Yesterday (18th March) daytime was 12hours long, almost exactly. So why is the 21st March the official vernal equinox and not the 18th?
How mildly troubling.
Yesterday’s equinox
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Author Archives: essiep
Serviced or not?
13°C, clear, pure sunshine
A few hours preparing the race bike for it’s first outing this year (tomorrow). My suspicion is, however, that it will be no better than last year despite servicing the gear levers at Campagnolo, stripping & re-seatting the headset bearing; after all that, it could be just as annoying to ride as it was in October.
One problem is that some jobs are necessary only every few years- like the headset. That’s enough time to forget the technical details- like the bearing size in the headset.
Gran Tourino
Clint Eastwood again, he’s on familiar ground with this one- vigilante, old damaged soldier in his last days struggling with a world that has moved on. He strikes up an unlikely friendship with an immigrant lad in a neighbourhood blighted by gangs. Fairly normal stuff for films of this genre, but there is an interesting relationship growing with cantankerous jousting. I kept going with the thread about soldiers living with ugly memories from war. I’ve always wondered how they do that.
I liked it enough.
Spirit of Renewal?
In addition to the License agreement, here are some notes of guidance to lodgers on living in a harmonious household:
- Put rubbish in the bin, there are many to choose from.
- An empty bottle does qualify as rubbish so it should not be put back in the fridge.
- Neither the windowsill, nor the draining-board qualifies as a bin.
- It is not necessary to wash rubbish before throwing it away.
- If you do have time to do that, then you have enough spare time in your life to get a job. (see below#)
- Never put a chicken carcass in the garden waste recycling bin.
- The breadbin is for bread, not carrots, nor is it for tomatoes, just bread.
- When you let yourself in the house, take your key out of the lock and keep it with you.
- Used nicotine chewing gum must not be stored on the wall-tiles in the Bathroom.
- It it not necessary to spend 40′ in the shower each day. Nobody is that dirty, especially someone without a job.
- When you fill the washing machine, follow the process through by actually switching the machine on.
- After it has eventually washed, take out the laundry to dry. Certainly do this in less than 3 days. This ensures that the clothing does not go rancid and requires another wash. It should be possible for the whole process to take less than a week. Remember- you are not the only person who may want to use this facility.
Further solutions to problems:
- If you were able get up in the morning, it would become possible to hold down a job.
- You may be able to get a job if you were to actually apply for one.
- If this is all followed up, then you’d be able to pay your own rent.
- Your mother did not work hard for decades, paying in to her pension scheme only to use it to pay your rent.
- Rent should be paid on rent-day. If unpaid after 2 weeks, you will incur an 8% interest rate on it.
Pots in Lancs
+7C, clear and falling. After a rainy start, sun & cool westerly.
Took the fixed-wheel bike up in the Lancashire hills near Chorley. I had to do something I never do- I got off and pushed. Changing down was, of course, not an option on that bike. the ride worked out well though, on the shorter climbs it was a good bike to be on. the road surfaces are bad there, more than can be blamed on the harsh winter I’d say.
Comfy
-1 to +9°C, no clouds. 20 mi commute.
That new saddle is good, probably the most comfortable I have yet had. I tend to do my longest rides on the summer racing bike, so it will probably end up swapped with the other Bontrager saddle on there.
It’s wide and quite flat on top apart from a dip in the middle which is supposed to improve the blood circulation in your gentleman-vegetables.
Sun rose at 06.35 this morning, it came up a peculiar egg shape, but clearly felt better after gaining some height. the frost was hard, but did it feel less cold after some time with milder weather- I don’t know.
the old saddle reveals how it slices through clothes- this plastic edge is both sharp and ragged:
Poodle-photoluminescence
3~7C Sun. 49 miles in West Lancs.
It was like cgi, the other night. Bessie, the old dog, was lying asleep uncovered. She wakes shivering some mornings so I pulled out the fleecy blanket that I nicked form an airline. Maybe it was the acrylic, maybe her own dog-fur, but it all light up. A momentary pure white but faint glow light her up.
a certain repetition
+4°C, grey until the sun came out too late.
We’re stuck in a loop, cold grey nights and sun that breaks out in afternoons. The same commute on the same bike all week, leave work at the same time but somehow the groundhog feeling is diluted by the growing light. I know this is droning on, but really, 4 months of near zero and I’m tired of it.
My saddle has eaten through my trackies, it has stitching on top and I blame this with its friction burning though the fabric.
No punctures in Lancs
8°C, W winds, no clouds (yesterday) CK:44 miles.
They don’t get as much showery weather as us- it’s the coastal climate I’d say. To pay back for that, there are the stronger westerly winds.
Nice long cycle ride in the black flatlands of Lancashire. The 42×17 is just right for that landscape, I have finally decided. In an ideal world, I’d change the handlebars for slightly wider ones 44cm ones (like my other bikes). Wider bars feel right when out of the saddle “honking”.
Corylus longer
4~6°C, soft drizzle. 54Miles.
Hazel catkins announce the coming spring this year. Wait for the minute female flowers, the real pearl is there.
Is that the right name?
Micycle 