Happy Canada Day!

July 1, 2010

This is about the extent of our Canada Day celebrations this year. There isn’t even any water in the pool (luckily for our flags). I did get G saying something that sounded like it was supposed to be “Happy Canada Day.” She’s an enthusiastic mimic.

It was somewhere close to 30 degrees out today; really nice and summery but not too hot to cycle because there was haze and some cloud cover. I’m tempted to pull a reverse Fat Cyclist and put in some sort of esoteric non-imperial unit for any non-Celsius speakers who may happen by, but I’ll look it up properly and tell you 30C is 86F.

There are no fireworks for us this year, although when the Colleges had their May Ball fireworks we could actually see them from upstairs in our house!  That suits us just fine these days. Younger people (and at least one slightly older person) we know went punting and drinking on the Backs (in the cold, I might add) to watch, but we were warm and sober and very close to our bed and to our bedtime.

The weather has been fantastic since just before my last depressing post, and we must have been busy since then, because that was 11 days ago. What a bad blogger! If I’d blogged more, maybe there would have been a record of what we’ve done all this time (aside from work).

Anyway, Happy What’s Left of Canada Day to all Canadians, and to anyone else who cares to celebrate.

Keep yer stick on the ice…

Other and blather | Comments (1)
Last modified July 1, 2010

Doldrums

June 20, 2010

Phooobooboo. We have had quite a week here. Which is to say: we’ve all been sick and it’s been really boring and not much has happened.

The weather has me practically hibernating, although it’s not really wintry, which is good because, in keeping with our family tradition, I appear to have lost my winter bike gloves.

The only possible blogging topic that’s made me feel at all animated has been the things I’ve seen on my bike rides to and from work, and I’m trying to avoid writing too much about that. I have a couple of ground rules for myself here, and that topic would break both of them. All of them. Wait. How many ground rules do I have? …ok, at least three. All subject to change if think I can justify it.

For now, one of those rules is to keep the strong language to a minimum, and to be honest, most of the fun of revisiting events from my commute that make me feel animated would be in combining all sorts of rude words in absurd, hyperbolic, oxymoronic, or simply moronic combinations.

Combined with my general animation shortage, this leaves me with not much to say for the moment.

I was going to just post a photo of our California poppies all twisted up and huddled against the cold, gloomy weather, but when I went to take the shot things were looking up.

Maybe not quite the summery weather I’m yearning for, but enough to mow the lawn.

Cycling, Other and blather | Comments (2)
Last modified June 20, 2010

Raindrops kept falling on my head…

June 11, 2010

…but only through the vents in my helmet.

(A ride home, in disjointed vignettes. Artsy, non?)

(Non. Pas vraiment.)

What I was concerned about, as I started home, were the raindrops falling on my knees. There’s an uncomfortable period, at the start of a wet bike ride, when the water hits cold on your skin, and the motion creates a wind chill. It’s like getting in the pool. After a while, especially if you’re exerting yourself, it doesn’t matter that the water’s cold, or wet. Once you’re wet, you’re wet, and you don’t get any wetter.

Wait, that’s not true. It might be true if you weren’t wearing shoes and socks. If it’s REALLY raining, and you’re out there for long enough, your shoes fill up with water. And that is wetter.

By a few minutes into the ride, I was warmed up and able to enjoy the fact that this was summer rain — more than a few degrees above freezing.

Saw a van accelerate through a puddle to splash some guys waiting for the walk signal. The passenger-side door opened and a young guy leaned out and shouted back, and I quote, “haw! haw! haw!”

I hope those guys know each other so he and his driving buddy can receive the wedgies they so deserve upon their next meeting.

Overtaken by a grown-up man on a fixie.*

This guy won points for waiting until he was well past me before pulling back in, so I didn’t get rooster-tailed (nobody in their right mind would have a fixed-wheel bicycle…ahem…a fixed-wheel bicycle with fenders: that would ruin the clean look, and once you’ve crossed that line you may as well put the rest of the useful parts back on).

He also won points for continuing to be faster than me after passing me — this is less common than you would think.

Then the guy won more points for stopping at a red light. It must be very inconvenient to interrupt your rhythm like that when you only have one gear.

Made it home, using several of the working gears on my bike, and changed into some dry pyjamas. The end.

*For those of you not au courant with bicycle fashion, fixed-wheel bicycles are a HUGE fad right now. It doesn’t mean the wheel doesn’t go around. No, it is (slightly) less inconvenient than that. It just means the back wheel has no freewheel (or freehub), and no extra sprockets. Not only do you only get one gear, but you cannot stop pedaling. There is no coasting, and presumably fixie devotees would claim that this is awesome (though perhaps only riders of a certain vintage would use this specific terminology). On a straight stretch, you can tell a fixie from a distance by the hilarious frequency at which the rider’s legs go around.

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Last modified June 11, 2010