Non-stop ride, approximately 15 miles...

I'm trying to break a cycle of just one ride per week. The world keeps conspiring against me, which is annoying. I was out yesterday (Saturday 14th March). I rode to where? Nowhere! I rode towards and then past Botley Hill, then hung a right on to The Ridge and followed the road round into Woldingham and then down Slines Oak Road towards that steep bit of the same road that leads up to the 269. A 15-miler, not bad and, as I say, non-stop. I don't know, I was hoping to ride to Oxted but, in all honesty and while I know the whole thing is psychological (see last post) I just didn't fancy riding up Titsey Hill. Also, for some reason, I didn't want to be away from home for too long. There were things to do and I felt a little guilty about being out on the bike. I shouldn't feel that way and generally speaking I don't, but I felt I ought to get back and do things, boring things like taking old paint tins to the dump.Then a trip to Sevenoaks and, of course, that means going to Gail's and despite saying no more cakes, I had one of those tiny ones with pink icing. The tea in Gail's is excellent because it's made in one of those teapots with a built-in infuser, like the ones in Biscuit Love in Nashville. The pots in Gail's are small, though, and you just about get two cups. I checked out the bookshop and found two books I'd like to read, one being a book about the band Simple Minds. I was never into them at all, but the book seems interesting. Trouble was it was £25 and right now we can't afford to over spend so I left it behind and likewise a book about stoics and stoicism. I'm almost a stoic, but not quite. The reason I shrug my shoulders is because I simply can't be bothered, not because I don't care of whatever being a stoic means. It's about shrugging one's shoulders, but I don't really know and that's why I'd like to buy the book.

Those pink iced cakes in Gail's.

Sunday rolled around and I almost forgot it was Mother's Day, which means everything stops and things need to be arranged; instead of cycling I drove over to Sutton to see my mum, listening to Moving Pictures by Rush (a great album). Normally, having been in the home, I feel depressed when I leave and so I can't really listen to music. I don't know, I need to spend time realising how lucky I am and also how I need to tackle that list I keep talking about, I need to act basically (not acting, I'd make a terrible thespian) but acting in the sense that I need to tick things off my list, but first I have to write the bloody thing. I suppose I should be writing it now instead of doing this blog, but hey ho! Perhaps that what being a stoic is all about, saying 'hey ho' every now and then. 

"Damn! The local leisure centre has fallen into a sink hole! I won't be able to go swimming!"

"Hey ho!"

That's it, the ability to say 'hey ho!' rather than fret and get uptight. I don't know, I'll have to read that book and that's a fact. And the one about Simple Minds even if I've never been a fan. But I've got Geddy Lee's book to read and somebody left me a copy of The Drought by JG Ballard. I need more bookshelves and that's a fact. The Simple Minds book is called Our Secrets are the Same and it's written by Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill with some help from Graeme Thomson. I will be reading it, of that you know. 

My pink iced cake!

It's Sunday night, almost 2100hrs and I've checked a load of unchecked lottery tickets. I haven't won anything, not even a tenner. I buy lottery tickets and then don't check them for at least three months and then, when I do, there's a bit of excitement in the air, perhaps I've been holding on to the winning ticket for all these weeks, but no, I wasn't and I never will. 

Have I ever mentioned my love of Pellegrino mineral water? No? I love it and I have one large glass left in the bottle, hold on while I go and fill my glass...well, perhaps not a full glass, but enough. I'm watching a YouTube video of this guy who's parents died and decided to buy a crofters cottage in a desolate part of Scotland. He has a cat and chickens and he's slowly doing things around the place, like taking down a car port, making a home for his rescue chickens and so on. It's great and so is the music that accompanies each video. I love videos of this nature, they're cosy and that's what I need at the moment, cosyness. I'm also still obsessed with the band Rush as they're going to be touring the UK in 2027. I'm guessing they'll be doing Glastonbury too. I'd love to go see them, I really would. Oh yes, and I still haven't bought my guitar.

One of two books I need to read!

The weather, incidentally, was wonderful yesterday. The sun was out and I felt nostalgic. I started to wish I had a flask of hot water and a couple of tea bags plus, perhaps, some Belvita biscuits. Had I been so equipped I would have headed for the Tatsfield Churchyard or somewhere else out in the open. Riding along The Ridge I spotted a fallen tree in the woods to my left and that would have been ideal as a stopping point. I might investigate buying another flask as I'm sure yesterday's weather will, at some stage soon, repeat itself.

Perhaps next week I'll manage a two-ride weekend, here's hoping. I'm also hoping that the weather next weekend will be as good as it was yesterday. If it is, I might well buy a flask and bask in the sunshine watching the world go by. But then again, I might end up in Caffe Nero or Starbucks or even Costa Coffee. Who knows?