Leicester, a cold Monday in November.
Well, not as cold as it would be without Global Warming. I would have had to dig the car out from a 10 foot drift, so lucky old me I was able to jump in and drive.
I managed to ride my bike over the weekend. Did 20 miles round Hopwood & Redditch Sat, darnk some beer in the evening, and yesterday, in spite of running the boy to work, collecting Dad for dinner, collecting the Boy from work, amnaged 11 miserable cold damp miles, but had to walk up the 1 in 5 hill on Ryknild Street. Damn those Romans, any normal people would have made an easier route up that hill.
Done some sort of riding most weekends, but it simply isn't enoght. I need to do 2 sessions in the week, probably on the turbo, ugh, but better than going out in the dark.
Does anyone actually train in the dark anymore, like we did in the seventies ? There was 20 or 30 blokes on the Mercury Bash some nights, in January in the cold wet and dark.
The days of flickering lights and falling-off lights, lights packed with newspaper to stop the batteries from rattling and losing contact. Ho hum.
Saw Mark E Smith singing at the Theatre Royal in Windsor a couple of weeks ago. I wonder if Her Majesty was there ?
Lovely urinals in that theatre, real old Victorian porcelain.

Today is Wednesday.

And I'm in Leicster. Thats not very exiting. But at least it isn't the office.

The Boy is noy settled into his flat at the Halls of Residence for his next, possibly 4 years if he takes a Masters, in the Groves of Academia.
The biggest problem, i think, is him having to work at the electrical shop, Maplins, all day Saturday and Sunday. The money is sorely needed, but the time lost when he will no doubt want to do other stuff is not so good. Plus the train journey (when they run) is another 2 hours. Plus sunday service is just so unreliable. Plus I agreed to take him on sunday mornings when the trains aren't running. like from now until December.
Anyhoo, since late August I've been riding every weekend, did 35 hilly miles out past Chaddesly Corbett 2 weeks ago, and 32 miles last saturday. Couldn't ride up the 1 in 5 hill to Tapster Mill Valley though. But the view and feeling of being deep in the countryside at the top was splendid, and the blackberries were delicious.
Sunday took the Boy to work, Dad and Joanne to dinner, then did a 12 mile plod around Alvechurch & Watery Lane. So 43 miles weekend in total. Most since 2005 ?

Hopefully going to see the Fall in Windsor tomorrow. Did get a ticket for 2007, but Mrs C was not happy and didn't trust me at that time. Ho hum.

Brecon Beacons from Libanus

Pen y Fan from CornDu;

Pen y Fan & the Boy

Now the Boy has finished his gap year as a lab assistant in a Welshfactory, we did the slog up the awful crumbling pyramid of Pen y Fan, the 2900 foot summit of the Brecon Beacons.

Walked up from the Storey Arms layby, a slog to the top, down sort of by Corn Du. Very crowded on the way up, lots of people walking up, quiter on the way down, much less popular route. The Beacons are made of soft sandstone, erodeding like buggery. They didnt feel like mountains, more like sthe South Downs, a sort of gentle hill that just happened to be forced upwards by the Hercinian thrusts, a sort of accidental range of hills, that were surprised to find themselves so high and are making recompense by washing themselves away, no doubt this will be blamed on global warming.

Its the Promenade Season ! As I'm in Southall next week may well book an evening at Albert hall, probably.

Bollocks to everything.
2 of my customers are in trouble, is this the end of the last dregs of the drips that fell off the gravy train of the last few years ? Maybe being penniless might help the Boy get through University, as our lovely Government favour the penniless and dumb and his student loan won't be such a burden to him in years to come.

Things happened- The Boy got made redundant ! In his first ever job !
What a total pisser.
At least he had 10 months good experience, and we are getting him back in plenty of time to prepare for University. He was really enjoying living in Wales and working in a laboratory, I think after only a few days at home he is fed up. At least he put on the kitchen tap I bought.
Now in Southall, OK here, staying at the Indian hotel, just close by is the Punjabi Pub - The Glassy Junction. The beer is crap; lager lager and more lager. Food in the Indian hotel is too good, part of the hotel is what is maybe the best Indian restuarant in West London, the Mehfil. Mmmm, plus they sell Indian wine !

Sula Vineyards
The red is excellent, white is OK but a bit insipid for my greedy alcoholic tastes !
The project with the hoze company is rubbish as they want to run the fancy custom code under dot.net, and it don't work.
Next up, Aunty in Hull is being upgraded to the wizzo dot.net, that should be fun.
Anyhoo, no cycling, spent the last 2 weekends taking stuff back from Wales, the same for the next 2 weekends.
Off to the hotel for some Indian food and Indian wine. Yippee.

Reggae Reggae Reggae !
Where did those halcyon days of the 70s go with Doc Martens, Levis Sta Press and Crombies ?
Being trendy cost a lost less, simply a five bob check shirt from Nelson House. Where could we go wrong ? Being a 9 stone skinny teenager was where I went wrong, boots and braces were fine for a hard knock bruiser, but not so much for a wimpy aesthete !
What was I wearing in Summer of 1971 ? white Levis Sta Press, check shirt and braces, boots ? No I don't think so, Couldn't afford Doc Martens until I worked in the butchers in 1972, so what did I wear ?

Bleaklow
Back in the cold dark days of late January, I took a days holiday, and drove to a car park by Derwent Reservoir, parked and set off for a stroll to Bleaklow. Walked along following the Derwent, then up onto the frozen hills along to Swains Head,

then across the bloody hard up and down of peat groughs and patches of snow to Bleaklow Stones. Good fun.
Temperatures about -5, combined with a strong wind made the sweat on my hat freeze.
Saw a couple of white hares.


Then on the descent back to the Derwent Valley got careless and ended up following a valley North so had about 4 more miles to do back to the car, making the day about 15 miles aver the most challenging terrain I ever crossed, sort of like it though. Arrived back totally knackered.