And you think you have it rough.

Probably applies to my recent post on real estate/housing bubbles huh? People claiming their lives are horrible because they can’t seem to find an affordable house, or those with mortgages complaining about interest rates going up 0.25% or perhaps those when the crash inevitably happens: whining about not being millionaires like the papers promised them.

I got back from my most recent touring and then had to sort out what to do with the bike. Tossing up whether to try and sell it in a short time was complicated by the need to get something fixed under warranty. The day I was due to drop it at the shop, London had some very heavy snow (reported as “The heaviest snow in 18 years” but actually wasn’t but still enough to grind everything to a halt).

Snow on the bins shows just how much fell.

So instead of riding in the snow Scott and I had a snowfight, built a Calvin and Hobbes inspired snowman and explored the surrounding snow covered countryside.

Scott next to my snow smiley on the Northwood golf course.

The fix and store bike plan got delayed a day or two and I ended up hiring a van on wednesday to get the bike up North to the warm, dry garage of my mate Chris (thanks again Chris!).

My Daytona 675 tucked in for a roadtrip.

Got back at 5 in the morning or there abouts and had to be awake waiting for my mountain bike bag to be delivered (another thing that had been delayed thanks to the snow). Luckily it turned up and I rushed to pack, sort and chuck out ready for my flight to Hong Kong.

After a stopover in HK to see friends, I am finally over the jetlag (flying against the sun is always harder).

HK skyline from Tunde's place.

It’s strange going from snow to summer, especially with the crazy bushfires in Victoria that have sadly killed so many people. I’ve been up close and personal with bushfires while growing up (have done a bit of burning off and fire fighting on occasion) and the footage of the massive fires in Victoria is quite scary.

Next up I’m looking at getting a bit settled back in the wonderful land of Oz.