2.04.2025 Why is everything fuzzy?

 ~o~

  Wednesday 2nd 40F/4.4C. Another sunny day is promised. Close to 50F/10C mid-afternoon. Light winds. 

 Up at 6am after a bad night. I was awake for hours. No idea why. I got up eventually to have a drink of apple juice. I didn't dare sit on the computer with black coffee.

 I am expected at my friend's place this morning. With physio afterwards I will have to go a bit earlier than usual. I don't feel any ill effects from yesterday's marathon ride. Three tablets short of a set when I sorted out my heart medication. I'll have to visit the pharmacy. 

 7.20 Going for a short walk top check my fitness..

 The blinding sun was over the horizon. The birds were typically noisy. With only a chilly NE breeze spoiling the fun. I looped around the neighbours' drives. No ill effects from yesterday. Time for a shower.

 8.15 Leaving.  

 12.00 Returned from my visit. It was very pleasant wandering outside in his extensive grounds.

 13.00 Leaving for physio. The car keep hiccuping!

 15.30 Back from physio. Where I became rather dizzy towards the end. My vision became all fuzzy and sparkly. Probably pushing myself too hard. Perhaps my blood pressure has dropped too low and my medications need adjusting. I'll make an appointment for a chat with the doctor. 

 15.45 Time for a nap. I opened the greenhouse door. It is 118F/48C out there! It reached only a modest 68F/20C in the room.

 Dinner was yet another fry-up. Fried chicken, brown mushrooms, tweggs and cherry tomatoes.

 

  ~o~

1st April 2025 115km/71 miles.

 ~o~

  Tuesday 1st 30F/-1C. A white, overnight frost. To be followed by another sunny day. Promising 13C/55F maximum after lunch. With light winds from the NE going more easterly later. A perfect day for a ride? I have put the spare battery on charge. After it dropped to 50% during yesterday's short [23km] ride. With further rides before that.

 Up at 6.40 after yet another quiet night. I am aching as if I had worked hard yesterday, but didn't. An early walk will help. The room has dropped to 61F/16C overnight. I did not light the stove as it reached 71F/22C in the afternoon. Thanks to the boost from the 100F/38C greenhouse. 

 It is a chilly 41F/5C this morning. There is little thermal storage out there. Apart from the brick floor and house wall. So temperatures fluctuate violently between overnight frost and unbroken sunshine. I have made little attempt to control the shrubbery in the front garden so far this year. So I could achieve a little more solar gain by reducing shadowing. 

 A more cosmetic "gardening" approach would be rather more sensible. Because I shall soon be shading the greenhouse with commercial quality shade net. Once the excessive daytime temperatures are no longer desired. To warm the house in lieu of expensive firewood. Of which I probably have slightly more than a week's worth of reserve toasting in the greenhouse. Plus the huge heap of chestnut logs outside if times become really hard. They have been out there for three years so should be combustible.

 8.00. 33F/0.6C. Sunshine. Time for a walk. I see there is ice on the small pond this morning. I had better wear my down sweater.

 8.30 38F/3.3C. And back again. Another loop around the spray tracks and back along the neighbours' beautiful drive. Only half an hour elapsed but probably slightly more exercise than walking the busy road. I must have chosen a poor time because the traffic was nose to tail. With a few gaps. My bare hands were cold but soon warmed up in my pockets. The total absence of discernible wind helped. Despite the local turbine group all turning briskly! 

8.50  I'll have morning coffee while I decide where to go for a ride. 

 Bogense, on the north coast, would be a pleasant destination. My plan to go via the least busy lanes is thwarted by a [minor] road closure. A new railway bridge is crossing the expanding motorway. Lots of work stretching along that entire area. So I'll have to look for another route. Or another destination. While avoiding the main roads. Which I have ridden numerous times on my trike. All the roads are undulating and beautiful but spoilt by the traffic while cycling. No doubt they feel much the same way about us on our bikes/trikes. 

 Change of destination. Otterup is 50km away via minor roads. So a 100km round trip. Unless I detour. As is my wont.

 10.10 46F/8C. Lunch packed, time to go. 

 17.00 Back from a 115km ride to Otterup. The detours forced by multiple road closures were a torment! Particularly as they occurred towards the end of a long ride. Just under 7 hours total duration. Averaging 21.5km/hr while moving. 

 I felt as if I was being cut in half by the saddle for most of the ride. Having to stop frequently to escape from the pain. I was wearing my best Assos bibs. A fool and his money are soon parted. 

 I felt dizzy and my sight went fuzzy as I sat at the computer. So I went straight to bed for a 40 minute nap. Fortunately I felt better after that.

 Dinner was baked beans on toast. With a buttered roll.

 

  ~o~

31.03.2025 Twenty three completely unnecessary kilometres.

 ~o~

 Monday 31st 39F/4C [8.15] Bright sunshine promised all day. Temperatures reaching almost 12C/53F after lunch. Free solar heat from the greenhouse if I am at home. I need to fetch more logs. To have a safe reserve if temperatures should fall again. Or we have an extended period of cloudy weather. 

 Up at 7.15 after waking much earlier. I managed to stay in bed. 

 8.40 I should have gone for a walk but got sidetracked. By a digital clock which wouldn't change the time. The push buttons had stopped working. Requiring dismantling and shorting out the contacts in turn.  

 9.30 43F/6C. Bright sunshine only slightly spoilt by a cold north breeze. Returned from a loop of the spray tracks out on the fields. Passing by my neighbour. Who was exercising one of her horses. Three Mallard ducks were scrapping on the field pond. The first I have ever seen there. I kept as far away as possible so as not to disturb them. I have run out of rolls. That will teach me not to go shopping. I will have to make do with a digestive biscuit.   

 10.15 Going for a shopping ride into the nearest village.

  12.00 47F/8.3C. Back from a 23km ride to shops in the village. Going the long way both times through the forest. The ride was spoilt by the cold wind regardless of my direction of travel. It would only have been 10km total if I had taken the main road.

 13.45 51.4F/11C. The greenhouse door is open to share the warmth. Currently showing 100F/38C. It reached 71F/22C indoors.

 14.20 I have been doing some minor gardening. Moving logs and stacking pruned branches from shrubs. Pulling up bunches of dry plant stems from last year's growth. There are lots of huge water beetles in the small pond. Now that it is full I have moved the gutter down pipe away. To avoid flushing the wildlife out of the pond if it rains heavily.

 The lady from the village called. Staying for quite a while while we chatted. 

 Dinner was chicken, brown mushrooms, baked beans and two, free range eggs. I washed up first. I really need to invent a means of supporting the washing up bowl when not in use. It takes up far too much room on the tail end of the working surface.

 

  ~o~