bread drought

We're in danger of suffering a severe bread shortage. We were getting to grips with the new bread machine (despite suffering local ingredient supply issues re yeast and strong flour). The slightly different ingredients meant we were having to play around with quantities and settings but we were (im)proving nicely until disaster struck yesterday - broken bread machine.

Russel Hobbs have been contacted but getting it fixed will probably require us sending the thing back to the UK which is going to be a pain (and expensive).

On the plus side it meant I had to make bread by hand yesterday which was satisfying, though didn't turn out too well as the ingredients and quantities were for the machine. I would love to make fresh bread by hand every day but am somewhat lacking in time.

Bike club

The first rule of bike club is...you do not talk about bike club
The second rule of bike club is...you always wear lycra and ride around fireroads early on a Saturday morning.



It's the second rule that is giving me issues currently. No, not the lycra bit - I've got used to that now. The "getting-up-on-Saturday-morning-at-the-same-time-as-during-the-week-when-I'm-really-tired-and-just-want-to-stay-in-bed-plus-it's-really-cold" bit. Last weekend we managed to get up in time and go on our first club ride in 2010, and obviously it was really good. It always is when I manage to haul my ass out of bed but it doesn't make it any easier the following week. In the back of my head I know that I can go riding in Casa de Campo whenever I want and so I lack the urgency to get up and go out with the club.

The fireroads issue is possibly trickier. The people in the club (and other riders I see round Casa de Campo) love riding on nice wide fireroads so they can have a chat with their mates; they usually go out of their way to avoid enticing sections of singletrack which should be calling them and beckoning them with open branches but they just don't seem to feel it. I say "usually" though because last weekend's ride in El Pardo was a pleasant surprise: Luis took us through a couple of nice sections of singletrack which I must try to remember. I'm not a regular visitor to El Pardo (one of the reasons we made an effort to go to the ride) and I'd like to get to know it more. It's a huge park to the North of Madrid which used to be Franco's private hunting ground (and the hunters are still there and were very close last week!). I went with fontmoss one freezing cold morning last year but not knowing our way round meant we didn't get the best out of it (though we did get lost and chillblains).

Tomorrow's ride is in El Molar (which has some fantastic restaurants built into caves there) and I'm already convincing myself that it's going to be too cold and I shouldn't go. It depends on Sandra too obviously - she's going to have to work at some point this weekend (1st job) and might come into the office tomorrow morning, leaving me with the option of a) staying at home on my own and trying to go back to sleep after Sandra has left or b) going on the ride, in the (predicted) snow. Decisions....

As for the amount of work Sandra is currently doing...that's worth an extra post all to itself.

I'll just stay put then, shall I?

So, the 2 other people in my department want to leave and go work in other departments. I suspect mostly because they can't work with the boss.
I'm guessing my proposed shuffle over to the Planning & Buying dept is on hold, right?
However there's no way I'm staying on my own either. Oh well, at least it's kinda sorted now.

Sangria-swilling jessies

Today's bike route was up in La Sierra (Torrelaguna) which is always a bit colder and wetter than town, but you would think we were in the middle of a hurricane by the reaction of the rest of the club. Okay it was raining and a bit windy but we'd already got all the way up there - surely we could at least try but I don't think they were ever going to be convinced. I nearly did the route on my own but I didn't know where it was so probably wouldn't have been a good idea! Instead I came home, stuck the car in the garage and went straight out to Casa de Campo for a couple of hours. As they say here "I enjoyed myself like a dwarf"! Maybe it's because I've been riding on dry dusty trails for 6 months but the mud and the puddles (including those disguised as sand) just made it all the better. I didn't want to stop but the grinding from the drivetrain told me it was time for a shower.



The situation at work hasn't really changed - I'm still in Client Service and I suspect I'll stay there as my boss won't want me to move to Planning & Buying as originally planned. CS have much more contact with the client and it's a more strategic role so in the long-term it will be better for me to stay. Having said that I don't want to stay at the company long-term but now is not the moment to be leaving and looking for something else. What do I want to do? No idea but certainly something in a smaller company than the current one - large companies seem to be unmanageable (or maybe just this one).

well the weather got colder and then hotter again (as it always does around the Día de San Miguel) and now seems to be cooling down a bit again.

A re-structure at work has left me feeling in limbo...apparently I'll be staying in Client Services for the time being (though I'll have no work to do and will only be able to be given work by the Account Director). At some vague undetermined time in the future I'll (probably) move to Planning & Buying (of which I know nothing). Despite all the talk of "aligning people's profiles to job functions" there appears to have been a quite determined effort to move people into departments which they dislike intensly, have no knowledge of, or both.

On the plus side, the English classes picked up at the beginning of October and I now have a pretty full week. In fact I'm currently trying to avoid taking on another class at work as I don't have time (and it would be a nightmare class!).

Riding was a bitch on Sunday. We did a red route for the first time (mainly because there was the promise of food afterwards) and we suffered. 47km (we've done longer) but speedier than we usually go and with plenty of hills meant that we were both dying towards the end and I needed to accept the kind offer of a gel from Agus to get me home. Food afterwards was good, although the bar didn't actually have a kitchen so we had to collect the food ourselves from the owner's wife's kitchen up the road!

a cool day

...temperature-wise. We're having a 24-hour respite from the heat and it's nice but it's going to get hot again tomorrow :-(

Had a nice anniversary weekend away in Guadalajara. The hotel (Posada de los Pantones) was lovely and although it was in a small village it was nice to just sit in the square with a drink watching the locals (who were mostly doing the same).

I tried to get to grips more with my camera while we were away. I had been thinking of doing a photography course (and still haven't completely rejected it) but 600 € for 3 months is quite a lot and most people say you can learn as much by looking at photography sites (and practicing). So I have a better idea about depth of field and capturing movement than before - maybe the course isn't necessary and I can spend 600€ on something else (like a lens!)

Fit

..or at least we will be soon with last night's purchase of the Wii Fit. The plan was to go to the cinema but that was ditched in favour of a quick Chinese meal in the underground car park and then an hour of Wii Fit (having already spent an hour in the gym!). My yoga programme is off to a good start - let's see if I can keep it up.

It's our anniversary today! We're off to a hotel in Guadalajara for the weekend and I need to book an activity for Saturday. Sailing? Horse-Riding? Nocturnal canoeing? Who knows..