Month completed: January 2012

Despite having grown up riding push bikes (and riding to work for the past two years), I have never learnt how to properly maintain my bike.

Even for basics like fixing a puncture I would have to take it down to the repair shop to get fixed.

That is really ridiculous, and fortunately for Christmas I received from my sister a voucher to do an all-day bike maintenance course, which I completed yesterday.

On the course I learnt:

• How to get both the back and front wheels off my bike (not easy with the Brompton bike I own)
• How to fix a puncture
• How to adjust the seat and what the rule of thumbs are for adjusting the seat
• What the brake pads and cables and gear cables are and how to replace them
• What parts of the bike need to be cleaned regularly (the moving parts basically), and how to clean them
• What I need in my bike toolkit

We all got our hands very dirty, and the course involved basically pulling our own bikes apart and putting them back together.

I was surprised at how straightforward most of the tasks were (particularly replacing brake pads, as anyone who knows how to do it will agree), and now feel a new sense of appreciation for how my bike has been put together.

And a new sense of confidence that when I go for a ride, I can now fend for myself if something goes wrong.

For anyone in London interested in doing the same course as me (I would recommend it) head to the Cycle Training UK website.

Image via

Month completed: January 2012

This is the penultimate year of the project, and although with 90-odd goals to go it looks unlikely I will complete everything (that trip to Antarctica is looking less and less likely), I am going to keep trying to knock off as many as I can.

This goal is the first of the year to be achieved, and one that I have been meaning to cross off for ages.

Before you ask, no I didn’t complete a cryptic crossword. They are just impossible (and I am always shocked if I can even get one answer when I try doing one of them).

What I completed was the General Knowledge crossword at the back of today’s Independent newspaper. Here’s the proof (click for the full-size version).

I will admit to using the Internet to try and find some of the answers, but I don’t see a problem with that. Unless you are some kind of super genius, are you really going to know the 3-letter word for an aromatic Eurasian shrub with small yellow flowers and evergreen leaves which yield an acrid volatile oil, formerly used medicinally?

I sure didn’t, but by researching to find the answers to the clues, I now know that it is rue, and my brain is full of many other pieces of general knowledge I wouldn’t have otherwise known.

Not sure I will be converting from sudoku anytime soon though.

Month completed: December 2011

We Are What We Do is a not-for-profit organisation whose main purpose is encouraging people to make behavioural changes that benefit the wider community.

One of their initiatives is a book called ‘Change the world for a fiver‘, which is a collection of simple things that anyone can do to make a positive difference.

A great initiative indeed, and so I thought it would be great to do five things from the book (there are 50 things in total).

Here’s what I did:

1. I donated my spare change

I took all my copper coins down to a Coinstar machine at Sainsbury’s. It was quite a heavy bag. The receipt tells the story. 631 coins for a grand total of £14.49 (might not sound a lot, but imagine if everyone donated that much).

After you put in all the coins, and the final tally is calculated, you have the option to take the money as bigger denominations or donate to one of several different charities. I went for the latter option. My reward was just getting rid of those 600+ pesky coins!

2. I recycled my old clothing

I am a hoarder by nature. Old clothes, even ones that I haven’t worn for years, and don’t fit anymore, I tend to hold on to (you never know when they might be needed!).

So I decided this would be a very useful one to do (albeit a bit painful). Two garbage bags worth of clothes were taken down to our local charity shop, hopefully to find a nice second home.

3. I became an organ donor

One of the good things about the book is that it doesn’t suggest what you could do, but how you should do it too. If you want to become an organ donor too, here’s the UK link and here’s the Australian link.

4. I wrote to two people who have inspired me

In fact, I not only wrote to them, I also interviewed them this blog. Kyle MacDonald (aka the One Red Paperclip guy) and Sean Ogle are two people that have created something from nothing, and anyone who has the drive to do that is inspiring in my book.

5. I fill up the kettle less

In the past, I was a bit tap-happy when filling up the kettle, meaning I boiled way more water than necessary. I now much much more of a conscious effort to just fill it to the level required and no more.

As you can see, the tasks aren’t particular difficult, and you have probably done several of the 50 in the book already.

A few others included paying extra at a charity shop, learning basic first aid, and spending a day with the elderly.

My suggestion to you – grab a copy of the book and see if you can do them all.

Month completed: December 2011

This is a goal I have been looking forward to for a while, but just hadn’t gotten around to it.

Fortunately for me Buyruk from Istanbul got in touch, said that it was on his bucket list too, and suggested we do it together next time he was in London.

What is geocaching?

Around the world, unbeknownst to most people (known in the geocaching world as muggles), there are millions of caches (little treasures, which could be as small as a film cannister or as big as a 5 gallon drum) hidden. The aim is to find them using clues and a GPS device.

Here’s a short video that explains the activity perfectly.

Getting started

I downloaded the official Geocaching Android app, which is really all that was needed to get started as it used my phone’s in-built GPS.

Then it is just a simple case of going through the list of caches nearby and deciding which one to try and find. Fortunately around my area in London (Islington) there are plenty of caches available.

Each cache has a difficulty, from 1 to 5, based on how small it is, how difficult it is to reach, how good the GPS coverage is in the area and a few other factors. The first one we went for was 3 out of 5 in difficulty, which was probably a bit of a leap for a first cache.

The hunt begins with success

After navigating to within a couple of metres of where the compass was saying the cache was hiding, and using the hint (each cache description includes a hint, to make life a little easier), we had a reasonable clue of where the cache was. But alas, it was nowhere to be found.

15 minutes of searching through leaves, gardens and under rocks, we finally found it! The cache was very cleverly hidden, and the feeling of finding it was very exciting.

It was a medium sized cache, and contained a range of random items. The rule is that you put a small item in, and take another out ready to put into the next cache you find.

Each cache also contains a log, for you to leave your name as a record of being amongst those to have discovered the cache. You can also log your find within the app too, which is good as it shows everyone else that the cache is still in play and hasn’t been displaced or stolen.

After finding and logging, it is important to put it back as you found it, for the next person to enjoy. Also important is to do the whole process with as much stealth as possible, to prevent the muggles from snooping and potentially messing with the cache.

Looking for more

After tasting our first success, Buyruk and I wanted more.

With lots of caches nearby, we ended up finding 6 more caches in the following few hours. The cache locations took us to a 500 year old church, the Islington Electricity Department, a quiet little river path, and even a shopfront where a nano cache (about the size of a fingernail) was hidden.

Here we are after a 10 minute search through some thick ivy to find a cache (I can only wonder what people walking past us must have been thinking).

4 of the 7 caches we found were in 35mm film cannisters, which seem to be the most common type. Generally they are magnetised to something metallic (like a gate), and contain just a log book to sign. Here I am with one of them.

Apart from discovering the caches, one of the great things about geocaching is exploring parts of the world that you might not otherwise have. Here I am in front of the 500 year old church that I never knew about, but is literally a 10 minute walk from my house. It is amazing what there is right on your doorstep.

Final verdict

The whole point of Project 183 is to identify new hobbies that I would like to pursue in the long-term. Surfing has become one of them, and I will definitely add geocaching to that list now too.

It is the perfect low-commitment, low-investment activity that you can play anywhere, with others or on your own. In fact, just today I went out at lunch time with a few colleagues and find two cheeky caches no more than 5 minutes from our office.

A world full of little hidden treasures – what an amazing concept. Definitely one to add to your list.

Month completed: October 2011

You may think that rock paper scissors (RPS) is just a game of luck. But for some, it is more than that. It is an ultimate battle of nerves and a game of trying to out-think your opponent.

Each year around the world, national RPS championships are held to determine the nation’s best player. I was out of the country last year, so missed my opportunity, but was determined to compete this year.

Last night in London the competition was held, a knockout competition that started with 128 competitors, and 7 rounds later finished with one champion. Games are played as first to two wins for the first few rounds, and then more wins in the later rounds.

I spent the week studying different gambits (three move combinations), read the stats on which move gets played most and least (scissors is the least common), and decided on my opening move – scissor sandwich.

In the first round, I went up to play my opponent, and they never turned up (they were no doubt intimidated). I won the match by default.

In the second round, I had the unfortunate position of playing the referee. I stuck with Scissor sandwich (and then planned to follow it if need be with Crescendo – paper, then scissors, then rock).

My opponent was evidently a big fan of scissors though. He played scissors, scissors, rock, scissors and all of a sudden I was out 2-1, my dreams of being UK champion dashed for another 12 months.

Strangely, it was actually kind of a nerve-wracking experience.

You can see me trying to keep myself cool just prior to battle.

Here I am in battle, just before my close defeat.

Nat came along to watch, and was giving me psych-out vibes because she wanted to go home. Nothing like having your own cheer squad cheering for you to lose!

It was definitely a fun thing to do though, and I will be back in 2012 to try and claim the title. Probably not with the Scissor sandwich though!

Month completed: September 2011 (but really, this one is on-going)

Ages ago (as in, back in 2007), while working at Saab in Australia I set up a program whereby for every new or used car sold in Australia we (Saab) would buy a one-year subscription to Greenfleet.

This was on the back of watching An Inconvenient Truth (a great movie about global warming) and wanting to do something to help.

Each Greenfleet subscription paid for the planting of 17 trees, which would over their life soak up the equivalent of the carbon emissions of an average car in a one year period (about 4.3 tonnes). During the program we sold enough cars to pay for the planting of tens of thousands of trees (soaking up tens of thousands of tonnes of greenhouse gas).

Anyhoo, as I said that was a while ago now (four years), and recently Sara (the CEO at Greenfleet) got in touch with me and gave me an update on how the plantation is going.

The trees were planted in a couple of locations, one of which was the Purga Creek Nature Reserve in Ipswich, Queensland. Here’s one of the plants shortly after being planted.

Apparently, it is the time shortly after the planting that is the toughest for the plants to survive, as they are small and weak and more vulnerable to natural events like floods.

Fortunately, about 80% of the plants have survived some pretty tough conditions, and are now getting big enough to protect themselves from future issues.

Here is what some of those small plants now look like, with plenty more growth to come. In total, 92,000 trees were planted (many thousands of which were Saab’s contribution).

It feels really good to see my simple idea turn into reality, and for there now to be thousands of trees out there growing, soaking in carbon dioxide, and doing their bit to help the global warming issue.

For those in Australia, who want to do their part for this issue, I recommend getting a Greenfleet subscription. You will feel less guilty about using your car, and at the same time do your bit for the planet.

Month completed: September 2011

This is one I have been psyching myself up for for a while.

Ever since I got the voucher for Christmas to do a bungee from my brother Nick and his girlfriend Pheobe.

Today, I finally redeemed the voucher, and took the plunge from 160 feet up, on the banks of the Thames river in London right next to Tower Bridge.

Here’s me starting to get nervous.

Getting my pre-jump briefing.

3…2…

…1…aaaaaarrggghhh

Going up in the cable car was a scary experience, and as I reached the top, and the cage door opened I realised how high 160 feet really is.

I was told not to hesitate, but just to jump on the count of three. The free fall lasted all of about two seconds before the slack caught me, and it was all really a blur. When the rope did catch me, there wasn’t the sudden jerk back that I have heard happens. It was quite smooth actually and certainly my eyes at no point felt like they were coming out of my head!

It might be the last hint of adrenaline talking, but I think I would do it again. Probably off a bridge though, and from a higher height next time to get more free fall.

Here is the whole fun event, captured for your amusement. Enjoy!

Month completed: September 2011

Originally, this goal was to complete a race called CityChase. Long time readers may remember I attempted twice unsuccessfully to complete this race while in Australia.

Unfortunately, the London version of CityChase has been cancelled for the past two years. Fortunately, the Rat Race now exists.

The Rat Race is a 2.5 hour race around London, looking for checkpoints, completing challenges, and is like a mini-version of Amazing Race. The section we completed in was called Mean Streets.

Mark and I teamed up to compete in this year’s event. We were known as Team Oz.

An hour before the race we were given a map, and the location of 25 checkpoints. With this short preparation time, we plotted out what seemed like a good route. The trick is that each checkpoint is worth a different value, and the aim of the game is to collect the most points. Only when the race started were we given the checkpoint values, and fortunately we had managed to pick a pretty good route.

Over the course of the next 2.5 hours, we did parkour, went to a car wash, did karaoke, got soaked in a fountain, got free hugs, caught a rat in Trafalgar Square, did a mini boot camp, and found a whole bunch of checkpoints.

After the race, when the adrenaline started to wear off, the body pains started to kick in. I think we probably ran at least 15 miles in the 2.5 hours, plus add in the challenges. Right now, I am still in pain and think it will probably take a week or so to recover properly.

Here’s us just after the race (you can see it is now dark – we were running in darkness for probably the last half hour).

How did we do? Well, we did better than I thought.

Out of 173 teams that completed, we finished 30th!

Not bad for a couple of foreigners.

Month completed: September 2011

Once a year in Munich, Germany a beer tasting festival takes place.

You may have heard of it – Oktoberfest.

And it seemed like the most logical place to go to achieve this goal.

So last weekend (yes, weirdly Oktoberfest takes place in September) Nat and I, plus friends Mark and Christina, went along to check it all out.

We weren’t sure what to expect.

We knew there would be plenty of beer, and plenty of rides, but the whole thing was much, much bigger than I expected.

All up, there were about 20 tents, all of which held thousands of drinkers, and to get a table in one of these tents involved getting there before 9am (some Kiwis we sat with were lined up to get in at 7am).

Each tent is run by a beer company, and no expense seems to have been spared in getting each tent to be as amazing as possible. Here is one of the ones we drank in (you can see the number of people in there – this is in the morning!).

Three things to note in this photo:

• About 90% of people wore traditional German clothing. Not just the locals but the tourists too. We felt very out of place in our ‘modern’ clothing
• There is a German band in each tent that plays traditional music
• Everyone drinks steins, which hold a litre of beer (in other words, a lot of beer)

Apart from going to the toilet, you never have to leave your table once you are there. Waiters come round, take your order, and then through some sort of magic can carry upwards of 10 steins at once with no trays or anything. Just their bare hands. It was really quite amazing to watch.

As well as drinking, the Germans know how to do a good rollercoaster. Nat and Mark were big fans, and went on pretty much everything. It rained every day we were there, so the lines for the rides were very small (in fact, non-existent).

But it is the drinking that the majority of visitors and locals come for, and not surprisingly by mid-afternoon there are hundreds of people stumbling aimlessly around, having had a few too many. Including me.

Shortly after this photo was taken, and after drinking admittedly not too much, something happened to me that has never happened before.

I lost about 3 hours of time.

At about 3pm I went to the bathroom, and don’t remember a thing that I did after that until I suddenly came to my senses at about 6pm. There was 5 missed calls from Nat wondering where I was, and what I did over those 3 hours is anyone’s guess.

I still can’t recall anything, even now, but it says something for the strength of the beer in Germany!

Here are my 4 tips if you are planning a trip to Oktoberfest in the future:

Tip 1 – Wear traditional German clothes: They are expensive in most places (around 100 Euros) but it definitely gets you more in the spirit of the occasion

Tip 2 – Reserve a table: If you are like most people, and don’t feel like getting up at 6:30pm to get a table, you can reserve one by contacting the beer company. This way you can rock up at 11am and your table is waiting for you

Tip 3 – Pace yourself: Steins are deadly. If you want to try to get through a few, without ending up losing 3 hours like I did, take your time. The tents stay open until late in the night, so there is plenty of drinking time

Tip 4 – Get the suckling pig from Weinnes Brauhaus: Not located at Oktoberfest, but near the Marienplatz in central Munich, this beer house had the best suckling pig ever, and the potato dumpling was amazing too. If you are a fan of crackling, check it out.

Month completed: August 2011

I am a self-confessed board game enthusiast. There, I’ve said it. Board games rock.

Scrabble is one of those that I enjoy, but have only played very infrequently (in fact, until yesterday I hadn’t played for about 5 years).

During the week a friend told me about the Mind Sports Olympiad, an annual, week-long Olympics with tournaments in just about every board game imaginable.

So, I decided to enter Scrabble.

Without training.

At all.

Probably not my greatest idea, but whatever.

I turned up on Sunday morning to the venue full of mostly the older generation, most of whom had been playing on a weekly basis for dozens of years, and most of whom were in a league (one of my opponents was in three different leagues!).

So, some pretty tough competition.

There were 7 matches, and the tournament went from 10am to 6pm.

Playing in a tournament is different to playing with family around the dinner table in the following ways:

• There is a time clock. You have 25 minutes total to make all your moves, and although that seems like a long time, the pressure of having it there really ups the stress levels. The clock we had was an old-fashioned analogue one too, so you could hear the tick, tick, tick as each second counted down, like a heartbeat
• People take it really seriously. One guy was yelling at others if they talked too loud during his go. Another guy almost had a fit because he turned up five minutes late and was told he couldn’t play because the fixture had been done (he eventually played after he calmed down)
• It is only played by two people. None of this four-player Scrabble nonsense!
• Challenging (where you declare that you think your opponent is making up a word, or spelling it incorrectly) is fun, as you both go up to a special challenge computer, enter the word, and wait for a big green tick or big red cross to tell you if the word is OK or not. It is kind of like waiting for the third umpire in cricket to declare if the batsman is out or not
• Overdraw (where you take more than the actual number of tiles you need) is a massive faux pas, unlike at home where you would just chuck it back in the bag
• Rarely is a single-word played – the key is the two-and three- letter words that connected two bigger words together
• It seems to be all about the spread (the difference between your final score and the final score of your opponent)
• Good players (i.e. not me) seem to have their next moves planned out well in advance, and hardly get close to using their 25 minutes
• There is no word dictionary you can consult if you are not sure about a word. You just have to put it down and hope it doesn’t get challenged

How did I go, you ask?

Well, as expected, I got slaughtered. It was kind of like joining the Olympic marathon without doing any training runs first, and expecting to keep up with the Kenyans.

My final stats

I lost all 7 games, although I did manage to lose one of those games by just 16 points (he correctly challenged my made-up ‘va’ on a triple word score, which ended up being the difference between winning and losing).

My average over 7 games: 240

My opponents average over 7 games: 389

Average spread: 149

My best word was ‘quail’ on a triple-word score, which got me 48

All the concentrating throughout the day, and the pressure of the timer, meant that by the end of the tournament I had a massive headache. No-one tells you that about Scrabble – it is really mentally draining.

And last night, all I kept seeing were random letter tiles floating around, and I was trying to re-arrange them in the best order in my head.

Would I do it again? Probably not. To get any good at Scrabble you need to dedicate yourself to learning new words, playing regularly, and I get the feeling that my head would not like me much if I put it through what I put it through yesterday.

I am more of a card player anyway.