20.03.2023 XLC T010 Dropper post installed.

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 Monday 20th 5C/41F. Heavy overcast, slightly misty and expected to rain until 14.00. A very wet week is promised. Just as I finally began to work on the laundry backlog. With the two clothes airers already full, I may have to put up a washing line indoors. In the meantime I have broken down the clothing types into large plastic tubs. I was up for a couple of  hours in the night. After having nightmares. I am constantly reliving my wife's last week. I went back to bed at 3am and slept until 6am. 

 In cycling news: My XLC T010 dropper seat post should be here today. GLS and some, online cycle dealers are obviously working at the weekend. Unlike many shops here, the Danish bike shops aren't even open on Saturday afternoon. Though the "big shed" shopping chains are open for long hours every weekend.

 7.30 It doesn't seem to be raining yet. I could go for a walk. 

 8.15 Perfect timing! The sky started dripping just as I reached home. The highlight of my walk was a hare. It came lolloping around a blind corner in the middle of the road. Turned sharp left onto a field and then headed for the bare soil of the prairie. There was a woodpecker in the busy hedges. Where lots of birds were calling and singing. 

 A hedge slashing tractor went past in the lane. The first leaves are showing in low bushes underpinning the roadside hedgerows. The hazels have been loaded with catkins for a week or more. There are molehills everywhere. 

 Right, it's back to laundry duty. The cycling clothing has dried very quickly overnight at 21C/72F. That made room on the drier for all the socks. I still haven't a clue which machine programs to use. I could look it up online but it would soon be forgotten.

 14.15 7C/45F. Heavy overcast but dry. Laundry all but finished. Stove lit. Lunch over. The dropper post arrived and was soon fitted. It performs exactly as one would hope. With very little extension of the mechanism in the lower post. Yet to have a test ride. 

 I foresee some practice at mounting, dismounting, stopping and starting in the drive. Which will help to discover standard routines and things to avoid. The lever [Aka. 'Remote'] is odd. Being at right angles to the handlebars. I was able to squeeze it in beside the gear change levers. Slight rotation quickly solved slight conflicts of interest with the rearward gear lever. 

 I replaced the broken Kiox display bracket. Why do display and bike computer bracket designers choose to lay the displays almost flat? Where they will ALWAYS ALWAYS reflect the sky. Tipping the screen face upwards towards the rider will not only make the screen more visible & legible. BUT! It will automatically reflect the [usually] darker rider in the screen. Instead of the much brighter sky. 

 Don't industrial designers ever use the kit they are paid to design? No, of course, not! Don't be silly! They are far too busy queuing for their next Audi/BMW upgrade. To fill their private parking space at the factory. In their desperation to show how utterly important they are to the human race. They clearly never [ever] ride a bike. Or they would know about the sky reflecting and their shiny, plastic, display screens, wouldn't they?🙄 

 I always have to wear all black clothing in my observatory. So I am not reflected in the TV screens and monitors. Is it beyond the whit of man to make non-reflective screens? I can't see my mobile phone out of doors. Not even at maximum brightness and turning to place it in my own shadow. I'll have to carry one of those photographer's shade cloths. Like they used in the 1800s!

 I was completely mistaken. In believing I was seeing the Bosch NYON display at the bike shop I visited. It was the larger but earlier and cheaper Intuvia. Not the later and much more complex NYON. The latter has a full colour, touch screen. With maps, routes and much more data about the ride, battery and motor. 

 16.30. I have just returned with another, heaped trailer load of logs. Which I have covered for now. There will be larger logs which will need splitting. Hopefully this will be last load for this year. They can be stacked against the house wall in the greenhouse over the summer. Where they will dry ready for the next heating season. 

 Assuming they aren't consumed due to extremely cold and unseasonable weather. They are predicting more heat waves. It would be nice if there was a breakthrough in air/water heat pumps. Bringing the price down to the almost sensible level. Instead of obscenely pointless. So that it will never pay for itself in this, or several lifetimes.

  Dinner was supposed to be toast. Then things became complicated. I made chips and fish fingers. The chips wouldn't crisp or turn brown. So I made some soup while I waited a quarter of an hour extra for the chips. I need a new baking tray to match the mini-oven.

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