Wind, rain and Lance Armstrong

Yours truly and Andy near Botley Hill, Sunday 27th January 2013

By 8am the rain had disappeared leaving huge puddles on the roads. We met at 0830hrs and headed for the Tatsfield Bus Stop where mum's cake was produced from my rucksack alongside a bar of Swiss chocolate for Andy and Marcia.

The rain returned briefly as we were about to leave but then eased off again and there were blue skies edging their way south from the north. Nothing ever really changes at the Tatsfield Bus Stop, apart from the conversation. Today we touched upon Lance Armstrong and why he even bothered to raise his head above the parapet. Personally, if it had been me I would have kept quiet, accepted that I'd been an idiot to myself and got on with my life in private. Why face the wagging finger of the stoney-faced reception committee when you don't have to?

In jest, I said we ought to go against the grain and support Lance Armstrong, but then, of course, imagine what it must have been like to work all your life towards winning the Tour de France only to be scuppered by somebody on performance-enhancing drugs? Perhaps all those who came in second should be made the winner, I said, but Andy said that history had recorded it that Armstrong had won the races and the people concerned would always have to explain their win along the lines of, "Well, I was technically second, but Lance Armstrong was disqualified so now I'm the winner, but yes, in reality, Armstrong won – although he was taking performance-enhancing drugs, which I wasn't, of course, so technically I am the rightful winner."

No snow left, but the pond at Sanderstead is still frozen over.

I mentioned how the whole Armstrong interview was a sham as he knew Oprah Winfrey, she was his friend and neighbour, but I guess he viewed her as the 'good cop' as she hardly gave him a hard time.

When the rain stopped and the blue skies appeared we headed for home, Andy taking the track halfway down the 269 while I continued towards Warlingham Green and home.

We stopped nearly Botley Hill to take the lead image of this post and later I snapped a shot of Sanderstead Lake, which was still frozen over following all the snow, most of which has now disappeared thanks to the rain.