I relish having a selection of world foods supermarkets located a short walk form my house. I thrive on knowing that there are examples of truly authentic worldwide cooking short bus or tube rides away. The idea that I can pop off to a selection of theatres whenever I choose simply dazzles me. I can choose between independent productions of small Art House style plays or I can go all out for a big budget theatre spectacular. It’s entirely possible to immerse yourself in museums, landmarks, places of historical significance and culture every minute of every day without seeing the same thing twice.

That is what I love about London. You never know what the City will throw at you next.

I miss London horribly whenever I leave. I am often so desperate to return that I find myself dreaming about what to do upon my return. This kind of attachment may seem odd to many people but, to me, it’s an incredibly special feeling. My relationship with London is complex mainly because London is a City and I am merely one of it’s many millions of inhabitants. There is nothing particularly that singles me out as a unique member of the ‘London Dwellers’ club. I am not an important or influential member of my community. I do not make a great deal of difference to many people’s lives. I have my circle of friends & acquaintances but that’s about all. I feel like London gives to me far more than could ever be repaid mainly because London is everything I want. There is solace and peace with tales and scenes of inspiration around every corner (and graffiti’d onto plenty of walls). So much beauty can be found in the City especially if you forget the conventional ideals of what beautiful should be. More History exists than I could ever conceive to absorb.

I sometimes wonder if my disinterest in finding or settling down with any ‘significant other’ stems from the feeling that the City is my partner, for the time being anyway. There are not enough hours in the day for me to see my friends and the City. Adding another distraction into the mix would mean something else has to give and, right now, that’s just not an option.

There must be more than just me who feels this way about a place on this Earth. I would be intrigued to hear about where and why.

One of the things enforced by the Government this year which agitated me the most was the closure of local Libraries. It upset and enraged many others too. I felt hypocritical about my fury at the closure of local libraries as I hadn’t been a member of one for years. The thought of not having a local library to go to spurred me, and many others I am sure, into action so I hot footed it five minutes down the road and signed myself up once more. As a result, I have now read quite a selection of books this year and I’d like to get down here what my thoughts were about my best reads this year.

The Book of Lost Things is a deeply creepy fairy tale. In parts, I didn’t want to continue reading because it really is quite disturbing. John Connolly leads you through pages which will keep you awake at night without you really realising you can put the book down. You are so wrapped up in the tale that stopping reading just doesn’t seem to strike you as a realistic option. It’s a very well written story about how a boy copes with his life being turned upside down. It pulls at the heart strings one page before making your stomach clench uncomfortably the next. Truly a superb book which I would highly recommend reading (just not by or to anyone under the age of 14).

I read this book on recommendation and will be recommending it onwards too. Truly, a brilliant read. A television adaptation was shown on British Television earlier this year but I did not (and still have not) watched it. Having now read the book, I cannot see how the TV drama can possibly have included all of the essential detail needed to convey and explain how the remarkable and complex lead (Logan Montstuart) lived his life. It is a disjointed and often confused fictional autobiography in the form of journals and truly will have you reading on and on. Please oh please read this book with a box of tissues next to you.

I read this book because I adore the film ‘I Am legend’ (the one with Will Smith). I am a fan of the post-apocalyptic/virus runs wild type of genre and had heard, from more than one source, that the book surpasses the film. The sources are correct. The film is based so loosely on the book that they can be enjoyed as separate entities. It’s almost impossible to draw comparison between the book and the film, the differences are too enormous. Firstly, the book is about zombies, not viral infection survivors. Secondly, there is no ‘Hollywood Hero’ aspect to the book meaning you can enjoy it as a much more realistic portrayal of how a man might cope in the circumstances present in the book. Thirdly….I don’t have a thirdly but, take my word, that the book will not spoil the film and vice versa. If you have seen the film and not read the book, or vice versa, you will realise very quickly that there is no cross analysis of the two required which is quite a unique trait for a book to film adaption.

I struggled with Catch 22 until I was about half way through. I found it a very tough read but, once I had settled into and gotten used to the erratic narrative, it was worthwhile powering through the difficult sections. I would recommend reading Catch 22 but you should be prepared for it to be challenging on the eyes and brain. In the beginning, I could only read a single chapter at once as I felt that was as much insanity as could be manageably digested in a single sitting.  I never read more than 3 chapters in one sitting. The writing style really is something else. Truly and intrinsically bonkers which falls in-line wonderfully with the lead character, Yossarian. I don’t really know what else to say about Catch 22 other than the fact that is is completely insane and that if you can stick it through until the end, you will be rewarded. Equally, I wouldn’t blame you for quitting at chapter five, it really isn’t everyone’s cup of tea.

My favourite summation of the general feelings surrounding the Library closures is probably a song composed and performed by a rather marvelous man called Piers Cawley. I have been lucky enough to befriend Piers via the London Open Mic scene and found our stance on the Library issue was completely inline. Piers wrote his song in order to vent his feelings and I would like to share it with you, Child of The Library (warning, there is a bad word in there).

I’m doing my bit, Piers is doing his. If you neglect your Library and think you could use it better then, please, get yourself there. Rent a film, a CD or a book and make sure we don’t lose irreplaceable services like local Libraries. Our apathy towards these services doesn’t make them less valuable and they will be taken away if we continue as we are. Don’t make libraries a casualty of the ‘if you don’t use it, you lose it’ mentality.

That means that I have achieved more than I ever thought possible in 2011. Here’s a summary of what I have achieved and a smattering of what i want to do next year.

I learned how to play the banjo.

I have always wanted to be able to play an instrument which inspired sheer joy for me. I have played instruments before (clarinet & flute mainly) but they never made me feel like the fear of performance was worth the reward. Singing has always been my main creative outlet but I have always wanted to do more. I have always loved the banjo. A folk musician friend pointed me to the EFDSS for banjo lessons and oh how I love playing that instrument.

Cycled the BHF London to Brighton

When I began cycling (about 3 years ago), I set my sights firmly on wanting to be fit enough to cycle the London to Brighton ride. This year I was fit enough and had even acquired a new bicycle. I completed the 54 mile cycle (including cycling up ‘The Beacon’) in 4 hours and 45 minutes raising a total of nearly £400 for charity.

Losing 3 stones (in weight, not literally 3 stones)

At the start of this year, I weighed 3 stones more than I do now and was also 3 dress sizes bigger. I lost weight by eating sensibly and exercising. Who knew that combination actually worked and was not just propaganda.

Joined a Gospel Choir

Covered in a very recent blog post, I won’t repeat myself but i will share an extra picture of us singing at a recent gig. It was a Christmas craft fayre and we were the entertainment crammed into a corner by some stalls. Its not all glamorous all the time.

Improved cooking skills (to the delight of friends and housemates)

I have many friends. Some cook, some don’t. This year, I have shared my skills and also stolen other people’s skills. With regard to my own skills. I have improved my skill set by getting better at icing cakes. Here’s some of the results:

As far as acquiring the skills of others, I have learned how to cook Indian food from scratch. I can now cook, Chicken curry, Chana Masala, Tarka Daal, Saag Aloo, Onion Bhajis, Aloo Tikka and Chicken Korma. Evidence Below:

In 2012, I want to learn how to cook Chinese food.

Friends and Family

This year, I have managed to successfully retain my entire circle of friends but also add to it. I am lucky enough to have a truly amazing circle of friends who treat me very well indeed.  I need to see more of my friends who do not live in London. I must make more visits outside of the City.

My family remains entirely intact. My Father’s side of the family had a fabulous reunion this year where we all came together for a jolly good catch up.  It’s easy to forget how many of us there are but it’s so good to all be in one room together even though we need to hire a village hall to get us all in nowadays. I stay in touch with my immediate family (Grandmother, parents, sisters, nieces/nephews etc) on a very regular basis but it does get difficult to accommodate every extended family member. In 2012, I resolve to do better as sending more regular letters and updated to my extended family.

Indoor Climbing

Now that I am fitter and thinner than ever before, I have had the opportunity to take up previously untangable sports. The firt one ticked off my list is indoor climbing. I have now completed my beginners course and will be doing the internediate course in the new year.

I do hope to get back on a horse next year too. My sister now owns her own horse and is not all that far away from me (I am in London and she is in Oxfordshire). In 2012, I will visit her and ride her horse to gauge my fear levels before taking the plunge entirely and riding in London. This visit may or may not coincide with a rather fabulous Burns Night Caleigh at the mess….. just saying

And Finally……

I have kept my job. I’ve never really been good at not getting ‘itchy feet’ with regards to jobs and employment. I never normally last more than 12 months. My current job is going strong at 20 months! I have been promoted twice and am challenged every day (not always in a good way but a challenge is still a challenge). Despite the recession, I believe I am truly making headway and gaining skills I will have for life if I choose to use them.

I’ll say that I hope anyone who got to the point of my post had an equally satisfying 2011 and plenty of ambitions for 2012.

The London Eye

I went on the London Eye as part of a London sightseeing mission with my eldest sister, brother in law and nephew. The staff are well organised, friendly and, although the queue to collect tickets was long, the waiting really wasn’t all that bad.

We shared a pod with about 18 other people. Everyone was really well mannered and took it in turns to share the best viewing angles with very good grace. It was a gloriously clear day.

It’s easy to forget just how many iconic landmarks London has when you live here. I take it completely for granted that I can cycle around Trafalgar Square any time I like or that the glory of Tower Bridge lit up at night is 40 minutes from my house. Plenty of comedy photos were taken by everyone in the pod and there was a general feeling of awe at the views. I was not an exception to the comedy photo’s or the ‘ooohhh’ing and ‘ahhhh’ing. My favorite comedy picture is of me holding the bridge up. It was ever so heavy.

As enjoyable as the London Eye was, I would have been horribly upset if I’d paid the full £19 adult fare. My advice would be to get a voucher. If you can find a voucher to take the cost below the £10, it’s worth the money. I would begrudge anything more than £10.

Madame Tussauds

The trip I made to Madame Tussauds was as part of a milestone birthday celebration in London weekend bender. I was very hung over and tired. i actually believe that this enhanced my enjoyment of Tussaudes as I had the pleseant ‘this might not actually be real life’ angle on the whole experience.

Firstly, the queues for Tussaudes are horrific. We queued for nearly 2 hours. There is ‘in queue line’ entertainment in the form of a DJ and some quiz type things but, essentially, it’s a two hour long queue. A queue that long is never fun.

The wax works are as impressive as you expect them to be. The content of the rooms is regularly updated so there will always be the latest teen heart throb wax work getting mobbed by the girls (Robert Pattinson in my case). I was too busy stroking Patrick Stewart’s head to take notice of Robert but the Birthday girls were not.

There is a great selection of classics and modern works. You also have you staples e.g The Queen & Prince Phillip, ex-Prime Ministers you want to melt down into candles and musical legends like Jimi Hendrix. I particularly enjoyed the Marvel Heroes 4D experience. I can confirm, Ironman does have buns of steel…

The dungeons at Tussauds are suitably scary too. I basically screamed and ran through as fast as I could so I can’t comment on much about it. I had my eyes closed quite tightly and my fingers in my ears.

It is a staggering £29 to get into Tussauds if you buy your tickets on the door on the day. For me, Tussauds is not worth the £29, on the day, entrance fee. The tickets are cheaper if you pre-book or go during off peak times. I would put my maximum price for Tussaudes at £18-£20. Any more than that, and I would feel robbed. I would also say that Tussauds is a one time visit attraction. There would be no point, for me personally, in going back to see th elatest updated works at all. I will enjoy my comedy photographs for a long time though. If I do go to Tussauds again, will be for my milestone Birthday celebration.

St Paul’s Cathedral

St Paul’s has long been iconic and a major tourist attraction. I had never been before because religious buildings tend to give me the heebie jeebies. I can’t explain it, they just make me feel unsettled. However, a friend got some complimentary tickets for St Paul’s so I decided to get over the jitters and go. The ‘Occupy London Stock Exchange’ protest camp was set up quite resolutely outside. Our complimentary tickets were courtesy of the London Stock Exchange. I had to have a little chuckle.

Once inside the Cathedral, you can pick up an audio guide. I would highly reccommend this. It is informative and well presented. It really did thoroughly enhance my visit. It is well thought out and guides you around all of the major aspects of the Cathedral without really imposing itself on you. Some audio guides cause mass and simultaneous thoughts of suicide when they drone on for too long on one subject but the St Paul’s one is very good at keeping the information in digestible amounts.

You’re not really supposed to take photos of the interiors of the Cathedral but, once you get up the stairs and out in the open, you can snap yourself happy. If you are physically able to, you should climb to the top of the Cathedral. The views are simply stunning. You can see the City of London just behind me here.

It’s important to remember that St Paul’s is a fully functional place of worship. There are songs and prayers throughout the day which visitors are welcome to stay and attend. As I am very skittish about these sorts of things, we chose these times to do all of the stair climbing and outside exploration.

There is also a crypt to explore at St Paul’s but we ran out of time before we could fully look around it so I will be going back another day to finish off St Paul’s completely.

I would never have gone to St Paul’s had I not been offered a free ticket. Having been around once now, I can, with my hand on my heart, say I would happily pay the £14.50 entry fee to go round again. It is a truly magnificent building. Not only that, but it is a work of architectural genius which has been lovingly restored. The audio guides are fantastic, the staff could not have been more helpful, the interior decoration is awe inspiring and the views from both levels of the dome are stunning. By far my favourite London attraction this year.

Having been the lead (well, only) singer in the originals band for a good long while, I became aware that my ability to sing and create harmonies was woeful. Historically, singing in a choir is the most intricate harmony singing you can imagine. I didn’t want to join a static, traditionalist choir of 50 people who sing note perfect with immaculate diction. I wanted something with a bit more personality. Luckily, the rather lovely Felix (of the Smart Women’s Recording Club) emailed round details of an audition being held by another smart woman. The audition was for a Gospel ‘fusion’ choir which automatically sparked my interest. I am not religious but Gospel singing always seems truly celebratory and not mournful (like so many traditional choral arrangements do) and I thought, well, what the heck.

I turn up to the audition as the only rock and roll singer and instantly felt out of my depth. In my audition group, I had classically trained singers, gospel singers and other singers with far more experience than me. My nerves didn’t improve after the audition started as the first thing we do is listen to three notes, played simultaneously, and then have to sing back each individual note we had heard. After this was a warm up. I was the only person who had to feel for their diaphragm the whole audition to make sure I’m using the right muscles to sing. I’m was also the only person who thought a warm up was a shot and a pint before going on stage.

After the note test and the warm up, we got into the actual singing. First, our job was to sing a harmony for whoever is singing lead to Adele’s ‘Rolling in the deep’. The second job was to sing the lead on Adele’s ‘Rolling in the deep’. I was pretty horrific at the harmony singing but managed to belt out the lead part without too many issues as was expected.

Also, as if that wasn’t enough nerve inducing stuff, we were being filmed! You can see the audition video here if you so choose.

In summary, I felt entirely out of my depth and like an utter fraud. I had absolutely no expectation of being asked to attend rehearsals or join the choir. However, I was asked to attend rehearsals and, eventually, to join the choir in an official ‘sign the contract’ manner. I am a proud member of ‘Gospel Essence’ and have been singing with them for just under a year now.

I have a few gigs with them under my belt, the most recent being a Christmas carol session, and hopefully many more to come.

My time in the choir has definitely served to improve my harmony singing but, in addition, has given me far my joy than I ever expected. I can honestly say I truly love singing with Gospel Essence. Everyone shares the same passions and we all get along amazingly. Life is much more fun with the choir in it.

I am very proud of the fact that I get to sing the lead on one of our demo tracks. It’s a re-work of Katy Perry’s ‘Firework’ and can be heard here on the choir’s Soundcloud.

We are available to sing at Corporate Events, Weddings, Bar Mitzvahs, Birthdays and just generally any occasion you had in mind really. No, I mean it……

Bicycle Man: “Hi there, I’m just calling about your bicycle. Unfortunately the rear forks are bent out of shape and the wheel isn’t sitting in place correctly. It’s unservicable and unsafe to ride.”

Me: “Oh crud, well that’s not great is it!”

Bicycle Man: “No not really, you’re going to need a new bicycle”

Me: “I’ll get on that then….thanks, I think….”

So yes, a little more than a few parts here and there. A whole new bicycle. My first reaction was panic, and then sadness and then back to panic at how I would afford to replace the bicycle. My riding has come on a long way since I bought the Raleigh so I knew I wanted to upgrade but I didn’t have upgrade kind of cash just knocking around in my bank account. Fortunately one of my colleagues mentioned to me that our Company is part of the Cycle Scheme.

The Cycle Scheme allows you to buy a bicycle & accessories (e.g. helmet, lock, back rack, panniers, lights etc) with no initial outlay as your employer pays the upfront costs. You then ‘rent’ the bicycle from your employer for a monthly fee. This monthly fee is deducted from your pay before tax so you save Tax and NI on however much you repay. At the end of your ‘hire’ period (normally 12 months) your employer can transfer ownership of the bicycle over to you for what they deem to be the bicycle’s market value. It almost works like an interest and tax free loan. It’s really very cool. Please do see their website for more details though as I am not an authority on the Cycle Scheme.

Anyway, my Raleigh happened to be broken roughly a month before I was due to ride the British Heart Foundation London to Brighton sponsored cycle ride. The process of Cycle Scheme is obviously slower than going to a shop and taking a bicycle away the same day as there is paperwork and Royal Mail involved. I was pretty desperate to get the bicycle sorted so I opted to do the cheeky thing (with the agreement of the cycle shop and my employer) which was to pay for the bicycle on my credit card and then have the balance of the refunded onto the card once the Cycle Scheme paper work was complete. It was a little risky as if I wasn’t eligible for the Cycle Scheme for any reason, I would have a bicycle I couldn’t afford but it was a risk I weighed up and took.

The Cycle Scheme only utilises local bicycle shops (no big chain brands) so I went off to Bike Trax in Wanstead. I have to say, it’s lovely going into a local bike shop where the mechanics and sales people recognise you and ask you how this clunk and that click has been doing since they looked at it for you. You just don’t get that level of service from a big chain. Now don’t get me wrong, I can’t fault the big chains customer service overall (I am particularly fond of Evans Cycles online for amazing deals and customer service) but it juts doesn’t compare to the personal touch.

I deviate away from the point which is that I chose to purchase myself a Trek 7.3 FX  17″ ladies Hybrid bicycle. I almost had heart palpitations at the thought of a bicycle being £500 but I can proclaim that after riding her for a few months, she is worth every penny!

While I was spending so much money, I also opted to get myself a back rack, clip on pannier and a new lock. Let’s face it, with a £500 bicycle you don’t want to be securing it with a £15 coil lock from Argos do you? I also took out bicycle insurance. I was all sorted and set off to fall completely in love with my new machine and to name her Daisy.

Fortunately for me, my Cycle Scheme paper work all came through in time for the due date on my credit card bill and everything was refunded and sorted. I also had plenty of time (about 3 weeks) to get used to Daisy before we rode the London to Brighton.

We completed the 54 mile ride in a good time of 4 hours 45 minutes and I managed to cycle all the way up The Beacon (also known as killer hill at mile number 50). I will admit that miles 32 to 40 were really tough, I think that was my ‘wall’ when my bum hurt and I generally felt like I was running out of steam. I raised a grand total of £384.00 for the British Heart Foundation. Here’s a snap of Daisy and Me after the finish with our medal.

Recently however, fortune has not smiled on Daisy and me. Mainly because we got hit by a car. It was the driver of the car’s fault. I was on the correct side of the road cycling along and he pulled a U-turn (heading onto my side) and completely took me out. The worst part of it was that for the last 2 seconds, I was pulling on my breaks as hard as I could but just knew there was nothing more I could do to try and stop or get out the way. It was the most horiffic feeling to just know you’re going to be hit by a car and it is inevitably going to be painful.

I came completely off the bike and hit the ground. I did clonk my head against the road but thanks to the good old skid lid (a.k.a. helmet), I escaped pretty much unscathed (graze to my arm being the worst injury). Poor Daisy got a clobbering. Here’s a snap of the damage to just 1 pedal:

You can see on the image there just how mangled the metal is and how the pedal has been wrenched almost completely away from the crank arm of the chain set. There was a lot of other damage too. The entire list equated to:

• Bent Handlebars
• Bent Handlebar Stem
• Ruined Handlebar Grips
• Bent Saddle
• Bent Seat Post
• Chain Set Ruined
• Pedals Mangled
• Bottom Bracket Wrecked

In order to celebrate my advances, i have chosen a few images to display how I am developing. First, lets take layered cakes. I started with layered cakes and simply drentching them in normal icing. It looked messy but it tasted good.

As this really wasn’t very pretty, I turned to mastering the Victoria sponge cake instead as it involves no all over icing. I managed to master it pretty well I think. It looked better and definitely tasted batter.

I also invested in a giant cup cake baking pan which basically allows you to bake your sponge into the shape of a giant cup cake before you sandwich it together and decorate as you choose. I firmly believe it would be best to use royal icing on the base and butter cream on the top. The only time I have made one of these cakes successfully, I had not quite graduated to royal icing so I used chocolate fudge icing on the base and created the pleated look by piping slightly thicker rows onto the smoothed out surface. Here’s the finished result.

Not the most beautiful thing but boy it was TASTY. The next time I attempted a giant cupcake, the blooming thing stuck in the pan. As a rescue plan, it was instead transformed into a Super Mario toadstool. The top was covered with white royal icing and then red food colouring painted on. The base was butter cream icing. It was a very very good tasting cake.

As my royal icing had been going so well, I decided to try a whole cake. The attempt was not too good but I learned a LOT of lessons via trial and error e.g. there is NO substitute for a butter cream icing layer over the cake to be iced left in the fridge overnight. Here is the Baby cake i made for this attempt as a maternity leave cake

So, with all these royal icing lessons learned, I applied it to a double sponge cake layers with jam. I covered the whole outside with butter cream icing and refrigerated for an hour or so. This provided the perfect base for the royal icing. Not only did it smooth the cake out, but the butter cream provided the necessary adhesion. I got the icing nice and level by basically stroking it a lot. I cut out and attached the butterflies (also in royal icing) with just a little water. The writing was butter cream icing (of the wrong consistency hence the slightly jerky appearance).

I also created a novelty cake for my own pirate themed birthday party. Here’s my treasure chest stocked with booty! It was made from 2 sponges baked in 2lb loaf tins. They were then trimmed and wedged together before being coated in chocolate fudge butter cream icing. I used the milk chocolate Mikado biscuit sticks for the plank like detail. It was a lot of fun to make!

Overall, I am incredibly pleased with my layered cake progression. Onto the cupcakes!

I began by just baking cupcakes and not decorating them at all. When I did graduate to decorating, it was generally normal icing spread out with sprinkles on. Not too taxing or attractive. Eventually, I got a rudimentary piping set and produced these

They weren’t all that good but I only had a couple of sizes of nozzle and not much experience. I went to a good bakery suppliers and bought a big star nozzle to achieve mega swirls on cupcakes. I also decided to deviate away from the standard sprinkle decoration configuration. As a result, my decorations evolved into beefy swirls and nougat topping

From that point on, my butter cream piping improved more and more. My main improvement came when I purchased a Wilton 1M tip. It is simply the most versatile tip in my piping box. It swirls and flowers very well as seen int he pictures below

And a flower. The 2 tone icing is achieved by painting stripes of food coloring on the inside of the piping bag (disposable sort) before loading your icing in.

As my royal icing had gone so well on the larger cakes, I had a go at cupcakes too. The trickiest part was getting the cakes to bake completely level so that the icing sat evenly. These were made to commemorate my sister and I finally seeing Take That live after 18 years of waiting

The next royal iced cakes were made for a girly girls birthday party. The flowers are pre-bought Dr Oetker wafer daisies, however, the leaves were made by me using green royal icing and leaf cutters, The line detail was completed with a cocktail stick.

My top tips for self teaching are these:

• Youtube has a WEALTH of information, good and bad.
• Buy a Wilton M1 Tip if you want to ice cupcakes beautifully
• Find some good disposable piping bags (I actually don’t mind the Sainsbury’s own brand ones) because you can put any size tip in them and don’t need a coupler
• Scour car boot sales etc for equipment. I got an amazing rolling pin and other stuff for between 20p and £2 on boot sales
• Get at least 1 cake stand. It’s a little extra satisfaction seeing something you are proud of on a lovely stand. Charity shops and boot sales are ideal when looking for ones that won’t break the bank
• Do try off the wall thing, you may well learn something important from your mistakes
• Natural food colouring is rubbish. I like Sugarflair paste an Silver Spoon colourings
• Vanilla essence and Vanilla Extract are worlds apart. Always use the extract
• If you want to use a fruit flavoring in something, use the real fruit and not an essence, essences taste awful when compared to the real thing
• Taste as you bake! If it’s not quite right, you have a chance to fix it before it’s too late!

Last time I was in Dubai was 2008 and the place has changed remarkably even since then. Living with the scale of change and development going on constantly must be mind boggling! I took this little skyline shot from somewhere on Jumeriah Beach

The first 2 days of my time away was actually not spent in Dubai but in Abu Dhabi at The Yas Hotel. Being on the Yas Island, Naturally we had to visit Ferarri World. I have to say, it is not worth the money you pay to get into unless you are a Ferarri nut but we still enjoyed ourselves. Here’s the grand entrance:

Ferarri World currently boasts the fastest roller coaster in the world. I suffered a case of the nerves whilst queuing but did go on it. I can assure you it was very quick. I have been on Rita Queen of Speed at Alton Towers and she is tame compared to this beasty! Here’s the signage for the roller coaster. I have to admit, it doesn’t really transmit the feeling that your skin is about to get a stretching…..

There is a good viewing platform/smokers area overlooking the roller coaster so after the ordeal, we went to see how bad it looked from the viewing platform. It looked as bad as it felt

We stayed at The Yas hotel for the evening and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the roof bar. It was a spectacular sight to behold. The roof is actually constructed of many individual panels all angled the same way. The panels are lit which gives a really decadent feeling to the whole place.

The Yas hotel is set right next to the Abu Dhabi Formula 1 race course and during dinner I spotted cyclists tearing around the course. This made me instantly jealous as I would have liked to join in. Apparently it’s a monthly thing when the F1 track is opened up to cyclists. I have resolved that cycling around the Abu Dhabi F1 course is one of the things I need to do before I die.

Whilst at The Yas, we stayed in a rather glorious suite with a bath big enough to swim in nearly! I took a video to document the epicness naturally. The bed size is not really conveyed well on the video but there were 3 pillows in a row across the mattress, that’s one enormous bed!

All in all, the Yas hotel is very lovely but there’s not really a whole lot of anything else going on within a reasonable distance. Unless it’s F1 weekend and some big name bands are playing or you’re there to not leave the hotel, a short stay will suffice in order to relax a little and see the limited sights.

On leaving Yas island, we decamped back to the marina side apartment in Dubai. The rest of my visit was spent eating far too much, working out in the gym because I ate far too much and generally just hanging out with my friends. There were a couple of expeditions out of Dubai in order to purchase some rather fantastic comic statuettes. In total, 6 were purchased although I only have pictures of the first 4. Here we have The Punisher, Spiderman (my personal favourite), Carnage (VERY scary) and Venom (VERY creepy).

I feel the need to show you close ups of Venom and Carnage as they are simply terrifying. It gave me the willies knowing they were in the same apartment as me! The only saving grace was that I know Spidey, Punisher, Iron Man and Hulk were ll in the next room ready to kick their behinds.

I really did enjoy my first ‘Premier Screen’ experience at Dubai Mall. I knew you got luxury but I wasn’t expecting an electric reclining lazy boy leather chair levels of luxury. I can hand on heart say that watching a film in the ‘Premier Screen’ is completely worth the money at least once.

Also, I discovered frozen yogurt. I don’t think I’ll ever be the same again.

What these guys had done is craft a sofa and put most of the cast from Futurama onto it. You can see Fry relaxing with his head on a pillow, Zoidberg is buried to his neck, Leela is at the very far right of the picture getting a tan and finally The Professor is still under construction.  Bender looks like he’s passed out at the bottom. I especially liked the authentic beer can in one of Bender’s hands and a cigar in the other.

You may also have spotted the dude with a guitar, amp and microphone. You’d be correct if you guessed he was serenading all the watchers as his mates got busy with the sand art. I’d never seen anything like this on the Southbank before but the team who does the crafting (www.dirtybeach.tv) have a full photographic collection of all the pieces they created in London on February 12th.

According to their site, the guys (and gals) travel around to beaches, clear the litter up and then make some pretty amazing stuff! Brilliant idea no? They also claim to cater for parties and the like so maybe, if you have a beach and want to party on it, you should give them a call?

Anyway, it’s got to the point now where I have ridden about 120 miles on it now and reckon that’s a fair enough amount for me to provide an opinion. I’ll start at the beginning.

Fitting the Tyre

I was a bit worried I wouldn’t be able to fit this tyre myself. I’d read various review which stated the tyre is pretty tricky to get on and off because it’s a tight fit. This didn’t just concern me only from a fitting point of view but also from a roadside puncture aspect. You don’t want a tyre so awkward to get on and/or off that it takes you and age crouched by the side of the road and many swear words before you’re patched and on your way again.

The trickiest bit of fitting the tyre was getting both walls inside the rim. Toward the last few inches of the second wall, it was getting to be a pretty tough job. I’m pleased I has 4 tyre levers and not just 2 as I don’t think there would have been success with only 2 levers. Saying that, I didn’t require cable ties to hold the tyre or a helping house mate. I managed it, solo effort, in about 5 minutes. The thing I found more time consuming was making sure the tyre was properly aligned.

Comparing the task of alignment to my last tyre, the Marathon plus is child’s play. It has a reflective strip and a small rubber ridge which you can use as clear points of reference for proximity to the wheel rim. I ensured the reflective line was the same distance from the wheel rim around the entire circumference of each side. It’s a bit fiddly but it’s completely worth it. If you don’t get your alignment right you feel like you’re riding with a bump in your tyre. If you commute any decent distance this is something that will irritate you immensely. I used to really struggle with tyre alignment of my old tyre (known to sometimes need 3 or 4 tweaks before it rode evenly) but I got the Marathon Plus right first time.

Important Point for First Time Fitters – you may or may not have noticed, but tyres have an arrow on the sides with the word ‘Drive’ next to it. This is the direction the tyre should turn in when you pedal. Make sure you get the tyre on the right way round. I’m sure the tyre engineers spent lots of time figuring out why ‘Drive’ should go the same way as the arrow and it’s be a shame to waste their hard work now wouldn’t it.

How is the Marathon Plus on the road?

I’m about 120 miles in and (touch lots of wood) haven’t had a puncture so I can say that, thus far, the Marathon Plus’ main selling feature is working well. That isn’t the only way it’s changed my ride though.

The Marathon Plus is firm. Really firm. I like to ride at maximum tyre pressure but, for the sake of a thorough review, I took down the  pressures for a couple of days last week. I used to ride my old tyre at a lower than max inflation just because I blooming hated it and wanted one aspect of my cycle to be enjoyable (lower PSI will make your ride less ‘bumpy’) so I do have experience of riding at lower inflation. I appreciate you’re going to carry a little extra weight from a puncture proof tyre but up until my ‘low PSI’ experiment, I really hadn’t noticed it. However, knocking down the PSI really did seem to amplify the extra weight of the tyre immensely. For the 3 days I cycled on lower PSI I can honestly say I felt unfit. I didn’t enjoy the rides one bit as I arrived at work looking like I’d been in the shower with my clothes on. It was truly hideous. However, pumping it back up to 85 resulted in the return of what I can only describe as cycling joy.

I could see real issues with this tyre for riders who aren’t of ‘Max PSI’ club or who like to have more comfortable, leisurely rides on evenings/weekends. Having the Marathon plus at less than max inflation really did upset me. It made me alter the way I ride my bicycle in order to still make good time. It wasn’t my style at all. But on Max PSI, it’s everything I want out of a tyre. Smooth, reliable, grips brilliantly (as a drain cover in the rain on Romford Road will testify to) and generally provides excellent pedal effort to propulsion ratios. I don’t feel like I’m leaving most of my effort on the road behind me. It rolls really well.

In summary:

How tricky was it to fit?

A little tricky. If you have never fitted a tyre on to your bicycle before, maybe have a more experienced friend in the house with you for emergency consultation (my services are available for the princely sum of 1 brew and a decent slice of cake).

Will I be replacing my front tyre with a marathon plus when it bites the dust?

Yes I will, but I’ll only be riding it at max inflation.

Is the tyre worth the £19.99 I paid for it at www.evanscycles.com (I used their price match for the cheaper deal as described in ‘Another Cycling One’)

Yes, every last penny.

Would I recommend the Marathon Plus?

Yes. I think it would suit almost any cyclist who has puncture issues on their daily rides.

Out of a scale of 1 to 5 (1 being ‘Paper would be a better tyre’ and 5 being ‘Better than sex’) how would I rate the Marathon Plus?

4.

So there you go. That’s my attempt at reviewing my tyre. it’s a bit rubbish but I had a good bash! Happy cycling!!!!!!