in their wisdom, voted for a bar to be established with the money (the other choice, winning 5 percent of the vote, was a library). The Bar is named, rather appropriately, Tutu's.

By all accounts, the Archbishop is, as of now, unaware that his money has been put to better use than he could have imagined.

Below is the text of a mail sent by the daughter of the managing partners of India's largest law firm to the associates of the firm.

"From: Student

Sent: Wednesday, 24 September 2008 6:02 PM

To: @AM Mumbai Associates; Mum; Dad

Subject: Help!

Dear All,

Strange as this may sound, can anyone of you volunteer to do my homework :)?? it involves spending about a hour online for online courses. the topics are very simple, such as bonus shares, macro economics risk management, mutual funds, business etiquette, fiscal policies etc and at the basic level.do let me know.
thanks in advance. wont forget this!:)

regards,

Student"

As Rollonfriday so appropriately put it, "Good Grief."

14

I have shaved yet another minute off my morning schedule. I can now make it out of bed at 8:46 and catch the 9AM.

The Section 377

Extract from Additional Solicitor General, PP Malhotra's arguments before the Delhi High Court as to why anti-sodomy provisions in the Indian Penal Code should be retained.

"Gay sex is against the order of the nature. We will disturb the nature by allowing them to do so. In the compelling circumstances the State has to take the help of the law to maintain the public morality."

What the Mr. Malhotra needs, in more ways than one, is an education.

One of those days 2

I said it didn't I?

Went out at lunch to buy an ipod shuffle. I figured from the net that the store was near Liverpool Street Station on New Street. I needed some cash so I went to the two ATMs close by only to find that they were out of order. Okay, will pay by debit card I thought. Oops, haven't signed the card as yet. Need to buy a pen. On purchase I realized that even a basic pen in this city costs 2 pounds, what I pay for dinner on average.

Anyway I did get to Liverpool Street (and a host of ATMs welcomed me as soon as I got out of the station). That was when I realized that I had no idea where New Street was. After about half an hour of asking around I found the street. A narrow lane, with only a couple of shops. That was when I realized I had the wrong address.

I walked around in the area a bit, trying to find the store and, suddenly, it started raining like crazy. That was when I realized I should have come out with at least one of my many umbrellas.

No ipod today. Need lunch now.

One of those days

Its going to be one of those days. I just know it.

Woke up at 8:45, my latest yet. Showered, changed, brushed and rushed out. Was proud of myself for making it in time for the 9 AM only to find that 3 trains had been cancelled and I had to wait till 9:35 to get one.

Made it safely to office though. Now I need coffee.