24.07.2026 Resurrected.

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  Friday 24th 56F/13C [6.35] Overcast. A long grey day is forecast. Quite breezy from the west. Peaking at 22C/71F. 22C/71F in the room. 14C/57F in the [open] greenhouse. 

 I am ventilating the greenhouse to maintain lower temperatures in the pond. Now I have made up a short length of non-kinking harden hose with Q/R fittings. To top up the greenhouse pond from the kitchen mixer tap. Using a spray head to oxygenate the water as it goes into the pond. 

 I can use the same hose to clean the internal filter. Previously the filter cover was cleaned with buckets of water and hand scrubbing with a brush.  The filter sponges had to be squeezed out repeatedly by hand after dunking in a bucket of water. Which was inefficient and used a lot of water.

 Up at 5.40 after fairly quiet night.

 I need to go into town to buy puncture repair kit from the bike shop. Or big shed DIY outlet? The e-bike has had its first puncture. A thorn. I am extremely lucky to have discovered it while at home! Having foolishly failed to carry the vital repair kit. My Moustache e-bike arrived in March of 2023. The Bosch Connect App tells me I have done only 14,500km in just over three years. That would have been a single year's mileage in my peak triking days.

 9.50 Back from town with a bag full of stuff for mending, cleaning and maintaining the e-bike. I bought a very simple, small  bell. I wanted something more polite than my present bell. Which produces a loud multi-strike ring. My thinking is that a single ding will get their attention without sounding aggressive. 

 I asked the bike shop which patches and glue they use for punctures. They don't. They always replace the inner tube. 

 I started chatting with an elderly Dane outside one shop. He liked the Morris and it broke the ice. He was much traveled and once spoke numerous languages. I need a hat like his. In Gandalf style. To keep the sun off the unprotected patio! Or "upper terrace" in Chez Hovel terms. 

 I fixed the puncture and thoroughly cleaned the e-bike. Which made me lightheaded and disturbed my vision. Low blood pressure? I can rest while I have lunch.

 I repaired the puncture and cleaned the e-bike thoroughly. Using the hose and its spray head to rinse off the grease remover.

 Dinner was a huge mound of salad.  

  

 

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23.07.2026 E-bike punctured!

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  Thursday 23rd 55F/13C [7.30] A sunny day is promised. Peaking at 23C/73F in the late afternoon. Quite breezy from the WNW. 20C/68F in the room. 13C/55F in the greenhouse. 

 Up at 7am after a quiet night. 

 9.00 Back from my first walk since I practiced my backwards flip on the neighbours' paddock. Their Husqvarna robot mower has been busy. Their grass is vastly improved. This is a huge area. Being 200m long, of a similar width in places and covering some quite steep ground. The entire area being enjoyed by an acrobatic flock of swallows this morning. 

 Meanwhile another neighbour has been absolutely transforming a rough patch of ground. Into a lawn with a flower bed and a natural pond. He has worked tirelessly in the distance. Visible through the gap in my trees. Leveling the very uneven ground and mowing repeatedly. This patch lies between two houses on the approach to a third. So it benefits everybody. 

 10.40 Warm sunshine. I have been guiding the robot on a path to the West Lawn. Where it started mapping. This involved moving and emptying a wheelbarrow. Heaped high with weeds. I became rather breathless and light headed. Not dizzy. So I took a chair into the shade and sat still. Then tried a spray of nitroglycerine. My vision was starting to go light. So I have come back in for a rest. I'll measure my blood pressure in a while.

 Feeling better after half an hour. All the BP readings were ridiculously low. All under 100/65-70! 

 16.45 72F/22C. Whoops! The ride into the village became a drive. My first puncture on the e-bike. The back tire is is as flat as one of my non-existent pancakes. Oh bøøger! 

 I have to go back tomorrow for the tablets I had run out of. Not a stock item. I also have to source a puncture repair outfit for 2.40" tires. Town bike shop, methinks.

 There was an obvious thorn sticking out of the e-bikes rear tire. At 10 o'clock relative to the valve. I used pliers to pull it out. Then I unscrewed the through axle. Rotated the rear gear changer in top gear and simply dropped the wheel out of the rear [suspension] forks. 

 A woodworking, spring clamp on one side of the tire allowed me to work my way around. Pushing the sidewalls inwards off the beads. Removal of the tube and tire were straightforward after that. I gave the huge derailleur cassette a spray with engine cleaner and will leave it to soak overnight. It only needs ten minutes according to the instruction but I don't have a hose handy tonight.

 The wheel is surprisingly heavy. Even without the tire and inner tube. Bottom gear is about the size of a tea plate. Though I only rarely use the lower gears. There is always ample power available in Sport Mode.  

 The neighbours' cat watched me impassively from The West Lawn as I worked. I have no idea where any of my numerous puncture repair kits are any more. An oversight which might have proved very expensive on a ride! Assuming a taxi had a suitable rack cor such a heavy e-bike. 

 I always carried patches and cement on the trike. Though that ran Schwalbe Durano Plus tires. Almost no punctures that I can remember. Though it is some years since I rode the trike seriously. 

 I suppose the sturdy Schwalbe tires on the e-bike always filled me with confidence. Super-Moto-X 27.5x2.40 650B with 3mm Green guard puncture protection. The sidewalls are specially reinforced for S-Pedelecs [45kph] and other fast e-bikes.

  Dinner was poached eggs on toast. 

  ~?~

 

22.07.2026 Robotten!

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  Wednesday 22nd 29F/15C [9.00] Overcast and breezy. The promise of early rain was not fulfilled. Otherwise a long, grey day is offered. With the westerly wind gusting to 14m/s. 

 Up at 6.30 after a fairly quiet night. 

 I have been expanding yesterday's post on the new, unfinished, cycle route. I seemed to have much more to talk about. After enjoying a ride along its still, largely unpaved surface. It will be some months before it is due to be officially opened. 

 Paved with finely compacted gravel. Almost like light grey sand. It is a mixture of self binding, finely crushed rock, sand and clay. Known in the UK as "hoggin." Much used as a paved cycling surface in the UK but rarely seen over here in Denmark. I remember that hoggin is much more prone to puddling in heavily trafficked areas. Though it is supposed to be semi-permeable. Even when well compacted.

 Another, much more distant cycle route in mid Fyn. Is also based on an old railway track. It seems not to get much traffic. Perhaps I am never on it at the correct times.

 Given the considerable financial outlay. To turn the old tracks into a paved surface it is slightly disappointing. Perhaps the overly mean, narrow asphalt surface. Does not excite enough people to want to cycle there. Should they have chosen a cyclist to design it? Quite probably, but they obviously didn't. 

 It is distant enough from here. To make it into a serious ride. If I follow it all the way to Ringe. Then turn about and follow the path all the way down to Korinth. Before finally heading for home. 

 Meanwhile, another, much nearer cycle path. Rises uphill from Aarup to the motorway at Grønnemose. Again, it is very rarely I have to share this path with anybody else. Though it does need a fit cyclist, or an e-bike, to enjoy its full potential. It rises quite spectacularly in the early stages. Before leveling out more later. It enjoys a wide, beautifully finished, asphalt surface.  The self binding sand would be hopelessly dangerous on the steep inclines! It is just possible to freewheel downhill to 40kph. Doing so on clay would be suicidal for most!

 I could imagine a yearly hill climb event here for a local cycle club. Safely away from traffic. The main road alongside was always very pretty. It rises in twists and turns between an avenue of ancient oak trees. Most of which show damage from collisions. The road is now subject to a low speed limit. Which is frequently ignored. 

 9.30 I have just had my daily online chat. Just checking that I am conscious. I have to go to the village for more tablets. With eight tablets per day for my heart issues. I am always running out of something. I have to go to the apotek early. In case I need a new prescription. Being long term medication, prescription renewals are usually available. From the receptionist at the nearby surgery. Which is mainly open only in the morning.   

 After lunch I visited my English friend. We enjoyed tea and a Danish pastry in the conservatory before we moved outside. To admire his sophisticated new robot mower working its way across a 6000m^2 lawn. Impressive! My own robot mower would need nearly four recharges to manage that area! Mine also cost four times less than his. While his mower weighed four times as much as mine. 

 I passed a Morris Minor with a huge placard relating to the sale of of a historic water mill. The sprawling, timber framed mill occupies a corner in a village. 

 After my visit I drove home to the usual stuff in rain. Which proved to be local and was soon forgotten.

 Dinner was a major fry-up with chips. Chicken, mushrooms and cherry tomatoes. With a generous dribble of brown sauce.

 

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