Honey?

Posted on 10th Apr 2011 by essiep

up to 20°C later, nice again tomorrow.

Hay fever starts with this holiday, along with fine clear weather. How about taking local honey for some protection from hay-fever. Honey bees collect nectar from flowers (biotic pollinations) but hay-fever is caused by grasses (Abiotic pollination). So how does it work alternative-medicine people? Incidentally, the current April flurry of sneezes is said to be caused by tree spores- maybe Beech/Birches.

Now I’m watching weather forecasts eagerly, I want a clear few days so I can make camp in Wales & trudge up some mountains. That’s what I want.

First thousand

Posted on 9th Apr 2011 by essiep

22°C, clear & still

I usually hope to get 1,000 miles ridden by Easter. This year I am surprised ot see how much over that figure I have accumulated. 1,455 miles since new year: 400 on the Kona fixed-gear, 75 on the race bike and the rest on the Arrow commuter. I know the holiday is as late as it can be this year, but still- not too bad eh? Rode to work yesterday pm the Fixed for the comparison, the time was within a minute of the usual. The bike felt lighter on the climbs, but limited on the descents. If ridden over 25mph, your legs spin in an uncontrollable blur; that knocks back the average some.

Grand-national, a horse race where they race around Aintree and one horse+rider wins while some of the others die or have to be destroyed because of their injuries. Today, two horses died in falls (broken necks), only about 2/3 finished. not impressed.

Fix the Fixed

Posted on 6th Apr 2011 by essiep

20°C, westerly but amazingly warm.

-Have cut the steerer-tube of the fixed gear bike. It looks all in-proportion now. Shall I ride it to work tomorrow? I just can’t decide yet. See what I think in the morning. End of term is nigh. The relief, the thought of camping, mountains, walking. The ground is alive and my pond will be done soon.

Point six percent

Posted on 4th Apr 2011 by essiep

12°C, windy & grey cloud.

Biggest government spending cuts, blah blah. It turns out that they have cut 0.6% off the total public spending budget according to the Spectator magazine. If the press are ot be believed- the cuts are “savage”, “deep” or “swinging”- we’re told they amount to 10% or more of Govt. expenditure.

Burning books madness: BBC -Afghanis rioting over some loony priest in the US who burned a copy of The Qu’ran. It’s not a rare book, nor was it an expensive one- you can get a copy from Amazon for about £5. So why riot so much that people get killed? That stupid pasteur is only doing it for the publicity, the stupid media are happy to give him just that and now people have died raging about it.
It’s only a book.

Driest March, then this.

Posted on 3rd Apr 2011 by essiep

11°C, sunny but now- showers

All togged up, bike fixed and ready. Look outside- heavy shower- I can’t see the other end of it upwind. How long is the wait? All this after the driest March in 50 years.

Append: got 45 miles done. That was sandwiched between heavy showers & I escaped without needing a bike-cape on. oddnote: riding along by Fornby, a car full of blokes pass. One leans oout and shots “fixed-gear bike!”. A little startled, I was. A car passes and is moved by their interest in my gears.
Those bikes are rather fashionable amongst the grownup skateboard/bmx kids.

A good day.

Warm to come

Posted on 31st Mar 2011 by essiep

13°C, westerly nearly made me late for work.

Last day of March, tomorrow is shorts’ weather: 19°C. And it’s D-day here. More on that purge another time. Drowning in work this week- tomorrow’s report deadline will whoosh by after 5pm. These enigmatic comments will be explained in the near future.

Singing trees can be found sometimes even at night; the voices of birds are worth stopping for. Some birds sing slowly enough to listen to. Small passerines are just too damned fast to follow by ear. Is it blackbirds that sing late into the night? He stands high in a still-bare tree, singing dis-connected melodies, shaping charming but penetrating phrases at a pace we can follow.

Ponding

Posted on 29th Mar 2011 by essiep

15C, light cloud & a little rain. No wind.

The pond is half dug. I can only find 1 hour after school each day to do it- shame it isn’t done by now. Anyway, there is a use for those wretched slabs- they are now side walls awaiting the pond liner for water proofing. Today I dug out a pair of narrow troughs to anchor the edges of the slabs. There is a strange grey gravelly layer, perhaps some old tarmac from the immediate post war time that these houses were built. At this rate, the pond could be done by the weekend. Except for one thing- marking & reports. Damn.

Slabs again

Posted on 23rd Mar 2011 by essiep

14°C, clear & rather nice.

Woke early, planted a few heathers before going to work. Odd that because I felt ill in the night- heart thumping and fitful sleep.Trying to place the wireframe cloche was no good this morning, a problem caused by another slab beneath the surface. Last year’s incredible slab crop came flooding back in my memory.

This evening, I got half a dozen barrow loads of soil out of the pond hole, another day like this could see it dug. It’s probably quite deep now, I’d know if I’d finished digging before dark.
Busy boy.

Equinox passed

Posted on 21st Mar 2011 by essiep

13°C, clear bits, warmer tomorrow

12 hours & 13 minutes of daylight today. Check for yourself: here, on Date and Time.

Strange feeling, have I got a cold all of a sudden? Headache, lethargic and a sore throat. Hope clings to hayfever which comes on with beech pollen at this time of year. Some hope.

Hot face

Posted on 20th Mar 2011 by essiep

13C, light SSW, some sun breaks through

Very good ride, I haven’t lost it after al those 50 milers- today’s 75 was comfortable enough. The new saddle is forgettable- that’s a good thing from a seat. My face is all warm, did the sun do this I exclaim?
Yesterday’s worry about the gears service were mostly dismissible. They still skip in the middle gears sometimes when under load but it feels like an indexing problem rather than worn cogs. It’s always a thrill to get out on that bike on the first spring ride, it just wizzed along with me grinning above.

Oh, and I think you should know- I had bread & butter pudding with custard in the cafe. A good day.

Micycle

Mike thinks b/hikes

Author Archives: essiep