Kosmonauts and Toblerones

It was a really good day today but a bit sad too. My friend James is leaving work and heading off to Switzerland in the new year. He's been appointed as International Relations Manager at the UCI, the world governing body of cycling. After a difficult era in our sport, with the Lance Armstrong affair and quite a few other shenanigans, it bodes well to have good and ethical people like James over in Lausanne. His speech was better than average, as was the turnout for his presentation. I think it reflected the fondness that the office has for him and his ability to schmooze everyone from the cleaner to the chief exec!

I was pleased to receive an email too, saying that I'd been appointed as a coaching section editor in a new academic journal. It's a role that I'll take on with relish, as I think it's so important to entwine academia with 'industry' to get the best out of intrinsically linked but often dichotomous areas. It's my own little way of trying to do so.

I had a wee bit of ironic fun too.... Two gentlemen, that will remain nameless, were chatting about how pointless social media was i.e. Facebook and Twitter etc. Then they progressed to talking about the old days in cycling. My friend, Scottish cycling legend Sandy Gilchrist had posted a 1978 photo on Facebook with him and many top riders of the day and had set a challenge for everyone to name those in the image. Ha ha...I showed the aforementioned gentlemen this image and they were transfixed for ages, providing a detailed commentary on each rider, their strengths and weaknesses! Not only that, they wondered what many of them are doing now! If they had used Facebook, they would know.

There were after-work drinks tonight. I popped to NTP first as I had run out of coffee and 'needed' a cheeky wee espresso. Unfortunately, they were having 'staff training', involving lifting beer bottles to their mouths. I, therefore, popped to Keep Pedalling for a few stocking fillers and chatted for far too long to Rich. I got James a nice silk handkerchief with bicycles on it which will go nicely in an officiousnessating blazer!

Then it was off to Kosmonaut for a few libations. Good choice Jamsey boy! Good funky music, cool interior and some nice beer. I even learnt a bit about international sports law whilst lubricating my throat. In fact I drank a little too much but the Brooklyn ale was particularly nice, a light fruit and spice refreshment, ideal for the festive period. It was a rush to the 10:48 train but I made it. Unfortunately, I couldn't follow the tradition of phoning Rosemary whilst tiddly to tell her I love her as there was a chap from the office with me, heading to Glossop.