Liadnan

Eleanor the Bike that is. Eleanor II strictly speaking. I dropped her off at a small bike shop in Whitechapel this morning to have a brake service, as they were becoming a little dodgy. OK, extremely dodgy. That in itself isn't going to be any great expense, but the guy then took a look at her and started pointing out other things (chain, block, pretty much everything bar the frame could do with looking at it appears). Bottom line appears to be that dealing with everything that needs doing could well cost almost as much as buying a new equivalent, certainly more than she and her predecessor each cost (I picked them up second hand from a bike-hire shop in Jersey that habitually sold off its hire stock after the summer season each year). Bah humbug. Am thinking about it. The guy seemed fairly reliable, I don't think he was trying to get me to spend money he didn't think was genuinely necessary, and this one has done a year and a half for me and a season of touring hire before that (and then sat around in the shop for a while before I bought it).

She's named after Eleanor of Aquitaine. There is a reason why my bikes are named after Eleanor of Aquitaine but it's obscure, complicated, and not very interesting.

Coo, this year's virus is a bugger isn't it. About a week of feeling mildly ill, then four days of feeling like absolute shite (though the first of those was possibly complicated by tequila slammers and whisky on quite a lot of wine and no more than nibbles the night before - and waking up in a house with no coffee, cigarettes, or breakfast) and now complete and utter exhaustion for three days so far. Am procrastinating about whether to cycle into work... probably a foolish idea as in my current state it will probably leave me sleeping all day in the armchair in my room, but the weather looks gorgeous...

Hot, dry, and sunny, that I like, and have spent much of the last three days enjoying. But as those of you in London don't need me to tell you, this afternoon's switch to the muggy is disgusting. I would rather like to go to sleep, however I am, all of a sudden, busy, plus we have an evening of watering with booze the hands that feed us this evening. With our luck there'll be a thunderstorm*.

Nasty close run thing on the bike at Holborn Circus this morning. God forbid that a bike should actually be in the bike lane when a white van wants to push over into it. Right into it, so that one of my pedals mounted the kerb and the other gave his paintwork a much deserved scratch. At one of the nastiest junctions in central London. Cycling in the sun would be fun if it weren't for the fact that everybody's concentration is that little bit off...

This post brought to you by the department of "for the sake of it".

*and, right on cue... "here comes the rain again...."

Hard frost.

Preferred route into work involves an idyllic green lane, with at one point a winding 1:1 gradient as it descends from the centre of the island to the coast.

Number of gritting trucks on the island: minimal.

Number of people standing around wondering how they were going to move their cars outside the house at the start of the gradient and witnessing me riding past: 4.

State of my brakes: no better than ok.

Spectacular. 9, 9, 8, 9 and 3 from the East German judge for style.

Ow.

But I am interweb impoverished until I manage to make either dialup (and indeed my home land line) or my wireless card work properly. Proper posting will therefore remain on hiatus.

So far I'm actually, somewhat to my surprise, managing to keep to my plan to become vaguely fit: cycling into work every day (and, um, into a wall this morning while trying to work out why my bike was so reluctant to be in fifth gear, but these things happen) and going for a swim most mornings before that (there's an outdoor heated pool at the place I'm staying) once the first plane of the morning has woken me up (downside to the place I'm living: the end of the airport runway is approximately ten feet away from my window). Riding in takes me about 20 minutes, half of it downhill and half along the coast path (Jersey seems pretty good for cycle paths separated from the roads). Going home is a different matter: It's a big hill... I've also, in a fit of enthusiasm, booked myself fencing lessons and riding lessons. We shall see...

On the other hand, I have nothing to read except for the things I already took to Greece and read there. I've already re-read The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana and River of Gods. Still, I'm back in London this weekend and early next week for a trial, so I forsee myself bringing back a large and heavy bag.

Bit too late to comment on the cricket save to say hurrah, obviously.

I had lots to say about the first episodes of the new series of Spooks but I've forgotten. Amused to notice a reference to Corpus Christi being noted for classics. Interesting to see the political nuances, particularly re attitudes to current US policy, the fictional version thereof clearly being not too different from the real one.

Well, that was dull, wasn't it?