Duffy @ Brixton Academy

Last night I saw Duffy live at the Brixton Academy. She put on an absolutely amazing vocal performance. For a young girl she can belt out amazing songs.

Most times you hope that a performer will put on a show which sounds remotely like the way you heard them on the CD. Duffy out shined her CD's with a combination of stunning vocals and some sexy pouts.

The band was slick and there were some pretty amazing dancers breaking out the dance moves you see in her video for Mercy.

Final round of MotoGP (Valencia)

Casey Stoner put on a commanding performance just for us to devastate his opposition in Valencia.


I had been looking forward to this race for so long and it didn't disappont. The crowd were uncharacteristically quite on Saturday but came out in force on Sunday. Air horns, fire crackers and day time fireworks all set the scene for a fantastic farewell to 2008 season.


As usual with all the European races (bar Toseland world at Donnington) there seemed to be only one man racing in the fans eyes, Rossi. Except for us 3 Aussies there to see Casey stick it to everyone. Leading from start to finish he made it a fairytale finish to our weekend.


A local touch to the weekend was the catering on offer with amazing paellas and patatas bravas on offer. Well worth the 6 euro for a serving.

Valencia

My first trip to Spain, well what can I say? I love the place! It exceeded every expectation I had. It also blew away a few of the misconceptions I had.

The purpose of my trip was to watch the final round of the MotoGP at the Ricardo Torno circuit near Cheste. I have always wanted to catch an Italian round and a Spanish round as these countries have the reputation fo the most raucous and fanatical supporters.


So when opportunity came knocking I answered with open arms. Joel is a guy that Greggo used to work with back at Pitcher Partners in Melbourne and who is now in London. He had organised the trip with 2 buddies. Fortunately for me one of them had to pull out and te offer ended up in my hands.


I decided to fly out on Thursday night so I could spend 1 day sightseeing and then spend the following 2 days at the MotoGP. I am so glad I did that because Valencia is a stunning plac to visit. The old historic town is full of architectural gems. A mix of amazing buildings dating back to the 1500's mixed in with everything through to Art Deco and modern master pieces.


Like Venice, it is a relatively small city to naivgate around. I went on the hop on hop off bu tour to get my bearings and get an overview what was there to see. I thoroughly recommend these cheesey buses if you are in a cit for only 1 day and want to get a good overview of a city and some very useful historical education.


Highlights for me where the amazing market with fresh seafood, cheese, meats and every other tasty delight you can think of, all housed in a historical merchants trading hall.


The other end of the spectrum is the stunning modern achitectural buildings in the science and arts precinct. It is believed to be one of the most expensive developments in European history. The opera house is a worthy contender against the Sydney Opera house as is the eye catching planiterium.


It did pour down with rain the entire day but did little to dampen my excitement and awe of this great Spanish city. Well worth a return visit.

This brings me onto the best part about Spain (other than the stunning women) which is the food and the bar culture. This truly is a city that knows how to relax and unwind. It has a very friendly atmosphere with people ou enjoying pre-dinner drinks in the squares and streets up till about 9pm before they even think about heading out to eat.


All the young people are hanging out chatting without the need to be drunk and people of all ages are out milling around in the warmly lit and inviting streets.

We enjoyed some delicious tapas each night with dishes including large salty anchoives drizzled with oil, Iberian croquettes (so delicious), spicy cut meats and smooth cheeses all washed down with a good dose of Riojca.

Guildford Canals

Today I took Black Betty out to stretch her legs for the first time. I travelled south west of London to Guildford in Surrey.

It was a 40 minute ride from Clapham i the beautiful sunshine. The first few miles of my A3 road journey was traffic jammed madness where the scooter came in very handy weaving through the traffic. It gets a little intense riding in that kind of madness so I was squealing with two wheel joy when all of a sudden it opened up onto 3 lane 70+ m/hr freedom.

I wasn't sure how the Vespa would cope with the high speeds but once I was a little more comfortable I had her singing along at a max speed of 80m/hr which was a little shaky but fantastic fun.

There were some interesting looks from people in cars as I sped along but nothing could detract from my joy as I passed quite a large number of cars while in a slight tuck gain some aerodynamic advantage. It is quite tragic how good it made me feel to be back on the road.

Arriving in Guildford I was amazed at how beautiful it was. Stunning old pubs, a castle in beautiful landscape gardens and very quaint canals filled with people in rowing boats and Amsterdam style canal boats.

It was so nice to get out of London and get some fresh air in such a quaint yet vibrant town.

I had lunch at a pub right along one of the canals in one of the most relaxing environments. I am officially a big fan of Guildford.

Thames river walk

With Greg's parents in town we were hoping to go to another Fulham home game for another dose of EPL action. On arrival we were dsappointed to see that the cost of the game seems to be determined by the calibre of the opposition. Our £30 tickets from the last game had ballooned to £48. We all felt that was a little too much.


Thankfully the ground is right alongside the Thames river not far from Putney so we decided to take advantage of the beautiful sunshine and take a walk along the river.

There are many old school pubs dotted along the rive so we started walking and stopped off for a cooling beverage anytime we felt the urge.


We ended up walking for a few hours and ended up in Hammersmith where alongside the Hammersmith bridge there were two great old pubs filled with peopl spilling out onto the path along the river enjoying the view and drink.

I could get used to that sunshine but alas I feel those days are severely numbered for this year.

Black Betty (bam ba lam)

I'm amazed I lasted this long but finally I am back on the road on two wheels. A far cry from the Duke but still Italian and great fun with the bonus of only costing £2000. Today I picked up a 2006 Piaggio Vespa GTS 250 with only 4000 miles on the clock.

She'll go up to 80 m/hr and comfortably power of the lights even with 2 people on board. The guy I bought it off also included a top box which fits my crappy £60 open face helmet comfortably and a ditry great big #$@! off chain lock (a must in London). Oh and one of those leg skirts for when it rains but I'm not sure that one will get use.


Insurance was lookig dangeroulsy expensive but managed to find a company that did 3rd party fire and theft for £125. The only other cost is £20 per month for marking in Westminster council near work and petrol which I filled a tank for £8 at £1.17 per litre (ouch).

Let the good times roll!

Ace Cafe

Ace Cafe is a legend in the motorcycling community. It is located in North London was a stop of point for travellers on the North Circular Road.


During the 50's and 60's Ace was a mecca for rocker's, motorcyclists and petrol heads in general. It was closed down in 1969 but re-opened in 2001. It reguarly hosts nights dedicated to British bikes, Italian bikes and hot rods.


This weekend was the 75th Anniversary of the cafe and I went down to check it out. There were about 100 bikes down there when I arrived at 8am. Amazing classic cafe racers and die hard old school rockers. It really was a great retro vibe.


The cafe runs a really great 50's style garage diner. I had the classic British breakfast which included 2 eggs, 2 rashers of bacon, 2 Ace Cafe sausages and toast with baked beans. A tasty heart attack breakfast washed down with a tea.


They have a shop inside the cafe selling t-shirts, badges, jackets and all kinds of great accessories. I picked myself up an Ace Cafe logo black t-shirt.

I'm hoping to get myself a bike soon and I can't wait to revisit the cafe again.