Wheels on Fire
The past few months have seen me biking to work on a fairly regular basis. Since the acquisition of the purple girly bike back in May, I have since been promoted to a rough and ready, spit and sawdust, testosterone-heavy bloke's bike in a fetching shade of black. Apart from the few hungover mornings when lifts have been begged or taxis hailed, most days have seen me pedalling, red-faced and sweating like a recently-raced thoroughbred through the alleys, towpaths and streets of my home town. As the autumn approaches, the slight chill in the air hits my burning brow and I walk from the bike shed like a cooling tower. Steam rising, gloriously backlit, from my head.
The benefits of this are numerous. First of all my belt now fastens two holes "thinner". Second, the effort of cycling a minimum of four miles a day (occasionally more) gets the old cardio-vascular system pumping. This in turn releases much needed pherenomes into my nervous system thus calming my fevered brow. Third, the effort also knackers me to the extent that, if I can keep myself awake in the evenings, I can hit the sack at a reasonable hour and get a decent, restful kip. Fourth, it's cheap - 'nuff said. Last of all (but very important nonetheless), there's something of the "at-one-with-nature" about cycling along a towpath watching coots, ducks, herons, the odd fox and the rest as you go. All in all the benefits - up to now - have outweighed the disadvantages. Whether this will still be the case when the rains and gales of autumn start is, of course, another matter entirely.
The Reverend Paul Hill has finally got his wish I see. The philosophical paradox lurking behind his "taking life to protect life" stance is a cracker and I'm not going to even attempt to argue with it. Why ? Because he's (errrrr....he was) a fundamentalist and argument is pointless. No doubt his followers have already canonised him and are busy choosing their next target.
Speaking of fundamentalism (ha ha.....only joking), what's happened to Conservative Commentary ? Ever since I mentioned it a few posts ago it appears to have ceased. 404s whenever I try to catch up on the latest of Mr Cuthbertson's observations.
Worrying times on the employment front at the moment. Work is drying up so much that my colleague Dave is being seconded to Chester for a week (or more....who knows). That leaves...well basically me.......to cover what six of us did a couple of years ago. I need a few more years at least to get me comfortably past the age of fifty and able - if needs be - to draw some of my pension. With a little luck I should be able to get some sort of job to top it up till I hit sixty-five (assuming the "People's Party" don't push the retirement age up to eighty or ninety). Fifty years of age and unemployed is bad enough. Trying to get another job in IT at that age is damn near impossible.
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