On looking out of the window

I’m taking my bike to France by train.. I thought I could spend the 15 hour journey writing and catching up with myself and re-working my website etcetcetc. Instead I’m looking out of the window and taking numerous blurry pictures of the rivers and mountains I’m going past. The writing will have to wait.

On vegetable shopping

Train station, half past 6. Smallish kid: “Mum! Mum! Mum! Can we stop and buy vegetables?!” Kid’s brother: ” No!” Smallish kid: “Mum! Can we buy vegetables, please!” Kid’s mum: “No. We’re in a hurry to get to <Somewhere>. Wait, what?” Smallish kid: “Can we buy vegetables?” Kid’s mum: “What do you want to buy […]

On making the most of being ill

Sometimes all you need is a sunny day off to fill with a 2 hour massage and a peanut butter and chocolate brownie ice cream.. A cycle ride through the autumn colours and along the canal into the sunset doesn’t hurt either. 🙂 Written yesterday but for some reason not posted properly.

On chainging my plans

Here we go again. Jesska makes a plan and life makes it impossible to see it through. *** At the end of August I bought new fish. They were quite expensive as cheap fish go (nothing like as expensive as posh koi) and quite a luxury considering that I don’t “need” fish for anything. I […]

On working and walking and retyring

I’ve been meaning to write all summer. And yet I haven’t. I haven’t walked much either. Why walk if you can cycle? Besides, it’s been far too hot and too still to walk. The air at least feels like it’s moving when you cycle through it. The writing? Tja. Whatever it is that makes me […]

On trying to post letters

Someone, at some point, told me that it was a good idea to keep stamps in the house so you can post letters without having to plan a trip to the post office. (This is Germany. You can’t buy stamps just anywhere, where would we end up?! It’s a huge improvement that they introduced stamp […]

On setting off

On a train. The last of 5. Next stop Wiesbaden, the capital of Hessen (central county in Germany). My new saddle bags are being dropped in at the deep end 🙂 Packed to almost bursting point and still overflowing into my backpack. The plan is to cycle for a couple of days with my folks […]

On saddle bags and storms

I found a pair of saddle bags for sale online last weekend and asked if I could pick them up the next day. They were en route to somewhere I was going by train anyway. The seller gave me his address and I said I’d phone when I knew when I would be there. Then […]

On making time to be ill

It’s Friday. I’m supposed to be in the middle of a two day committee meeting. Instead I am lying on a towel looking at this: rejoicing at the slight breeze and listening to the birdsong and the buzzing of a million insects. Yesterday I looked up at the sky through the branches for the first […]

On going directly to prison

A couple of days ago I came across a YouTube video of a person I’d never heard of before being arrested. The arrest had been caught on camera by spectators. So far so normal. People get arrested all the time and people have had access to video recording equipment for a long time. A couple […]