What do a great customer experience, finance and happy accidents have in common?

I hope you won't be surprised to learn......it's cycling (well duhhh).

As you know, I commute by bike into London when I can. Well today, I had to resort to the train (booo).

When I got to the station the newspaper guy spotted me coming and already had my paper ready. I haven't seen him for weeks. That proactive service gave us a few seconds to talk. We talked about working over Christmas, he suggested I cycle in on the days he is closed (well he can't sell me a paper when he's not open). We wished each other a Happy Christmas. I also bought two other things (unplanned). Good work newspaper guy.

I saw this letter in The Independent a while back:

"For Sale. Economic cycle. Stabilisers fitted. Quick release wheels. Derailleur gearing." Sent in by Rod Danton of Wingham, Kent. Hilarious!!

On a recent ride into work, my bike picked up a piece of glass and pssssss, bye bye front tyre. Changed the tube and carried on. Result was I arrived at work about 20 minutes later then planned. As I walked into the office in my finest lycra wear, who should I bump into?? None other than triple Beijing Olympic gold medal winner and hero of mine, Chris Hoy!! I came over all starstruck as we talked all too briefly. If I hadn't caught that flat, I'd have missed him. Best puncture I ever had.

Cheers - Snoop

Sensory Overload

The Snoop family took another visit to the Tate Modern last Thursday night, this time to see the Mark Rothko and Cildo Meireles exhibitions.

Tate Modern is such an exciting place to visit, right from the moment you set foot into the vastness of the Turbine Hall you just know something exciting awaits. Last night was no exception.

Mark Rothko once stated "If a thing is worth doing once, it is worth doing over and over again - exploring it, probing it, demanding by its repetition that the public look at it." I think we all know how that feels. For me, it's about translating the monotony of each and every pedal stroke into a fluid, collaborative series of motions building to a flat out crescendo at the finish of the time trial. What does it mean to you?

The nature of Rothko's comment feels almost like his undoing? So many have since imitated his bold, powerful style that on first look, I couldn't help but think "what's all the fuss about?" These vast blocks of colour felt quite remote, although some of the combinations of orange and red vibrated and stood out from the crowd. I confess I had to work hard to overcome my prejudice before enjoying the scale of his later work. Rothko exhibition is on until February 1 2009.

I had no prior knowledge of Cildo Meireles. What an immersive experience. Meireles work is highly interactive and we are encouraged to literally enter into the pieces. About his work, Cildo says "My work aspires to a condition of density, great simplicity, directness, openness of language and interaction." We had loads of fun exploring and playing with this exhibition. Rolling balls across the floor, balancing stuff, crunching glass beneath our feet, rustling through a forest of plastic rulers whilst endless clocks ticked away. We marvelled at a huge sculpture of radios, hissing and playing hypnotically. We lost ourselves in a red living room and we wished it was ours.

For us, Cildo was the star of the show. His exhibition is only on until January 11, so if you have some time over Christmas, why not pay a visit? Great fun.

Cheers - Snoop

New Art Riot

Mrs Snoop and I visited the Saatchi Gallery recently to see "New Art From China". A fascinating exhibition of…..new artists from China (maybe you were expecting something else?). A completely mixed bag of styles and emotions. We thoroughly enjoyed the exhibition which is housed in the new Saatchi Gallery at Duke of York Square just off Kings Road. http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/artists/new_art_from-china.htm Admission is free, though I don't know how much longer the exhibition runs for.

If you find yourself in London this is definitely worth a look, and the mojitos in Caffe Fratelli over the road aren't bad either.

Cheers - Snoop