4.04.2024 More logs and two bangs!

 ~o~

  Thursday 4th 41F/5C. Possible showers, Rain later. Up at 5.15. I was lying there, wide awake. 

 6.00 I can have breakfast now. I try to hold out until 6am. To avoid becoming hungry before lunch. Which might lead to bad habits. Like chomping on chocolate biscuits. 

 As I sit here on my padded chair, with extra cushion, I can still feel the lack of padded shorts on yesterday's ride. Local pressure is obviously still a factor. This, with the B67 shaping itself into a sagging hammock after quite a few km/miles without re-tensioning. It ought to provide greater comfort by now. Perhaps it wants more Proofide? 

 The expensive grease shows very little desire to sink into the leather. Leaving an identical greasy film even after days of remaining untouched. Requiring a thorough buffing before it can be safely ridden. So I'll wait until I can guarantee a break from riding. The black topped saddles don't show the rain as clearly as the light tan models. Which, even after repeated and even recent applications of Proofide. Remain easily wetted by the slightest shower. Single rain drops leave their dark marks on the leather.

 I did some research into the most popular saddles. By studying the huge, Odense city, bike racks. This strongly suggested that cheap, cushioned vinyl saddles rule by a huge margin. These saddles are immune to rain when the bikes are left completely unprotected. Ironically there are covered car parks but not for bikes.

 A tiny few lady's bikes had Brooks leather saddles. Which had usually moulded themselves into deep curves. Superimposed onto the already, deeply sagging leather. Retensioning was not visible in any of those I saw. They may well have been repeatedly ridden while wet after long days of constant exposure to wet weather. I would judge that they were well beyond any hope of re-tensioning. A bike shop owner had a similarly sagging saddle where I used to live in Wales. He swore that it was the only way to get a comfortable saddle for long distances.

 It is impossible to judge the distance any bike had been ridden before being parked each day. Nor how long these Brooks saddles had been fitted. Presumably original equipment on better quality machines. A few other bikes had cheap, vinyl covered, more sporty shaped saddles. Many of them cracked with age. Presumably the two-legged rats would steal any saddle with value over a few hundred kroner. Over £50. So it wasn't worth leaving better quality [?] saddles on open view. 

 As the bicycle industry collapses the trend is toward ever more expensive equipment. Saddles can now cost in the hundreds of pounds/dollars. Without any obvious reason beyond hype, outright lies and  marketing. 

 Cheap Chinese copies are available but who knows how long they will last?  I really liked the wide Contec leather saddle but the frame was fragile. It snapped at a poorly formed bend. Frame material some unknown steel. Every bend deeply nicked by the tooling. It could be recycled, mild steel. Its breakage left me with no supporting dealer. As yet another, local bike shop had folded. Presumably to online, market pressures. I emailed the company but had no response. 

 I preferred the Contec at half the price of the Brooks B67. [At the time of purchase.] Do you get what you pay for? Not from Contec apparently. I just did a quick check: The Contec "Exclusive Touring" is now over £80 equivalent! That's a lot of money for few months of use! There are a few dealers in Denmark but they are all a very long way from home. I keep wondering whether the Contec's leather top would fit the Brooks B67 frame. Both are the same size, have removable frames and rear springs. I'd have to check the spring spacing at the back. 95mm between the centers of the springs on both saddles.

 7.15 I seem to have talked myself into what passes for daylight. On such a heavily overcast morning. Time for a walk. I am going to put on my proper walking boots and Ventile, winter jacket. Then walk the wrong way down the road again. Just to see where it leads me. 

 8.45 It was 7.30 before I finally escaped into misty drizzle. The Scarpa boots were over the top heavy and made my legs tired. The jacket was too heavy and too hot. I looped around the field tracks to reach the far woods. Though I did not enter. The traffic on the main road was heavy going both ways. I saw two hares and lots of Yellowhammers, skylarks, geese, ducks and swans.

 I ought to fetch more logs. I have only about a week's worth left in the greenhouse. The weather is too unpredictable to risk waiting any longer. Germany, across the border, is enjoying record warmth. While the weather systems keep failing to reach Denmark further north. As lows keep crossing the North Sea. Some places in Denmark had snow yesterday. Following an overnight frost.

 12.15 Another trailer load of logs has been brought home and stacked in the greenhouse. They sounded dry as they clinked together. I haven't measured their humidity yet. It must have taken me an hour to bring them all in. Using a wheelbarrow. Very little rubbish this time. A useful range of sizes. I am trying to be disciplined. By keeping a basket for thinner stuff. With another for heavier logs. Then I can boost the fire if it needs it with beech kindling. Rather than the split pallet softwood kindling. The heavier logs will burn much longer but only once the stove is going well. 

 1330 A heavy batch of rain is about to cover Fyn. If I do go shopping it will have to be in the car. It's not desperate. So I might as well wait until tomorrow.

 16.15 There has been two huge bangs just after 4pm and at 4.15. The house shook twice. Aircraft breaking the sound barrier? Nothing on the news yet. 

 Aha! A farmer had found some buckets of hand grenades from WW2. The bomb squad blew up one lot. It went rather too well and broke some windows with the shock wave! So they moved to a quarry to blow up the second lot. 

 No location was given to judge the distance to the explosions. Nor any explanation as to how they managed to move to a quarry in only 15 minutes after the first slight mistake. That's just me being cynical.

 Dinner was salad. I complete disaster on the hard boiled egg production. The first was a sloppy mess after five minutes of boiling. It as impossible to remove the shell. So I discarded the first and reboiled the second egg for a further five minutes. Then gave it ages to cool in cold water. 

 The second egg was still runny and fell to pieces as I fought with the shell. At least the shell came off. So, it seems I need to boil and egg for at least 12 minutes. And no, I am not working at high altitude. Only 70 meters above sea level.

 

  ~o~