I was recently given a bike by my parents for my birthday. I know that this makes me sound like I'm about 12, but hey ho, they knew that I'd been wanting one for a while and I hadn't got around to buying one. I'm actually really pleased with it.

By most standards, I probably live in one of the best places in the country for cycling (unless you're really into mountain biking or BMX or something else). I live within about a 2 minute ride of a route on the national cycle network and about 5 minutes from the national canal network, which from Bournville, not only goes to university (where I work), but also beyond to the city centre and ultimately the rest of the country.

The ride into university takes about 15 to 20 minutes, which is basically how long it had been taking me by train, given that I usually end up waiting about 5 minutes or so for one.

Now the decision of whether to ride or go by train now seems to me to be an easy decision. As an example of mechanism design, this is how I see it: Each day I get paid £1.80 (the train fare) to exercise for half an hour. It takes up no more time out of my day, and there's none of the expense (and in my opinion boredom) associated with going to a gym.

So, the picture above shows my new route to work. And, as if the benefits already were not enough, instead of being advertised at by the omnipresent telescreens on the train, I instead get to enjoy the drifting smell of chocolate being made at the Cadbury factory, and to watch the ducks and geese flapping and hissing at me as I ride past.

Now I'm just waiting for my first rainy day...

It seems that some of my photos on Flickr have caught the attention of some folk who make online guides to places, including Birmingham.










Schmap Guides, emailed me to ask if these two photos (of the Custard Factory and the view of Birmngham from the Clent Hills) could be included in their guide. Cool! Take a look here and here to see...

We went up to Darlington last weekend to visit friends - a brave thing considering all the ridiculous amount of snow that there was on that day. For some reason Birmingham doesn't cope well with snow and the whole city grinds to a halt. In the event, it took us three hours to get three miles! And then another three hours to get about 200 miles...

But, it was a great weekend, and I was introduced to a new game - Carcassonne - a German game modelled after the French town of the same name. I was hooked, and have bought my own copy already! Watch out people who know me... I'll be asking for a game if you come round. :-)

I took a trip to BT's labs in Suffolk this week. My PhD is part-funded by BT, and I have the opportunity to work quite closely with them over the next three years.

So, this week I got to present my initial ideas and understanding of the project on which I'm going to work, and get some much needed feedback from them.

Starting a PhD can be a difficult and complex thing. I have so many questions about the size, scope and depth of the work which I'm expected to do. Luckily, the whole project seems to be designed so that the student (i.e. me) can determine all these things, so long as the supervisors and examiners are satisfied that it's up to the required standard.

Coming relatively fresh to much of the topic area that I'm studying right now, this is somewhat overwhelming, albeit exciting too. I have so many ideas, and very little focus just yet. But, it's still early days, I keep telling myself. Luckily, this week, I was also told this by the folks at BT, who seemed fairly happy with the way I'm progressing.

Now, I just have to try to focus it down a little... I think I might also try to write a bit on my (hitherto empty) university web page about what I'm doing. That might help. :-)

Yesterday was one of the windiest days I've seen for a while. What a fun blog post, eh? Well, not really, except for the fact that I stumbled upon (not literally) this fallen tree whilst walking home, so popped out to photograph it. I've quite enjoyed my night photography of late, and am quite pleased with this one too.

The weather was also headline news - four people died due to it, and my girlfriend Marla got stranded in Crewe on her way to Edinburgh on the train. Thankfully, she got taxied off to Nantwich, where she was given food and wine in an Italian restaurant and a night in a hotel, all on Richard Branson. This was the first day of her travels around Europe - so what a start!

I wonder if "the weather" could be an interesting subject for my photography to focus on...

Having my MSc project firmly behind me, I headed off to the US on Tuesday for the final time for quite a while. I've been over here several times in the last year to visit my girlfriend, Marla.

The seven and a half hour flight from England to the Eastern US has always been slightly more comfortable since I've started flying with Virgin Atlantic rather than American Airlines, in a large part due to the fantastic on-demand entertainment system they have on board. There is a huge selection of stuff to watch and listen to - so much so that I had not until this trip gone through everything the system had to offer. To my surprise, I discovered that Virgin are now offering a full-length audio reading of the Holy Qu'ran.

Of course, there's no reason at all for this not to join the several episodes of The Simpsons, The Office and various Hollywood blockbusters on offer, but it did feel slightly weird flying to Washington, DC on the day after the 5th anniversary of 9/11, listening to hypnotic incantations of Islamic scripture. Each to their own, I suppose.

People talk a lot about the rise of Islamaphobia in the wake of the various attacks and attempted attacks on the West by Islamic fundamentalists in recent years. I have observed some of this on a number of occasions, including having seen a group of white men shouting quite disgusting abuse at a young Muslim woman walking home from univerisy. There is no excuse for this kind of behaviour.

However, how many people can honestly say that a certain thought wouldn't cross their mind when they meet a young single Muslim man with no luggage and poor English, boarding a plane to Washington, DC, having just flown in from Islamabad? Abdulqajji (please forgive me if I can't remember how to spell your name) befriended me in the check-in queue in Terminal 3 at Heathrow, as he wanted my help in knowing what to say to to the staff at the check-in desk about his hand luggage. I feel that I owe him and many others an apology for the thoughts that crossed my mind before and during that flight. I hate prejudice, but discovered this week that even despite the best of intentions, only a better man that I is incapable of it.