So iphone4? Maybe. I was delighted to find out my mother-in-law doesn’t have a 4, she has a 3G. And that friend of my wife’s who’s husband said he’d got her a “2nd hand iphone4″ actually had got her a 3G… not that I’m a snob or anything.

HTC Desire Z was looking good until I saw about “that cursed hinge” and it does look a bit bobbins.

But – I really like the HTC brand now – I think their website is class – http://www.htc.com/uk – and the HTCSense stuff that they do looks brilliant. http://www.htc.com/uk/product/desirez/overview.html

Apple’s iOS thing with lack of real multitasking, battery drain and super-pretty just bugs me. The iPad drives me a bit nuts, unless I’m using it for watching teh telly on in’t bath or something. To use it as a computery thing – no… I can’t skip about… I mean with one hand on my E71 I can check emails coming in whilst web pages are loading, whilst twitter is twittering.

I’ll end up getting an E72 I bet.

I also kept getting told in Taiwan that Chicken Soup was the cure-all for all ills. And as a particularly stressed parent of many children, who works stupid hours and never rests, I thought I could do with a bit of care. And I like soup.

I’ve tweaked and twiddled – and here’s what I had this morning, which I’m pretty happy with. Modifications are easy, and suggestions below.

First step – make the chicken stock (which sounds a bit scary if you’ve never done it, but essentially it’s just simmering raw chicken until well cooked, with other stuff in a pan, then straining it).

Chicken stock (about a pint).

Some chicken – like, a couple of thighs, or three drumsticks, or something.
A pint of water.
A leek, or an onion, or several spring onions, or something, chopped into 10mm lengths.
Maybe a carrot, chopped up.
I like some ginger – either crushed (from a tub), or sliced (from  root).
Some garlic is nice (but people complain if you stink).
I chuck in some RICE WINE at this stage too.
Ground black pepper.

Bring all this to the boil, then simmer for about an hour with the lid on.
After an hour, pull the chicken out to cool (you’re going to use that), and then sieve the rest of the stuff off from the liquid, and discard the boiled carrot/onion etc…

That liquid that you have left is chicken stock. If you want to really be posh, you can then chill it, which will make the fat rise to the surface and you can skim it off. I don’t bother.

Making the soup.

You need:-
Chicken (shredded off the bone, what you just used to make the stock). I eat the lot. Including the skin. Sliced up into bits it goes down well, and I figure it’s good for you.
Fresh egg noodles (like these) – not dried ones, like Pot Noodle. Wet ones. You can find them in the salad section in supermarkets – they’re used sometimes for putting in salads…
1 spring onion (chopped finely)
a handful of coriander (cilantro) chopped finely – I like lots. It really adds something to the flavour.
a half chilli, chopped finely, to flavour
soy sauce to taste.

Put the shredded chicken, spring onion, coriander, chilli in a bowl, then pour over boiling hot chicken stock. This heats everything up, and sort of cools down too so you don’t have to sit for ages whilst it cools down before you can eat it.

I might take some pics some time, but it’s not hard and you get the idea I guess. Hope you like it.

What  I took away from my induction in the world of BIG trail moves was the amazing dedication that Steve must have, to have plugged and pushed and crashed and hucked and ridden and dropped on those trails over that time. This is no glamour puss alpine resort. No uplifts. No cafe. It’s a ride down, push up-fest, with a myriad of roots, routes, rocks, causeways, drops, natural and just YEAH stuff.

I dropped more than I ever have, rode steeper dafter tech than I ever have, and it was double ace. My little light ti 140mm (aren’t they XC forks) hardtail is still in just about one piece  - just lost the funky bit of my DT skewer – my wrists hurt a bit, and I didn’t need my pressure suit or full face (but boy, was it nice having them).

Downer of the day? Getting back to find Ed’s van with a broken window – leading to a draughty slightly slower drive back. Nothing stolen, unlike the car parked next to us, but bad all the same.

So thanks to Ed, Benji, Matt, Nial, The Swede , Little Johnny and Cy for a great day out.

Foggy as owt here. Just had miso with garlic soup for breakfast. I think I’ll finish a Ti frame design.