Modern Vespa

I hope Mrs Bitza has a camera, or it didn't happen

At Cork airport waiting for flight home
Lovely to see the Irish side of my family.....
And my mum of course
Here we are....

what a lovely photo kitty

i have just returned from my first proper run since contracting a monster chest infection about a month ago. i was a bit wheezy at first, but we kept to a steady 'run forever' pace and i managed about 5.5 miles without feeling too wrecked afterwards.

and in other news .... on my observed ride yesterday, we'd stopped in yet another lovely essex village for a debrief, when a very nicely turned-out elderly lady walked past my Vespa. She was giving it and me the eye, with a view to disapproving, i assumed. All at once she broke into a huge grin and said 'Is that a Vespa??? I used to have one when I was a girl.' She was obviously delighted to see that they were still being made and seemed amazed that I took it on the motorway. aww

Only in East Dulwich.

Laundry Cat really does deserve it's own cartoon series.

Birreh !

Any of you are welcome to join me on my run to Leeds and back if it takes your fancy.

It will basically be a 4 hour thrash North to meet a comedic legend.

Bill x

One for Bill and Genie? (and me if I can get down one weekend...)

http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/exhibitions/exhibition-the-glamour-of-italian-fashion-1945-2014/

Picked up from Facebook from this story..
A 1949 Vespa 125cc has just arrived and is being installed into #ItalianFashion http://ow.ly/uN5oI This is one of the first fifty vespa's to be imported into Britain and is one of only three surviving.

we'll have to put that on our list

The inspiration for my GTV....mmmm

1. I've just been offered quite a sweet book deal by a prominent London publishing house. yay!

2. They want me to change the title buh. Annoying, but hardly unusual. I can live with it.

3. They want me to change the title to something the book isn't actually about

4. I've said 'no way', left the mess in the lap of my editor, and told her we'll talk when i get back from Montreal in April.

Why would they want you to change the title to something that the book isn't about? Makes no sense.

I hope it all works out. Congratulations.

Oh cool! But grr. Do they want to put a picture of something sexy but irrelevant on the cover as well??

I hope a mutually satisfactory agreement can be reached.

one word: marketability. there is a word in the title that's not in the vocabulary of your average 14-year-old, and they're worried that its presence will interfere with sales. so they've suggested a substitute that can mean the same thing if you use it in a sloppy vernacular way, but actually doesn't mean the same thing at all in the context i'm writing about ... i'd hoped that the detailed proposal i wrote for them would have made this clear, but perhaps they didn't read it

they've been very reasonable so far, so i'm sure we'll come to some sort of mutually satisfactory arrangement, but it's sad to see this kind of ignorance on the editorial board of such a renowned publisher.

Alice: the book is about fashion photography so there's bound to be something sexy and irrelevant on the cover no matter what

Something sexy and irrelevant? I think Bill may have a that portfolio.

Sexy and Irrelevant.

I want that on my gravestone.

Bill x

Not surprised.

It's pretty close to the truth.

Bill x

I pay attention.

Actually that would make a really good T- Shirt.

Bill x

It probably wouldn't fit.

I am sure we can come to an amicable royalty agreement should you persue.

Sexy and Irrelevant
Sexy but Irrelevant
Sexy if Irrelevant

Sexy relevant

How about "sexy and irreverent" 😉

But were you careful to not use words that are "not in the vocabulary of your average 14-year-old" in your "detailed proposal"? May have made it difficult.

My ride to Leeds this Saturday is looking in doubt as we still have a large back log at work and it's all hands to the pump again.

Oh arse.

Bill xxx

I'm here! Reasonable rates.

(Congrat's Genie.)

i may have squeaked a couple of two-syllable monsters into the proposal. dammit

We've just got a date for the 'Interview' - 22nd April. So I'll be moving my flight to the UK *again* 27nd Feb, 17th April - to an as yet undecided date. Early June perhaps?

At least the process isn't stalled...

So you're not going to Greece then Jim? I'm very disappointed...

Good to hear it's "moving". Sorry we won't see you at the Greek Rally.

Our interview for resident permits was a hoot. They had just started doing them at the office we went to and had no clue of what to ask, and laughingly told us so. One woman had never been to Paros (the office was on Syros and she had just transferred in from Athens), so we simply gave her some pointers on what to see and do when she made her first trip to our island! we finished up and the lead person said, "Enjoy your new life in Greece."

Finally got my copy of Elbow's The take off and landing of everything today and it has improved my mood quite a lot.

Some of my days have become so frustrating I actually believe that there's a dwarf wearing dungarees, a white shirt with a frilly collar plus a bright green wig called Bip or Snot or something else equally annoying whose only job is to provoke me on an hourly basis then point and laugh like a madman when unfortunate events prevent me from actually getting any work done.

But I'm not paranoid.

Bill xxx

The bike lift is earning its keep already

Rear brake pad replacement on Grahams GTS, then a load of inner and outer body rust treatment on mine

It is a really good album (CD). I picked mine up a couple of weeks ago; it has quite the power brighten up otherwise gloomy days. They are performing outside Seattle this summer - can't wait to see them live!

You'll be tuning in to this tonight, then?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00rr8bv/profiles/elbow

Jim, you'll be joining us for the good weather, at least. Well, maybe. (Be a shame not to see you on the X9 Annual Bash - maybe you can Skype us!)

Bill
You and your Flippin penis
Humph
Kitty
X

Flippin penis

Don't give him any more ideas about doing tricks with it!

is flippin penis like flippin pancakes?

just get a waffle iron

Weird shit I've seen this week -

A guy riding a Hodna CD250 along the A2 near Bexley wearing a clear face mask in the up position and no helmet and -

An elderly gentleman walking a long a country lane wearing a long black overcoat, a cloth cap and a big pair of DIY safety goggles.

Bill

Drug and alcohol free since 1989.