greg in ohio: They say Tomayto, I say Tomaahto

Yes! You heard it here first, I am delighted to say I have rejoined the workforce and can now be found working in a Mexican restaurant :D it is very different but it is so much fun and the people are great! It may not be the best pay in the world but it will certainly keep me more than entertained for the time being, I spent my day today crying over the onions and making Guacamole... Yummy! The restaurant is only 3 miles away so I decided to cycle there today... it took me over half an hour which is a record setting speed of 6 mph! there are so many bloody traffic lights everywhere (not just at the major intersections but for every single little street, including some corners) it is just ridiculous, I think next time I shall walk it, might be quicker!!

This is what happens if you spend to long cycling in Cleveland, you turn into a tortoise!

The USA is leap years behind the UK in terms of accommodating cyclists... the potholes are deadly and there are no bike racks anywhere except downtown, even in the city centre cycling can be a problem, I decided to cycle down to a baseball game but had to take a detour around half of the city because they had made all of the roads leading to the stadium pedestrian only (a sign specifically said no cycling, skateboarding or rollerblading), I decided to cycle down it anyway only to find TWO policemen running after me yelling at me to stop. I told them this is absurd there is no one walking here can I just ride it to the end of the street? 'No sir, someone might walk there' what on earth? Pedestrians aren't exactly held in high esteem in America either, so you can only imagine how bad it must be for cyclists if they are even lower down the pecking order than pedestrians, on the same level as skateboarders and rollerbladers!

something else that is not particularly great for cycling is the weather here, the last week has been unbelievable! get this... on Sunday it topped out at 27C, on Monday it was 24C with some thunderstorms mixed in and have a guess as to what you think the temperature was on Tuesday?

nope, you're wrong! It was -2C with snowstorms!!!

How does that happen? It is just crazy, today was about 20 degrees yet we still have a load of snow on the ground from Tuesday, I really really really hope that was the last of the snow!

I am going on a little road trip to Detroit tomorrow to sample some local brews and watch a baseball game, I shall be sure to let you know if Detroit is as bad as everyone says it is... although I have a feeling I may be pleasantly surprised, I am sure there are a lot of areas I would not wish to go but I have heard the police still 'control' downtown so it isn't that bad! It is unbelievable what that city has had to go through, from the wealth and prosperity of the 50s and 60 through the race riots to bankrupcy due to the collapse of the big 3 car companies, GM, Chrysler and Ford (GM alone had a bigger GDP than the whole of Norway!) You could only imagine the problems that would cause!!

Ooooh, I have been listening to a lot of Kirsty MacColl recently, I was reminded of her as to get to the train station from our new place I get to walk down Madison Avenue... this is such a great song I am going to share a link to it for you all to enjoy :)

KIRSTY MAcCOLL - Walking down Madison

For anybody who happens to still be reading you are in for a treat, here are some pictures of a nice walk amanda and me took to the Rocky River Reservation, it is only 2 miles (or a 2 day cycle ride, pedestrian, traffic lights and weather permitting) and there are several nesting pairs of bald eagles there! Unfortunately to protect them they keep the precise location of the nests a secret so we had to make to with a beaver lodge and some lovely views :)