Going Dutch

Or, rather, I have finally figured out how to cycle home from the supermarket with shopping bags hanging from my handlebars. We live about 3/4 of a mile from the supermarket, which isn't so bad, but at night, when the park closes, it's a 1 1/4 mile walk, which is annoying, especially if it's cold, wet and windy, which it is tonight. I was never able to manage to cycle home with the bags hanging from my handlebars - they were too heavy and the swung wildly. Solution? Put the heavy stuff in my backpack and the light stuff hang from the handlebars. Problem solved. Of course, I could get a rack and panniers, and, in fact, I do now own panniers (though not yet a rack), but these are strictly for touring rather than daily use. Putting a rack and panniers on a bike is, as far as I am concerned, the equivalent of buying the minivan. I'm not quite ready for that yet.

Anyway, been thinking more about what I would like to do careerwise. Much as I would love to go back to pure geology, that probably isn't feasible, meaning I should find a way to tie in my GIS skills - build on my career rather than start it over again. I think I'd like to focus on urban hazards, as I've always been drawn to, essentially, people building in stupid places. And - I've always been really interested in our relationship with water - flooding, coasts, etc. This is likely to become a much bigger issue in southern England in the future, as they predict that summer is going to get drier, and the UK ain't got no sensible water policy! Anyway, we'll see...