Lost child.

17C, windy light cloud.
Queueing in the supermarket we noticed a fat kid noisily climbing over a plastic child’s ride. He grunted, gasped and shouted as he heaved himself over its shiney yellow surface for what seemed like ten minutes. The woman next to me remarked: “you wouldn’t loose that one would you?”.
My answer-
“I’d loose him right away! When he isn’t looking, I would run for it”.
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Posted on my phone.

14,207 calories!

18C, Easterly, sunny.

Total miles this week is high and I only felt the miles in my legs on steep climbs. These after-work extensions are wonderful. I only remark on them because I will have to scale them back soon as the nights draw in.
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Look at that- fourteen thousand calories!

Weeford mushrooms.

11-18C,dry light breeze.

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Most nights after work, I ride the scenic route home. This adds about 2,000 kCals to my daily expenditure. With about 3,000 cal per day, for a chap my size I could work out my consumption of food. My weight stays about the same, so I must eat 5,000 a day. Is that right, have I missed something?

Posted on my phone.

Dragonflight.

22C, light W. 1/5 cloud.
CR: 81 miles, 6,044 kCal.
Ideal day for a ride: in the sunshine. Plenty of whiz in my legs and only some work stuff to get back for.
Roads are quieter than normal but still. I have picked routes along lanes. Nearing the St. Harold estate, I rode alongside a dragonfly going in the same direction. We travelled in parallel for a while before she turned hedgeward. If they didn’t have compound eyes, I imagine she would have winked before going off alone.
It was an honour to travel with such a noble creature- they have been around since carboniferous times, if not before.
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Suit of armour at Bosworth battlefield cafe, 2nd stop on the day’s ride.
Posted from my phone.

Make table.

22C, sunny.
Today, I made a table. It’s made from a fork-lift pallet and a bed-headboard. So far it has cost nothing. All the wood and fixings I had hoarded already. There is four hours’ work in it so it so far. I had to stop at 7pm because, once hungry, I started making mistakes.
Now, it stands outside unvarnished and unprotected, but the forecast is good for tomorrow.

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The idea is to use it for gardening tasks. It needs to be substantial and weather resistant. To finalise it, I need to add bracing to make it more rigid.
I will have to search out something to brace corners, there should be something in the shed I can use.

Posted by mobile phone.

Get up!

11C, nice day to come.
Woke early: an unusual cause this time- hunger. Maybe it’s these extended commutes and all those extra calories. The extensions may only be 25-35 miles but they are a bit faster than average at 16-17 mph too. That’s not bad with a work bag on the back and a day’s work done.

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Ride home profile.

You know you’re a teacher when…

12°C,light NE.
Riding in, on the last leg, I have to pass slow moving traffic. Then there is a BMW weaving slowly. It sweeps slowly to close the passing space by a bollard. Luckily the car moves away again, then I can pass. Typical! She’s on her mobile. Without thinking, I shout-
OI! PUT THAT MOBILE DOWN! ON WONDER YOU CAN’T DRIVE IN A STRAIGHT LINE.
She immediately snatched her mobile off the steering wheel and avoiding eye contact hid the phone like a naughty pupil.

What can be done about this? Increasing the fines has changed nothing. Despair.
Extended the ride home with 25miles. Very nice except the narrow lane where I faced an on-coming tanker lorry. There is no escape, the driver was talking on his mobile. He did stop when I shouted and let me gingerly ease past his Halso tanker that filled the lane from side to side..

A rather shouty day.
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Light the fire.

11C, strong westerly. Showers.

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Autumn chill-
The picture is from the Chase, walk through a mixed forest and you can find a door somewhere remote. Like something from a children’s story, it cane out of the forest.
I had to light the fire last night, but the central heating stays off. I’d feel better about it if I didn’t wake so early today. 04.45 it was, wide, wide awake, so may as well get up. Now my head is heavy and thick with sleep. A lesser man would throw a sickie.

Written & Posted from a Smartphone.

Calm before…

15C, big storm approaches.
The storm, a opportunity arose this morning with grey sky but no real rain, yet. So what happens, I woke with a pre-cold throat, dammit.
It’s been a long run since the last cold- was it Easter?

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Written & Posted from a Smartphone.

Wet paint.

21C, bright start, dull later.
CA- 35 miles in total today. Added 25 mile extension on the way home. Average roadspeed was higher than a typical commute and I only turned home when I got hungry.

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Grabbed a phone shot of these sunflowers in the last ten miles. It’s quite a striking image that of a field of sunny faces staring in your direction.

Posted from WordPress on Smartphone.