Here I go on another trip to the snow – this time to Mount Hotham – and discover they have named a run after me. It was very gratifying.

More on food, again. This time I’ve been pondering bananas. It’s been months since I’ve had one. And oh how I miss them. But good old Cyclone Larry wiped out 80 percent of Australia’s banana crop in March, and we don’t go importing bananas, as they may be diseased. Meanwhile, the bananas that are around are costing more than 500 percent more than they used to. Meaning prices up around $12-$15/kilogram, rather than $2-$3/kilogram. So these days, a banana can cost you three dollars. They’re only for the rich people. Something or other is on the horizon though, apparently bananas are going to start reappearing in mid-September, and banana availability and prices will be back to normal by December-January. I think I might hold a party.

It seemed reasonable, when I went to the Wikipedia page on hedgehogs, that it wanted to first show me the small spiny mammal version of a hedgehog. That seemed fair. However, I was shocked and appalled to discover that even the hedgehog disambiguation page doesn’t list the tasty Australian chocolate slice – the one true hedgehog – amongst the possibilities.

As a result of my outrage, I have been driven to join the Hedgehog Society. As a member, I plan to fight for the rights of this overlooked dessert, and draw attention to hedgehog abominations as I find them – for who hasn’t gone to purchase a hedgehog, and then found there to be far too much biscuit content? Or feeble thin layers of icing? Or terrible thick over-hardened ‘icing’? Or crumbly and tastless slice underneath? Somewhere out there, there must exist the one true hedgehog, perfect in dimension and ingredient proportions. I have begun my quest to find this hedgehog.

Remember, this is not a hedgehog:

This is:

Who knew there were so many cobblestone alleys in Melbourne? I certainly didn’t.

 
I only got around to reading up on the Paris-Roubaix after the Melburn-Roobaix race was over. It’s held annually in the mid-April rainy season, 260km of muddy riding over the cobblestoned roads and hard rutted tracks of northern France’s coal-mining region. Apparently the route has had to be changed in recent years, as many of the original cobbled sections are being repaired and replaced with smoother surfaces that have much less romance about them. The race was first held in 1896, but only picked up it’s ‘The Hell of the North’ tag in the first race post-WWI, with the riders racing through areas destroyed by the war (the Melburn-Roobaix ‘Hell of the Northcote’ tag doesn’t quite have the same ring to it).

“Let me tell you, though – there’s a huge difference between Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. They’re not even close to the same. In one, the cobbles are used every day by the cars, and kept up, and stuff like that. The other one – it’s completely different . . . The best I could do would be to describe it like this – they plowed a dirt road, flew over it with a helicopter, and then just dropped a bunch of rocks out of the helicopter! That’s Paris-Roubaix. It’s that bad – it’s ridiculous.”

So, Saturday was the inaugural Melburn-Roobaix.

MELBURN-ROOBAIX. An idea for a regular alleycat evolved into one of Melbourne’s biggest and best underground cycling events.

Over 100 riders rode all over Melburn in search of checkpoints tucked away in the roughest corners of each suburb, riding rough pave, dirt roads, traversing stairs, crossing railways, and carrying supplies.

When they were done, their musettes full, they rode a final lap of glory around Brunswick Velodrome.

Beautiful weather, lots of fun :)

Here’s a few of the Abbotsford cycling folks hanging out in the velodrome, post-race. Doesn’t seem like winter at all.

 
The event photos are up too – you can see us lurking in the backgrounds (and foregrounds) of a few photos.

Today, rain started bucketing down. Luckily, not until after we’d finished riding the Yarra single trails. Where I managed to crash and land on my head. Just a little bit. My bike decided to stop for some reason, and as there was no prior agreement about this, I went off over the handlebars.

I haven’t been doing many interesting things recently, as I’ve been working a lot. I have this dream, that one day (hopefully before the end of this year) I will hand in my thesis. And the examiners will hand it back with glowing smiles on their faces, passing it with no more than minor corrections needed. And I shall glide around my graduation ceremony in a flowing robe, and everyone will say to me ‘Congratulations Evilmoose’, and I shall say ‘No, no, it’s Doctor Evilmoose’, and they shall say ‘Of course your graciousness’ (or something like that) and hand me gifts of cookies and exciting wines and cheese, and other such things.

But in the meantime, I have to just hope that my supervisor will arrive back in the country eventually, and might actually look at some of the chapters I’ve handed him to mark over the past two years, and perhaps even sign my ‘Intention to Submit’ form. As I keep working and trying to dig up enough worthwhile results to throw into my thesis to make it thesis-shaped. And procrastinate occasionally… just a bit…

(click for a more readable version)

Dear weather

This is what snow looks like (feel free to take your time looking at this images, examine them carefully):

Now, I would appreciate it if you could manage something like this. It will involve cold temperatures, and some precipitation (preferably localised in the alpine areas, but I’ll understand if you have to invoke a larger and more general area of rain). Really, it shouldn’t be too difficult. You managed to get it pretty cold about a month back, and you’ve had it raining fairly often over the last couple of weeks. Please, just see what you can do. Because you’re not reaching the performance goals outlined in the work agreement we had you sign earlier this year. And I’d hate to have to get rid of you.

Reasons winter is good

1) Porridge
2) Snow and frost making things pretty
3) Foggy days in Melbourne
4) Skiing
5) Getting warm by fires
6) Long nights
7) Blankets (snuggling in)

Reasons winter is bad

1) People cooking porridge in the microwave and letting it overflow then not cleaning up afterwards
2) Getting hypothermic in the snow
3) Having to have showers when you’re freezing cold
4) Cold nose, cold ears, cold hands, cold feet
5) Too cold to climb
6) Not enough sunlight
7) Having to wear several thousand layers
8) Rainy weekends
9) Continual lack of snow despite cold and rainy weather