Sharing of Cycling, Travel, Baking, DIY and personal feelings
Ever since my son’s bike was stolen from our underground parking lot two years ago, I’ve brought my own road bike back home. Along with the mountain bike I recently bought for my son, finding a place to store my three bikes at home has become quite a challenge.
自從前年兒子放在停車場的單車被盗後，我日常使用的公路單車已搬回家内，連同最近為兒子再買的攀山車，在家中找個地方存放我的三部單車已成為一個頗大的困擾 。
Looking back often brings surprises or delights, much like when I recently moved my blog posts to my new site. I noticed that there were several half-written cycling posts left gathering dust. Instead of letting them as they were, I’ve decided to tie up those loose ends and hopefully boost some more traffic to my new blog. Although these rides were made over two years ago, in the ever-unchanging British landscape, I don’t think there will be much difference today.
回顧通常都會帶來一些驚或喜，就像我早前把網誌文章搬到新網站一樣，竟發覺有好幾篇單車遊的紀錄只寫了一半，但又不知何解地被擱置於一傍。與其繼續放低不理，我決定要為這些紀錄做個了結，亦希望可為網誌增加多一點流量。雖然我這些單車騎行已是兩年多前的事，但以英國的千載不變的生活環境，相信今天看來亦不會有太大的差別。
Time flies and we are already three months into 2024! If you’ve been following my monthly look back, you probably know that I’ve been busy migrating my blog to a new server. Better than what I originally projected, the transfer of all contents had already been done last week. What remains is to monitor the new system and make any necessary tweaks; my life is finally back to normal.
話咁快 2024 又過了差不多四份一，大家如果有留意我最近的每月回顧，大概都知道我忙於轉移我的網誌去新的 server。上星期尾剛完成全部 contents 的搬動，剩下來是新系統的監察及作適當的微調，空間多一點，生活又可暫時回常。
For the past few years living in the UK, the food we enjoyed most was Italian pasta. If you remembered my previous post about testing out my son’s new bicycle, that small Italian cafe, Little Italy in Sunbury, is our favourite and we visited there almost every one or two weeks.
在英國生活的日子，食得最多就是意大利 pasta。 如果有留意之前和兒子試他的新單車的一篇，那間位於 Sunbury 的意大利小店 Little Italy 就是我家的至愛，差不多一、兩個星期都會去一次。
2023 went much more quickly than I had thought and Christmas had already arrived. This was the third Christmas since arriving in the UK and festive vibes were around Kingston since late November.
2023 年過得比我想像快很多，無驚無險又到了聖誕。 這是到英國後的第三個聖誕，早在十一月尾節日氣氛已濃𦋐整個 Kingston。
Riding uphill places a greater strain on the heart, which can be challenging for individuals like me with cardiovascular conditions. In my early days of road cycling, I got my first road bike, the Giant TCR SLR1, that came with Shimano Ultegra 6800 53/39T racing crankset. This made it quite tough for a beginner cyclist like me. Two years later, I used this bike for cycling tour around Taiwan and despite I had already switched to a bigger 32T cog, climbing the challenging slopes of Shouka and the North-Yilan Highway was still a struggle to me.
騎乘斜坡對心臟的負荷較大，對於我這類有心血管疾病的人來說不是易事。早期對公路車認識不多，第一部購入的公路車 Giant TCR SLR1 是配備 Shimano Ultegra 6800 53/39T 的競賽 Crankset，令我這單車初哥騎得非常之吃力。還記得當年到台灣環島騎的亦是這部車，縱使已轉用了 32T 飛輪，攀爬壽卡及北宜公路的兩段路仍是苦不堪言，因此在我購入的第二部公路車 Giant TCR Advanced SL1 時就指定配上 50/34T crankset。
To save some money on our trip, we chose the Avanti West Coast train departing from London Euston just before noon. The two-and-a-half-hour journey provided me a perfect opportunity to have a light lunch, read a book and catch a short nap.
因為要省錢，到 Lake District 的交通，我們選擇了中午前從 London Euston 開出的 Avanti West Coast 火車，兩個半小時的車程正好可以吃個輕便午餐，看看書再小睡片刻。
Time flies and half of the summer holidays has gone. As usual, my wife will work out the summer activities for our son. Last year, we spent a week in Scotland, and this year we will stay a bit closer, in The Lake District.
不經意地暑假又過了大半，一如往年，太太會為兒子安排暑期活動。 上年去了蘇格蘭，今年就稍為近一點，目的地是英國湖區，The Lake District。
Last October, my son’s bike was stolen from the underground carpark of my apartment. You might think that I didn’t properly lock the bike, but the truth is that I used a set of Cable Locks to secure it. Regrettably, those security measures were not sufficient, and the bike thieves easily cut through the locks.
兒子的單車在去年十月尾被偷了，地點是我住的 apartment 的地下停車場。 你可能認為我沒有把單車鎖好才給賊人下手的機會，但實情是我已用到一組 Cable Locks 鎖上，遺憾的是保安程度不夠高，輕易地被偷車賊剪斷了。
It has been almost a year since I moved into my current apartment. Apart from daily household chores, the introduction of home automation has taken up most of my time. And the story begins with the pendant lights in the living and dining rooms.
搬入現時居所差不多一年了，這段日子除了日常家居打理外，花得最多時間可算是引入家居自動化這個概念。 而故事就是從客、飯廳的吊燈開始。
A notice from the Metropolitan Police was received week ago. I was formally charged with an offence.
個多星期前收到 Metropolitan Police 寄來的傳票，法庭正式向我提出控訴。
Life was really boring during my course of Shingles recovery and I planned to pickup my aging Line 6 Variax 500 electric guitar to pass time. As the guitar had not been played for nearly two years, two of the tuners could not be tightened and the strings were out of tune shortly after few hours. Close inspection found that the plastic washer of those tuners disappeared.
休養期間生活有點百無聊賴，找來我的古董 Line 6 Variax 500 電結他消磨時間。 由于這電結他差不多有兩年没有彈過，在調音時發覺其中兩條低音絃線的 tuner 有點鬆，調好音後不到半天便走音，細看原來是 tuners 有破損，其中的膠墊圈已失掉。
I always believe I was a tough guy!
Able to ride 40+ KM back home with my right hand seriously injured after accident and even managed to fully recover within two months after my Coronary Artery Bypass Graft operation.
I remained strong throughout and never felt desperate.
However, I finally reacquaint myself in 2023!
一直以為自己是個硬漢！
當年右手撞傷後仍可踩四十多公里單車回家，即使心臟搭橋手術後，不用兩個月便完全康復。
期間我沒有叫過辛苦，亦不感到絕望。
可是今天我終於重新認識自己了！
The full restoration of our Yamaha U1 piano, that was sent to the workshop in last April was completed for quite a while. As I was tied up with other bits and pieces, I failed to provide a timely update on the works. So let me wrap it up in this post.
家裏的鋼琴上年四月中運回 workshop 後，翻新工作早已完成。只因其他鎖碎事情，我遲遲未有作更新，就讓我今天來個總結吧！
In slightly less than 24 hours, 2022 will be in history. Despite I managed to achieve quite a number of my targets in the first half of the year, things were getting worst as I was terribly laid-back for the rest of the year. Judging from the ‘One-post-per-month’ of my blog writing, you will know what I meant. In fact, my personal loopback for November has already missed the schedule and probably (and hopefully) a bi-monthly version would be released shortly.
還有不到一天，2022 年便將成過去，上半年看似完成了很多目標，但無奈下半年卻像洩了氣的氣球一樣，變得不太積極，單從我最近每月一 post 便看得出端倪，而十一月的個人回望更早已脱期，相信要和十二月的一拼發佈！
In the evening of 8 September, I was awakened by my wife from my nap. The television broadcast was disrupted by the latest news from the Buckingham Palace:
The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.
The King ad the Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral and will return to London tomorrow.
As some of those like me, who were born, brought up and enjoyed those glorious moments of Hong Kong, I believed the Queen definitive had an important place in our hearts.
九月八日黃昏，太太把我從小休中推醒，電視正轉播白金漢宮的最新消息：
The Queen died peacefully at Balmoral this afternoon.
The King ad the Queen Consort will remain at Balmoral and will return to London tomorrow.
對於像我這些在英國管治下出生，成長及有幸渡過最光輝時刻的香港人，相信英女王在我們心中佔有一定地位。
My wife recently asked if I would be interested to explore the British horse racing culture. Given that she would make all the necessary arrangement including the tickets, I had no reason not to immediately accept her offer.
早前太太問可有興趣到馬場體驗一下英國的賽馬文化，難得她會安排一切，包括購買入場票，我只須做個司機，真的找不到拒絶的理由。
Those two Giant TCR bicycles that delivered to UK were bought through authorised dealer in Hong Kong few years ago.
Being the world’s biggest bicycle manufacturer, Giant bicycles sold in different parts of the world have to conform to local regulations and riding practices. As such, there are variations in the use of components and settings for these bikes across the world.
隨行到英國的兩部 Giant TCR 公路單車，於香港的代理購入已有數年。
基於全球單車第一品牌 Giant Bicycle 產品行銷世界各地，需配合當地的法規及使用習慣，因此無論在設計細節，零件使用或設定亦會有一定的差異。
Since I had published my last post on replacing my road bike tyres, some of my friends living aboard mentioned that DIY is the way to go to save money and possible lead time. I absolutely agreed with them and do believe that mastering DIY skills is another objective to achieve in UK.
居於外地的朋友們對我上一篇自行更換單車軚的網誌，都不約而同提出日常維修工作如果找店家或 Handy man 做，除了費用高外，往往亦要等很久，因此學習自己做 (DIY) 是必然的事。這個我完全同意，亦是移居英國後其中一個學習目標。
Since moving into our new apartment in late May, it seems that I was extremely busy. Spending most of the time tidying up those bits and pieces, moving the furniture around and went shopping household items. I considered myself so exhausted that I didn’t even have the mood to write any post for this blog.
自五月尾搬入新居後，每天總是看似非常忙碌；不是執拾東西，便是把家具移來移去，又或是再添置家居用品，亦因此總提不起勁去寫文章。
Even though I have been living in UK for nearly one year, I still found London’s winter very cold and couldn’t stand the piercing cold wind especially riding outdoor. That explained why I had not go cycling for several months. Anyway, it just happened that I still had a number of cycling trips that I could share with you here.
Comparing with those previous journeys around suburbs or countryside, I attempted some completely different trips across cities. When mentioning city, the first came to mind was definitely our famous cosmopolitan city London. And my destination was central London, the Parliament House, Big Ben and London Eye.
雖然在英國住了差不多一年，倫敦的冬天對於生長於香港的我仍是有點冷，騎單車的話，迎着陣陣刺面寒風更不好過，因此自去年十一月後已有數月沒騎車出外，還好先前尚有多個行程可在此和大家分享。
相比早前走的市郊路線，去年九月尾想過要作不同的嘗試，來個穿越城市之旅。説起城市當然第一時間就想起英國的國際大都會倫敦，而目的地就是倫敦市中心，國會大樓，大笨鐘以及 London Eye。
Our Yamaha U1 piano had been delivered to the workshop for nearly one week and various components were gradually dismantled. Just received call from A. Hanna & Sons Pianos that additional issues were found by technicians and we were invited to their workshop for a discussion.
To be honest, not a good sign!
鋼琴運回 Workshop 已經差不多一星期，内部零件亦續步被拆開移除。剛收到琴行通知，維修技師發現了更多問題，邀請我們到 Workshop 看看及相討。
怕且情况並不樂觀！
Just as mentioned in my previous post, our Yamaha U1 piano was about 20 years old. It was used by my boy’s cousin for her piano learning and subsequently passed to him. It carried two wonder stories of learning and development in music. From random playing with their little fingers to achieving Grade 8 certification and if possible, we would like to have the stories be continued.
正如之前的一篇説過，家中的 Yamaha U1 鋼琴已有約二十年歷史，原本是兒子表姐自小的學習伙伴。一座漆黑的鋼琴盛載着兩個音樂成長故事；由只懂亂敲琴鍵，到取得八級資歷，如果可以的話，我很希望這故事能一直延續下去。
Studying in UK is really wonderful, there are so many term breaks throughout the school year. Just like the recent Spring Term Break that began on 1st of April, my little boss started staying at home with nothing to do again. Early Sunday morning, he suggested to go cycling, which I had no reason to turn down despite of the cold and windy weather.
在英國讀書真好，年中 term break 多到難以至信，剛過去的四月一日又是 Spring Term Break 的開始，家中小老闆又再百無聊賴的 hea 在家，星期日早上，難得他提議午後騎車出外走走，雖然天氣非常寒冷，我也無法拒絶。
