Boxing day ride...

Riding on Boxing Day has been a tradition ever since this blog was established back in 2009. We've missed a few here and there, but it's always on our radar; sometimes we ride on the 27th December, or possibly later, and yes, sometimes we don't go at all, but it's always there, always discussed and invariably we aim to do it. Yesterday was Boxing Day and while we might have visited Sheree's Tearooms in Tatsfield Village, the place is always closed the day after Christmas so we have to find somewhere else. Back in the day it would have been an open air location, like Woodmansterne Green or the Tatsfield Bus Stop or churchyard, but since the pandemic we've been hiding out in coffee shops and there's no going back. That said, last week (last Saturday) I rode to Oxted and the Nero was packed so I had to sit outside. Fortunately, the weather was fine otherwise I would have decamped to Starbucks or Costa.

Inside Esquire's, Boxing Day 2025, waiting for Andy...

We decided to ride to Westerham and visit Esquire's Coffee, a franchised operation across the road from the Costa and, I must say, a million times better. First, it isn't a chain operation, but second it's just better. I can get fed up with Costa, the tea seems to get cold quickly, you don't get more than one cup of tea from the pot and, well, a change is as good as a rest. I like it when the tea pot arrives with another pot of hot water to add to the teapot and make another cup or two, but these days it's not offered. I might start bringing a small flask and adding my own, wonder what they'd say to that?

The weather was fine, warmer than yesterday and, of course, dry, which means ideal cycling weather. The plan was to meet at 1000hrs so I left the house around 0900hrs, probably something like 0915hrs, and hoofed it. Surprisingly, I did it in under one hour, my record for this was set many years ago (52 minutes) but yesterday I managed 55 minutes or thereabouts. I padlocked the bike to some railings across the road, outside the barbers, and then checked my texts. Andy was running late (Garmin and hill issues) so I ordered a tea and sat there on a leather sofa (it probably wasn't real leather) and enjoyed a cup of tea, not in a paper, cup as is often the case in Costa, although, as I've probably said before, if you order a large tea in a takeaway cup you get more than if you insist on a pot (or it seems that way) and the tea stays warmer for longer in the insulated cup.

When Andy arrived he bought me another tea and we sat there chilling and talking about what we did the day before (Christmas day). For both of us, it was a family affair and most enjoyable. The television hasn't been brilliant (it seems to be getting worse!) but there are good things if you look for them and steer clear of quiz shows and British celebrities. Mark Gatiss ghost stories are fantastic and can be found on the BBC iplayer if you missed them, there's quite a few of them. I watched a couple. I watched the tail end of The Great Escape (a festive classic!) and a couple of Nick Park animations (both Wallace & Gromit) and there was something good on Netflix, Retreat, starring Cillian Murphy, which kept us occupied. I'll admit that I find more entertainment these days on YouTube especially from the likes of Nomad Sam, Kyle Pidduck, Outdoor Boy, Simon Wilson, Tobe Explores, Homeless Kiwi in London and others (depending upon your own preferences), but YouTube stuff is over in the blink of an eye, there's nothing to 'get into' unless you watch a succession of short videos in one sitting, but these days it's difficult finding anything worth watching apart from the news and that can be tiresome, it often leaves me with more questions than answers, like why are we doing away with trial by jury? Why do we need digital (or any) ID cards? Why is the Royal Family and the rich above the law? Why can't we do more for the homeless, like housing them in four-star hotels?  What exactly is Trump up to in Nigeria? Why can't Putin get the hell out of Ukraine?

It's 27 December, the day after Boxing Day and the dilution of Christmas is well underway, or perhaps it's just started. Soon it will be the day after the day after Christmas Day and thoughts will turn to New Year's Eve (in my opinion, the most depressing day of the entire year). I say it often but both Christmas and New Year are a huge anti-climax. People shop around in the weeks leading up to 'the big day' as if their lives depended on it, shops are packed with people buying in food supplies as if the Government is planning to cut off our heating and power and leave us all with night lights and fires made in the middle of the living room using broken-up furniture; and then, the big day arrives, we have lunch round somebody's house (or our own) and then we're back home and it's all over until next year. New Year is the same but in a different way, there's that awful countdown programme on television, there's the fireworks and what have you, but then you wake up in the morning, on January 1st, only to realise that nothing has changed and everything is how you left it. Back to work, guys, as DJ Audits on YouTube might say. 

Sunshine after the rain...

Kona Scrap reunited with Andy's Kona Blast, Tatsfield Village

Saturday 13 December: There's been a lot of rain on a daily basis of late, prompting me to consider rejoining the gym. It's that or buying a stationary bike. Rain often means no riding, but last week, last Sunday to be precise, I decided it was time to find the waterproofs and get out there. Oddly, on my outward ride (to Sutton) there was no rain and I started to feel a little disappointed. What's the point of donning the waterproofs if it's not going to rain? Well, I needn't have worried as the return journey was wet. Very wet. I'd cycled over mum's way, or rather where mum used to live. Now, she's in a home, which is very depressing on so many levels, and I was going to visit her. It was lunch time when I got there and around an hour later the rain had started and it was really coming down. Half of me was thinking, great, I can take full advantage of my waterproofs. The other half was thinking, fuck, it's raining and I'm going to get soaked, But I didn't get soaked. I followed the same route home as the one I took out and when I got home I felt remarkably fine. Alright, I was wet and this I can never understand. I hadn't been soaked through by the rain, but my clothes were wet, mainly, I'm guessing, from sweat. So I peeled them off. The only item of clothing that had been soaked was my socks. I was wearing these waterproof fell running shoes and, while they were waterproof, they hadn't kept my socks away from the driving rain. The key thing was getting out there. For the past few weeks I've been riding only on a Sunday. My usual Saturday ride to Oxted I haven't been doing of late either because of family needs (Christmas shopping excursions) or because of inclement weather. I hate the rain and will avoid it if possible, it's the last thing I want to do, but after a while, when I realise that it ain't going to stop, I bite the bullet.

That was last Sunday (I think 7th December). It's now 13th December, a Saturday, and there was sunshine. It wasn't that cold either so off I went on a non-stop ride up to Botley Hill then right towards Woldingham and home. Coming up the steep end of Slines Oak Road where it joins the 269 there was a lot of traffic and I knew that if I lost momentum I'd have trouble getting started again. Sure enough I was forced to put my fee on the tarmac and then spent an age trying to gather enough momentum to get going. Evenually, I managed it and the rest was easy.

Tomorrow I'm planning a ride to Tatsfield village to meet Andy, it's now a regular ride to Sheree's Tearooms for a pot of tea. I'll be leaving at 0800hrs on the dot and I'll be on the Kona. The weather is looking fine, perhaps not as sunny as today, but no rain (or at least I hope not).

After a cup of tea Andy took a photo of the two bikes together. They hadn't seen each other for some time but now they were reunited. Both bikes had been on many adventures together, all of which are documented on this here blog. Check it out as both machines have been travelling the planet, or our little bit of it, for as long as this blog has existed and now here they are together again close to the bus stop in the centre of the village where they often sheltered from the rain and wind waiting to take their owners home.