Cate got back from Geneva on Friday and went to Seoul on Saturday. As a special treat on Friday night I took her to Novelli in Braunerstrasse. This was our second time there and it is now probably our favorite restaurant. We of course just adore Ein Weiner Salon but the smoke is a killer. I have been promising for some time to do a list of restaurants with my own ratings but just have not had the time.

Kiew Zhin has been taking us to a few new places – mainly Asian. Notwithstanding her Asian ancestry Kiew actually has dual citizenship as her father is – and she was born in – Sweden. She is the only tall blonde Asian woman I have ever seen. She is still a reserve in the Swedish Air Force but is about to resign her commission. This is good news for us because she is an expert at finding really goo Asian places in the Bezirks of Wien.

On Sunday I set of for my daily bike ride and discovered that I had a flat tire. Cunningly. I keep a spare in the tool kit under the saddle so then undertook what turned out to be an excruciating process changing the tubes. This is something I have not done for more than 50 years and apparently it’s not like riding a bicycle because I could not remember how to do it.

It is much easier than it used to be to change a back wheel. I remember this as an excruciating process to move the gears around and get things fitted. Now one just undoes a bolt and pulls the wheel out. And when you out it back it goes where it is supposed to. Amazing! Now I know how in bike races the mechanic can jump out of the car with a wheel and change it in less than 10 seconds.

I eventually got there – to find that the spare also had a puncture. There was probably something inside the tire itself – I couldn’t find it but I do remember that tubes are a bit finicky about things like that. When I finished I looked like a Grease Monkey and still have grease in my ears.

So it was off to Star Bikes today to get more tubes – and I got two new ‘touring’ tires for my bike because of the amount of travel I am doing. these have a bit more tread than the ‘city’ tires which were fitted originally.

I apparently got everything back in the right place because I rode 32 kilometers on Monday and nothing fell off. I dread something going wrong at the halfway mark because it is a long walk home.

In case you do not keep up with these things – you will be pleased to know that Iggy Pop was recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. It’s about time too.

How long will it take ‘The Hoff’ to get there. With work like this why are they waiting? (Thanks lenny)