23rd July 2019 Too warm, already!

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Tuesday 23rd 62-78F, rather cloudy and slightly misty. The mist was highly localized and mobile. Providing brilliant backdrops to the woods one moment and then turning dull grey the next.

I really like this picture. The wonderful warmth of the undulating, harvested field. Dotted with huge bales to suggest distance and perspective. The background made moody by the mist. Small gaps in the clouds throwing the soft light of the sun haphazardly onto the vast stage.

The wind turbines were playing hide and seek on the hill. Only their lower masts were visible. So that the blades could only be seen on their lower arc and vanished above the horizontal.

I saw a couple of hares at quite a distance. Perhaps 200 yards away, despite their flattening themselves onto the field. It's odd how one's vision becomes so acute at spotting such fine detail in a complex landscape. I am constantly searching for birds and this must improve my eyesight by years of regular, daily practice. 

For years I'd struggle to read a clock on the office wall until retirement allowed me take up cycling again. This change seemed to trigger a rapid alteration in my distance vision until it became completely neutral. Instead of needing minus one diopter specs, for distance, I could stop wearing them altogether.

Before that I'd see a double moon and fuzzy stars when I looked up. The neighbour's fence and lights were always badly out of focus from dusk onwards. Now everything is perfectly sharp and I can focus on single branches on the horizon. I no longer needed glasses to drive at night. Whereas in the previous decades I would be blinded by most oncoming headlights. 

A ride is imminent because we've run out of essentials. Yesterday's all day rain put a damper on any chance of a ride. We are facing another heat wave today but the seaweed fondling merchants can't agree on its severity.

A warm and sunny ride with a headwind on the way home. Only 7 miles. It has already reached 75F at 11.30. 78F by 14.00 and it stayed there all afternoon. 84F in the shed proved too much and I retired indoors.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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