23.10.2023 Goofle has broken Blogger again!

 

~o~

 Monday 23rd.45F/7C. A quiet, autumn day with some sunny periods possible. Any showers will be local. Up at 6am after a quiet night. I only got up once despite having a beer with dinner. No coffee though. It is approaching 8am but is still very dark outside. A few, small pinkish clouds to the north. Lots of small grey clouds elsewhere.

 Google has not only blocked image uploads in Firefox but has now screwed up the image placement! Blogger Post editing has become impossible! After multiple attempts and deletions in html I have finally tidied things up.

 I am wondering if a ride would be possible today. It is not expected to exceed 11C/51F. Which is definitely on the cool side. A 5m/s westerly breeze with a maximum of 10m/s gusts. Will usually mean a headwind coming home. Because there isn't much to see to my west. Before I reach the sea around 12km away by road.

 The westerly coastline is mostly large fields. With only a few small hamlets. There is no serious, commercial exploitation of the often small and narrow beaches on the west coast. Often there isn't much room for parking on the ends of the tiny lanes which eventually reach them. Just one large campsite.

 My usual goals are to the north but mostly to the east of Chez Hovel. There are towns on each corner of Fyn. A roughly, egg-shaped island. Tilted with its base upwards to the NW. With the one, major city of Odense. Offset to the north and east, of centre, on a complex estuary. About 30km away by road. 

 So quite a nice outing if the route is chosen carefully. All of which I have ridden and driven many times. I'd like to go to IKEA in Odense again. Just to familiarise myself with their display cabinets. I shall take the usual security measures required for a city. Suitable weather for a ride, of several hours, must be enjoyed when they crop up.

 8.30 Light enough for my walk now.

 8.45 Actually leaving for my walk. I have been searching for a unique USB cable. 

 9.15 It was cool but sunny. The sky had cleared almost completely. There were many more puddles on the back field. The natural pond had grown considerably. No sign of anything one could call flooding though. Just impermeable, marshy soil exposing the recent rainfall. Photography was all but impossible from any useful angles. Dues to the low, blinding sun. The pheasant were absent from the drive today. Two male have been foraging in the drive for several days. Always making a run for it when they see me.

 9.30 I can't mend the Blogger post editing. So I'll potter on with my preparation for a ride to Odense.

10.15. Leaving.

 15.00 Returned after a 74km/46 mile ride to Odense and back. After trying at several shops I found a pair of Sorel waterproof boots. With flat soles for the e-bike. My [discounted] running shoes are fine in warm and dry weather. Hopeless in cold and/or wet conditions. 

 I had another look in IKEA at the Milsbo display cabinets. The weak point seems to be the thin [tempered] glass shelves are unsupported at their centre front. The doors meet there but there is no vertical bar there. So  nothing on which to hang shelf supports. With a clear span of around 67cm it is no wonder there is only a 5kg weight limit per shelf. The designer obviously wanted a completely invisible cabinet. With items on the shelves seeming to float in the air. That works to a high degree but at the cost of fragility. Imagine breaking all of my wife's beautiful, glass vases. Just because the top shelf gave way! 

 Polycarbonate would be a suitable substitute in sufficient thickness. I'll have to do some homework on matching thickness to flexibility. 3/8" [8mm and 10mm] Plexiglass/Perspex shelves are offered as replacement shelves. Though they would be far more obvious to the eye in that thickness. Than the original, thin, IKEA glass. The four edges of the clear, plastic shelves would also have to be polished. To make them slightly less obvious.

  Changing the battery at 60 miles gave me a huge charge reserve to get me safely home. I was tiring as I had to fight a cold and constant headwind all the way home. Even stopping to change into my Enduro waterproof jacket. Just to keep out the cold wind. I was very close to leaving it at home because there was no rain forecast. So it was very lucky I stuffed it into a pannier. It weighs very little and packs down quite small. 

 After the battery swap I could use Turbo mode as much as I liked. The last leg is far hillier than any other part of the route. I have years of memories of the misery. Of dragging myself up those last hills by my own leg power on the trike. Often after a longer ride than today's.  

 19.00 It's time to think about dinner. I have to use up the chicken and mushrooms. Not with chips again! I've had mashed potato and gravy. What else can I try?

 The poached eggs were completely superfluous. As were the beans. The chicken and mushrooms needed something but not that, nor those. 

 I have been wearing my new boots for hours. They are very comfortable. I'll try not to sleep in them. 

 ~o~