A Smarter Life

House for Sale

2009-01-24T19:50:00.005Z

Okay so we did it!

We put the house on the market, and after about 1 hour had our first viewing - there is of course more to the story than that, but hey, lets just let it run

we have gone with a local estate agent, Ushers, follow this link to their website HERE

I have to say the photos they took look awesome, might make an offer myself

Anyway, lets hope things move quickly, not that we want to move, in fact most of our neighbours are begging us to stay - which is nice

So wish us luck, and if you know anyone who wants te best plot on an eco friendly estate you now know where to look

Bianchi

2009-01-03T23:57:00.002Z

Photo of the new bike, so far only done 40 miles on her, but she is fast and a great ride, looking to do a lot more on her this year

Happy Christmas from Novella

2008-12-27T10:04:00.001Z

My cousins baby in the states sends us Christmas greetings

The Gadget Show - Channel 5 TV UK

2008-12-23T09:23:00.001Z

Recently I missed an episode, the PVR didn't record it for some reason. So I thought I would easily be able to watch it via my computer.

No, too easy, you have to be on a PC, and not a MAC. Now given that the show is very pro technology, often featuring cutting edge gadgets and toys, one of the presenters, Jason Bradbury is very pro Mac, Why can't you watch recents shows on one?

Well after emailing Channel 5 and getting a non answer email, I've now emailed Jason, wonder if he will reply?

I'll let you know!

Guess what secret Santa got Ali for Christmas!

2008-12-22T10:39:00.003Z

ROC but no roll

2008-12-17T09:52:00.002Z

The wembley Race of Champions took place this weekend, and I have to say not impressed.

We went mainly to see Lewis Hamilton race against Chris Hoy, man against machine, but the track was too slippery. So they cancelled it - quite right

The first round of celeb racing had to be cut short, again because of a slippery track, and the fact they they kept crashing the cars

The stadium was very cold, and less than a thrid full, the catering was so badly organised, taking ages to get a coffee and so expensive.

It was so poor that we left well before the end.

Very disappointing, according to the BBC 606 website the TV coverage was also poor.

If this is to continue then they need to tidy up the format, reduce the amount of time between the Nations cup and the ROC it's self

And please do it when it is a bit warmer!

Talking Lions

2008-12-08T16:44:00.004Z

The lions in Trafalger square are talking, here's a video to prove it

Sorry about the picture quaility, but it was filmed from my Nokia 6300

Allez for Sale - SOLD

2008-11-27T13:34:00.007Z

Decided to sell the Allez, as I have now got the new Bianchi.

It is listed on ebay, follow this link

Here are a few more photo's

Thanks t oall those who bid, and congratulations to Joe who won, hope you enjoy the ride

Cool registration plate

2008-11-26T08:58:00.001Z

It could only be in Banstead!

Do you think it is an insult or a boast?

Bye bye Virgin

2008-10-29T10:04:00.002Z

Finaly given up with Virgin Media and their poor TV service. I have two boxes, on in the bedroom, that we hardly ever use, and a V+ box, which has HD.

Only they still only have 1 HD channel, I know a lot more is on demand, but once you have seen it, big deal.

Since most of what we watch is in fact on Freeveiw it seems it's about time to boot them out. And by downsizing the amount of broadband I have I've said £60.00 a month. Now just need a PVR with hard drive and freeview and we are away.

London Freewheel

2008-09-21T17:19:00.004+01:00

What do you get when you close a lot of central London roads and a nice sunny day?

45,000 cyclist on town that what. Great day, I did two laps of the 12Km course, and had a great time

Cycling

2008-09-15T15:00:00.004+01:00

Looks like this is fast becoming my new obsession

SO started riding again about 5 years ago, brought a fairly basic mountain bike and it sat and did nothing for about a two years. Then in 2006 I started to get serious-er about my riding. I would put the bike on the back of the car and take it to Richmond Park and do a lap, and then come home. Bu t I soon realised that this bike was a bit weak and feble, so I sold it and brought a much nicer one. Luckily as I also sold Sue's bike at the same time I had enough money for this better mountain bike. So after a few weeks of putting it onto the back of the car and transporting it to the park Paul my cycling mad neighbour suggested that we ride together to the park and cycle round it, then cycle home.

Big jump in distance, about 3 times as much, but I gave it a go, and loved it. The new bike was great, although it is a mountain bike it has lockable front forks so it is good on the road as well

Here's the problem with all this, Paul has an awesome road bike, really fast. And I started to get bike envy, you know always looking to see what other people are riding, even whilst in the car - stuck in traffic - so after a year I decided that I had the cycling bug big time. The London to Brighton ride convinced me of that, so I made the decision to get a road bike as well

I saw a few and ended up decideing that I would like to stick with Specailized, as they make my mouintain bike, having made this choice I started drolling over the bike websites and magazines.

Then the other Sunday evening I saw an advert of a Specailized on e-bay - via a link from BBC Green, made a bid and 30 minutes later won it

So now I have two bikes, one for speed and one for off roading - the best of both worlds

This Sunday was my first ride and I loved it, so fast. Will I give up mountain biking? Not likely I'll contiune in the winter months I expect. But for now I love cycling

On Ya bike

Been surfing again

2008-08-27T07:52:00.002+01:00

You know wghat it's like, just wandering around the web, and found a new site to reconmend,HERE This is a really cool idea, a way for you to be put in touch with teachers so you could learn stuff!

Check it out, looks fun

All Good Things

2008-08-11T15:25:00.001+01:00

Had a really nice couple round to look at Penny last night, and they have agreed to buy her. Will be sorry to see her go, but both Sue and I felt that these are the right people to sell her too.

Hope they get as much fun from her as we did

Hereford County Show

2008-08-04T12:54:00.003+01:00

Great day out, amongst other thingswatching racing pigs! and bitting Terriers

Awesome fun

Penny News

2008-08-04T11:04:00.004+01:00

Well after weeks of little or no activity on the sales front, we now have several people interested.

So hopefully, or not, we will have a result by the weekend. If we don't get a result by the end of August, I will take her off the market and keep her. I have not been driving her for the last few weeks, mainly to get myself used to not having her, and it hurts every time I drive past her in the car park.

I turly want to keep her, but the occasional use is not just right, but maybe another year!!

2008-07-25T17:02:00.002+01:00

Lots of talk about issues with DNS.

So I have changed my DNS setting to OPen DNS, and it's awesome. If you are still using your ISP's DNS servers then you might be at risk. Have a look at this article on the BBC website HERE

I have changed to Open DNS which is free and seems to be great HERE

Remember the only safe computer is one that is not connected to the net, or allowed to be used by children, but then it is just a big adding machine

Some interest

2008-07-15T10:59:00.003+01:00

So far no offers for Penny, altought serveral people have asked for more details, and we have had one pointless veiwing.

The chap who came started off saying how expensive he thought the price was, but I think I have it about right. I suspect he was a dealer and wanted to use my price as a margin for himself

On the cycling front Freewheel is on 21st September, so I have registered again. I hope it is better organised than last year. One thing is certain, I'm not going to do the group thing into town, as last year the group leader go lost twice, and we ended up half way round the course!

Almost over

2008-06-30T12:18:00.003+01:00

We have taken the hard step of deciding to sell Penny, so she is now being advertised. I named this blog "A smarter life" because of her and it is a shame to see her on the market.

Click here to see the advert Here

I did it

2008-06-16T08:15:00.007+01:00

I actually did it!

6 hours and 6 minutes, a few extra miles at the start,

but a very long hard day in the saddle

As you may well be aware on Sunday 15th June I joined 27,000 other riders and cycled from Clapham Common in London to Brighton on the South Coast. A distance of 54 miles. It was an emotional and physical day, but one which I thoroughly enjoyed.

Although it did not get off to the best of starts, as my house is on the route of the ride, and as I was given a start time of 9 o’clock I had to transport the bike to the start line, to do so I had brought a new roof rack for the car, unfortunately about five minutes from home we heard a crash and saw that the bike was no longer held upright, but had collapsed onto its side. One quick fix later and we headed back onto the road, (trying to avoid the hundreds of cyclist who have already started, the event starts at 6.00 – the faster riders complete in under two hours!) only to discover that the bike was leaning again. This time I decided to abandon any attempt to fix the bike to the roof rack but instead to cycle to the start line, which only added an extra two miles to the ride.

The start line at Clapham was very well organised, and everyone had to line up below one of six towers divided into two groups of start times, I joined to 9 am start queue and waited to be given the green light. With five minutes to go we were allowed to pass through and get the all important start line stamp, then onto the main assemble point few meters passed the tower to wait for the starter to drop his rope and let us on our way.

The next six hours are a blur of images and memories, firstly there was all the traffic, which was using most of the same roads as us, then the fancy dress – a man in an Incredible Hulk suit, Mr Incredible, two guys in French maids outfits on a tandem! A group of my neighbours waving from the road side outside our housing estate, and the same later on from a group of people who lived in a retirement village just passed Haywards Heath. There were a few accidents, which again managed to slow us down, at one point a group of riders climbed over a fence, and cycled across a rugby field to try to keep moving.

However it is the last climb that was the real killer, rising from the weald, which is sea level to just under 1000 feet, in just over a mile, Detling Beacon marks the last challenge of the ride, and given that by this point so many people are walking rather than riding it was almost impossible to reach the top whilst still peddling. I’m sorry to say that I had to push my bike at least for three quarters of this climb, there was no way I could ride, a mixture of tiered legs and others pushing their bikes as well. Once on top the weather seemed to sense our arrival and it quickly turned from being a nice sunny day into being cold and windy, fortunately it is all downhill after the beacon, so other than the odd traffic light, and even more cyclists we pretty much managed to coast home.

Crossing the finish line was a great experience, both sides of Madeira Drive were lined with cheering supporters, and at the finish I got the all important finish stamp in my card, and my medal

When I looked around me I saw the smiling faces of all the others who had endured and survived the ride, some taking longer than I, others doubtless faster, but all finishers, a great feeling. In total I raised £450 for the British Heart Foundation, and I can honestly say that without everyone’s support it would not have been such a fulfilling event, so thanks to everyone who sponsored me, in doing so you spurred me on to the finish, for which I say a big thank you

There are two scary thoughts that keep haunting me, firstly as we drove back home, we saw a lot of people cycling back, and secondly I now have an automatic entry into next year’s ride – will I take it?

Who knows

thanks again

Steve

Are We ready - I think so

2008-06-13T07:38:00.002+01:00

Well it's almost here, and whilst work kept me away from the gym too many times, the bikes service meant missing two weekends, we arrive at the weekend with a feeling of confidence and enthusiasm that is quite new to me!

The bike is back, and feels great, the gym work this week was good - thanks in part to the two girls in a Ford Ka who waved and blew kisses at me, whilst I was cycling in the gym ( which if you don't know is on the first floor, overlooking a main road)

Planning to do a short 10 miles tomorrow morning and then it is off to Clapham for my 9.00 start time.

Hopefully going to be passing BedZED at around 10ish - sorry for all you Archers fans - you might miss the start.

I have been wearing my London to Brighton Tee shirt around, and got chatting to one fellow who is doing the ride - he said that when training he does L2B in 2.30 hours, but on the event it takes much longer - around 4 hours!

What ever happens Sunday is going to be a loooooooooooooooooooooooooooong day

Fund raising is just under £400.00 which is fantastic, thanks so much to everyone who has been kind enough to sponsor me - I hope I don't let you down

Steve

Almost ready - not quite!

2008-06-08T20:15:00.001+01:00

It's the final push.

Gym training has been good, however currently I am bikeless (is that a word?)

Took the bike for a service last week, plenty of time to get it sorted, however they broke the brakes, and have to order a part, will it be ready in time - I hope so

Watch this space, still need some more sponsorship follow the link below to the page, or post here that your name and the amount, and I will sort it for you

Steve

The Latest Training Updates

2008-05-22T18:03:00.003+01:00

Wel lets just say alst week was a disaster!!

This week is better, been to the gym twice, and done 20Km's on the bike so thats better

Done a bit on the Wii Fit too, but not so much, it's more for fun than anything else, despite what the trainer on the screen try's to tell you.

The Bike is now booked in for it's service and i plan to do a couple of rides over the weekend, unless Sue's needs us to go to Bristol - lets hope not!

Still no sign of Sue sponsoring me, and in fact not much happening on the fund raising front at the moment, the total is stuck at £260.00 which is over my oridginal estimate, but I want to do more, so if you havn't done so already get sponsoring, before the pleeding emails start

What cant remember the web address to sponsor me, oh click here

Thanks

Steve

Weekly Cycle Training Update

2008-05-15T09:00:00.002+01:00

Greetings All

Not been a good week for cycling of any kind, we had the monthly family commitment in Bristol at the weekend, so didn't get any riding in then. Work has had me away so far all week, so not been able to go to the gym either.

Next weekend looks no better either, as we have guests, and still got lots to do to tidy the house up!!!

The only light at the end of the tunnel is that we brought a Wii Fit at the weekend, and that is at least giving me a little bit of activity when I cant get to the gym,

Go Ski jumping - Record so far 168m

Sponsorship money now over £250 so over half way, use the link in last weeks post if you want to sponsor me

All the best

Steve

Any Comments

2008-05-06T12:43:00.000+01:00

Intersted to see if anyone is reading this, please post comments if you are

Ta

Steve

2008-05-05T05:58:00.003+01:00

Greetings, avid reader

Training update as follows

Gym twice - over 20 Km's cycled
Actual rides two - can't tell you how many miles yet, on Saturday morning I did 22 miles.

Having managed to get Steve H to agree to go early - we left at 7am, so we go back at 9.30 which meant we had the rest of the day to ourselves.

And in about an hour an going out again with Paul T, but he has a different route in mind, so another big chunck of mileage coming up. Update, went from home to banstead, which is only 9 miles, all of which is up hill, so great training

Sponsor news is that the total is now over £200.00, Thanks to everyone who sponsored me so far.

If you havn't yet done the sponsor thing, then you can do so here

Thanks to everyone who has done so so far

Shock news - Training Back on course

2008-04-28T07:59:00.002+01:00

Yes the Shock News is that I got out and did a ride over the weekend, the effects of the cold are still with me, but I rode through them!

Even better is that I have now raised £140.00 which is great, thanks to everyone who has pledged money so far.

Not done os yet, them follow this LINK to do so

New Sunspace Extention

2008-04-28T07:55:00.006+01:00

With thanks to Reza of Handy Hero we now have a wonderful new extended sunspace walkway. All that remains is for me to varnish it and it is done

Would highly recomend Handy Hero, more samples on their website Link

Photos Before

and After

2008-04-19T10:57:00.004+01:00

So not so good, only managed to get to the gym once this week, although I did do 12 Km's on the bike at the Gym.

However overnight I seem to have developed a sore throat, and I hardly slept at all.

The weather forecast is not good for either today or tomorrow, so I'm not even sure if I will get out over the weekend either.

I know what you are going to say, just go to the gym and do more over the weekend, and I might well do so, but right now I just feel poorly

Anyway, thansk to everyone who sponsored me so far, if you have not seen the sponsorship website follow this link here

A New Dawn In Blogging

2008-04-17T12:39:00.004+01:00

For the first time in ages I am blogging again

On Sunday 15th June I am doing the London to Brighton Cycle ride.

I will try to keep a log of things on the blog, but you know me, never get round to posting much anyway

Training update.

Last week was good, two trips to the gym and over 20Km cycled, then at the weekend did 22miles on the bike. This week is not so good so far, have been away since Monday night so have not been to the gym and have not done any training at all. I plan to try and catch up tonight

Wish me luck

If you want to donate please follow this link

Barbara's Birthday Party

2006-10-09T21:45:00.000+01:00

Happy Birthday Barbara, hope you have a great day, we enjoyed your party

Florence and Pisa

2006-09-19T10:57:00.000+01:00

Just back from a week in Italy

I think we can both say we loved it, the food, the art the people. Did I say the food?

More photos to follow

Sue at Ham House

2006-08-17T16:50:00.000+01:00

Sue and some work mates spent the day doing repairs at Ham House, in Richmond

Bugatti Veyron Prototype Race Video warm up

2006-07-14T23:26:00.000+01:00


Bugatti Veyron Prototype Race Video warm up, one for Adam

Long time no posts

2006-06-25T21:06:00.000+01:00

Sorry, been away doing stuff etc.

Try to offer an up date soon

Honest

Un Pimp my ride

2006-05-24T22:41:00.000+01:00

Off to Garage

2006-05-15T07:39:00.000+01:00

Well its been a while since I said anything about Penny, and taoday she is off to the garage for the follow up from her service the week before last. Smart never manage to do any job first time, and we always seem to have to go back.

This time she will be in overnight, as there is quite a lot of work to be done.

As is normal once we get her back it only takes a few minutes to get the smile back on your face, how many cars can do that?

Spent the weekend in Bristol, managed not to fall off any walls and managed not to injure myself either.

The Sultants Elephant

2006-05-08T08:53:00.000+01:00

If you where in London over the weekend you might have seen this, a 40 foot high mechanical Elephant, a 30 foot high girl puppet and a piece of street theatre to die for.

It was truly awesome.

A frustrating week

2006-04-30T05:34:00.000+01:00

On the good side, I have done without the crutches al week, although I spent Thursday on my feet and have some more swelling to show for it.

We had the new TV and new cable box delivered on Wednesday, so we should have been able to at last watch Hi Def TV, but it seems the cable box was faulty and had to be replaced yesterday.

Now we realy do have HD TV, and it is great, watch part one of "Blue Planet" as soon as the cable guy had left and it was great

Our other new addition is we now have an Apple Computer, this is sat next to the main TV so we can stream content off the web straight of the web an into our living room - which the BBC are due to start doing soon

Today, I am off to Truckfest in Peterborough, for work lets hope it stops raining soon!

Well done Adam

2006-04-24T17:15:00.000+01:00

His Rugby team beat Cliffton 20 - nil at the weekend, well done to all of the team

Easter Recovery

2006-04-24T08:15:00.000+01:00

Well the swelling and brusing have almost gone, just the dull ache continues.

On the brighter side, Saturday was a great day, with the sun shining so we had the roof bars out and ran around the M25 to Bluewater.

What did we buy, watch this space!

Easter Ouch

2006-04-18T10:37:00.000+01:00

Fell off a wall and damaged all of the ligaments in my left foot. Thank goodness the Smart is semi automatic.

Don't know how I am going to drive the Passat!!!!!

Didn't even get a Chocolate egg.

Help...

2006-04-14T11:23:00.000+01:00

Ive become addicted to the "Next Blog" button!!!!

But try this other Smarters Blog

Top 5 Movies

2006-04-12T07:15:00.000+01:00

1 Starwars
2 A Matter of Life or Death
3 Ferris Bullers Day Off
4 The Blue Brothers
5 Die Hard

Veg Plots and Roof Bars

2006-04-10T08:49:00.000+01:00

Great weather on Saturday, so roof bars out for the first time in 2006, drove over to the driving range in Croydon and hit a couple of buckets, great way to spend the afternoon!

Saturday afternoon we built a raise vegitable bed in the garden, brought a couple of new oak railway sleepers and used them for the sides, it looks realy good.

Went to the garden centre and brought some plants, beans and tomatos to plant next week once the threat of frost has gone away.

Cant beleive I drove to work this morning and it had snowed, In April!!! some of the cars coming from the other direction had up to an inch of snow on them.

Paris

2006-04-06T15:53:00.000+01:00

Well We had a great time, and here are some of the photos to prove it!!

Had some great meals out, ate at Petti Zinc, Lipp and a few smaller resturants around south Paris.

The hotel was great, nice and comfortable, and the breakfast was nice. It was only a few metro stops from the centre of town and therefor was quite reasonabley priced as well

I should point out at this point that we went by train, rather than drive. We saw too many smart's to count in Paris, mostly fortwos, but we did see two Roadsters and two forfours as well

All in all a great weekend ~:o)

Two Days To Go......

2006-03-30T13:33:00.000+01:00

.....Till Paris

Weekend Update

2006-03-27T18:08:00.000+01:00

So a great Saturday. Weather was fine so roof off trip to supermarket!

Unfortunaltey we couldn't go to the rally at Brooklands, glad to see so many others had a great time. Just means we have to wait for the French trip in July.

Next weekend we are off to Paris, how cool. Our first visit, cant wait.

Guess what our next door neighbours are going to be in Paris as well, might try to meet up, since they speak the language and we dont

Ops

The Simpsons Intro

2006-03-24T18:33:00.000Z

Check out this awesome copy of the Simpsons Intro, filmed with real people, talk about scared for life!

2006-03-20T21:50:00.000Z

So back to work, the weekend was fun, the weather was nice, and very sunny. Drove home wearing my sun glasses, felt guilty we couldn't have the roof down, but the boot was full!

Listening to tWiT, which is the best Podcast around, I've added it to the links if you havn't found it yet, Enjoy Owl

Standard Weekend

2006-03-18T08:02:00.000Z

It's our standard weekend practice to visit the family, but since they live in Bristol and we are in London, it's a weekend affair.

We have been doing this since 2000, when Mrs Owls Father had a motorcycle accident. We used to go every week, but now it's just very month.

So we are taking Penny, no need for the Passat, just us and an over night bag.

See you on the M4

Cubic Smarts

2006-03-17T13:56:00.000Z

2006-03-17T12:59:00.000Z

This is our Smart Roadster, we have called her "Penny". She is a '03 model, with added Sports pack, hence the 3 spoke wheels

The First Blog Posting

2006-03-17T12:51:00.000Z

Well here we go, my first blog posting....

Today is Friday, and I've been on holiday all week, this means that I haven't had to driver the Passat, and get to play in "Penny" the Black Roadster all week long. Although in truth I've only been out a couple of times as the weather hasn't been that good