When living in Winchester, cycling was a feature of my daily life. Living at the top of a hill, I could get down to work in roughly three minutes (getting back up with another matter), and if you excuse the times I managed to practically embed the pedals into my shins, or the time I rolled over the bonnet of a car (think Laurel and Hardy, not James Bond), it was something I thoroughly enjoyed and truly miss.

Move on a couple of years and my daily commute is in a car between London and Hertfordshire. This literally makes me part of the problem, I know that. If more people cycled, the world would probably be a far better, healthier, and a more unnecessarily lycra-clad place. It's worth looking toward cities like Cambridge, Copenhagen, and Amsterdam for inspiration here. Hell, even London is getting better... gradually. All of this meant that I jumped at the chance to head over to Cambridge and cycle around for the day with Ofo, the new bike sharing platform to hit the city. Ofo wants to get more people cycling, but also understands the issues that cities face with an excess of bikes. Bike sharing can reduce the ratio of bikes to people, whist getting more people riding. That's no bad thing for the world and all that preachy stuff.

Competition - Win a $100 Gift Card

Yes, the title is correct, It's $100, not £100. This is because I have partnered with Nakturnal to bring you the chance to win one of two gift cards worth $100 for East Dane, a US based online menswear retailer. I have not forgotten that the majority of my readership is UK based, because East Dane happens to offer free international shipping for any orders to the value of $100 or greater (Coincidence? I think not).

East Dane has been on my radar for some time now. In fact, I worked with them once or twice in 2014, so this is a bit of a blast from the past for me. However, if you don't know of them, allow me to give you a quick summary and a list of some of my favourite brands that they stock...

San Francisco

Moraga became my home for a week. A long street in the Sunset District of San Francisco, a short walk away from the Golden Gate Park, and the actual home of Bianca. I met Bianca last year during my post-Graduation break away to Copenhagen, Denmark (see more of that here: Copenhagen in Photographs). I am well aware that the usual protocol of making friends in other countries is this conversation:

Person one: "We should meet up when you're in [insert home country here]!"

Person two: "That'd be awesome, I'd love to. I may be able to come over later this year/next year"

*Both proceed to keep in mild contact over Facebook/text/other social media but never visit*

It is safe to say that we did not adhere to such protocol.

Knomo London // Life Organised

Prologue

Do you have a friend that you don't see/speak to for months/years on end, but when you reconnect and it's like you saw each other yesterday? That's what I'd like to say about my relationship with O&U, it has been six months since I last posted and it's like riding a bike, right? Nope. Few things in my life have felt less natural than sitting down with my laptop and writing the first mildly coherent thoughts that fly into my brain. 

Is this because I have spent the majority of that time in front of my work computer typing, reading, retyping, checking, and double checking everything to ensure I don't send an email to a supplier that includes a mistake? That is a distinct possibility. Whatever the case is, I'm back. Will this mean regular posts? I'll try but probably not. I have no interest in lying to myself/you about how organised I'm going to be (There is a reason that "Underprepared" is in the title of this blog), I have no interest in putting that pressure on myself again, but I have every interest in resuming a part of my life that I absolutely love and sorely miss. 

My intention is to do more on my terms. I may start doing some posts on my style with no brand affiliations, I may start writing about what I love from the industry I work in (the watch industry), I may write more about things to do/see... who knows? Think of this version of my blog as Rick & Morty Season 3: It's been a while in the making, the details are dubious at best, and there is no guarantee that it'll live up to previous parts, but it's going to happen anyway and I'm excited to have it back in my life.

Knomo London // Life Organised

Meet the James Men's Tote Laptop Backpack from Knomo London. I will begin by saying that the name does not roll off the tongue, however to make up for that, it is both practical and easy on the eyes. These are literally my two favourite qualities; we're off to a solid start. Considering my positive disposition toward neutral colours, I opted for the Olive over the Charcoal colourway, but both look equally as awesome.

Footasylum x Timberland 6 Inch Premium Boots

Happy coincidences happen, we all know this. The most recent for me was a desire to buy a pair of Timberland boots. This desire struck me about two weeks before the opportunity arose to work with Footasylum on a campaign dedicated to how to wear the 6 inch Premium Timberland boots. Luckily I had not yet funnelled my funds into a pair, all due to an idiotic oversight from someone I used to live with, leaving me with an unexpected bill of just under the price of a pair of Timberlands. This was unfortunate, yet slots in seamlessly with the overall coincidence of the situation and the boots slightly made up for the irritating situation. So, now I have them, how exactly do I wear my Timberlands? (Other than just "on my feet").