Bounce coffee

I love coffee and  was delighted when Andy Grelak from Aromo coffee sent me some samples of their 'Bounce' coffee. Andy has been in the coffee business for over 20 years and apparently this is their best selling coffee.

Ground or beans

Brewing the coffee

My cappuccino

Made from 100 x 100% Arabica Aromo ESE coffee Pods, it has a really nice aroma. I am not an expert but according to their site, the Bounce coffee is a mix of Brazilian Daterra Bourbon and Sumatran Mahandeling coffee varieties.

As for the taste, it is slightly milder than the Lavazza Qualita Rossa which we normally use in our house and perfect after meals. 

We had friends over one day. They were leaving the UK for Malaysia and they loved the coffee so much. I passed the beans to my friend who was delighted. He emailed me a fews back asking me to get some more of the same coffee when I visit them next time. 

Thanks Andy.

Vintage Falcon bike restoration project update 2013

I started the Vintage Falcon bike restoration project way back in September 2011. At that time, the bike was a pile of rusty metal destined for the tip until I happened to cast my eyes on it. This is how it looked then:

It sure has come a long way and now that the snow is gone and the sun is finally out, I thought it's time to start some cycling. I decided to make a few more updates to the bike. For practical reasons, I bought a pair of metal mudguards on eBay for £16 (I do not want mud or worse all over me when |I am cycling).

I also decided to bring back the old pannier rack instead of buying a new one - all it needed was a thorough cleaning with wire brush followed by sandpaper and finished off with black Hammerite direct to rusted metal Paint.

The round red rear reflector on the new mudguard is also from the original mudguards. I am delighted that I decided to keep it a well, though it took me a couple of hours to polish it to the final shining finished product. You will agree that it looks fantastic and I saved myself about £20.

Now I am all set to start cycling to work

Cycling innovations

A landmark event

My Birthday...


Card from my wife and kids


Cake


Post-it note message from my colleagues Sanjit and Anoop.

Avatars

My avatar...

Thanks to my sis Diana.
I think she really captured my personality - though I am more of a PC person. I hate laptops.

Vintage Everite Watch

Got this vintage Swiss made quartz watch at a bargain on Ebay (where else). Stainless steel with gold coloured plating, it still runs perfectly without any loss of time. Estimated to be from between late 1960s to early 1970s.

Found out that 'Everite' was the store brand of H. Samuel of Manchester. Many of them are either solid gold or gold plated but you can get them between £30-£100 on the net.

UPDATE: I am now selling this watch on ebay UK http://r.ebay.com/FWw76k SOLD

Favre Leuba Sea King

I love vintage watches and while ebaying, noticed this nice looking Favre Leuba Sea King manually wound watch. I have heard of the brand before but it was ridiculously cheap.

This Swiss watch brand was really popular in India and I remember hearing that Indian company Titan bought the company in 2011. Not sure how old this watch is, the seller only mentions "vintage (1920-1970)" but I have seen another similar one on a website from 1959. Plus the fact that the seller was from India made me quite suspicious but I decided to take a punt and buy it.

It took several days to reach and was getting a little worried when I finally received it. It was nice and shiny with a brand new leather strap.

I do not really like the huge heavy watches so popular now but I think that it is a bit too small (Case is 34mm including the crown). See the comparison to my old Tissot PR50.


The face is repainted and looks ok but if you examine it in detail, you will realise that some of the dots (for the minutes) are far from professional. They are all over the place. It also does not have the words "Swiss Made" which I see on other original and unpainted Favre Leuba watches.




As for the movement, it has the Favre-Leuba 101 shock protected, antimagnetic movement.

Wound up the watch and it was ticking. However, a few hours later it was dead. I really felt cheated and complained to the seller and he was willing to refund the money but I would have to send it back. It was not worth the effort and I took it to a small watch shop in Coventry city centre. The seller refunded £5 pounds.

The watch shop took it's time but I finally got it back this week. They replaced a spring and have serviced it - all for just £30.

I first thought of selling it on for around £100 and making a small profit but after wearing it couple of times, it has grown on me.

My first vintage manually wound watch.