4.3.2026 Cold 55km ride

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  Wednesday 4th 32F/0C [7.00] Overcast and very misty. My neighbours to the north are invisible at 150m. 64F/18C in the room. 45F/7C in the greenhouse. It should brighten to another sunny day and 9C/48F later. Modest NW winds.

 Up at 6.20 after a quiet night. 

 I hope to have a ride later. 

 8.30 Returning from my walk. I chose the worst time to leave for commuter traffic. Nose to tail. Hurtling out of the mist. I took to the neighbour's drives to escape. A simple loop and back home. I could just make out my garden trees as darker fuzzy outlines from the drives. I'll wait for a clearing before I dare to venture forth on the e-bike. 

 13.50 45F/7C. Back from a 55km ride. Cold and misty but clearing. With sunny periods, becoming sunny. My hands were soon aching blocks of ice in the GripGrab lobster mitts. I changed to the skiing gloves and was comfortable after that. I was saddle sore at intervals. Despite wearing an old pair of DHB padded shorts.

 I explored one of the remaining road blocks on the route of the new railway line. Which runs parallel with and close to the existing motorway. The top picture is looking west. The next is looking east from the same point.

A harrier was flapping and calling over the front field as I arrived home. It was trying to soar but there wasn't enough wind.

 I drove into the village to shop. To ensure I had something for dinner.

 I made sausage rolls using organic mince and ready-made pastry. The texture was okay after 20 minutes in the oven at 180C but the mince was too bland. No seasoning! The Broccoli was just right. I need sausage meat or to do some cooking homework.

 

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3.03.2026 Tired of tires.

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  Tuesday 3rd 41F/5C [8.00] A bright start. With white, fluffy clouds against a blue sky. It could reach 10C/50F later. 65F/18C in the room. 50F/10C in the greenhouse. The fish are already awake.

 Up at 7.25 after an odd night. I was never sure if I was awake or asleep. My chest feels wet and bunged up.

 I am expecting a phone call from a car tire outlet. Which I visited yesterday. They said they'd try to find an all year tire for the Morris. To save swapping back and forth between winter and summer tires. Finding affordable wheels to hold a set of tires is much harder. The 4" PCD isn't matched. The nearest steel wheels are 100mm PCD. Which are considered very unsafe. Due to the loads this places on the fixing studs/nuts. 

 There is an added complication of the narrowness of the rims requiring inner tubes. The 5.5" width leaves no room for the usual tubeless retention bands. The current tires are 165/70x14 summer tires with inner tubes. Which had very poor grip on snow and ice.  I have contacted Blockley tires. A vintage and veteran tire specialist in the UK. There are Danish stockists but none of them lists the 145R[80]14 .

 13.00 Constant sunshine. Returning from visiting my English friend. A Hawfinch joined the usual birds at his feeding station. 

 15.00 I have collected my restock of Bisto from Amazon.de [Germany.]  Good dates too.

 I also collected some prescription tablets. All done electronically. No pieces of paper. Just presented my health insurance [ID card] at the chemist.  They can tell if I am running low on anything. If I need a prescription renewal at the surgery. No appointment taking up the doctor's valuable time. One of the receptionists will use my ID card to confirm I need a renewal. The message goes off via the internet to the chemist. Updating my prescription history and status. 

 Dinner had to involve the second chicken breast. I had only eggs as backup. So I fried the chicken and an egg and made open rolls. I deliberately turned the egg to stiffen it. To avoid runny yolk getting everywhere. It was all, far easier to eat than I might have feared.  

  

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2.03.2026 Stork incoming!

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  Monday 2nd 43F/6C [8.00] Overcast with risk of early showers. Clearing to a chance of sunshine later. 64F/17.8C in the room. 50F/10C in the greenhouse. 46F/8C in the greenhouse pond.

 Up at 7.10 after a fairly quiet night.

 I need to go shopping. No, not for an action cam. Despite yesterday's rare attack. I invested in Sony and Aldi action cameras years ago. Both cameras were crippled by pathetic weaknesses in their design. They really shouldn't ever have been put on the market. 

 Cycle [action] cameras are also, rather cynically, known as autopsy or coroner cameras on the cycling forums. The cameras don't keep you safe but may provide evidence of a likely cause of death. Though this would assume you had several cameras pointing in all directions. Alcohol, drugs, mobile phones, incompetence, idiocy, aggression and senility provide plenty of possible symptoms. The cyclist also has to cope with potholes and rough surfaces. While winter brings its own hazards. 

 9.10 Time for a walk. I'll dress as if for rain. My recycled trousers from the recycled clothes rack were troubling me. They insisted on slowly descending during my walks. So that it was becoming a stain strain on my decorum. This required a short search for my stock of recycled belts. To my shock and horror they had all shrunk due to a lack of use. Only one avoided the 1950s Hollywood starlet look. Or the Edwardian ladies if that is more to your taste. And who can blame you?

 9.50 And back again. I had walked to the next village. Circumnavigated the 12th century church on the mound and safely returned. Passing the massive sacrificial stone of a former belief system. A stork flew almost overhead but detoured slightly to avoid me. It was heading for the lake just beyond the village.

 A mature lady was walking the other way with assorted carrier bags. I did not recognize her and she stared straight ahead. Avoiding eye contact. Having walked this road most mornings for years. I cannot say that I remember having seen any other mature lady on my perambulations. In fact it is exceedingly rare for me to see anybody else walking at all. Fortunately I am not prone to territorial behaviour. So she passed on her way without challenge. Nor even an informal greeting. I blame the white beard and ape-like gait. Mine, not hers. 

 10.20 Sunshine. I'll go into town after lunch. In anticipation of possible rejection, as a vagrant, I trimmed my moustache. 

 11.30 52F/11C. Sunny but with a cool breeze. I have been tidying the parking space of rain filled buckets and flower pots. Then scraped over the gravel area with the asphalt rake. To even out the weeks of tire tracks. The lightweight wooden rake makes easy work of this. It just needs to be pushed back and forth. Preferably at an angle to the ruts. The ruts weren't that obvious anyway. Thanks to the rather thin covering of granite chips over the self-compacting gravel.

 13.15 Continuous sunshine. I am going to drive into town. 

 15.20 53F/12C. Returning from a trip into Assens in constant sunshine. I had my glasses mended and shopped for groceries. I passed right under a Red kite. Which was circling low over the main road. 

 The greenhouse pond has finally risen above the 50F/10C limit. For starting to feed the goldfish again after the winter. All eight fish have survived. Their growth has been highly variable. 68F/20C in the room without the stove being lit at all. 

 It reached 72F/22C after I lit the stove. Far too warm for a bedroom. I'll let it go out early.

 20.30  Dinner was mackerel in tomato sauce on toast with halved tomatoes. Yet again I forgot to take pictures. 

 

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