Heavy winds but generally mild and warm conditions

Alright, alright, alright, yes, I admit it, we rode to the Tatsfield Bus Stop, it's our default ride and, yes, we tend to go there around this time of year because it's shelter, it's a dry bench and, yes, it's not as far as, well, it's not as far as Westerham. We're wimps, yes, we prefer a shorter, predictable, some might say boring, ride. Tatsfield is the new Woodmansterne. I hear you, I hear you. Or, as David Cameron might have said, "I get it."

All night long the wind howled. When I woke up it was still howling, but, as usual, when I looked out – noting the dry roads (it clearly hadn't rained) – the trees were still, leading me to think that somebody might have rigged up a huge loudspeaker behind the house and was playing wind sounds on full volume just to give the impression that it was windy.

Kona on the green, Saturday morning around 0740hrs.

Once outside there was quite a bit of wind, gusts of wind, strong enough to knock a bike off course, but  I rode on towards the green and when I got there I noticed that they – 'they' being the local council – had been digging up the path around the monument. The whole lot had been cordoned off so I decided to record the occasion by taking a photograph of the Kona leaning nonchalantly against the wire fencing. Then Andy arrived and we set off for the bus stop, keeping our heads down, zoning out and getting on with it.

When we reached the exposed section of the 269 on our outward journey, the crosswinds were pretty strong and gusty, pushing the bikes sideways on occasion. Progress was slow, or so it seemed.

Halfway along the 269 my Spongy Wonder saddle gave up the ghost. One of the pads – the one on the left hand side – fell off. Andy picked it up, handed it to me and we soldiered on; I held the pad in my left hand for the rest of outward journey. When we reached the bus stop I discovered that my tube of 'Super Glue' had run out of glue, so I resigned myself to riding back a little lopsided. It didn't seem to make much difference.

Before we headed home we drank tea, munched chocolate BelVitas and made light conversation. No sign of Phil today despite very mild conditions. Mild weather has characterised the last couple of months, with just that one cold spell – when it snowed – a couple of weeks ago. Today it was blustery but warm and dry so we couldn't really complain.

I'm not sure what tomorrow's weather will bring. I swear I heard a weather forecaster talking about early morning rain, but here's hoping it'll be dry and warm like today, and hopefully less windy.

In the news...

The recent mass shooting in San Bernardino, California, USA, seems to have confounded law enforcement agencies. The authorities have been dragging their feet as to whether the killing of a dozen or so people should be treated as an Islamist terror attack or not. And who can blame their reticence? It's not as if killers Syed Farook and Tashfeen Malik would give rise to any suspicion of an Islamic State-inspired murderous attack. Nope, it's just another regular mass shooting in the good old US of A.