0°C, clear out. Orion visible
3am: often I’m awake at this time of night. It has formed a pattern like this over the past few months. I fall into deep sleep at 10pm, but wake at 3. It could be work stress adjusting my sleep cycle. Tonight is the first of my winter holiday but I will probably wake at 6, have some breakfast and then go back to bed until dawn. The routine wasn’t like this last year.
9°C, rain
Got myself a good old fashioned cold. The sort of throat bunging body acher that seems overdue in this long term. We’ve had a very dry autumn, perhaps the new damp air has woken the bugs.
6°C, some veils of very dense mist
French teapot, really!
Superb French restaurant found by chance in Congleton, Cheshire. I ate the finest Risotto I can remember, and the place has a friendly, homely atmosphere. We didn’t choose the most exotic wine on the list- £255 per bottle, blimey. L’endroit comes very highly rated by me.
5-12C, light cloud, fairly calm.
I have picked up something, my legs were so empty today that I got to work late. No other symptoms, just minimal energy. It’s like this before a cold, but then it’s like this before clearing up again. Wait & see.
13° upto 28°C later
I have a cold and we’re basking in an Indian Summer. That’s not irony it’s just a co-incidence. this cold has been threatening for a week now and will probably drag on for another.
16C, light clouds, but…
It’s coming: a new cold, it’s now cold outside, but I’m not warm inside.
And it’s got nothing to do with my home heating not working. The boiler won’t light, but the repair man is dealing with that one. The timing couldn’t be better, it’s normally another month before I put the heating on in this house.
17C , some rain
I am forbidden to use the shower at work. Legionellosis has been detected in the showerhead, the boss told me I couldn’t ride in tomorrow because of it. There must be a way around this, maybe wash in a sink for just one day- it depends how long it takes to sterilise it. I have to wonder about the shower here at home- perhaps I should remove the head and leave it in a bucket of bleach overnight. It’s maybe worse here because I only shower at home once a week (the mostly shower at work). Is this why some people leave the showerhead lying on the shower floor to let the water drain?
11°C, perhaps upto 21°C, light cloud. CR:28 miles
60 Watt bulbs will cease to be made in the Eurozone from today. The govt. have effectively banned them amid media stories that folks are hoarding incandescent bulbs. I suppose it’s a bit like the food parcels passed over the fences of schools that adopted healthy eating policies. A policy undercut despite the apparent benefit to the populous. News reports always show mercury-vapour lamps as the new low-power replacement. They have, just like last time, ignored the other alternatives. There are a number of types: tungsten, mercury-vapour, Halogen and LED. I have always hated mercury-vapour lamps, especially strip lights because of the quality of the light. That means for me, flicker. They flicker at 50Hz which is quite annoying when seen in peripheral vision though less obvious seen directly. The colour of the light is odd too- slightly pink in direct light but the room is cast with a green glow that is so obvious in photographs taken in that room. My choice- Halogen where I need bright light, LED if not.
Maybe a fritillary?
21°C, Clear, dry & dusty: CR 30 miles.
Rode back from a lunchtime care stop, there was a snake weaving its way across the road. Wow! Probably a grass-snake, it looked grey with a zig-zag down its back. It wriggled away too fast for me to get a photograph.
Fire on the horizon: to the East, perhaps beyond Measham was this thick oily fire billowing up above the light clouds. [ Update: it was a fire in Ashby-de-la-Zouch)
First wasp sting of the year: It got me just under the tongue of my cycling shoe. After a few hours though it hasn’t gone itchy like in the past. However, since it stung below the shoe-tongue and through sock, I didn’t actually get to see it as I rode, looking down and rummaging with my fingers. It was more important to brake and get off the bike without injury from falling off. It was strange, for the rest of the ride, the odd sensation moved down to my toes. Perhaps that was the result of swelling restricting blood flow. I sound like an expert don’t I? you know that hollow bit where the tendon joins the top of your foot, the one that pulls your big toe? It should have a hollow to the side. It doesn’t on my right foot any more.
Still, it’s been a very nice day, finished off with some alcohol-free German beer and bed by 10.
16°C, grey, dull, very dull. CA:20
Bone-tired II: yes yes, I know I say this every year, the last week of term and all. I woke in the night, about 4 ish, and my heartbeat was still thumping, I’m that tired. It seems like a very physical state to be in. Three more getups to go.
Micycle 