danger dogs

hi fans

so on thursday i cycled 16 miles in 96 degree heat, at 2pm. hmm not probably the best planning, but i'll be darned if i can make myself get up at 5am just to avoid the heat. i am not programmed to awaken before at least 7. i cycled the first part of the hummingbird highway, robert drove behind me with the hazards on. i will put a photo up once i have figured out how to photoshop my bum to a smaller size, robert taking photos from 1 metre behind is not the most flattering photo angle. it was fun despite the heat, i had to keep stopping to get fresh cold water from my backup vehicle, and afterwards jumped into a river to cool down, which made it all worth while.

we spent the weekend down in placencia. we went out for some food and drinks, and i realised i hardly ever drink and get drunk anymore. that's probably the 2nd time this year i've been drunk. unless i just can't remember or am in denial, both of which are highly likely too. talking of distorted realities, we watched a beautiful mind on sunday, what an incredible film, i haven't stopped thinking about it since then. directed by ron howard, of happy days fame. i think russell crowe must have got an oscar for this film? i don't want to spoil the plot for anyone that hasn't watched it, but most of you probably have as you are more up to date than me. we also watched the secret life of bees, which was interesting, and isn't a david attenborough documentary despite what the title might lead you to believe.

2 things that made me famous this week: i found out from our friend patrick that i had been on tv here in belize, when we were at the oil drilling talk last week they had been filming, and patrick had seen me on tv later that day. he said i looked interested and like i was concentrating really hard. sounds about right.

and secondly, they have named a star after me, you can read about it here:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3492919.stm
not only is it a star, it is a star made of solid diamond. classy. i hope it isn't a gigantic conflict diamond from sierra leone. i bet somebody will try to make a spaceship to go up there and mine it. in fact if nobody has already started on that idea, i might do it myself - robert could be the pilot, and we'd take a dog too as it seems they always do that to see how dogs react to things in space. robert said probably they just bark and wee on the instruments. robert also says that if you're a meat eater but aren't prepared to do the killing yourself, that makes you like the mafia, who get other people to do their dirty work. he is full of wise little sayings like that. remember the one from blog 1 - melon: eat it alone, or leave it alone!


whilst having a beer at seakunga in placencia we met a man from west norwood, just round the corner from where i used to live in gipsy hill. he also had conjunctivitis, which robert has at the moment. isn't the world full of strange coincidences. he helped himself to the drinks behind the bar until he obviously could stand up no longer and tippled off to his cabin on the beach. seakunga is owned by a canadian guy called a-j. he takes people on kayaking trips on rivers in belize. he was telling us about a film called the grizzly project where a guy spends 200,000 us dollars making a suit that will protect him in a grizzly attack. it's made from kevlar and a kind of diving bell helmet, and massive tyres for arms and things. his friends try to prepare him for the onslaught of a grizzly by driving their car into him, throwing a tree at him, and shooting him. he survives all that but when he tries to walk along he realises there's a design flaw as he can't walk on uneven ground. sounds pretty funny.

i was going to cycle today but i don't like the look of the traffic here on the northern highway. i will continue reading my book cloud atlas instead, it's pretty exciting.

on the oven at our place in placencia, there is a button that says 'stop time'. do you think it really does??