7°C, icy start and sun for the few daylight hours.
I am at my best on days like this. The sun and crisp air lift away the winter gloom. For hours, I chopped wood, clipped plants, fitted draught excluders, fixed bike, laundry, shopping and more. Now, there is reassurance seeing a basket with enough wood to take me through January.
Sunrise from a few days ago.!
16°C, brisk SW. Dry and grey.
Half-term break: is a time to clean up. It’s only been two weeks since the lodger moved out, but I am in the process of discovering problems he left behind. Rug Doctor is a carpet shampoo machine which I have rented to clean the his room as well as others. There are wine stains and other spilt drinks; some on the mattress. They cleaned up remarkably well.
I have am idea for the staircases – stripey carpets. Then, in each room, it’s possible to put replacement carpets that match one of the stripe colours.
Never again will I allow a lodger to keep a pet. His lizards ran up the electricity bill and the rabbit made the room stink (plus a damaged patch on the carpet).
18°C NW2, crystal clear blue.
Bike ride,tracked with MapMyRide! Distance: 54.64mi, time: 03:25:38, pace: 3:46min/mi, speed: 15.94mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/722467783
Conscious of cadence, I rode in a lower gear and spun quickly with low pressure. Often, I see novice riders who are pushing too low a gear. I feel like telling them “change down and you’ll go faster”.
Such a beautiful day for a ride, the warm sunlight offset slightly cool air, visibility was vast and shadows crisp.
late start after working on the house until 2pm. The facias were all flakey with bare wood or yellow gloss visible. It looked terrible and troubled me like a stone in my shoe. It doesn’t sound much but I feel most satisfied. One part was quite inaccessible even with a long ladder. I finished by reaching out of the window. That was blind painting. I ran down to the garden to look after each bit. Most of it was done by touch, already wet sections feel more slippery under brush. There is only one small area that is out of reach.
That was quite a big job that started with something minor. In the living room, a strand of ivy has reached into the room and was growing up the wallpaper.
Done.
Happy now.
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20C,not a cloud, light sea breeze.
Never done this before in the 11 years I have had this car. I have wax polished it.
It’s a little tricky, the instructions on the bottle make it sound easy. The car does need to be spotlessly clean. The polish is a milky liquid that should be left to dry. Then within a big soft cloth, you buff it off. Easy, but the dry chalky stuff really sticks to any flaws or bits of dirt to show how bad you are at washing.
Shall I try it on my bike?
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24°C sunny, no breeze.
Yesterday’s ride was no twithout problems. At 45 miles, the gear change became heavier and sticky. Up-shift was unreliable but I knew what it was. Out of sight, inside the cable the wire was frayed. It snags and forced me to double-shift and back for the rest of the day. With experience, I knew the fault immediately.
Once opened up, it was clear. A single strand of wire in the cable had coiled up inside the sheath.
Today, I fixed it and changed the cable route too.
I have been looking at new bikes too. There are two complete bikes that fit my needs and size. A Kona Jake and a Raleigh Revenio. Both are cyclo-cross bikes with disc brakes. I want more reliable braking in rain. Normal brakes are poor when the rims are wet. Discs should solve that. These two makes are suitable because the top-tube length is right for me (22.5″ or 60.5cm).
I hate short frames. In the 1990s, top tubes were mostly 21.5 inches for all frame sizes. That is mad, the size should be in proportion to the frame size; not fixed to suit the brazing jig.
In the mid 90s, I had both my made-to-measure frames built with 23″ top-tubes. At the time that was the only way to get a frame that fits me. These days, there is another choice: off-the-peg.
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22C, soft breeze, sun.
Mid-summer’s day: a day of rest and fixing stuff about the house. Take time out with a cup of tea and watch YouTube. Found by chance, a video claiming to cleverly fix Wifi reception problems. 
I certainly do have patchy signal reception in this house. The idea is to partly cut open a drink tin and shape it round the aerial to focus the emitted signal from the router.
I used a Wifi app on my phone to measure the result. The theory sounds likely, but I saw no change in any way.
There was a more measurable result when the phone is put inside the tin. Gain was about 6Db, and turning the tin changed the result too. Perhaps the signal from the router is polarized. The tin is curved in only one direction, it’s not like a satellite dish. This could be useful, if it worked, to get the best out of a mains powered booster, a repeater. That device relies on reception from the router, then re-transmit it at higher power. Trouble is, the connection between the devices does fail sometimes. So, repeater does not offer much reliability.
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14C,westerly, few showers.
No ride today. A listless latent cold kept me off the bike, this last few days. Some bike fixing done- cables and new bar tape.
I have piles of marking like slag-heaps. It’s not going to do itself you know.
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9C,hail, sun and showers.
No ride today- so I filled in a job application, chopped wood and fixed up the summer racing bike.
It’s not right though, the local bike shop put new bearings and free-hub, but it feels wrong. The axle is this enough but there is free play in the wheel when fitted into the drop-outs. I suspect that the free-hub is not the right one. The gear change seems okay, though I have wet to ride it.
The garden is coming to life. After this coming week of frosts, I can plant all the bulbs. Tomorrow is said to be the coldest this year- and we’re out of winter now.
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9°C, clear and still.
Extended 18 miles after work, the lights held with no fade. There is some encouragement to add more. Next week, add another 5 miles. I may get brighter secondary lights this weekend anyway.
It’s Tuesday, and all I can think of is how to use the coming weekend. Repair the lock-up door, paint it; get that bike light. Nothing fantastic.
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12ºC, 3/5 cloud, mod W.
CA:36 miles.
Jobs done– marking while Dave measured the staircase; replacement part for the clock-radio arrived; paint some outside door-frames; go cycling, and enjoy feeling recovered.
Every holiday is the same- feel semi-ill with tiredness for days on end, then come to life mid-week.
Even the bike rode in a more sprightly manner. Those two hours yesterday carefully cleaning the derailler gave sweet, almost silent gear changes. The sun shone.
Hawthorn berries are made of ruby.
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Micycle 