I know I'm equally to blame, but...

...we must get our acts together. Next Saturday, how about Merstham? Jon, if you're reading this, we'll see you there (Hunger's End); Andy, I'll meet you at the Green, usual time. Let's do it, as Gary Gilmore once said.

"Let's do it."

Apologies to Andy...

I was awake at around 4am this morning and you know how, when you wake up in the middle of night, you start fretting about stuff – in my case a drive to Wiltshire later this morning – well, I got to thinking that I would abort the cycle. I didn't particularly want to abort it, but the best bet was to 'get out early' so I got up and sent the 'abort' text – to my pal Geoff.

Oblivious to this little error I then wandered downstairs and made myself a cup of tea, thinking all the time that I was up and I might as well go for a ride. It wasn't raining and even if I rode to the Tatsfield bus stop, I'd be back in time to go off around 10am to sunny Wiltshire. In fact, having sent the abort text, I still glanced up at the clock at key moments and thought, "I could still change things, call Andy and say I was going and meet him at the Green." But I didn't. It would all be too much – cycling to the bus stop, cycling back, then racing off in the car.

At 0725hrs I glanced at the clock and was thinking that, under normal circumstances, I'd be at the Green by now – or approaching it at any rate.

It wasn't until 0746, when Andy texted me asking, "Where are you?" that I realised something was up. Oh dear, I'd texted the wrong person. Geoff, if his phone wasn't on silent, would have been awoken by a loud 'ding!' He probably wondered why I was writing 'abort' and then fell back asleep, only to be awoken an hour or two later with another text from me, stating that the earlier message was for Andy, not for Geoff.

"You wouldn't like me when I'm angry!"

Anyway, I guess Andy's not happy. He's a bit like Bruce Banner: 'you wouldn't like me when I'm angry'. I don't blame him for being pissed off. Had the message reached him he would, no doubt, have enjoyed a lie-in this morning. Andy: on the plus side, at least you got out there and cycled, if that's any consolation.

Then, Jon rang. I told him I wasn't going today and he was, I think, relieved as the weather was a little grey, and that could always mean rain. Personally, I'm annoyed with myself because I know darn well that we're not going to leave the house at 10am, we're going to slop around here and will probably leave around noon, meaning I could have gone cycling. All very irritating.