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Wednesday, October 16, 2002 18:00
Whiling away the hoursI remember reading once that only boring people get bored. It's not true. I'm very easily bored. I'm also very easily amused, which is useful, but this afternoon I can find nothing that is amusing. All the email lists are quiet and dull, when I called AndyG he got scowled at and had to put the phone down, and I've done all the work I can realistically do right now. Still, at least our flexi allowance has changed so that we can leave at 3pm if we want now, as long as there is office cover until 5. That will make cycling home that bit easier. As it's now 17.5 miles, anything that makes cycling home a bit easier is a good thing. Speaking of which, we had floods yesterday. Not only did the garden get trashed and the back door flooded because the roof on the porch bit is shite, as Boris the van was going into the garage to have his wheel bearings looked at we had to cycle. When we awoke we discovered a gale force wind (there was a tornado just down the road, ripped the roof off a Methodist church) and seriously heavy rainfall. If the van hadn't been poorly we surely would have driven, but as it was we had to ride. I've been having a pretty scatty week for some reason, and had left my gore-tex at work, which wasn't terribly helpful. It's a good job that I had my heavy altura still. Even so, bits of me got soaked. The seal skin socks filled up with water to the ankles, I had water pooling in the tips of my gloves, it was horrible. Not only that, but viz was pretty diabolical and the drivers were less than considerate. If the side of the road is flooded to a depth of a foot (which it was in places) then not only does your car prefer to go around it, you bozo, cyclists really could do with avoiding it as well. Bikes don't like having their bottom brackets underwater and it's really hard to steer and pedal when there is water above the hubs and your feet. So please don't overtake a bike when it's trying to get past a flooded piece of road! I'd also like to make a plea to all drivers not to stop looking in their mirrors just because they are stuck in a traffic jam. Cyclists are still trying to get to wherever they are going, and one of the plus points about a bike is that the journey times are predictable. We don't tend to get caught in traffic. Except, of course, when the car drivers decide to take up as much space as possible, and to leave as little room as they can. Believe it or not, cyclists tend to prefer to overtake on the outside - no parked cars to contend with and it's easy to see traffic coming in the opposite direction. Sitting right next to the white line won't really help you see what's going on any better and it does make it more hazardous for smaller vehicles like bikes to get past. Of course it could be that you are selfish, churlish and anti-bike, and don't want us to get past. In which case, "Screw you ho-ho". Fingal needs a re-spray, but it's going to have to wait until Spring. I also have my first thesis committee meeting on the 4th December, and I'm starting to panic about that somewhat. I really need a holiday and I want to go up North to see the folks. I do miss the proper Winters. We don't really get Winter down here. It's all just wet and windy, like having a prolonged Autumn that just merges into Spring at some point. This year's winter clothing purchase shall be mostly gore-tex. What about life on the weird front? Well, it's certainly weird. I have spent the last week trying to work out what sweet Ganesha means when He says it's made with cardamom and is sort of honey coloured, and it's definitely His favourite and I should make some for Him. So far I have discovered rava laddu, sheer payra and pedha. I have this sneaking suspicion that the latter is going to turn out to be the one, which would be unfortunate, as I really don't think that there is a ready supply of condensed buffalo milk anywhere in rural Devon. If you know differently, please feel free to mail me because I would be extraordinarily grateful. Other than that, Shiva made an appearance a few weeks ago. Apparently it's time I got to know Him, but He doesn't really seem to do anything much except lounge around on the sofa and talk with Ganesha. Only I don't think they're talking. There are noises, mumbles, and they're making it look like they are discussing things that I don't know about and can't hear properly, but I'm not dim. The sense of intent is that they are watching. Hanging out, waiting for something. Not sure what. Also, it's time for me to do my first T'ai-Chi grading, which is scaring the pants off me. I've now persuaded AndyG to come along to class, which is great, because now I'm guaranteed a lift. It also means that Ian has charged me with getting him caught up with the rest of the class. Unfortunately, getting him to get his act together to practise with me is a whole different ball game and I'm reluctant to badger him too much in case we start running into personal space issues - one of the reasons it took so long to get him to come in the first place. We're about to join the local LETS scheme. AndyG is going to offer such things as manandvan and Bicycle Repair Man. Having been doing a few readings for people at work, I'm planning on offering readings as a service, and possibly some healing as well, although my mind isn't made up on that one yet. I'd rather do something with the Land, but if there's something there for me to do I'm sure it'll become clear in time. The healing thing has been coming out more recently, and even though it's not something I consider myself to be particularly good at, I'm at least competent and don't make things any worse. I could get quite good with practise, I suspect. The skin rash has been fairly subdued for a while. I'm not as blotchy all over as I was, although the skin is still terribly, terribly dry and I can't have a shower without dumping half a bottle of skin therapy lotion on it otherwise it all peels off, turns hard and flaky, and eventually cracks and starts bleeding. I noticed today that I'm looking pretty thin and drawn in the face these days, although some of my wrinkles have gone. Still aiming for 60kg and sub 14% body fat. I'll let you know if I get there. The white hairs are back, though, worse luck. I do feel like a lot of changes are either happening, somewhere beneath my awareness, or are gearing up to happen. Of course, a lot of change has happened already in the last few months, and even though I'm inside the process, it's still pretty mind blowing to look back at how far I've come in the last year or so. Still a long way to go, though, a very long way to go, and I'm not entirely sure in what direction I'm headed. I suppose I'll find out, with time. 6pm and it's getting dark already. My lift will be here soon, so I shall wrap this up. Until I next get bored....
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