Bike Back Up & Running

Just a quick post to say that despite an expected week's wait for my new (miche compatible) cassette I got an email yesterday morning to say it was ready. So picked it up and fitted wheel to bike yesterday too!

Dad Arrives Today

Well a hot day will greet my dad when he arrives from England later today as it is expected to be 30 degs+. he'll enjoy that as he did request hot and sunny and wasn't going to come over in the winter "with all that freezing cold white stuff" - so how he's my father considering my love of skiing I'll never know!

A Good Time at Rheinfelden Fischessen

We had a fun time last evening in Rheinfelden for their annual Fischessen, a simple event that revolves around the eating of fish (no surprise there given the title of the day), the drinking of beer and a little music and laughter. We joined Clemens/Petra and Jim/Beth for the evening and popped over to the German side of the town (like many towns on the Rhine there are Swiss and German towns of the same name) for ice cream so Claire could find some Mint Chocolate Chip that is never to be seen in Switzerland! We can heartily recommend the Cafe Venezia for their desserts.

Bike Wheel Still Causes Confusion in the Shop

I found a recommendation for a bicycle repair shop in Basel from the English Forum and went there this morning only to find, naturally, that the owner was on his summer holidays - probably watching Le Tour or up some Alpine pass I hope. Luckily this being Basel (one of the most cycle friendly cities in the world - officially) and having an iPhone (using its map facility to locate the nearest store) I found another shop close by. The staff spoke good English as trying to describe the problem in German would really have stretched my limited vocabulary. Even then the whole hub/spline/cassette conversation went off on a wrong tangent (regarding lock rings) but we got a solution in the end and I left the wheel and await news of the parts arriving now!

Bikes, Splines and Compatibility Issues!!!

Last week I started to fix my road bike which had been suffering from a "slipping chain" and I had managed to diagnose the problem as needing a replacement chain and rear cassette. I even managed to discover how to replace a rear cassette thanks to bicycletutor.com and set about the task. However, I made the mistake of thinking that Campagnolo derailleurs would mean other campagnolo components and found that the new cassette didn't fit the rear hub. A bit of work later I then doscovered it didn't fit a Shimano cassette either and was an old Miche design that was unique (probably to mavic wheels) and impossible to find a cassette for. Looks like I'll need, at least, a new hub and, maybe, a new wheel!

Claire's Birthday BBQ

Well I managed to keep it a surprise and get Claire up to the garden for an unexpected birthday BBQ. I couldn't have done without the help of Jim/Beth and Clemens/Petra as well as getting additional food from Carolin/Phil - so thanks to all of you. With miserable weather to start with it wasn't looking that hopeful but the BBQ got going, the whole keg was drunk and we were there till dark. This morning we went back up to clear the expected mess but somehow (with a little help from or friends I expect) it was quite clear an didn't need too much effort.

A Very Wet but Enjoyable Day at "Le Tour"

It was a reasonable weather forecast for the 13th stage of the Tour de France yesterday but unfortunately it was one of those forecasts that was way off the mark. We expected the odd shower but after lunch it just decided to rain and the only variation was whether it was very heavy or heavy rain! Certainly it looked to make it an interesting final hairpin turn as the riders reached the final kilometre in Colmar. We positioned ourselves there but the breakaway and the impending mountains next week meant that everyone played it safe and managed to negotiate the corner okay. The photo shows the winner of the stage, Heinrich Haussler, as he makes that final turn. There are a few more here.

Great Day Yesterday for Claire's Birthday

We had 30 degs+ and clear blue skies all day (which was just as well as this morning it's chucking it down with rain) for Claire's birthday. Claire had already seen her main present (or so she had thought) of an original painting by John Horsewell but she was in for a surprise. After breakfast we went downstairs to set up our new freezer in the garage and she discovered a present there too - a new bike! We then went out on the road to Bad Sackingen for lunch, Claire got interviewed for a German newspaper (about Swine flu) in Rheinfelden and then we went into Basel for a curry! That was with Emma who also had a birthday party last night.

Free Movie!

It seems a little strange to be going to the cinema alone but I have two free tckets to a Premiere in Basel and it seems a waste to not go even if Clair has to work. It's a remake of Taking of Pelham 123 so not too exciting but it's free thanks to Orange. I need to relax after a manic day getting ready for Claire's birthday this week. I'll say more about that later. Anyway now in town and it's over 30 degs I think so hope the cinema has air conditioning!

Road Bike Finally Gets Out on the Road

For some reason (well actually I do know the reason but I've been ignoring it - see below) it's taken a while for the road bike to appear this summer. Today was its first appearance in over 10 months and I immediately recognised the problem that I had forgotten to fix last winter. The chain slips when I pedal with any real pressure and a little bit of research found the answers I was looking for. A great website bicycletutor.com had 2 little videos to check for tight chain links and a stretched chain. It turns out that my chain was a little worn and I've ordered a new one from the wonderful Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative which should be with me next week!

Courgettes Keep Growing

So every time I come up to the garden I'm confronted by ever bigger and ever more numerous quantities of courgettes. They just keep growing. I've got one plant that's been especially cultivated to grow a marrow and it's working so far!

Recipes for courgette so far include; Courgette Frittata, Courgette & Goats Chees Tart, Sauteed Courgette, Ratatouille, Roasted Courgette, Stir fried courgette, Stuffed courgette, courgette pasta but no courgette ice cream so far...

First Potatoes - dug up and eaten!

We spent a little while up at the garden before getting back to watch old Roger be even more of a Swiss legend in the afternoon. We decided to dig up our first potatoes and just 2 plants worth produced a bag full of decent looking spuds - some nice small ones and a few that had grown to a decent size. Just need to get a sack for them now so I can keep them in the cool of the cellar. Anyway we had our first ones for tea tonight...mmmmmmmmmm

Work Duty at the Garden

This morning we had to go up to the garden for our 6 hours of garden maintenance duty. Each owner of a plot is expected to complete these 6 hours on one of the designated weekends each year but we could do it as 2 people doing 3 hours each. Unfortunately no one had told us that the shift started at 8am so when we discovered this after calling the garden president at 9am we rushed up and completed the remainder of the session. Strangely there was a female working group (weeding it seemed) and a male group (hedge trimming and collection of the cuttings) with very little English spoken! However it was a good morning's work that was ended with the men getting a wonderful cold beer each for their efforts - the women were nowhere to be seen..

More Cooking from the Garden

Yet another hot day out here so I got up to the allotment early so that I could water the vegetation as well as do some weeding and picking before it got too hot! Yet more courgettes were growing (another 3 picked) - they are amazing they seem to go from nothing to small marrow size in days. Anyway one is being left on one plant in order to ensure we get a real marrow. Raspberries starting to come through so today I made a rather nice (if I do say so myself) Raspberry & Redcurrant Sorbet. I did make one earlier but this recipe was much easier and the end result looked delicious as it went in to the freezer for the final time. The courgette recipe of the evening was Ratatouille and 2 more beetroots (yellow this time) have been cooked in the oven for later use.