16th May 2016 Spring greens.

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Monday 16th 50-57F, 10-14C, rather cloudy but with plenty of blue. Cool and breezy, dry with sunshine promised. I enjoyed the longer walk to the more distant woods and back along the main road into the wind. At first it was cool enough to be uncomfortable on my hands. Thanks to the bank holiday, the traffic wasn't too bad with no lorries at all that I remember. The forlorn sound of insistent church bells wafted on the stiff westerly wind. Reminding me of the pre-traffic days, of my childhood, in my fertile imagination.

Back then village children played freely in the road with few interruptions. Parked vehicles could be counted on the fingers of one hand. They were usually the butcher's van, the district nurse in her Morris Minor, or the coal man's lorry. Occasionally the ice-cream man would come around making a dreadful racket. It was a time of catapults and one missile whizzed close past the van while it was stopped. The driver went into a rage and chased the miscreant all the way down the empty village! We once watched an exciting crime film at the tiny local cinema where the policeman mentioned tyre tracks. So we spent hours waiting for a car to come along and run through a handy puddle. No car ever came before we finally lost interest in waiting.

Gusts could reach nearly 40mph later this afternoon so I had better not leave my ride for too long. Left mid afternoon for a short ride. Fierce gusts turned into a buffeting headwind on the way back. A chap with incredibly sinewy legs went past me on an ordinary bike with straight bars. He was putting a hundred yards per mile on me but I had nothing in the tank to try and catch him. Only 7 miles.

Tuesday 17th 46F, 8C, heavy overcast, breezy from the west. It should stay cool, dry but cloudy all day according to the forecast. So, it's likely to snow during a heatwave with continuous sunshine in dead calm conditions. A longer walk looping up through the woods almost back to the road and then taking the spray tracks towards home. The woods were gorgeously green with fresh leaves on the trees under the very even lighting. One and three quarter hours of rather rough going. Fortunately the ground was very dry albeit heavily ridged with machine tyre tracks.

The Danish TV News website is sharing problems of aggressive behaviour with cycling in the capital and a campaign to try to improve it. The cycling story had equal prominence with on one the appalling behaviour and aggression towards police, speed camera vans. Neither of which affected me [at all] today since I took another rest day.

Wednesday 18th 47F, 9C, heavy overcast, breezy. Brighter weather is forecast with it remaining dry. 90% of Danish children and their mothers tested for pesticides showed residues. Since these pesticides were banned years ago in Denmark the residues are believed to be the result of eating imported fruit and vegetables. What a message to give young families! Eat "healthy" fruit and vegetables and the next generation could suffer loss of intelligence and other symptoms!

I wonder if this is related to the other two major stories of yesterday and today? Do pesticide residues cause classic "psychopathic" behaviour in the general population? i.e. A total loss of empathy and always burdening the discoverer of their own criminal activities with guilt? [Mafia syndrome.] Taken to its logical conclusion the murderer is always innocent while the victim and the police are guilty. When may we expect the first prosecution of a murdered policeman to appear in court? When will the first operator of a police camera car be prosecuted for taking a photograph of an illegally speeding driver? 

This reminds me of a psychopath who reversed into my correctly parked car in a petrol station. He wanted to blame me for having an old car which "had no value." While his spanking new Picasso people carrier, carrying only one occupant, was clearly well above my social scale. Who reverses away from the petrol pumps in a badly daubed, mini-bus anyway?

I keep changing my route to avoid my walks becoming stale. Though today, this involved climbing 45 degree slopes of needle-laden fire breaks it was worth the detour. The woods were full of small birds busily dashing about. Small holes in the clouds threw cool spotlights onto my solitary figure walking back along the prairie spray tracks. The sky is clearing to bright sunshine now I have reached home.

It remained bright for the rest of the afternoon. I rode a triangle between three shopping villages for 23 miles. Rather breezy at times. Commuter traffic very busy. I keep practicing climbing out of the saddle more and more. If I get the gear just right I can keep going for hundreds of yards now. Too low or too high [a gear] and it is much more tiring.

Thursday 19th 53F, 12C, very light breeze, heavy overcast. The cloud cleared to a bright, misty white, mottled sky. Simultaneously the temperature rose from 58F to 63F while I took an hour's walk to check on the coots. The roadside hedgerows are still full of warblers and flowering lilac bushes. Of the latter there are great many on Fyn. Providing shelter from the wind with their dense structure up to 20' high for miles. Climbing back up the gentle hills on the way home the still air made it feel remarkably warm. Once safely back in our own "wooded" garden there were just as many different birds singing away. The tulips, arranged in tiers, in large, iron cooking pots, near the back door are putting on a tremendous show.

Late morning ride for 18 miles. Some of the wind turbines were stationary though it didn't feel that still. Several drivers survived by the skin of their teeth as they overtook on brows of hills and blind bends as if live had no further value to them.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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