Wednesday 11 November 2009

And now is the time when we are SILENT!

Blah. So, today was Remembrance Day, and also, apparently, this is National Mouth Cancer Prevention Month. I don’t have any particular comments about the second (except don't chew tobacco - it's icky), but as for the first, well, work, in its usual level of thoughtfulness and sensitivity, had two minutes of silence this morning at 11am. Now that’s all well and good, but they chose to start and finish the two minutes’ silence by sounding the fire alarm. I’ll tell you, nothing gets me into a more reverent mood than hearing the fire alarm!

Anyway, I’ve been exceedingly bad at keeping this up lately. I have interesting and amusing thoughts every day (well, interesting and amusing to me, anyway), but I never actually get around to writing them down. Then a week has passed, two weeks, etc. Very sad.

So, the glory of autumn in London (snigger) has notched down just a bit. About half the leaves have fallen, and the rest seem to just be clinging on, being stubborn. We’ve had a few cold and rainy days, and some chilly nights. You’d think though that, given the sudden preponderance of heavy coats and scarves, we were in the middle of an ice age. Londoners really are weather weenies. At work, the heating has been on since Oct 1, and, just for good measure, the air conditioning is on as well, b/c the heating makes it too hot. That’s energy efficiency for you!

I had to be off my bike for several days. As luck would have it, a gear cable gave way when I was off in the most inconvenient part of North London. That’s usually how it works. At least it wasn’t raining. Anyway, four trains and two hours later (for ten miles) I finally made it home. One of the funny things about cycling around London is that it opens up the entire city for easy exploration. Unfortunately, the flip side of that is that when something goes wrong, which it usually does, one is usually as far away from a useful train as is humanly possible without being in a place that doesn’t actually have trains (yeah- don’t interpret that statement too much there). But now I’m back cycling my 30ish miles per day, which makes me happy. Oh, and I’m scheming two big bike rides for the summer. One of them is from Trondheim, Norway, to a ski town in Sweden called Are. (That’s Are with a little round doodah over the A). Why? Well, for one, it sounds completely random – just the sort of thing I would do, and the other, I’ve been talking to someone online for a while in Are, and it occurred to me that this was the perfect flimsy excuse for me to cycle through the wilds of Norway and Sweden! (Going to try for the summer solstice). The other ride, for later in the summer sometime, will be from Bern, Switzerland, to Milan, over the Alps. Why is this? Well, I know people on both ends (so, of course, it’s very sensible), but mostly, it sounds like a ridiculous challenge, so why the hell not? I’m applying for my UK citizenship in January, and it’s just sort of beginning to dawn on me I have this whole, interesting continent to explore, right there. Of course, it would be better to have a better paying job… Baby steps… Oh, and David and I might cycle on the Rhine in the autumn. He’s not much for the hilly rides… (And both he and Robin think I’m a wackjob for wanting to do them, but that’s pretty par for the course).

Anyway, I’m about out-blathered for now. I’m going to really really try to be better at this. I’ve even set myself a daily reminder!

Oh, and the low light of winter must be here, b/c I'm craving carbs like you wouldn't believe! Time to get out the happy lamp!

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