Woo – that was one warm weekend! It hit 32 degrees in London, and while my Aussie mates will go “aah, that’s nothin’, mate – just a spring morning!”, it’s pretty bloody warm for England!! I spent Sunday in my biking gear, slowly melting in the heat as I made my way home from sunny Gloucestershire, and reflecting how good weather isn’t *always* good biking weather…
But anyway, it was a very fine weekend, in more ways than one. I spent it in the company of my mates Matt & Saz and rugrats, and Saturday was a country pub blues/beer festival with barbecue – most enjoyable, even if I did end up with the reddest neck you’ve ever seen – well, I’m a country lad at heart! 😀
It was quite cool to spend the time out there, away from computers and in the depths of the countryside where Orange can’t find me – lots of messages on my phone when I came back into their reception area, but otherwise it was very serene indeed. And of course, the real ales didn’t hurt. Not until much later, anyway! Oh, and dropping my bike while parking it on a ludicrous camber behind Matt’s dad’s house fairly hurt (broke the mirror clean off). Not physical pain – emotional, you understand… 🙂
But Sunday was something else. I slipped into my one-piece thermal suit, which is designed to wick the perspiration away from my hirsute posterior, then donned my armoured waterproofs. Oh – my – gawd! Travelling at speed on the M4 was bearable, until I got past Slough and the temperature ramped up. As did the traffic, which slowed me down and stole my cooling breeze (such as it was!), until I got into London proper and began to melt. Opening my jacket fully in an attempt to cool myself with the (very warm) breeze was pretty futile, and by the time I got home I was *soaked*! Coming up the stairs, I met one of my neighbours, who remarked “not a good day for biking, then?” – I must have looked a mess… I need a cooler outfit for the bike!
In other news – literally! – I’m almost famous!!! My article in the Bromley Times was printed, complete with image of yours truly dressed up in hiking gear, prancing like a tit around the gardens downstairs for the photograper’s benefit. You never know, somebody might actually take pity on me and sponsor me. Wishful thinking, perhaps… Anyway, the article has been duly scanned, and is available for your mirth and merriment here! And hopefully I’ll be in the News Shopper this week. That should be more productive in terms of sponsorship, for the simple reason that it’s free and more people read it. Hmmm – maybe they *won’t* sponsor me, on that basis…
I’ve actually got a full team now. My mate/colleague/boss Peter has come on board to join me, John & Phil in our fundraising efforts and to share the pain, he he… Go to the Walking Wounded fundraising page to drop us a few pennies. Ah, go on. Go on, go on, go on, go on, go ON! [ahem!]
Must go – piles of work to do. And photos of the weekend and Matt & Sarah’s lovely brood to post in the gallery. Yes, I know I haven’t updated the gallery in centuries, but I don’t get paid for this, you know!