Still not recording blog or miles.

It's Friday evening, and a day off work for me, in fact I don't go back to work until Monday, so I have the rest of the weekend to look foreward to. Wanted to do quite a bit today, but it kind of fizzled away, didn't achieve anything. Elizabeth has a very bad cough and cold, and like it seems, all my days off work, these days, I didn't go out on my bike. The weather was very passable, dry but strong cold wind, from the north west, of about 25 mph. I think I would have enjoyed it, but I feel guilty, about disappearing for a couple hours, alone on my bike, it doesn't feel fair to Elizabeth.

All I seem to do, is hang around like a nuisance, while Elizabeth, is so organised, always finding things that need to be done in the house, and doing them. Me I'm a dreamer, schemer, who likes to plan and prepare, before I do things. Trouble is, I make lists, buy the items required, then never quite get round to doing what I plan to do. A bit like this blog of mine, which I have failed to keep going, on a regular basis, which, I also note, no one is bothering to tap into, snaps would help, I suppose, but getting the stuff transferred from my mobile phone camera, is beyond me, at present, I've got the software somewhere, and the requisite lead, someday eh? Well for the moment I can't find them.

Keiron jnr is back staying with us, and the computer I'm typing on, now, is housed in his room, so making access, to it, a little problematic. Elizabeth and I have discussed this, and we've decided to move the computer into our room, in fact, I ordered a simple and cheap workstation/desk, from Argos, today, it will be delivered on Monday. Then comes the really hard part, putting it together, by following the manufacturer's instructions, something I'm not very good at, with not a lot of patience. It appears, these days, the only time I have patience, and am in a relaxed mood, is when I'm out on "that bicycle", as Elizabeth would say. Which I feel really guilty about.

I have said it before in this blog, I really don't know, how all you very good bicycle/commuting bloggers, out there, manage. If not work, then all sorts of other things, get in the way of my cycling. Take tomorrow, Tierloch, my youngest son, 28 this year, who still resides at home, has no lift to work, so I'm taking him at 05.30, in the morning, then I have to go back for him at 11.00. I'm hoping that I will be able to pop off on my bike for a couple of hours, in between, but I'm afraid, I'll get a puncture, which will ruin the rest of the day, Elizabeth needs to go shopping, after Tierloch gets home, and he also wants to tag along, he needs to buy some clothes, for a stag weekend, he's going on with Conor, in the last week of February. They're going to Benidorm, lucky boys.

They're not the only ones looking foreward to a holiday break, however, because I booked for Elizabeth and I, to go to Brighton 12th-15th February, just a couple of nights away, and a change. Of course, I want to take my bike, which reminds me, I haven't as yet, checked with the hotel, if there is somewhere, I can keep the bike, there? The year before last, in October, we went to Malta, for a week, I was able to hire a bike, and early each morning, I would take it for a spin along the seafront, there was beautiful promenade, which stretched for miles, where we stayed, in the town of ......, just like me, I can't remember it's name now.

Well I enjoyed it alot, and was able to get it all done, before Elizabeth got up, each day, so we were able to share, the rest of the day, together. Ideally, I'd do that everyday, but other things get in the way.

Currently, I'm almost paranoid with the fear of getting a puncture. I'm more than pleased with my new Top Continental safety system tyres, even with a considerable amount of tread, compared with the original slick road tyres, I had on my Subway 8, when I bought it, there is no discernible difference in rolling resistance. But the glass strewn on my routes seems to get worse all the time, or do I look for it more. The stupid thing is, I feel safer on the roads, in traffic, than I do on the cycle paths, simply because of all the glass, which appears to be smashed, on purpose, as almost an ambush, for us cyclists.

Having said that about, feeling safer, on the roads and in traffic, I'm sad to say I've had a couple of run ins with motorists of late. When I cycle home, after my day shift, it's dark and the roads are busy, the problem I've had is car drivers, just don't see me! It's like that advert, for driving safety, "THINK BIKE", they aren't looking for a cyclist, so don't see one, in these last couple of instances, it was me they didn't see. Not where you'd expect either, twice now, on a well lit roundabout, me in my bright yellow high viz jacket, with my Cateye headlight, and he makes to cross right in front of me. The first time, I lost my temper, the guy explained he hadn't seen me, and couldn't understand why, when I remonstrated about how obvious my jacket was, I felt a little guilty after, because he was genuinely sorry, I think. The second time,the original experience helped me, I was able to see, this driver just hadn't seen me, and I was already taking avoiding action, when he stopped at the last moment, he also apologised, and waved me on, and I merely nodded my acknowledgment.

That's it for today. I hope there aren't many typos in this, because I'm just going to press the publish button.