Somewhat on the spur of the moment, Josh and I decided to clamber into the mountains directly north of Jamie’s parents’ house yesterday.
I’ve wanted to do this hike since my first ever visit here. The mountains are a beautiful backdrop to Pasadena, and are made all the more enticing by their contrast to the flat [...]

It’s been a fairly uneventful few days since my last post. I’ve spent some time sorting stuff out in the flat, and also spent a couple of days on the car, tidying up a whole hill of niggling electrical things, and giving it a good clean inside and out.
Some slightly better pictures:

Jobs done (so far!):
[...]

I’ve picked up the car! I’m really pleased to have it. These aren’t the greatest pictures, but they’ll do for the time being! The paintwork needs attention but the rest of the car is basically in mint condition, including the beige sports leather interior. The list of extras is fairly comprehensive:
Cruise control
Air conditioning
Driver’s airbag
4x electric [...]

Still no pictures of the car yet, as I haven’t picked it up…. two hours to go and counting! Really looking forward to getting it.
In the meantime, this is the birthday cake Jamie baked for me for yesterday. Lovely rich chocolate cake – with thick icing (called ‘frosting’ here, though neither of these are really [...]

It’s been my birthday today, and an enjoyable day mainly spent looking at cars to buy. We started by driving about an hour inland to see this 1971 Nissan 240Z, a straight six rear-wheel drive two-seater classic, but it just needed too much work.

Then we spent rather too long at a BMW dealership looking at [...]