Snow stops this week's cycling

It's very cold out there, but no more snow has fallen. There is a slow thaw in place, but it's really slow and  there's a lot of icy roads and pathways. Yesterday I went over on the way to the station. Fortunately there was nobody around to see me.

Elmfield Way, South Croydon last weekend.

Right now it's 0751hrs on Saturday. Normally at this time, Andy and I would be en route to wherever we were going: the churchyard, the bus stop, the village, even Godstone Green, but it's too cold and, let's face it, not at all pleasant. So I'm sitting in the conservatory, dressing gown on, listening to the television, which is in the other room, and writing this blog.

There's been a lot of stuff on cycling in the media this week. Last night, comedian Ross Noble was on Room 101 (a comedy panel show on BBC1) saying how much he despises cyclists - commuting cyclists. He doesn't mind mountain bikers (like himself) who cycle in the woods but those who jump red lights and  especially those on recumbent bicycles, he can't stand them. I know what he means about recumbent bikes and, to a degree, what he was saying about 'commuting' cyclists. I don't commute on my bike. It comes out at the weekends for an early morning rural ride.

There was an article in the Evening Standard a few days ago talking about how people are quite happy to watch crime take place right under their noses and do nothing about it: the paper rigged a situation where a man with bolt cutters went around stealing bikes in crowded places and noted how nobody did anything to stop him - that's typical modern Britain, but then again, if it wasn't your own bike, why would you stop him? Selfish? Yes, but I'm not going to risk my neck with a nutter if the property being stolen has nothing to do with me; besides, it's only a bike.

Then, on television, a couple days ago, there was something on Bristol, a provincial city in the South West of the country, that has spent a few bob on making the city 'cycle-friendly' – lots of cycle paths, although I bet that the cycle paths in question are nowhere near enough and that if I emerged from Templemeads station with my bike I'd still have to ride on busy and dangerous roads.

On the world stage, Syria is rapidly becoming the big problem with Russia telling the West to keep out while Assad and his regime set about bombing the city of Homs. Not good.

Scooby Doo's on the box, the kettle is purring away and a cup of tea is on the way. We've had the snow hanging around all week, thanks to that 'slow thaw' I mentioned at the beginning of this post.

The photograph accompanying this post was taken last Saturday morning in Elmfield Way. Things look roughly the same today.

Two years ago...
One year ago...