15.03.2026

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  Sunday 15th 38F/3C [8.30] Overcast with a threat of sunshine later. When it might reach 8C/46F. 62F/16.7C in the room. 49F/9.4C in the greenhouse.  The two new digital thermometers are showing different temperatures for In/Out. Even though their wireless sensors are alongside the main display. A difference of half a degree is disappointing. The odd thing that both readings are identical between the pair.

 Up at 8am after clock watching at 6am. A repeat of yesterday. I have a painful lower back and don't know why. I don't remember doing anything silly. Except for going off-road in the forest. Where I was using Turbo mode to overcome the foolishly steep inclines. Hardly a valid excuse for "excused boots." 

 9.40 Walkies! 

 10.05 Back again. It was cold. My back took longer to walk off than usual. More worrying was my breathlessness. I was literally panting from just walking along the flat section of the road. The thought of climbing back up the incline after my turning point did not fill me with confidence. So I took out my nitro bottle and sprayed the underside of my tongue. 

I can never tell whether the instant relief is psychosomatic. The bottle is not supposed to be kept in a warm place and should be replaced at intervals as it loses efficiency. Nevertheless, my breathlessness was immediately gone. As I continued back up the gentle slope. 

 The problem is knowing that the nitro's effect is to rapidly open up my heart's plumbing system. Not the main blood flow but the supply which keeps the heart muscles working and healthy. That the nitro was even needed suggests the plumbing is becoming clogged again. Why else would I be breathless and panting just from walking? Just as I am when I have to lift a basket of firewood.

 I have no problem cycling thanks to the motor assistance. So that is hardly a test of fitness. I have another appointment for an ultrasound check of my heart at the end of next month. I think I may need to see the doctor before then. 

 11.30 A brightening though without clear sunshine. Smal patches of blue sky are visible.

 13.45 Going for a ride. 

 15.30 46F/7.8C. Back from a 33km ride to monitor the progress on the new railway line. I left home with 68% battery charge and had to use Tour mode to compensate. I was right down to 5km at 17% charge left according to the NYON computer. Well into the orange "battery warning" band. It usually cuts power at 12%. Presumably to protect the battery.

 I had seen the opposite end of the closed road the other day. Today I could see the cutting and bridgework from the other side. The road is supposed to repopen at the end of next month [April.] The top image is looking west towards Ejby and Middelfart. The next image is looking east towards Grønnemose and distant Odense.

 It was mostly sunny but hardly warm today. Much more windy than yesterday. Far stronger than the DMI forecast. Which made progress even harder on the main roads. Where I was overtaken by far too many sociopathic fuckwits for one ride. They were too retarded to read the road ahead and adjust their speed accordingly. Far too many brushed past at high speed. Well within one meter in many cases. Instead of easing off. As the only visible car approached from the opposite direction. 

 No ill effects from this morning's breathlessness. Having to use Tour mode on the climbs did occasionally find me short of breath. Though only briefly while I was actually climbing. I soon recovered afterwards. I was never in any distress.  

 

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14.03.2026 An icy 16km.

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  Saturday 14th 39F/4C [8.40] Overcast, overnight rain moving away. Light SW winds. 62F/17C in the room. 49F/9.4C in the greenhouse.

 Up at 8.00 after earlier clock watching. I have the bike battery charging. In preparation for a ride. 

 I need AAA batteries for the new, digital, wireless thermometers. The magnet hooks didn't work as hoped. The screw hooks didn't fit the thermometer bodies. I need short, CSK head screws with the same thread as the hooks. My vast screw assortment, built up over decades, does not include anything useful so far. 

 9.00 Time for a walk. I fixed the thermometer mounting problem by using rawlplugs and screws in the back wall. There were lots of empty holes left from earlier cladding.

 9.20 Back again. Cool and grey. Saturday traffic light.

 The new fish don't like the bright LED lights. So I have inverted and lit only one strip to provide some more gentle, reflected light. They are now busy grazing on the build up of hair algae. Exactly as I had hoped. 

 11.00 Going for a ride. 

 12.00 41F/5C. Back from a ride to the village. Returning via the forest and then via the main forestry track. Where I met a dozen or more young lunatics on racing bikes going the other way. Cycle-cross? Gravel? I have no idea. They were really moving on a rutted, muddy and stony track! 16km. I'd have gone further but it felt horribly cold! 

 The fish were far more colourful later. Than they appear in the image above. I presume they were stressed by being caught and then their long journey home from the city.

 Dinner was a sausage, mushrooms and eggs on toast fry-up. 

  

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13.03.2026 Ten hooks, two thermometers and three fish.

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  Friday 13th 45F/7C [8.30] Overcast and windy with rain on the way. 61F/16C in the room. 51F/10.6C in the greenhouse.

 Up at 6.30 after a quiet night. 

 8.40  On my way to a haircut. 

 9.30 Back from the hairdressers. A different young lady today. An excellent hairdresser. 

 What a horrible morning! Gales, cold and rain combined. The latter is supposed to ease up according to the DMI. Peaking a a miserable 6C/43F at lunch time.

 10.50 Back from the next village. I had run out of beech kindling. So I fetched a sack full of softwood kindling. Not helped by all the district heating work. Which meant closed roads and finding through routes. Not helped by serial road closures after forced detours. 

 I ended up carrying the 10kg sack over 50 meters to the car. Which made me very breathless! I would normally buy 3 sacks and load them straight into the car or trailer. Often with the enthusiastic help of the staff or trainees at the sheltered workshop. 

 11.00 Stove lit. It is only a chilly 60F/15.6C in the room. 

 18.40  Back from the city. Where I bought a pack of ten magnetic hooks, two digital thermometers, with wireless, outdoor sensors and three Shubunkin fish. A blue, white and red form of goldfish. Sometimes with a long, flowing tail. I wanted them for the tank in the room. So I would have somebody to talk to when I came home. I usually say: "Only me." It usually falls on deaf ears. [Mine] When there is nobody else there.

 Dinner was chips, baked beans and two day old sausage rolls.

  

 

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