Lager and Curry

Is there anything more English than German lager and Indian curry? Ok, so everything over here has a twist of americana, but for all the world I could have been at home this evening. The lager was so crisp and refreshing, the Tikka Masala was so good it rivalled those Andy cooks up in racetrack campsites!

Soccer Update

The news from the soccer camp is not good I'm afraid. We lost something-nil at the weekend (I lost count!), and to add injury to insult our winger/co-captain got his leg broken :-(. I'll confess, I spent too much of the week in the pub or at home entertaining to put in 100% on the soccer field. Still, all a bit embarressing!

First League Game

Spoccer 1 - 3 Glanville Utd.
Gives us plenty of room to improve! We missed a penalty and scored an OG, so kinda lost the game for ourselves. New kits looked good though! Here's Piper, Tripp and Brian warming up.

My Apartment

Moved in yesterday. Marked the occasion with burgers, beer and football, which made me feel right at home. All you really need to know is:

Here are the sofas

Here is the TV

I think it'll do nicely. Getting on well with Chris, my housemate. Email me for new address.

Hugh Hawthorne

Have spent several paragraphs deriding Americans in general, it is my pleasure to single one out for high praise. My visit to the house of Hugh Hawthorne many weeks ago has been waiting for a deserving post, so here it is.

Hugh is the current employer of my cousin Vinny, having him do manual labor to prepare a new building for all the amazing stuff collected over the years. Hugh constructed RIR (with his bare hands, as far as I can tell). Hugh is just a fabulous entrepreneur - a hard-working guy and perhaps the embodiment of America's good side (ie, the side it inherited from the Old World).

The highlight of the tour in the race cars, some belonging to Richard Petty, and a single-seater Model T! One room is full of Native American relics, including some cool rifles. He also has a wall of cowbow boots that he's worn through his life!

Click here for photo album

NASCAR!!!

Out of the blue my grandparents and I got free tickets to the Busch Series of NASCAR at Richmond International Raceway tonight. The track was built by Hugh Hawthorne, a family friend of whom I'll have to post one day.

The evening kicked off with qualifying for the Nextel Cup race, which is the main event and held tomorrow (Sat.). Cheers went up for local hero Denny Hamlin taking pole position. It struck me that this was what American motorsport is all about: believing that the success of a local driver somehow compensates for the huge display of laziness and gluttony put on by the spectators. This was backed up by the following pre-race events.

First came the parade lap, in which the drivers sit atop corvette convertables and wave to the crowd. I thought it was a nice touch, except that at the only time the drivers can actually see and hear the crowd's support, no-one shows any interest!

Next, a local baptist minister offered the 'invocation' -- a prayer for safety during the race, and victory for America's armed forces! I recall something along the lines of, 'thank you Lord for loving us so much and letting us shoot arabs'... A military band then played the National Anthem, concluding with a fly-past by two combat helicopters. Again, the impression I got was that as long as American Boys are doing the business with assault rifles somewhere in the world, then that excuses the American people of acting as deplorable, unattractive morons.

Of course, I exaggerate, generalise, and generally endulge in the kind of writing that's bound to get me in trouble. I guess my tolerance of the culture is beginning to to strained! After a while, though, the despair turns to acceptance. Let's be honest, if we could live like this, we would, wouldn't we? I think one of the reasons Brits are so offended by Americana is that it is a window into our own souls. But damn those Yanks for just throwing all that greed, hatred and ignorance into the open, then having the balls to stand there and act *proud* of it!

NASCAR ain't bad though. Ok, so the cars don't have the scream of an F1 engine, nor the raw, on edge crackle of a BTCC car, and of course they're nothing compared with the sound of a Ferrari or Aston Martin GT car. The track at Richmond is a short-track, at five-eigthths of a mile. It makes me laugh that the septics have built a kilometre long track, without even knowing what a km is! Whenever a car spins off they throw a caution for about five laps, so everyone dives in for a pit stop. So, yeah. Actually NASCAR is lame -- but you all knew that!

Healthy American Eating

I don't care what I said before about not posting inconsequential events from daily life. Burger King for lunch and now I just did a whole pizza.
[scottish accent]"Get in ma belly!!"[/scottish accent].
There are some 'popems' calling to me from the kitchen too - little glazed balls of donut heaven!

Pre-season soccer

On Saturday the Spoccer league team played its last games before the start of the season next week. We played a round robin comp against a div5 team and a div2 team. Since we are aiming to lay in division 3, it's no surprise that we beat the first team and lost to the second. The most important thing is that the team is starting to gel. I'll try to remember to take some photos of the team in full kit next week.

Complete!

Final Specs:
Kona 'Hahanna' 18" 7005 Aluminium butted frame - red
Kona seatpost and QR clamp - black
2006 Manitou R7 100mm post mount - black
Hope headset - red
RaceFace Evolve XC Stem 100mm 8deg - black
RaceFace Evolve XC Riser 640mm 1" rise - black
Shimano Deore LX levels/shifters - silver
ODI Yeti Hardcore lock-on grips - red and black
Specialised Progel saddle - red and black
Avid Single Digit 7 V-brakes front and rear - nickel
Mavic X221 Shimano LX M570 Wheelset - silver, grey
Shimano LX 9sp M580 Cassette 11-34 - silver
Shimano Deore splined Cranks 170mm and Rings 22,32,44 - black
Shimano LX splined ES51 BB 68-118mm
Shimano LX M570 Rear-Mech long cage - silver, black
Shimano Hone M600 Front-Mech top-swing 31.8/34.9 - silver, black
Shimano HG 93 9sp chain
Shimano XT cables
DMR V12 mag pedals - battleship grey
Panaracer Trailblaster tyres - red!
Lizard Skins chainstay protector - red

CRC did well once again, but forgot to stick my CamelBak in. D'oh! Still, Tropical Storm Ernesto has just passed, leaving us cool and wet. Might go for an explore later today. It's a good excuse not to index the gears properly, as everything will be full of crap soon. Which reminds me, must buy some Muc-Off.