Ceci n'est pas une blog.

Well, it finally feels Christmassy chez Moss...

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This is very cool! Interactive air traffic map around Zurich... complete with street/satellite map, flight paths, shadow to indicate height, aircraft and flight info and even a picture of the aircraft! One for the geeks...

http://radar.zhaw.ch/radar.html

Would you believe it? My saga of bad luck with bikes continues...

I didn't bother detailing the many little bike-issues I've dealt with since my last rant - but to summarise:

• replaced my entire rear-wheel due to continued problems with tyres after it was slightly dented by the big chain-off accident a year ago (may have reported this one, don't remember)
  
• new brakes all round (also for Jazz's bike)
  
• countless sets of light-bulbs replaced
  
• a couple more tyres and inner-tubes for me
  
• several sets of rear-view mirrors for Jazz's bike, which keep getting snapped off or smashed
  
• fixed puncture on Jazz's bike... two days later it burst again (turned out to be a small tear in the tyre which required a new tyre and yet another inner-tube). While walking all the way home on that occasion, I managed to drop her bike while trying to fix her lights... and that smashed her mirror again. Then it started raining. Sigh.
  
• after finding out the rear light wasn't working (again), I managed to catch the dynamo on my jeans and rip it off the bike! Then after replacing that and fixing the light I found that the wire to the rear light was broken. Then after making a temporary fix for that the rear light popped off at a bump in the company car-park and was promptly run over by a car.
  
• Jazz and I collided when she and I thought we were going in different directions at a junction... her mirror snaps off. On the way back that same evening, she crashes into me while staring at the stars. Falls off, rear bulb broken, scratches to bike and a very nasty graze on her knee.
  
• oh yeah... my brakes are worn through again and damaging the wheel rim - so another fix required soon.
  

So that's everything up until last weekend... when (wait for it) HER BIKE GOT STOLEN!



Yes, it finally happened. We cycled to the metro station and went into town for shopping... and when we got back we came out of the lift, turned to the bike-park then stopped and stared thinking "wasn't the bike somewhere here?". Yes, it was... but no, it wasn't.

It seems a number of bikes had their locks cut and were cycled away - so it must have been a planned raid by a gang... at around six to seven in the evening on a busy Saturday!!! A time when you'd least expect it, since there were people walking around there all the time. Thank goodness they seem to have taken one bike every couple of metres along the rack, because they took Jazz's but left mine (which wast right next to hers).

Here's a shot of the bike (and lock) during happier times...


and here's what they did to the lock:


Obviously Jazz is very upset and doesn't want to leave a bike there again. I think we'll have to go back to cycling there after a period of mourning, since it's a five minute cycle ride instead of a twenty-minute walk. But first we'll buy her the cheapest, ugliest bike we can, then we'll get a bloody great "fuck-off" solid-steel lock for it! The kind you see a lot in Holland - like a huge padlock. I believe those are much harder to cut than cable or chains, which should make the thieves choose someone else's bike instead!

In any case, I'm going to print up some warning posters and stick them around there to warn people. It's not the first time I've seen cut locks left on that rack...

Tomorrow is Toussaint here in France, so I'll be having day off! Yay!

And, much to JazzMoss' annoyance I'm sure, there's a good chance I'll spend some of the day addicted to KartRider: http://www.nexon.net/NX.aspx?PART=/Download/GameClient

It's a free online racing game... simple, fun and pretty good graphics although everything's a bit too cute (it's Korean - but then these are the days of the Wii, so I suppose this style is normal now) - and if it were just the races then I would have tired of it after a couple of days.

But it has two extra things going for it: the bitching and kidding around (shooting each other etc.) because you're actually playing either against other people or in teams with them... and the addiction is upheld because you have several side quests which require you to race challenges alone or get bonuses through the multi-player races. It's one of those things where you manage to beat a time limit on a solo track and are then told you have to win a multi-player race... and once you've done that you have to win five team races before you can get the power-up on your kart so that you can... etc. etc.

Anyway, since Jazz was learning French the last few nights, I've been staying up way too late because of that "I'll be coming to bed soon, dear - just want to see what happens when I go up a level" effect.

It reminds me a lot of those wasted days playing games against each other when we were students. If any of you guys are reading this (you know who you are) - let's have a little private race... I'm serious! I am (of course) called MossMan, if you want to find me.

In the mean time - Happy Halloween.

(Ooh that reminds me - I must use my Jack 'o lantern lollipop if I race tonight - it will go nicely with the pumpkin-head mask I won last night - I suppose they'll both be taken away from me in the next couple of days...)

A funny thing happened on the way here this morning...

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