14.05.2023 Already feeling the heat!

 ~o~

 Sunday 14th 11C/51F. Bright but rather cloudy. Sunny morning but possible thundery showers later. I'd better go this morning if I want a ride.

 Still only early May, but I was too hot in bed at 22C/72F last night. It is 19C/66F downstairs. It feels much cooler. The greenhouse has been ventilated with both end doors wide open. The door to the house remains closed. I don't want to add any extra heat. The shade nets help but have limits. They also darken the indoors.

 The temperature in the glazed ex-balcony/gable-end room shot up to 30C/86F yesterday afternoon. Doors firmly closed to keep the heat out of the attic. There is no shade or ventilation out there. White curtains covered the glass wall in the past. IT was only ever used for storage. The attic is the computer/TV room and bedroom. Where I spend most of my time indoors. 

 I shall have to seriously consider moving downstairs for the summer this year. Which raises issues with moving "stuff." The folding sponge mattress is firm but no fun lying on the floor. It also feels like dossing! Even if it can be quickly tidied away. 

 The pocket sprung beds upstairs are getting old and weigh a ton. There is no way I am capable of dragging a bed downstairs! It would be extremely difficult negotiating the steep, narrow stairs. I could squeeze a mattress out of the new bedroom window but only just. The bases are deeper, solid and even heavier.

 Then there is the tall cabinet at the bottom of the stairs. It is still full of my wife's china cats and ornaments. The cabinet stands in an alcove against the chimney. So would be very difficult to place anywhere else in the lounge. It has never occurred to me to do anything with her precious collection. Until now. I wonder if a single bed/chair "put-u-up" would work?

 7.40 14C/57F. Time for a walk. The traffic was very light. The hedgerows heavy with birdsong and calls. A red kite came sailing over a copse. Took one look at me and did a sharp U-turn. The lilacs are in flower. Two hares were sitting out on a field again. A few yards from yesterday's resting place.

 I am still deciding where to go for a ride today. 

11.30. Returned from an exploratory ride. Looking for gravel tracks and small lanes. Those I had never ridden. As unsuitable for the trike, or simply ignored. Miles of gravel track. Taken at 20km/hr or above. 40km total at an average of only 18km/hr. All good practice.

It has reached 23C/74F after lunch. 25C/77F upstairs. 34C/93F in the balcony room. Making it even more sensible to sleep downstairs tonight. Fortunately the open end doors of the greenhouse kept it cooler out there. So it didn't warm the downstairs too much.

I am trying to decide if I want a full Sunday Dinner. I didn't.

~o~

13.05.2023 Unlucky for sum!

 ~o~

 Saturday 13th 57F. Bright sunshine. 

  I ought to do a trip to the recycling yard. There are loads of old polystyrene fruit boxes from my wife's gardening activities. They were free at supermarkets, large, light and useful containers. They'd last for years out of doors if handled carefully. I probably have a trailer full. They are white and ugly and stand out like sore thumbs against the burgeoning weeds.

 8.30 Walk and morning coffee over. Lots of bird activity and noise. The warblers are here. I love their excited, chatter-like songs. Greenfinches were wheezing out of sight. A hare was grazing out on the fields. Several drivers waved. 

 I'll load up the trailer. Check around to see if there is anything else I can get rid of. There were loads of trailers at the recycling yard. Spring cleaning and sunshine is a perfect combination.

 Isn't it weird that Denmark is the only country in Europe without consumer protection? It was bad enough being ripped off by Netto on every visit. Now Rema1000 is using the same tactics. A higher price on the checkouts than on the shelves. 

 I don't shop often in Netto. I shop all the time in Rema1000. No local choice! Now I have to watch every single purchase. How am I supposed to remember every shelf price for bags full of shopping? Then check the faded micro-text on the till receipt. While there is a long queue waiting to be served. Talk about a license to print money! I have just been ripped off for 30 kroner. [£3.51 in olde money]

 1.40 20C/68F. A warbler keeps coming back to my dormer window to collect spiders webs. Presumably to help with nest building.

 I visited my British friend in the late morning. Returning home after 60km total. [37 miles] 90% Sport mode leaving 21% battery charge and averaging 28km/hr. [17mph] I deliberately avoided swapping batteries today. Just to see if it affected anything. Several km/miles were riding on gravel tracks. As I explored a potential shortcut. It did not lead anywhere useful but was good practice riding quickly on a loose surface. 

 I am pleased with my progress in mastering 2 wheels again. It seems to have taken far longer than expected. I am experimenting with hands off on empty lanes. To ensure I can give clear hand signal without wobbling. I know it sounds daft after the thousands of miles I must have ridden on 2 wheels over 70 years. I have been riding only a trike, for so long [12 years?] I simply lost the knack of riding a bike.

 I experimented in not wearing padded shorts today. It was no more uncomfortable wearing thin trousers and pants. [Than padded racing shorts] It is only towards the end of a ride that I need to shift around on the saddle. 

 Dinner was nearly toast. Then I decided on fish fingers, pasta, peas and tinned tomatoes.

~o~

12.05.2023 North it is then.

 ~o~

 Friday 12th 54F. Bright but rather cloudy. The easterly breeze is back. Both batteries fully charged. North is best. I have the range. No need for haste. Decisions-decisions.

13.00 22C/71F. Lunch over. I reached my goal of a garden centre near the north coast. The first leg was exactly the same as I used to go to the cooking class. So I enjoyed the new route in bright sunshine. Later I took a rather circuitous route to avoid the main roads. Taking in a stately home on a lake surrounded in forest.

 I got slightly lost despite having a GPS map on my phone and the handlebars. I arrived at a tiny, rural village with no destination signs. Where I turned left instead of doglegging straight ahead. Nothing major and it hardly added to the distance. [Liar!🙊] 62km to the garden centre. 85km [53 miles] total when I reached home again. Tour mode going. Sport mode on the way back. 50% of each overall.

 I had taken the main road back for speed. 3h15m total traveling time. Averaging 26km/hr. I had to stop and change batteries on the way back. I wore padded racing shorts under my thin, cycling trousers. With increasing saddle soreness as time passed. I was being bombarded with black flies for most of the way. I heard that this is related to muck spreading. Am I really supposed to be enjoying this? 😎

 Dinner was an unhealthy fry-up.

~o~