A video collage of the last week

Places my camera has been over the last week.

Three dead squirrels

Cyclists tend to be pushed to the margins of the road. It seems that we share this thin, precarious sliver of road surface with squirrels who no longer scurry, gamble and play - largely, in fact entirely, because they are very dead.

Today I came across three such individuals, two while heading north and one while heading south. Time of deaths - sometime between Friday afternoon and this morning. I could be more precise but I'd have to enroll on a course in pathology and then perform multiple autopsies - so let's just leave it as sometime this weekend.

What is up ? Is there inter cine gang warfare amongst these squirrels ? Is it the blue tongue disease getting into the squirrel population ? Perhaps the foot and mouth from the Surrey area has jumped species ? Bird flu ? Or is it simply a case of panic pre-winter nut collection leading to reckless and careless behavior,

Inquiring minds want to know!

Fastest time to work

33 minutes - fastest time since moving 5 minutes further away from work. Also thrashed the bus on the way home this afternoon.

Testosterone ?

Looking for Testosterone

Strange things have been happening to me

1. The other day on riding home from work I decided to take "the scenic route", along the north down through some National Trust property. What is more - I lingered, taking in the view of Surrey country side enjoying the solitude and feeling the wind wiping up the hill-side. I noticed the birds, greeted the odd dog walker and otherwise behaved in a totally uncharacteristic manner. Typically my trips to and from work are competitive affairs, either improving on my own time, beating the bus or luring unsuspecting cars into a wedge opportunity in a narrow lane around an old church.
2. I have a heightened sense of smell. The other day I could smell the odorless moisturizer Annalise was wearing. This in addition the almost constant smell of "what might be coffee." (See my post regarding pending insanity)
3. I am sick and tired of the upstairs tiling - I honesty think I would sooner be part of a sewing circle.
4. If I shut my eyes during my shower each morning, after my cycle into work, I can believe that I am washing my hair in the Amazon rain-forest, in the purest of water surrounded by butterflies and orchids.
   

This all begs the questions:

1. Do I have an Estrogen/Testosterone imbalance ?
2. Am I turning into a collaborative woman and eschewing mindless competitiveness ?
3. Will I be wearing roses and perfume shortly ?
4. Should any of this worry me ?
5. If I am turning into a woman - will I be a lesbian ?
6. Who does one turn to for help and will they take "excuse me but I can now smell things and I don't compete with buses" seriously.
   

This weekend I ......

1. Terrified myself by flying a video camera in my airplane. The model was out of trim and required all my skill to get it down in one piece. The video makes me airsick to watch. I will try again next weekend as I think I know now what went wrong.

2. Finally signed up to facebook. It was fear that if I didn't I'll be ostracized and placed on an ice-flow to die a slow and lonely death.

3. Resisted spending any money, despite incredible temptation, at a model air show I went to today.

4. Did some work on my bike to ensure it was ready for next week. I noticed that my tyres are very worn, checked my cycle computer and estimate that I have ridden about 3700 km in the last 18 months.

5. Washed the car

6. Got the car dirty again by driving it in dirt.

Packing for trip

So I woke up this morning and could not locate the bicycle pump. Annalise needed the car today but no problem I'll catch the bus. Except no bus arrives. It turns out that due to road-works related to a gas main repair has caused the buses to route around my stop :-( By the time I realised this I had missed my bus. I walked to the next stop and wait. Spend 10 minutes trying to get real-time bus information on my mobile phone before I sheepishly notice that this bus stop has it already displayed on a built in screen - this just as the next bus arrives.

By this time I am so late that I figure I might as well try a "short-cut" for the one mile walk at the the other end of the journey. This involves walking through farm land and public foot paths in ankle deep mud. At least I met some very nice horses who didn't seem to think it at all odd that someone should be dressed for work cutting across their field. Needless to say it was a good deal longer than usual.

I spent the evening packing the car in preparation for the trip tomorrow. Today at work I had more calls for help than usual and so I will need to go into work around 6am tomorrow in order to get my code released. Hopefully things will go so well that I can get away around lunch time - 5 hour trip to lake district. Looking forward to it.

Things that could go wrong

• Rain
• Roof box could blow off, smash on the road, destroy the contents and cause an accident
• We could run out of petrol
• We could crash
• It could rain
  
• We could get injured or killed climbing
• Software might not get released before lunch - if only I was a lumberjack.
• It could rain
  
• Forget any of a million things
• Sophie is still sick
• and oh it could rain
  

Lumpy Ride

A few months ago after cycling to at work I found a fabric place mat inside the lining of my cycling jacket. I felt rather sheepish pulling it out in front of other cyclists and quickly stuffed it in my bag.

So it was with some in trepidation when, while cycling on Tuesday, I noticed another lump forming in my cycling trousers. I find it hard to call them "trousers" but in the UK it's either that or "jogging bottoms" - which I can't say without picturing a bottom literally jogging. Perhaps cyc-bots will do.

The lump slowly worked its way down to the knee, at which point I feared it would fall right out. I thought it unlikely that this was another place mat but I did think it likely that it was a pair of misplaced underwear that had used the opportunity provided by the last washing load to good effect and attempted an escape.

Imagine the complete lack of sympathy engendered in the passing motorists, by the sight of crashed cyclist sprawled across the road with a pair of woman's kickers stuck within the chain and fouling up the spokes. I consequently modified my riding style such that my left leg never entirely straightened and lump remained at knee height.

After limping into the change rooms at work I removed the culprit - one sock.

The lesson - always shake out your clothes, even when half asleep in the morning.

Cycle Wipe-out

My neck, arm and bum hurt, oh also my head - but can't say this otherwise I'm pressured to go to emergency room.

How did this happen ?

Well I rode into a tree on my bicycle while illustrating to Stephen how to take a jump. The front wheel is bent and I can only get it fixed on Wednesday - so no cycling until at least Thursday :-(

Some pictures - guess which are from after the wipe-out.






This was not the tree i question.






Nor was this one.






The moment before the jump



Ihis was this tree






And if the pain wasn't enough to round the day off - Stephen was conscripted into cycling, after dark, to the local Kebab shop to pick up dinner. I'm not sure if it was the fall but I had visions of him being taken out by a car after dark so forced myself to drive him there.

We had a crappy meal - I would be loath to feed it to my dog (No I don't have one).
Would you eat this ?