26.09.2026 A walk, 32km and a recalcitrant robot!

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  Saturday 26th 55F/13C [7.10] Dry, sunny later and breezy from the west. Peaking at 17C/63F. 20C/68F in the room. No heat pump.

 Up at 6.45 after  quiet night.  A good day for a ride?

 As I chatted with my minder online. I noticed a red van parked by the distant road. Then a JCB digger turned up and figures walked about. Eventually moving to the back of an old farmhouse. I decided I needed a walk. Curiosity was my driving force. The red van had moved nearer. As an old chap began to turn off the water at a stop tap on the verge. 

 I asked him what was happening and he said they had a pipe break on the field. Probably due to the massive seed drill. Working out there yesterday. It had returned and completed its sewing while I wasn't watching. The water would be off for a couple of hours. No warning.

 Further on I could see the result of all the gardening noise on a roadside house. Which had become completely overgrown over the last few years. While standing empty for most of that time. They must have been working hard on the brambles. I could hear the engines of their power tools beyond the trees but could see nothing until now.

 I continued on my walk at a fairly brisk pace. Yet I was not breathless. In fact I completed the loop along the neighbours' drives without much effort. I suppose it could be the therapy exercises improving my overall fitness. 

 Or even the outing with my English friend. Where we had to walk around a huge yard to examine the items on display. Followed my walking up and down several vast supermarkets. As he shopped on the way home. 

 I have filled the kettle to the very top. With the dribble from the tap. Had morning coffee. I'll change now and go for my ride. To mix shopping with checking progress on the massive embankment. Where the new, high speed, railway track has to match the height of the newly cast bridge. After emerging from what was once a deep hollow.  

 10.30 Off we jolly well go. 

 12.20 And back again after 32km. The traffic was light but the wind stronger than forecast. A cross headwind going. More of a crosswind coming home. It felt slightly too cold on my hands in fingerless mitts. Though it soon passed. I stopped to put on a GripGrab medieval cap. 

 Later I climbed the long hill up to the new railway track. Still some way to go for the embankment to match the bridge level. More roads were closed for the district heating expansion.

 I shopped on the way back. The water was back on. 

Then I sent the robot mower out four times before dinner. It is still refusing [or ignoring] certain areas of the drive. No matter how many times I send it out. Dinner was beans on toast. 

  

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