Ainsdale long loop, walk.

Wintery, -2°C, cold brisk E with some sun and snow showers.

I hiked with MapMyRide+! Distance: 13.50km, time: 03:53:01, pace: 17:16min/km, speed: 3.48km/h.
http://mapmyride.com/workout/2737465336

Top temperature today was -2°c though the snow underfoot was still quite powdery. Take away for windchill and it’s -11°C. You can avoid that in the dunes, much of the route runs in the valleys. I chose one of them to stop for lunch. Part of the route was familiar and marked with coloured posts.

The initial idea behind this route was to include a visit to a wreck out just below the mean tide line. I knew the sea would be far out but there was lagoon like water blocking the way. There is no way that I’d wade out to the sand bank where the wreck lies, not in this weather.

Fun thought- the image of me, knelt in remote dunes negotiating details over the mobile of my new house purchase in bracing winter weather.

Back to life.

13°C, grey, warm and dry.
Those numerous symptoms are largely gone. Fizzy legs are back, mouth ulcers gone as has the malaise.
Which bike today?

Laurie Anderson, USA live.

Meanwhile, an LP plays in the background. Here is one I have not given a whirl for many years.
Ride:

Still a bit off.

10°C, bright sun. Dry too.
I tire easily, the thought of cycle ride today does not make the fizzy feeling like it normally does. At least my weight has stabilised at 13st. 13

Tricky: Angels with Dirty Faces.
A warm sound slowly fills my room.

Movable feast.

9C, bit grey.
I don’t like the clock change outside a holiday. Work today has been like struggling with a hang-over. Holidays should be fixed in my view. Another reason for disestablishment.
Good news today- Japan has been ordered to stop whaling.

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Posted from a mobile.

50 things.

A break from the rain, 5C, SSW strong wind.
50 things I’d like to do. I am 50 later this year, so my thoughts have turned to a list of stuff I ought to do and want to do:
Cycle more than 6,000 miles this year,
Ride a carbon bike,
Gliding,
Hot air balloon,
Gocart,
Velodrome,
Scuba diving,
Climb Trifan,
Climb Suilivan,
Meet a whale,
Quad-bike?
Whiskey tasting,
Traditional Italian barber,
British Museum- see that rembrandt picture I have liked for so long.
Learn to cook Japanese food,
Oil painting, return to,

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Posted from a mobile.

Workload

15ºC heavy showers,
I teach 17 groups which vary in size from 28 down to 12 kids. Most classes come in 16s. In all that makes 265 pupils, each of whom is supposed to receive one homework a week. For me, that makes fifty pieces to mark each day. That doesn’t count half-term projects that also need a grade, comment and associated paperwork. Every pupil is supposed to receive personalized learning, special needs for many and I am expected to know them all by name. Any advice?

It can’t be done can it?.

Posted from a mobile.

Non-week

12°C, showers and grey.
No miles, still held up with this cold, but at least the plateau stage has gone. At this rate I could be back on the saddle by Wednesday.

The only exercise has been with the dog.
lodger: has upset my neighbour by parking over part of his dropped kerb. That makes it difficult to get his cars in or out. It sounds like the guy next door blew it by loosing his temper and threatened to damage the lodger’s car. I need to look this up because I suspect that it’s illegal to block access, but I am no expert. Perhaps it’s a civil matter, whatever that means.
The root of all this is there are simply too many cars.

Posted on my phone.

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Rest

18C,rain but warm.
No more rides for a few days. The new term has settled with a looming cold. Sore throat and grogg means the cold season is here. The kids at work are coughing and spluttering and perhaps given it to me.

Posted on my phone.

Heatwave.

We have a heatwave to come. Rumours are of two weeks worth but ten days seems more likely. England has not had hot sunny days in July since 2007. The whole nation seems delighted.
Interestingly, there is a significant number that express a dislike of summer. Perhaps view feel some social pressure to keep quiet about it though, so there could be many people who feel that way.
I am not one.

England is dirty

0°C, ice again.
weekend at home- too much marking to go away on adventures. This time of year uncovers what’s been hiding beneath lush grass all summer. English roads and lanes are bordered with unbroken lines of MacDonald’s packaging and mineral water bottles. Some of those water bottles have their sides pierced.

They are always carefully pierced in the same way. Sometimes, a plastic tube remains inserted in the side. It’s a sort of bong left by local druggies. They use this to stupify themselves and then leave with their piles of litter behind.
A bit of detective work could trace them. In the discarded shopping bags, there is often a receipt, which could track the buyer.
A few years ago, someone died in a festival tent in that field. Sometimes I find foil, but never needles. Drugs.
Such is modern life.