Category Archives: Work

Hot September.

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25°C, sun and light S breeze.
After work ride tracked with MapMyRide! Distance: 24.2mi, time: 01:33′, speed: 15.50mi/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/374566469

Another after work ride. Didn’t feel as sprightly as yesterday, but it felt okay. I suppose I was somewhat hungry at the time.
Photo- taken this morning at about 6.40. walking Rosie. Strange was that small patch of fog in the lower end of the field. It had cleared before we left.

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lost– have you ever lost something and become almost obsessed with finding it? Do you re-trace your steps over and over? Even view the lost things are mundane and not worth a great deal? I do. It’s only a bag of shopping, but it has stuck in my head. If you see it, it’s the one with:
2 bags of bread flower,
A packet of pasta,
Dog bags,
Fresh garlic.
Box of loose leaf tea

It’s here somewhere, I am sure.

Four texts.

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18°C,dry later.
A record, on the morning commute, I counted four drivers texting (or using apps) as they drove. Another held a clip-board on the steering wheel to read as he drove. It started this morning because the first car was weaving as I tried to pass. The girl driving balanced a big phone, like a Galaxy, on her steering wheel. Without thinking, I tapped on the window and waved a phone shard with my hand. I only hope she was alert enough to wake out of her stupor.

Text at the wheel.

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16°C, fresh but dry.
I have ridden this route to. Oslo for ten years now. In that time, you get to know every pot-hole and other lines of hazard. In recent weeks, I have noticed the number of drivers texting at the wheel. This is probably the biggest threat to my life, texters are bigger killers than drunk-drivers, say statistics.
Today, a young woman was weaving a bit in her dark hatch-back on the approach to a roundabout. That makes of more cautious when overtaking. I was right to be alerted- she was painting her eyes in the reflection in the sun-visor. She hat a pot with a tiny brush to dab her eyes, or eyelashes, or something. I glared in silence then she quickly put the kit down.
She would look better without anyway.

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Wet nettles.

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18°C. Later, light rain for now.
Do wet nettles sting more than dry ones? After this morning’s dog walk, I thought maybe.
That reminds me of the two girls who stumbled into nettles last week. They stopped to get their first aid kits out. Carefully they applied cream when traditionally we’d use dock leaves. I asked whether they had not been stung by nettles before. They had not, at 14 and never had a nettle sting.
These kids don’t play outside do they?

Worms.

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12°C, sunny.
Ran a session at work to teach the kids how to erect tents today. Their walking about on the grass brought lots of earthworms up to the surface. As you can imagine, teenage girls didn’t all react at all well. although, one had the courage pick one up and chase the others girls with it. In reality, no courage was involved, she was simply not  perturbed by any disgust instinct. Mayday was a  very exciting day for that earthworm; enough to make their other days seem quite dull. A day from wriggling and giggling depending on whether you are an invertebrate or not.

Ever the typical teacher, I took a moment out to explain why worms respond in that way and how it means that patch of lawn must be healthy.

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Arrow: Late for work.

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10~16°C, windy with sun.
The bike felt good, to start with. I had to stop to adjust the saddle and then found the front brake loose. It was only tightened a few turns. Okay then for the next 4 miles. There is a big hill half-way, and this loosened the left crank. That damned bike shop didn’t finish the service properly.
Then the journey got really annoying. I tried 2 garages, a builder’s merchant, a plumber’s and even a bloke in a lorry. No-one had a 7mm Allen key. Everyone had 6 and 8mm keys (like I had).
I got there in the end, late. Not sure whether there is any permanent damage to the left crank. Those things are not cheap.

Morning commute

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-4°C, clear, no thaw yet.

I could not pass this view this morning on the slow commute today. Breath-taking, it forced me to exclaim. I pulled over into a snowbound bus-stop and got a few shots.

snowFog-commute

Later, this winter demonstrated its darker side. On the crest of a hump-backed bridge I lost all grip. The road-speed was low but I could not slow on the descent side of the bridge. A car in front became the object of my fears, I really don’t want to stove the front of my car in, or the back of anyone else’s for that matter. I could not slow, but I could steer a bit so I headed for the oncoming side of the road. The grip seemed better there and I stopped as that terrible grinding sound from the anti-skid brakes juddering ceased. No crash then.

Home later: 50 minutes on the turbo. It keeps me warm and is preparation for the first ride of the year, which may be on Friday. I am obsessively referring to weather reports, many times a day.

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Worst drive home.

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-3°C, heavy snow.
That was the worst drive home I can remember. It took one whole hour to do the first mile. There was almost grid-lock in all the built up areas because of this snow. I could see gritting lorries but the road was coated in a lumpy layer of glassy compressed snow.
In all the Journey took 2 1/2 hours. Just for security, I pulled over to get extra petrol on a stretch of road where the car was doing 9 mpg.
This land does look lovely though.
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Give way

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7°C, light cloud. Chilly.
If you have time, when you get to work, let off steam about annoying drivers who got in your way. I did that this morning and a flood gate opens for others to relate their stories. In this area, many drivers who want to turn across a more majour road will pull out in front of on-coming traffic. I braked for one today in amazement. I have then a long emotional horn sound to “indicate my presence “. She reacted with an expression of her own, one finger plus a glare. It was almost as though she thought I had done something wrong.