27th September 2018 Emergency ponds are the next big thing.

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Thursday 27th 57F, light winds and heavy overcast. More gales with rain later. Walked up to the woods, and back by the main track. The lawn-like appearance of the fields is an optical illusion. Close to, the "grass" is really quite sparse.

I watched as flocks of birds circled over the prairie. Some were small shore birds judging from their calls and cranked wings.

The wind is picking up steadily and the skies remain resolutely grey but still holding off on the promised rain.   

Denmark is busy building emergency drainage ponds for combating heavy rainfall. One pond made the national news because it was dug in a public park. There are lots of them locally after extensive roadworks including a major drainage and district heating scheme. Plus new cycle paths and lanes on both sides of the resurfaced road.

 These ponds are usually dug on roadside farmland. One of the larger ponds has even been decorated with planted trees, a perimeter gravel path and water plants. The ducks and coots have already moved in. No doubt this pond forms emergency drainage for the industrial estate on the hill above. 

Being so relatively flat Denmark is presumably at greater danger from local flooding. Somebody is obviously worried about an increased risk of extreme rainfall in the climactic future. Not sure what plans they have for rising sea level. Most of the major Danish cities are on the coast or estuaries.

Trikes are an excellent answer to shallow flooding provided one's feet aren't submerged on the lower pedal stroke. Lowered bottom brackets are so yesterday when there is an increased risk of flooding. One can ride as slowly as one wishes without the balance problems of a bike. Dunlop Wellies on a racing trike? Probably not, unless you change the pedals to [diving] platforms for potentially wet days. Winter mountain bike boots, anybody?

You never know when you'll need to ford a flood. The Tricycle Association holds regular rides involving fords. Tricycle Fording at the next Winter Olympics? Rubber clothing optional? I can already feel my very first bout of asthma coming on. So must alert the doctor to my "special needs" to remain competitive into ripe old age.

Friday 28th 57F, a mostly sunny day but breezy. 40 minute walk. No ride.

Saturday 29th 39F, calm, quite cloudy but with some blue sky. It was quite breezy by the time I left for a Saturday shopping ride. Returned heavily laden after 15 miles altogether into a cross headwind.

Sunday 30th 52F, windy with a very heavy overcast. Suddenly lots of pheasants about. Presumably just released from their raising pens in time for the annual slaughter season. The wild ones have very smart plumage. The bred ones look like the scraggy caged chickens at an industrial production plant.

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25th September 2018 Fetch the EV, Lurch! I'm flying off to preach on climate!

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Tuesday 25th 39-57F, calm and sunny. My usual walk to the lanes. It is amazing how quickly the fields go green after sewing. Too busy so no ride today. 45mph winds again tomorrow with rain after lunch.

Wednesday 26th 55F, overcast with gales.

It just gets weirder and weirder. Strictly Twilight Zone weird. Last time I looked the Danish right wing government almost doubled the price of all electric cars with 180% import duties. At the same time they are heavily promoting Big Wind Power.

Where Big Money gets to profit from sky high electricity bills and ruin people's lives with flickering wind farms. As in Pig Farms. Industrialized production and forget [all] the consequences. [And, still with 17 "green taxes" attached to every quarterly bill.] Big Money's <cough> "offshore" generation often has to be dumped below cost onto the European grid. This happens whenever wind generation exceeds the country's immediate needs. Since only the rich can afford electricity this happens far more than you'd expect.

You'd think this imbalance was a case of outright lunacy, tragicomedy, or simply corruption. Oh, the wonderful irony! When the potential for mass storage might have existed in a large fleet of privately owned electric vehicles by now.

Guess what The Populist's answer is to this drooling idiocy? Cut the price of electricity to hugely wasteful summer houses. The more they waste the cheaper it gets! It's called Grid Battery Storage. [Or Greed and  BullShit with present sky storage technology.] Heat the sky over the summer house blight and all will be well. Strictly for the birds. Dugh!

One politicooze party is now advocating subsidizing electric car buyers to the tune of up to £5000 [equivalent.] What a brilliant idea! Double the price of EVs at the Danish border. Then toss some drought-ridden corn husks to those who can still afford to buy an electric car. It's just like a bank robber tossing a few coins onto the floor as they leave.

Whatever happened to benign Scandinavian socialism and care for the environment? It was sacrificed on the altar of pretending to combat mass immigration with a huge lurch to the "greed is good" AGW doesn't exist, equality is only for the weak, extreme right wing.

The funniest part of all this? The same coalition leader flies off regularly to preach warm green thoughts to international climate conferences and heads of state feasts. Guess who isn't even close to matching national CO2 to past climate meeting promises?  Guess who, despite all the populist election promises, suffers armed, gang warfare on the streets of major cities? Surely not Denmark? Happiest land under the [half baked] sun.   

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24th Septermber 2018 On the domestication of wilful tricycles.

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Monday 24th 46F, cool and bright but cloudy and windy. Too cold for a long walk thanks to the wind roaring in the trees. I could actually have worn thin gloves today. It was marginally uncomfortable with bare hands for the first time this autumn.

Several large fields are growing what looks like neat rows of dense tufts of grass. To make it even more strange the tops have just been mown. This is not an area where animals spend any time out of doors. So it can't be for grazing. Though it could well be for fodder. Or a green compost crop.

The image shows how modern sewing machinery can achieve perfectly straight lines completely regardless of the terrain. This 1000 yard, uphill view has been deliberately foreshortened by the camera zoom.

I wonder how many tricyclists know that lifting both rear wheels allows a trike to follow its hostler in a perfectly straight line backwards? There must be many an errant trike which is shoved into a tight spot, head first. But which must then be walked out backwards. Leave the rear wheels on the ground and the recalcitrant beast will go where it may. Lift the rear wheels by the rims and it is instantly domesticated. Lifting by the rims is easily done even in the presence of an Abus Medieval Ship's Anchor. There is absolutely no need to soil one's gloves or mitts if one avoids the noisome tyres.

Similarly, there is no need to struggle past the hind quarters of a broad gauge, iron horse in a confined space. Simply lift a foot and step over the axle inside a rear wheel. This is easily done regardless of the presence of a saddle bag, with, or without a rear rack.

Naturally one will be careful not to scratch the paintwork with a clumsy shoe plate during this maneuver. It might be best to practice at home before startling an unprepared public. The thin veneer of civilization is as soon punctured as a tubular tyre.

I have used both acrobatic techniques for managing my trikes at close quarters for years. In the privacy of densely packed sheds and in crowded, public cycle racks outside supermarkets and shopping malls. All it requires is a firm hand. Or rather, two.

Click on any image for an enlargement.

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