The cold weather continues...and there's no cycling

 I'm starting to wonder when I last went out on the bike. I think it was a ride to Tatsfield to meet Andy on a Sunday, probably not last Sunday but the week before. The weather was, if I recall, relatively fine and, as those who read this blog will know, I sat there and indulged myself with a pot of tea and a large slice of coffee and walnut cake. Since then I've done nothing, no cycling whatsoever, and for good reason. Suddenly the weather changed, plummeted to be more precise, into the depths of arctic temperatures and all that goes with them: frosted windscreens, slippery roads, even more slippery pavements, delayed trains, everything unpleasant that you can think of. 

Snow outside the house... it's going, but slowly...

Last weekend I fixed the puncture that led to me walking five miles home because it was just too cold to fix it by the roadside. So, going back to the previous paragraph where I say the weather was 'relatively fine' it clearly wasn't that good. Yesterday I went into the garage and lo and behold, the puncture I thought I'd fixed was not fixed, it was as flat as a pancake; either the fixed puncture wasn't done properly or there was more than one puncture. The one I fixed was bad enough, it was like a tear in the fabric of the inner tube. Perhaps that's it, it's simply unfixable and I'll need a new inner tube... and while I'm at it a new tyre.

I've had no exercise since that ride with Andy, apart from some walks, and while I have considered swimming, it's just too cold. Everything is turning to shit basically and throw in Christmas and all the shite that lands on the table in the office kitchen and, well, I might as well give the bike away and become a fat bastard.

Frozen Sanderstead lake last weekend...

There's one week to go before Christmas and I'm glad to hear that retail sales are down, all those greedy bastards, especially the supermarkets, with their television ads designed to pull at the heart strings, were all a big waste of time as people simply don't have the money, so stop advertising to us, we don't care about what you have on your shelves, we don't want it and, what's more, we don't need it.

People ask me what I want for Christmas and I don't really have an answer because I simply don't know. I have everything I need, although I do hate it when people ask if I'd like socks. No, fuck off! I don't want socks! I can buy them whenever I need them; alright, I need them, but that's not a Christmas present is it? 

"Oh, what did you get for Christmas?"

"Socks."

"Really?"

"Yes, really."

I'd rather have nothing than have socks for Christmas.

We've done a bit of Christmas shopping, which I hate with a vengeance, milling around with all the greedy bastards who clasp loads of branded carrier bags in both hands and for what? Oh, yes, just so a few days later they can say "Right, we need to talk about the money, we're currently £400 overdrawn and we've got, er...six weeks to go before pay day." Just the sort of thing I don't want to hear. Personally I'd rather cancel Christmas than be in debt. But then it's not really Christmas is it? No, it's an excuse for big business to make even more profit than they do throughout the rest of the year. I'd love Christmas to be like it used to be, with people not knowing what they're getting, but it's not. These days it's "Well, you buy it and then we'll wrap it up and put it under the tree." So when it comes to the big day I open something that I already know about and so does everybody else. Oh for a desolate cottage on the Isle of Harris, a roaring log fire and no sign of the greed found further south, just the sea and the hills and perhaps an exchange of Christmas cards, a bracing walk to a local pub for lunch and then an afternoon spent in front of the fire eating festive delicacies.

Bleak...

It's now Sunday 18th December and while I think the weather has warmed up a little bit, the snow is still on the ground and I'm guessing it's still cold out there as the cars still have frosted windscreens. I won't be riding today and nor will Andy. We're both busy for a start, then there's my as yet unfixed puncture, the possibility of rain (although I'd love to try out my new waterproof trousers and shoes) and, of course, the fact that it's still cold and icy out there. At some stage I'll fix the puncture. I reckon I've got two of them, not just one, but who knows? Not me until I get out there.

Last night I watched the Strictly Come Dancing final and Hamza won it, just like I thought he would. I also watched JK Rowling's Strike, which I really like. Then I fell asleep and when I awoke it was gone midnight. I got up around 0700hrs, made breakfast of porridge and chopped oranges, not forgetting a cup of tea and a glass of water and now I'm about to get on with the rest of my day.