Tag: Friends
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The Dipsea Trail
The view from the Dipsea trail down to the ocean 
Allegra keeping up a good pace 
The trees aglow in the sunlight 
New shoes! 
Fetching colour schemes 
… and alas another farewell to Abe! -
Alamere Falling
A third hike to Alamere Falls, and still worth it. A lovely little hop from the city, and you find yourself walking along the coast with views as far as the city and Point Reyes. Naturally, the jewel in the crown are the falls that cascade down to the beach; the weather has been a bit dry of late so they were not quite as plump as they have been – but still a nice treat from a busy week.
No filter or editing at all, honest. 
Pleasing organisation. Todd on the left, Jos in the middle, and Allegra on the right. 
Allegra gives Jos a friendly scratch on the back of the head. 
The drive home. -
Portraits of Point Reyes
Point Reyes has the strange ability to make me feel like I am ‘home’ – there is something deeply primal about it, and in a vaguely spiritual way reminds me of the East Angle coast, Wales and Scotland. It’s a little gem of solitude, just an hour north of the city, and here are a few portraits of it while it’s in a mildly grumpy mood.
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Back in the Saddle
After 18 months away from Asia, I finally headed back. Back in the saddle!
Blurry trip from the airport 
Up at the crack of dawn the next morning … I was so used to living on the ‘other’ side of the world and travelling East to reach Asia that I often felt quite disorientated with time. 
The Bund, Shanghai 
Morning boats 
Hiking Hong Kong 
High-rise living 
Tanja & Edgar! 
Reminders of the little nooks and crannies that Taiwanese people would take over … lovely to see the same thing in Hong Kong. 
Play time 
Good times … all rather different now with a car … and a walking talking addition to the family! 
Panorama 
Views out to the island 
Great to have access from their back door 
Urban vertical sprawl 
Down into Mongkok and Kowloon 
Ello Dad 
Out at Discovery Bay … kind of like Disneyland, but you live there. 
Water world 
Couldn’t believe I caught this one – a guy was carrying a dragon’s mask and some shopping as I was waiting for a taxi in Shenzhen 
View up the street in Shanghai 
Some random digging 
Young chefs -
Tony & Kat
Tony, one of my best Greek friends, got married to one of the best ladies I have had the pleasure of meeting, Miss P.
Naturally, I flew in to make sure she didn’t change her mind, and had an awesome weekend catching up with old Dell friends, and reminding myself what summer is supposed to be like.
Austin – I have a big place in my heart for you!
The Continental Club – essential 
Austin aesthetics 
Agreed! 
Details 
My ride for the weekend … and stayed at the San Jose no less! 
The Moment 
Two of my favourite people 
Victory lap 
I also had the IMMENSE pleasure of meeting Kat’s girls, and saying hello again to Tony’s. What a great bunch of ladies.
Apparently, I am the biggest joke in the house, which is the nicest thing anyone has said to me. PRINCE PHILIP!
The coolest Mr and Mrs I know. 10/10! 
For various reasons best left unsaid, I needed a drink. 
Lord of the Dance -
The Color Run – SF 2012
Hand joined before the start. I got the call last week to join a crew of people on the annual Color Run, held at Candlestick Park … what is that, I hear you say? It’s a fun run, where you get absolutely pelted with paint, every 1000m, ending up in a completely crazy, multi-coloured finale of techno and tacos.
Why? No moral. No ‘stop-racism’ message built in. Just paint being pelted at you, surrounded by screaming people … a fun day, with some great people.
Like a washing detergent advert 
Entering the zone! 
Betty looks happy after the blue stage (the best colour in my book) 
High-five! 
Blue on orange 
The after party- and more high-fives 
Slightly less clean hands at the end of the event 
You missed a bit 
The fun part was now travelling home on public transport (thankfully there were several thousand other people doing the same thing). Some of the Chinese tourists on the Muni did look confused! [custom_field field=”The Color Run” limit=”0″ between=”, ” /]
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Palm Springs
It was easy to imagine the Three Amigos strolling through town (and into Starbucks – it was bloody hot!) Palm Springs, located just over one hundred miles from LA, is a traditional playground for the stars of Hollywood. Offering seclusion and a balmy winter climate, it became fashionable after the war, and the well-healed commissions allowed architectural modernists to flourish in the desert.
I was invited by a set of old Glasgow University friends, one of which was getting married at the impossibly cool Parker. Combined with the July 4th weekend, it made for a great get-away for a few days, and a chance to catch up with some of my old mates; plus of course setting up some sofas in LA to crash on when I make the trip down.
I have never been anywhere quite like it. As if air-lifted from space, lush vegetation, palm trees and swimming pools are set against a backdrop of a brutal, arid landscape. The place is entirely unnatural, and feels very much like being on a film set – I found myself tapping rocks and walls to see if they were fibreglass. I felt a touch guilty, thinking of the madness of spraying water mist into the pedestrian areas, the unimaginable volume of water needed to maintain perfect green golf courses, and the energy requirements to keep everyone happily air-conditioned. It was the polar opposite of attitudes in San Francisco (at least on the surface), but accompany the sun setting against the mountains with margaritas sipped by the pool and I can begin to understand the charm.
A 26ft high Marilyn Monroe graces main street, naturally. 
Heading up on the gondola (a rotating gondola no less) was a refreshing break from the heat in the valley. Strangely, the trees in the glades up in the cool air secrete an oil that smells much like vanilla. Time for ice cream! 
Joel surveys the scene 
Bouquet 
The trees up there were twisted – literally. Like rope, they had a helical structure I had never seen before. Very interesting, I thought. 
Cressida cools down. 
And this is the result of said heat and sun … but Cressida persevered through, editing the wedding movie. 
The wedding itself was at the impossibly stylish Parker. 
An impossibly stylish hotel, filled with impossibly stylish people. 
Steven and James hit the aisle … congratulations, chaps! 
Job done. Time for drinks! 
Unreal scenes at every turn. 
Mountainous desert at the end of every street. 
The sun sets on a fun long weekend. 
Sunset Strip -
Tahoe Summer
I had a last-minute invite from Maartin & Marieke to join them with their brother Kees in a cabin up in the woods. Just the job to escape the city. A great day of hiking, more than a few beers and hilarious laughter, and the next day a solo ride into the wilderness, somewhere in the hills behind Abe’s family home.
Flotsam & Jetsam 
A walk in the woods 
The Nederlanders 
Up in them thar hills -
Downieville
Downieville lives in mountain biking folklore as home to some of the best riding on the West Coast. Site of the famous Downieville Classic bike race, it’s the spiritual centre of ‘all-mountain riding’; combining cross-country and downhill disciplines into one.
Booking at the last possible minute, we scored accommodation at the delightful Lure Resort – camping, but without the headache of tents.
The riding? Some of the most intense, varied and scenic riding I have ever ridden. And the town was probably the most genuinely friendly places I have been in this mad little country I now call home.
Bikes are loaded up onto the truck – it wasn't all being lazy; it was up in the 90s in the valley, and considerably cooler up in the hills. 
Insanely, we rode up alongside Paul, from Paul's Components fame … slightly star struck! 
At the top of the first climb, we topped 2200m … rather tired! 
Endless single track along the ridge 
Anton takes a quick power nap at "A Tree" 
One of the many stream crossings of the first day 
Go too quickly, and you might miss this crucial right-hander 
First of many! 
Day two, on the Downieville DH course … Anton rips one of the turns 
Hanging on the bridge 
Dominic managed four punctures … all by himself! 
Cooling the legs in the river after the ride 
The Lure Lodge – I think I might be back! GPS Data
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New York New York
Taking advantage of the extended Memorial Day weekend, I tacked on an extra day and winged it away from the West Coast for a weekend in New York City. What a place; I had visited in my early twenties, but it makes a major difference when you have local friends to visit and, crucially, a credit card.
First impression: the people are far more friendly and polite than I realised. Ticket collectors forgave my mistakes on the trains, strangers waved me towards the correct subway stop, people held doors open for me and random acts of kindness and humour caught me off-guard. The combination of awe-inspiring vertical scale, surprisingly large horizontal distances needed to traverse the place and warped sense of horizon and perspective, combined with these little bits of humane magic, make for an addictive combination.
I managed to spend a solid chunk of time with some great people. Yes, people, I have New York friends; Mia and Brian of San Francisco fame, and then Matt Landman, who I know through Ken in Taiwan, and had only ever met once in an evening of insane metal and rock.
Highlights: getting caught on the ferry in the rain and walking up Manhattan using the freeways as shelter, an evening on top of ’30 Rock’ – The Rockefeller Center, and wandering through Brooklyn, fire hydrants opened up to drench the local kids with cooling water. Did I mention how hot the weather was?
Since New York is about half way back to London (insane, no?), I can imagine I will be back here soon.
View from Brian's apartment to the streets below 
Brian displaying his perma-Sartorialist.com abilities 
The sense of perspective in this space is wonderfully warped 
Standard issue taxi cab shot 
New York feels simultaneously more American, and European at the same time, compared to San Francisco 
V22 Osprey Tiltrotor Crazycopters were circling Manhattan for the whole time – I thought they had been decommissioned for safety reasons 
Modesty (Instagram) 
Sheltering from the rain (Instagram) 
Brunch at Freemans … and as it turns out the same chain as where I get my hair cut in SF 
The skyline – never anything less than amazing 
Williamsburg – hipster central. I swear I did not pose this shot. Ridiculous. 
5th Avenue 
I was obsessed with what people were wearing; so much more stylish than San Francisco or Taipei 
Public artwork more common than in California 
41 Cooper Square – by Thom Mayne 
Shadows of Train Tracks 
Catching up with Mr. Matt Landman 
Mia rocks the graf 
Delighted to see fire hydrants opened up everywhere in Brooklyn for impromptu street parties – I thought this only happened in the movies. I was expecting the Sesame Street cast to walk past at any moment.
