25th January 2016 Recovery.

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Monday 25th 41-43F, 5-6C, light breeze, heavy overcast, thick mist with drizzle. There were large puddles of melt water in the fields where I have never seen puddles before. Gravel tracks were soft from the permafrost melting and laced with puddles. Only in the woods was there still a little snow and lots of ice. A stream trickled under solid ice down the laddered ridges left by tracked forestry vehicles. The traffic could be clearly heard from much further away than usual. I kept looking behind me in case something was coming along the track.

Tuesday 26th 41-42F, 5-6C, heavy overcast, breezy but dry. No thick mist today! I'm going for a walk to test my recovery.  A modest ride might be possible today. I have been avoiding the trike while the thick mist has made riding much more dangerous. No matter how many lights I have on the back the speeding psychopaths simply cannot be trusted.

I have watched them on my morning walks along the roads. Many of them surgically welded to their mobile phones while cutting corner with double white lines. Or overshooting by the entire width of their cars! Driving nose to tail.  They don't seem to care about the thick fog. They have not made the slightest adjustment in their speed or suicidal behaviour!

Based on my daily observations HGV drivers are far more likely to be using their mobile phones than not. This is just on the short section of road with very tight bends before I take my exit to the field tracks or quieter lanes. What right do they have to cut corners and overshoot them just because they are holding an illegal conversation? Are they too cheap to buy a hands free set-up? Do they have absolutely no shame, at all, that their driving is far worse than a habitual drunk's?

I walked a loop around the steep firebreaks in the forest after hearing gunshots on my intended route. No real problems with my back today except an occasional twinge. Passed a hedge with a complete mix of about ten birds foraging in a flock. I spotted Chaffinches, Blue tits, Great tits, Black birds, Gold finches and a Fieldfare all busy in one bush.

Went for a ride late morning. The gravel tracks are very soft after the frosts. It seems to liquefy what is usually a surface too hard to change with mere hand tools. The softness brings mud to the surface. Greatly raising rolling resistance to a case of climbing out of the saddle at times just to make forward progress. The sky brightened at times but was mostly overcast. A light headwind going.  I hope my back problems are now at an end. The heartburn from consuming the painkillers has worn a bit thin. I hope the same can't be said for my innards! Ever onwards! Only 15 miles with no obvious pain.

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