Araucaria

For the last couple of years, Moonface and I have been doing the Guardian quick crossword on most days when we have time. Sometimes we do it together, sometimes we fight over it, sometimes we allow the other first bash. We usually manage most clues, and frequently finish the puzzle.

However, I've never been able to do more than one or two clues of the cryptic crossword. This inability has annoyed me for so long, as I can remember sitting with the equivalent Telegraph crossword with friends while I was at university and not doing too badly.

Today, I idly glanced at the cryptic crossword while I was eating my late breakfast, and managed to slot a couple of clues into place. At lunchtime and tea-break it can together, so that by afternoon I had completed all clues except one.

And I am REALLY pleased with myself. It's good to know that my brain's not rusting as fast as my body.

Cock-ups at Cock-crow

Tommo started a new job this morning, for which he needed to meet a new colleague at 5am at Gordano service station on the M5.

Unfortunately, neither he nor I had changed the clocks on our mobiles.......so our alarms woke us an hour late. Rush, rush. We arrived there at about twenty-five past. I'm amazed how quickly it's possible to drive there in the small hours of the morning with no other traffic around. We were both rather wound up by the experience. I hope that he gets on OK and recovers his equilibrium after such a rushed start.

*************************

Then, taking a cup of tea before returning to bed for a couple of hours, I stood outside in the garden as the first light dimmed the stars. The birdsong was fantastic, coming from so many directions at once, so many individual songs being identifiable from so many gardens. It was one of those stunning minutes of solitude that make you appreciate nature to the full.

:o/

Riding

I'm feeling quite pleased with myself at the moment, in spite of the pain in my side.
This is the fourth weekend in a row in which I have been out for a proper cycle ride, as opposed to just a spin around the city. They've been very varied rides, as well.

Three weeks ago, 6th March I guess, I went with Dan, Jeremy and some of their mates over to Wales to ride the Skyline trail near Afan. The day had started out fine, but turned to drizzle and then steady rain one we had gotten going. To be honest, I didn't enjoy that day too much, as I was by far the slowest of the group, and it was all a little too much for me. The others riding were all long-legged skinny whippets with thighs of steel. I'm not like that.

Two weeks ago I had the offer of a road-ride with Dan & Dunc, but instead went down to the Quantocks with Simes & Graze. We had much better weather, the drive down was shorter, and the riding both easier and more open. Although weather had a massive effect on my enjoyment, I'm convinced that the Q's are just a better place to ride. The climbs aren't so onerous, for a start, and the singletrack seems to be drier and (perhaps) easier, too.

Last weekend I'd made arrangements on the Saturday to meet up with Dan, Duncs & Matt in the Mendips for some more open ridge riding. We met up as arranged in the Farm car park near Shipham but the others thought they had arranged for a road ride, and had accordingly brought road bikes whereas I had my rather heavy & slow MTB. They were all three wrong, of course. Whoops. Bugger.

So they went off on their lightweight carbon 23mm-tyred pieces of expensive nothing, and I drove almost to the top of the plateau and went off-road. It was lovely - sun shining, a cool wind, few people around. It's just a shame that I managed to fall off the bike onto my ribs. I'm not sure whether one is broken, but I do know that it still hurts like hell a whole week later. The fall was my usual story of going too slowly up a hill and losing my balance when going over an obstruction. So I fell off sideways, still clipped into the pedals. This is why I had given up SPDs until the previous week, when I replaced my normal flatties in an attempt to improve my speed following my ignominous performance the week before that in Wales. It hurt, and I was too winded to get up again immediately, and felt a right fool lying there on the grass and gravel, gasping. Eventually I did rise, get back on the bike and continue, but I think that my heart was no longer in it.

And today, I spent two hours on the road cycling to Shire and Hallen, Blaize and back. Again, great weather, light winds, and enjoyment.


:o)

UK Biobank

Today I spent a couple of hours enrolling in the UK Biobank project, a massive longitudinal health study of half a million people between 40 and 69 years old designed to discover factors leading to disease and mortality over the years.

The enrolling process was easy: first there was a long series of questions completed on a computer, lifestyle choices, health, family history etc, then a couple of perception and reaction tests. Next was a quick physical, measuring my blood pressure, weight,, height, fat levels, lung capacity and so on. That was interesting, as I neither knew how much I weighed or how tall I am to within any degree of accuracy. Now I do. I also know that I have high blood pressure, outside the normal range, and that I need to lose some fat. I am an official porker! At least my lung capacity is good, and my waist measurement is fine. As it's the end of winter, it's probable that a load of Winterspeck will fall off me soon, anyway.

The blood sample was a botch- the technician said that my vein collapsed, so that he could onlt fill some of the vials from my right arm and thus had to drill a hole in my left one as well. All done, little pain. And then I had to disappear into the gents to piss into a jar. I think that this is the first time I've ever had to give a urine sample. How can I have avoided it for so long?

The recruiters must have made appointments for all my locality's cohort on the same day. While in the office being tested and probed, I met two near neighbours who are also in the scheme. I guess that in such a middle-class area, the acceptance rate is very high.

I'm pleased that I went in.
I'd not have made another appointment to see my doctor about the putative high blood pressure that she's warned me about a few months back, so this was a confirmation that (I suppose ) I should do something. Mind, Olly my mother has suffered hypertension for about thirty years and is on beta-blockers, so since she has managed to reach 84 years old with most faculties intact, I'm likely to at least do the same.

So, what changes do I have to make?
Less fats, less meat, less food, more exercise, less salt.
Let's see how it goes, kids!



:o)

Nine Tree Hill

I found this picture on Facebook, but cannot discover who took it.
From the position of the sun and the graffiti, it must have been taken within the last month or so at sunrise. It's just a lovely photo. As for the title, make of it what you will.


:o)