Winter has been cancelled !!!

Thanks to my mother (pictured with my stepfather Winton) who doesn't quite control the weather, but was generous enough to buy me return flights to Wellington for my christmas present. Thanks mother !! Counting the days, only 12 to go. And not before time, I have come down with a nasty cold this week so have been skiving for several days now. And skiving is not easy when you don't actually have a job....

I fly out from Edinburgh the morning of the 15th December, return the afternoon of the 10th January. On the 12th January I am off to Spain for two weeks cycling in Murcia, near the Sierra de Espuna national park.

I have been filling my time while I am looking for a job with a number of projects:

The Sweeney Project. I have been helping my elderly neighbour a couple of times a week, taking her to the shops, collect her pension, the opticians etc. She is in her 80s and is a bit deaf and can't walk far but is pretty sharp. We went out last week and had christmas dinner at Frasers. Will try and convince her to pose for a picture.

The SCU Project. Have also been doing some volunteer work for Jenny at Scottish Cycling, which has been quite interesting, and gets me out of the house !! Spent a couple of afternoons last week proofing the Scottish entries in the British Cycling Calendar. The power - mwah hah hah etc.

The Wales Project. Will be going away next weekend with my business partners Hugh and Joe and Hugh's sister Alice to Wales to do our Trail Cycle Leader course and assessment. We are looking at starting a small business next year delivering cycling training. More details on that before we launch.

The Blog Project. A friend of mine is in Tenerife being a professional mountainbiker and training for the Commonwealth Games. I offered to do a weblog for him. This became a project on its own, and I have to say I am quite pleased with it http://jamesouchterlony.blogspot.com This meant of course that my Blog looked a bit shit, hence the upgrades you see now !!

The Shit, I Had Better Get A Job Project. This is one of those projects that goes on in the background. Not much happening the now, prolly cos it's the lead up to christmas. I have one interview on the 14th December (the day before I leave for NZ) and am cautiously optimistic about it. Will mean a daily commute to Livingston tho...

The Ebay Project. Selling off loads of bike bits on Ebay, it's amazing what people will pay money for. Got £16 for second hand Ultegra bottom bracket last week. Have also started selling stuff for other people for a cut. Got £18 for my friend Paul's exceptionally tasteless Halfords Team pink and orange tiger striped skinsuit. Scary.

The Winter Training Project. Am trying to get out and do the miles on the bike, but have to say it isn't easy in this weather. Am managing a couple of longish rides a week, and have been running, spinning and doing free weights or exercise ball workouts. Have decided gyms are very tedious. When I first started going I thought everyone was staring at me, but after spending an hour on the running machine while the weights were busy, I realised that it is soooooo boring the only thing to do is people watch. Would wear my sunglasses so I could do it properly, only I think I might get thrown out. Meeting Julie C at Inners/GT next week for a mtb ride, very much looking forward to that.

Will post some pictures of our Trail Cycle Leader Adventures in Wales.