I have discovered a route around this countryside that is hopefully truck-free; I have bought a new bicycle pump; I have dusted the cobwebs of my bicycle; I have made myself determined ….
Argh!
Why do I need ID to get hay fever tablets?
So I go into the chemist’s with my eyes and nose running with hay fever, blinking and sneezing, and ask miserably for antihistamines, only to be told that I need ID to get those.
Oh! In my rush to take Ming to a job appointment, and pick Ants up, I had come unarmed with ID, just bringing a box of tissues with me.
The chemist, who knows me well (after a thousand years of collecting prescriptions for Anthony) offered me all sorts of hay fever remedies but I said none of them worked and I needed the heavy-duty stuff. Well, the rules must have tightened because, despite not needing a prescription for antihistamines, you need ID – argh!
It must be something to do with the drug problem I guess; there must be an evil ingredient in those antihistamines that is a druggy’s delight? I don’t know – I just want my nose to stop running! I will certainly not forget my ID tomorrow when we go into town.
On a lighter note, this morning, Ming and I rode our bikes together (not something he particularly wanted to do – ride with Mummy – but had agreed to do for my sake). Well, once we got off our road and into another, he began to falter because something kept going wrong with the gears and chain on his brand new, very expensive, birthday present road bike. I kept soaring past him on my electric bike (hahaha – evil laugh!) and coming back to see what was wrong, whilst heroically blowing my nose into my tissues). Eventually, Ming fixed the problem and we rode for an hour up a hill that didn’t look like a hill until we turned around and sped back down – exhilarating!
Once we got back home, Ming puffing and panting (his back surgery was only 5 months ago and still healing, so he is quite unfit and is supposed to be very careful until December), we both decided to do this every day from now on and I am thrilled! It won’t be embarrassing for him as we are in a quiet rural area so our road, and the road around the corner, has very little traffic.
It will be much better tomorrow, and we will probably ride further if I get the hay fever tablets.
Ahhhhchooooo!
Cycling in the countryside
Ah the joy of it! Cycling along country roads in the hurricane-like winds gentle autumn breeze, magpies dive-bombing your head birds twittering, the sun burning a hole in your back shining, farm trucks zooming violently past and carrying you along in their terrifying slipstreams gently idling past you, cows escaping yards and galloping towards you mooing quietly in the paddocks, children laughing at you smiling and waving – yes, pure joy!
Cycling confessions
I haven’t cycled as much as I’d hoped to over the last few days and I have lots of excuses, but my main excuse is that my new bicycle scares the hell out of me!
Okay, for those of you who may not have realized, this bicycle has a little motor. If you turn the settings to 0, it is an ordinary bike, but if you switch to 1, the motor kicks in and assists you; if you turn it up to 6, the bike takes off like a rocket ship, pedalling becomes almost unnecessary, and you may find yourself catapulted into a handy hedge.
I just love it, but I am still learning how to manage the settings and gears on our driveway. I plan to venture out of the driveway onto the road on Sunday.
Oh the joy of cycling!
Now don’t get too excited. I haven’t jumped onto the bike yet but I am dressed in my bike riding clothes (an old tracksuit I found which seems strangely snug but it will do.)
Okay, so the plan was to get up at 4.30am and follow Ming to the dairy (around 3kms away) but two things prevented this. Firstly, I didn’t wake up and, secondly, even if I had woken up, it was too dark.
I forgave myself and decided to ride around the block (around 7kms) later in the morning but Ming reminded me that I still didn’t have a helmet. And then I got a terrible attack of hayfever and I didn’t want to contaminate my new bike with nose drippings.
So now that it’s nearly noon, I will probably leave the ride until later when the wind dies down (yes, we are experiencing those awful easterlies that make cycling so difficult.)
In the meantime, here is a picture of Gutsy9 first thing in the morning, just before I get him out of his cot/cage and take him outside to play.
Tomorrow, I will go into town and buy a helmet and a basket to put Gutsy9 in on the bike. This afternoon I will do a few laps of the driveway again. I promise!
Bicycling beginnings!
I have now figured out the gears and settings of my new bicycle and tomorrow will be Day 1. I’m going to record my progress on the blog (nothing like blogging to keep a person honest!) for 5 days.
