Heavy sigh.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

My second week in Sydney and still no running ... perfect weather for it today and a day off work but Murphy left me with an annoyingly persistent headache which left me too grumpy to tackle the hills that surround my new abode.

While running has been disappointing, my new city life is anything but. I'm loving it here and hope to make the move permanent, but that's rather up to my current employer. We'll wait and see. Sydney's population of 4.3 million makes my previous hometown of Hobart, with just on 200,000 pipples seem tiny. Sydney likes to think of itself as the centre of the universe, so it's an exciting, if somewhat pretentious city. It has many great pubs of course, but also a frightening number of coffee shops. So many in fact, that the dreaded Starbucks completely failed to make the expected killing here and just announced it is to close three quarters of its 700 stores around the country - many of them only having been opened in the last 12 months. A rare American failure!

Meanwhile we await the Olympics with impatience and uncertainty. Although I have no doubt China will pull it off with grandiose aplomb, it will interesting to see if the games have any ramifications for Tibet and Chinese human rights in general. I'm hoping that the games will not only be brilliant, but also serve to improve the lot of Chinese and Tibetans ... somehow.

[glaconman]

Good to know you've settled well in Sydney MLCM.

A mate of mine lives up amongst the northern beaches. Seem to remember there are some good trails up there and across the fresh water.

And good news about the coffee shops. It's often said that the UK has sleep-walked into a ubiquitous urban/retail landscape. There are only pockets of resistance. Near me it's Hebden Bridge : a town served totally by independent shops.

[El Gordo]

Yep, identikit high streets all over the country. My wife insists that apart from London, the nearest place to us worth shopping in is Brighton, about 95 miles away.

Actually, I'm secretly relieved....

[marathondan]

Near me it's Hebden Bridge : a town served totally by independent shops.

...as recently immortalised by HMHB.

[Sweder]

Refreshing and slightly pleasing to see/ hear Starbucks getting a kicking. I only wish it were McDonalds, the real terrorists in the war against the last vesiges of urban individuality. But it's a good start.

Aside from maintaining a proudly independant (and still, based on last nights extensive field test with SP & Cap'n Tom, excellent) brewery Lewes is holding out against the commercial tide. We've lost a few battles; Costa Coffee, Pizza Express, Prezzo and Cafe Nero have all planted their synthetic flags in the high street. But we resolutely refuse to let the urine-yellow arches cast their oderous stain on the castle walls; it's one of those things that makes me proud of my fellow Lewesians.

There are evil plans afoot to build some form of monstrous shopping arcade on the site of the old brewery out-buildings. The wailing and gnashing of well-enamelled teeth is rising to a crescendo but I sense the Fear on this one. Money talks; the developers are cruising through town waving shiny baubles in the direction of the elders. We're a bolshy lot, hunkered down in our hill-clasped utopia, as the corporate toads at Green King found to their cost. Our MP is Norman baker, the lib dem ostracised by fellow Westminster greedheads for his call for transparency on members' expenses. If it's a fight you want in Lewes best bring rusty blades and hungry dogs.

It will get ugly; blood, and many pints of Harvey's, will flow.

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Gee, I didn't realise the ousting of Starbucks would raise such strong emotions!

Let's not forget all the good things American culture has given us, like erm, Blues Brothers, or Groundhog Day... err, I was going to suggest a top 10 list of favourite American things, but that might be a touch tricky. :o

Oooh, and Dylan of course ... you can't forget His Bobness!

[Sweder]

Yeah, sorry about the rant; all this abstinance was me a little cranky just now.
Sir Robert was an Englishman mate; perhaps not by birth but frankly such a talented lyricist could never be a true Septic, could he?

Hey, what about Mom's apple pie? And David Lynch? (is he American? I know Cronenberg is Canadian)
er . . . you're right - ten things might be a stretch. Ooh, Sigourney Weaver . . .

[SIZE="1"]drifts off into a misty-eyed midday funk, drool collecting on the collar of his badly-pressed Hawiian shirt[/SIZE]

[Bierzo Baggie]

...as recently immortalised by HMHB.

Wow.. half man half biscuit, I didn't know they were still around. The Americans definitely didn't invent them either.

They famously turned down an appearance on "The Tube" because Tranmere Rovers were playing at home. Legends.

"All I want for Christmas is a Dukla Prague away kit.."

[Mid Life Crisis Marathon Man]

Off back to Adelaide for a few days shortly. Just a quick observation about where my running is at:

Moving to Sydney has been great but I underestimated how ... immersing ... it would be. A totally new life really - new job, new digs, new pubs, new lots of stuff. So my idea of just re-jigging my training to maybe focus on the Sydney marathon for example, has been blown away.

So, for the moment I'm just looking to getting back to enjoying 2 or 3 runs each week, and I'll worry about another race later. I'm enjoying Sydney so much at the moment that I don't need a race goal as such, but I do need to keep running - that much is important if only for fitness.

The good news is that I've been so busy that my weight and general fitness is fine, despite the lack of running. So I am happy. And of course inury free.

Anyway I have a plane to catch. I'll talk at you all from South Australia in a day or three...

Ciao for now.