Ellenbridge Road around 0735hrs, 28th December 2015 |
Leaving the house mildly late at around 0735hrs I headed for the green where I met Andy and we rode to the Tatsfield Bus Stop (now our regular destination). I've resolved to get back to riding to Westerham in the New Year, but seeing is believing as the reason for our adherence to the Tatsfield Bus Stop is time and convenience.
At the bus stop we had tea and BelVita biscuits – our staple cycling diet – and, among other things, chatted about the differences between the cars we drove 'in our youth' and the cars of modern times. Today's cars, for instance, don't have 'chokes' or doors that lock individually using a key or that laborious process of pushing down the locks on all the doors from the inside before the driver leaves the vehicle and locks his own door. Yes, folks, these were the days when it was possible to lock yourself out of your car, having left the keys inside!
There are many things you no longer see on 'new' cars: metal bumpers, cassette recorders, push-button radios, big steering wheels (to compensate, perhaps, for the lack of power steering) and I'd like to say 'the list is endless', but I'm sitting here trying to remember all the things we mentioned as we sat at the Tatsfield Bus Stop in the continuing mild weather.
We also discussed our once heroic idea of riding all the big hills in the area: Succombs, Titsey, White Lane, the hill leading to Knockholt and, of course, Westerham's hill – the one that ruins the ride when it suddenly dawns on us that we have to deal with it. One day we should incorporate all the big hills in one ride, we agreed, but something tells me it won't be happening, not for a while at least as we're firmly committed to the good old Tatsfield Bus Stop.
Andy and I parted at Warlingham Green vowing to be back on Saturday, the day after New Year's Day for what would be the first ride of the year.
Looking back at this post. We're now in 2019; we still haven't completed the hill challenge. Maybe next year.
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