I was out at a mate's farewell bash in town tonight, and as I do I biked there and locked the beast to a pole just off a busy central London road mere metres from the restaurant we were all in. We were in there for a good couple hours, and later came outside to enjoy this thing they claim is a heatwave and have a few drinks. The bike was still there at this stage. However, about 20 minutes later, while we were all out outside maybe 20 metres down the road, some fucker has come along with the bolt cutters, cut through my lock, and whipped off with my bike - the bastard! My view was somewhat obscured by the large group I was in, but even so to have it stolen from practically right under my nose is really frustrating - what I wouldn't give to have caught them in the process (someone's head would've had an inpromtpu meeting with that pole). At least they left my helmet behind - that was nice of them (I can only hope they get run over by a car now), not to mention the lock which will come in handy for insurance purposes. Lesson to be learnt: use a good metal D-lock, always; they're heavy to carry around everywhere, but hey.

If I'm honest I can't say I'm too disappointed. It was an awesome bike and some prick has scored himself a good'un, but it was 26 months old, has cleaned up two pedestrians (here and here), smashed off two or three car mirrors (after I'd been deliberately cut off), been put through 7,000kms of punishment, and has been starting to cost me money lately in repairs and maintenance because of it. Plus it was insured for its purchase price (£1,000), and accessories i.e. lights, air horn (hahaha) and so forth are covered by insurance as well so I shouldn't lose too much on the deal. Hopefully within the next few days I'll get a brand new beast to terrorise London with for another 7,000kms.

I had a cop ring me on Friday to take a more in-depth crime report about my bike getting nicked last week. He mentioned it's (obviously) quite weird for someone to be walking down the street with bolt cutters unless they had them for a reason, i.e. to cut through bike locks, in which case the bikes usually end up in markets and sold. So I thought I'd go for a wander through a couple of the bigger ones I know of for a little look-see. I wasn't optimistic about finding it but it was worth a shot. This is Portobello Market, about a 20-minute walk from my flat in west London. This is one of the most famous street markets in the world and is chock full of tourists and locals alike on the weekend. The market stretches for about 2kms along Portobello Road in the heart of Notting Hill (as in the film, with much of the filming taking place on Portobello Road itself).

With 2kms worth of markets you can find almost anything here. Clothing, fruit and veg, food stalls, antiques, electronics, plants...

...and even magic soil hahaha! All you need are the magic beans to go in it.

However, this is what I came to check out - the bikes they've got on show for sale. Seeing as my bike was flogged in the middle of central London it was unlikely to be out here, and sure enough no luck.

By the time I'd made my way through the swarms of people from one end to the other it had started pissing with rain, so I made haste for the nearest Tube into the East End of town to Brick Lane - the heart of the city's Bangladeshi community.

Brick Lane is well known in London for its huge numbers of curry houses, and I've heard many a story from people who've had a dodgy one and spent most of the following day punishing the toilet hehe.

Brick Lane has a market of its own on Sunday's. There's even more random crap here than there is in the Protobello Market - for many years it hosted a stall selling nothing but rusty cog wheels hahaha! However, Brick Lane is notorious as a place where stolen bicycles are sold.

The big heffer there was selling a myriad of electronics, including a camcorder that I overheard was missing its battery charger - gee I wonder why.

Random crap and random buskers too - this guy was a one-man band.

Obviously this place gets chocker as well, and yet some dorks still insist on driving through it.

Anyway, I found several bike stalls, and sure enough a lot of those bikes look as though they've been stolen, but again mine was not among them.

Not to worry, this is the new beast that I should have by next weekend. It's exactly the same make and model as my last - GT Zaskar Expert, but this is the 2009 model (as opposed to 2007), with the main differences being the colour (pearl white versus black and blue) and much better componentry and hence it's costing me £1,400 compared to the £1,000 I paid for the last one.

Since my bike got pinched a week ago this is what I've had to contend with - long and boring bus rides! I could take the Tube but the bus is cheaper. This is looking along Oxford Street - forever crammed with excessive numbers of buses that don't get anywhere in a hurry! With over 300 shops, it's Europe's busiest shopping street, as well as the most dense (and great fun to cycle down!).

Trafalgar Square at 9:30am, and in its northwest corner, the Fourth Plinth. This was built in 1841, and was intended to hold an equestrian statue of William IV (the King of the UK in the 1830s) but remained empty due to insufficient funds. Later, agreement could not be reached over which monarch or military hero to place there, and it is now the location for specially commissioned artworks. The latest of these artworks is One & Other. Every hour for a 100 days, a different person will be up there doing anything they like provided it is legal. 2400 people in total will make noddies of themselves during that time.

This bathing beauty was up there for the 9-10am slot this morning. She put on her face...

Did her hair...

Then started working just like any other day by the look of it hehe.

At 6-7pm this evening this dude was filling balloons with helium...

...wrote something on them, and let 'em fly!

Today is day two of the 100. Others to have spent an hour up there already include this dreamer who hopes to abolish all cars...

...and this guy dressed up like a piece of shit in an attempt to point out that many people in the world have to squat over a hole out the back to take a dump as opposed to a cold plastic seat.

The kick-off for this was 9am yesterday, and was interrupted by this anti-smoking campaigner who took a running leap at the plinth and hoisted himself up before being removed hahaha! He just happens to be the same guy who usually stands around day after day outside the Royal Courts of Justice around the corner from my work, and has done for at least the last four months! Funny how some people choose to spends their days.

This is the Lyric Theatre in London's Soho, which upon Michael Jackson's death was in the midst of hosting Thriller Live - "A spectacular concert specially created to celebrate the incredible career of the world's greatest entertainer". So naturally, this became something of a focal point for London's tributes to the man.

Flowers, Photos, letters, drawings, something in Chinese saying "I'm sure you didn't mean to touch those children" - it's amazing how much hysteria just one man can create in his life.

Thanks to beast number one being stolen by some scumbag(s) Wednesday-week ago after 26 months and 7,000kms, here is beast number two - even the squirrels were impressed! GT Zaskar Expert 2009 for the mountain bike nuts out there; £1,400 worth of bike and about £600 worth of accessories (GPS, camera, locks, lights, air horn etc etc. - it all adds up pretty quickly!). Speaking of the camera, just before the last bike got swiped I'd ordered the newest model of my existing camera. Those of you who have seen the videos I've put up of me versus London pedestrians (here and here) will probably remember the God-awful audio due to that camera being terrible for recording vibration noise - not so with this little sucker, the audio is perfect and the air horn sounds twice as loud hahaha! So to mark the 'occasion' I've put two more videos up - one of yet more dumbass pedestrians and one of me versus London traffic. I promise the audio from now on will be a lot easier on the ears than this!

"@%!#"

If you happen to be in London, and someone invites you to a stand-up comedy night in Camden, just say no! It was painful ;) Although that chick up there was pretty good looking, but still painful!

While out on the bike today I had a Nissan R35 GTR go screaming past me. For anyone who gives a crap, I owned an R32 Skyline back in Christchurch for almost four years. The R35 is the latest model, and frankly I'm unimpressed! Its predecessor (the R34) is above-right; now that thing looks the business! The R35 on the other hand looks like it's trying to be an Audi. They even overhauled the damn engine, in effect making the whole car completely different to its older brothers. I guess that why they dropped the "Skyline" name tag. Tisk tisk tisk Nissan.

I was hoping to take the (new) bike out for good burn today and break it in a bit, but the weather was looking far too dubious for that so I settled for a ride out to Canary Wharf for a friend's BBQ instead. Canary Wharf is a large business and shopping development in East London on the Isle of Dogs. It's just like a typical city's CBD (central business district) except that it's a good 10kms outside of central London.

That's not confusing at all.

Skyscrapers aside, there's some nice residential areas out here as well, but just like everywhere else in London you only need go around the wrong corner and you'll suddenly find yourself in the ghetto again.

Quick BBQ tip: if you use one of those lighter blocks, put the damn thing under the coals and then light it - not on top as that won't do squat ;)

Duncan soon figured out how to use a BBQ and before long it was greasy burgers and sausages and whatnot all round! :)

Double-decker!

NASA is currently streaming the original mission audio on its website in real time here.

Bloody London weather. Hot and sunny one minute...

Massive storm clouds rolling in the next...

Then it's sunny, raining, and thundering all at the same time, which makes for good rainbows but a pain in the arse choosing what to wear in the morning hehe!

If you visit London, don't take the bus - take the Tube instead. The bloody things break down left, right, and centre, and they can't get anywhere when they are working thanks to the abysmal London traffic!

Anyway, I eventually made it into town to watch the All Blacks lose their number one world-ranking to a very disciplined South Africa. This is the very crowded Walkabout pub in Temple along the River Thames. After beating the Aussies 22-16 last week, the AB's were out-played 19-28 today in the Tri Nations, and with it lost their number one ranking to South Africa. We face them again in Durban next week, so here's hoping!