Bike update

Apologies if worrying about my bike ride to work with a dodgy tyre spoilt your Christmas festivities :-). E-mail on Xmas Eve was a particular problem because immediately after our 6hr spell of load shedding the builders of the new block in front of the Radisson did something that cut off our power for the rest of the night.

Anyway, back to what you are really interested in, my bike. I'm pleased to report that the front tyre, with a threatening bulge where the temporary repair was, survived my trips to and from work. I tried harder than usual to dodge pot holes and when bombing down the hill near the office did slow down after I contemplated what would happen if the tyre burst and jammed in the front fork. Safely home I went to my repair shop as arranged but no tyre, come back tomorrow evening. Well to cut a long story short (I sense you might be getting bored by now) they didn't have one the next day either but after trying 2 more shops I got a brand new tyre fitted. This is what I love about life here, the sense of satisfaction you get from such small things.

So that was on Christmas Day. Not much else to report about it really other than that neither of us went to work, we had a lazy day and nothing special to eat apart from extra choccies that the kids had sent, oh and Sheila made some yummy mulled wine. No need to feel sorry for us, we could have had a traditional turkey dinner in Thamel (the tourist area) with 30 odd other volunteers and their friends but that's just too much sociability for me.

Back to work yesterday for me but Sheila was told there was a lock-out (protesters padlocked the door) at her office so didn't go. Cheerful news in yesterday's paper was that after just over a week of 10 hrs per day load shedding it is not enough and we go up to 13 hours per day load shedding from Monday. We wait to see how bad the schedule is for work.

Off to bed now (yes, it's only 8pm but it's cold and the bed with 2 hot water bottles is warm) to watch one of a selection of DVDs we bought today. Fingers crossed that the dodgy pirate copies play properly.

Cheers

Roshan

P.S. I see power is currently the top story in the BBC News link in the right hand column.