New camera

Got myself a new camera yesterday. A Canon EOS 1000D. So far I am well impressed with it, and have taken close to 800 photos in one day. And my favourite picture until now, I think is this one...

Another big fat grading

Yesterday, Sunday, we had a karate grading. Yes, "again" some of you might say. But that is how it is if you train often, hard and long hours ;-)
Despite the fact it was rather hot in the hall we were in, the grading went fairly OK. I felt I only made a few minor errors, the biggest one being me not remembering a couple of combinations in the line work. (I blame the heat!) This resulted in another clean pass, and another diploma:
And Clare got a similar one too. Congratulations Clare! Well done, especially with the broken toe and other ailments I know you struggle with. You are so tough! A lot tougher than I would be in the same situation.
I am a little bit proud over myself too, and a little bit surprised as well. But then again, if we looked at the "competition" there, IE the other people that were going for the same grade, I'd say Clare and I didn't do too bad. It is not completely unfair to say we were the only two there not messing up the Jiyu Ippon Kumite (one step semi-free sparring) badly. And I think we both were rather comfortable in the free sparring too...
All this we owe to our instructor. He is hard but fair. If he hadn't drilled us as much as he have done, we would probably have had a hard time. I think it is only fair to say that a grading session is no harder than any normal every day session with Sensei Grunwald. Once started, it feels like we are well prepared for anything that are thrown at us in the grading. (Before the grading I'm all nerves, of course.)

So a HUGE THANKS goes to Sensei Tony Grunwald, for his enthusiasm, knowledge, perseverance and the way he is pushing us towards higher achievements! It is an honour to be his student. There is always something interesting in his classes, a new challenge or an old technique to improve on.

Garden produce

Last evening we enjoyed the first of our own garden produce for this year here. It is the radishes that has gone bonkers. They grow like it is the last thing they will ever do.


Quite a few! :-) And there is plenty more to come.
The two rows next to Kahuna is radishes:
No, Kahuna is the stone face to the RIGHT in the picture, nothing else.
The rest of the vegetables haven't grown as quickly as the radishes, but they are coming along nicely too.
As you can see, we are doing gardening in style, dressed up and with a beer.

Bike changes

The garage here is now hosting just one MC. Both the big bikes have been sold. Clare's SV 1000S went first to a "local" guy, and then a few days later I sold my Aprilia to a German guy.
It was the right thing to do. We haven't really used the bikes at all since last Easter, and to keep them just for the sake of having a big bike any longer would just have been stubborn.

Clare have ordered a Suzuki DR-Z 400 SM -08 that we will pickup tomorrow, Saturday. Me, I will keep my DR-Z. So that is what we will be riding in the foreseeable future. Great fun, and more suitable for the roads around here.

Seem like I am carrying on downsizing my bikes here. It's probably spelt AGE. ;-) From the Hayabusa, to the slightly slower Aprilia and now to "only" a 400 cc supermoto. Or in the terms of top speed: From 200 mph to 175 mph to 100 mph... OK, the theoretical top speed of the DR-Z is calculated to 117 mph, but I doubt I dare to try that out. 105 on the speedo is fast enough on that little bike.

Ooops

Where's my manners!? Should have updated about the test ride long time ago. :-)
The bike rides just as great as she's always done. We went down to Barnet, to Dudley's for a pancake on Saturday afternoon. Gorgeous weather and a nice ride. Clare on her SV 1000S and me on my RSV 1000R Factory (Yes, I have to win the letter race!) u it really pointed out hte fact that either I have gotten much older or the roads around here are just not good for large sports bikes. It was only on the slip road onto M25 (and on the actual M25...) it felt like the bike could be used even half decent. But then again, nowadays you'd probably get a jail sentence for stretching her legs. 100 mph / 160 km/h is nothing for the bike but means the world for the police apparently...