7th October 2016 No reward for [cycling] success.

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Friday 7th 50-51.6F, 10-11C, heavy overcast with a cold northeasterly wind. Short walk to the village and back. It was just a little too cool for my hands when the wind blew harder. The recent flooding from the fields did more damage than I realised. During a Sunday cloudburst mud from a sloping field emptied across the banked verge and flowed down the road for a couple of hundred yards. It then flowed into the marsh across  a long stretch of grass verge. Even the village pond looked brown this morning five days after the event.

In Danish news headlines there is good news and bad news for cyclists. So called cycling superhighways have increased the number of cyclists by 61% around the capital of Copenhagen. The bad news is that the government is turning off the pool of money towards building more cycle paths. Several mayors have stated that the penny pinching is ridiculous when the benefits are so obvious to public health and reducing motor traffic. Not to mention the psychological advantages of enjoying fresh air and reduced stress from avoiding driving.

It seems the desperation of the small, ultra-right coalition parties to cut taxes for the [already non-tax paying] super rich is making inroads into common sense policies. Then there are all the multi-billion dollar fighter aircraft. So absolutely necessary to a [tiny] Denmark bristling with ambition to contribute on the front line to every single conflict right around the globe. Denmark for world domination? Not on their bikes, they won't! Danish cycle journeys are falling and far few children are cycling to school on "danger" grounds because of having to share the busy roads with selfish, impatient and completely incompetent drivers. Let's not forget the 30% living on antidepressants and the scourge of obesity. You [really] couldn't make it up!

Late morning ride to the shops in rather heavy traffic returning heavily laden. Grey skies and a cool wind had me wearing all my winter kit for the first time this year. Slightly too warm going but taking the scull cap off at half way helped. The sociopaths were well represented with 70mph [110+kph] commonplace in the 30mph [50kph] restrictions on the long term roadworks. The new cycle path stopped growing many months ago. So cyclists are sharing the very rough, heavily patched and narrowed roads with these complete nutters. 17 miles.

Saturday 8th 43F, 6C, calm, early showers with bright sunshine. A clearing up is promised. The Head Gardener and myself are suffering from strange cold-like symptoms. That'll probably be the "petrol" they sprayed the other morning. An hour and a quarter walk around the marsh, up through the woods and back along the track. I heard shots from the woods but they sounded a little off to the east. Masses of pheasants guarding the entrance to the woods but I came up behind them so that they scattered in all directions. Two stumps of a rainbow were visible with a white drift of gulls nearby.  The former [apparently] all female duck population is now divided into both ducks and drakes. Presumably juvenile foliage has matured. The weather "clearing up" was marked by a reverse to heavy cloud instead of the earlier sunshine! The afternoon wasn't too bad but I was too busy to go out. I had to work in winter [skiing] long-johns and a coat and hat to keep warm in the 50F/10C.

Sunday 9th 45F, 7C, breezy, incredibly dark overcast, all day rain expected. I set for a walk under heavy skies and was rewarded with rain within a few hundreds yards. Home again, home again.

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