16th March 2019 A bit of ride! [But not a whole one.]

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Saturday 16th 38-42F, looks more promising this morning. With lighter winds and thinner cloud. A walk to the lanes in quiet traffic. A buff coloured falcon landed in a roadside tree for a rest and was instantly mobbed by hooded crows. It flew across the prairie in only a few seconds followed by its fearless tormentors. They dropped back as they approached the forest. Just in time for another mob of crows to take over. I'm hopeless at identifying these birds but it had the distinctive bent and tapered wings and was probably twice the size of a kestrel.

A buzzard was circling over our house as I walked back. Soaring for a few moments as it searched for breakfast. Then turning and moving rapidly across the wind to pause for another for another scan. A speeding White Van Man, flooring contractor and sociopath, obviously valued my life as zero. As he brushed just past me. I had to jump onto the the grass verge to avoid certain death on a blind corner. He continued with his foot flat on the floor. Obviously late for a brain surgery appointment. The sun has come out now that I'm back but was very short lived. I wonder if I can escape on the trike?

And was! A lack of vital stock at local outlets found me on a hilly shopping trip. At ten miles it was time to return home directly into a 20mph headwind. Lots of cyclists out training in groups and singly. Many of them called out "God tur" and waved.[Pronounced "go' tour!" Good ride! Note the silent "d"]  Not going too badly considering my recent, almost complete lack of miles. 20 miles and back just in time for lunch.

It rained at 3pm. That should help the obvious roadside damage from two months of rain in the first week of March. Lots of large puddles in the fields and on the farm tracks. Not much on the roads.
I passed right under a mottled, grey and white, bird of prey roosting just above the road. Perhaps it was too tired and hungry to move? I shall have to be careful about building to longer journeys. Today was fine but a ride of double the length wouldn't have been much fun against the wind. Quite a number of old, rural houses had been bought up and used as an excuse to demolish and build something boring from scratch. Usually ending up as soulless bungalows.

Sunday 17th 41F, grey and breezy. And so it was, with some early sunshine between the clouds and hail and rain. March is officially the wettest ever despite it being only just half submerged [100.4mm by the 17th] so far. The average rainfall for the whole of March is usually 40mm.

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