Food, bikes and haircuts

Saturday started with me getting up late around 8am after a late evening playing cards till midnight, followed by a trip to the barbers which was heaving and saw me sandwiched in the waiting area between a far too chatty grandmother (suspected grandmother, possible great great grandmother) in her miniskirt and 3 kids having their hair cut and a 25 stone man listening and singing (out of tune) to his ipod while exuding a very unpleasant garlicky odour. One of the Grandmothers kid dropped a lollipop on the floor, the grandmother picked it up gave lick clean before handing back to the child, which I must say made me wince a little looking at the state of the very hairy barbers floor, still I remember my own Grandmother doing something similar things and even rescuing a chicken out the dust bin my mother had discarded.


In the afternoon I decided I needed to go look at bikes, it could be one of my the worst investment, but I've decided I needed to give riding to work a go, I've no excuse as my friend Julie says I work close to home and its downhill all the way (uphill all the way back though) and I need to do something other than sit in car, sit at a computer at work or sit at home painting figures or reading books. So inspired by Julie and Dave I will see if I can make it work, but I may in a months time find I have a bicycle shaped trip hazard or bicycle shaped clothes hanger. My friends laughed at me (jokingly) later that evening at the idea of me biking to work and suggested I hang a bike on wall as a trendy decoration...hmmm, I didn't fight back since its likely they may proved right.


I quickly called in to see AndyL after a Ste phone me after a particular comic/magazine he couldn't get. AndyL looked shattered from his 3 late nights in a row and it was free comic day so shop the shop was quite busy.


On Saturday evening I went to my friends AndyT & Linda for tea, (Chris's parents for my LRP friends) with other friends Ste and Deb. The food I hate was far too spicy (I don't mind small amounts of spicy, so long as its not too hot) and combined with the 1st 3 glasses of wine i'd drank in while, meant I ended up waking up in the night with heartburn and could find no form anti acid in the house, so had a bad nights sleep. Apart from the food and drink which didn't agree with me it was a very good evening.


Yesterday morning I went to Halfords to buy a bike, the cheapest one in the shop of the style I wanted, I also purchased a helmet, bike lock and maintenance after asking for advice.
Then a practice run on some quiet roads, well I did half an hour, but on the last very steep hill my legs had turned to jelly and couldn't get started and travel in a straight line at the same time, so pushed the bike until the hill got a little gentler and then finished my ride back home, feeling extremely unfit and nowhere near ready to cycle to work, more practise and a lot more stamina. I went out again today, this time finding a route with no steep hills, a very difficult task in Derbyshire, I travelled around the local council estate doing a couple of figures of eight, still only about half an hour, but that felt plenty. I found I also need to build a little confidence especially at junctions where traffic is behind you or you need to cross traffic, currently I'm either getting off and pushing the bike across the road or waiting for the car to pass me before I attempt the junction.


I also watched The Golden Compass DVD having missed out at the cinema, the film was great really enjoyed it and recommend it.


So what else did I do this weekend, I finished the last 3 of 7 maps of the Ascendancy Continents for the website, a complilation of bits of the maps below and did a bit sewing.