Back Again, and Blown-Over Trees

I'm back blogging again, as my laptop is now back from the repairman! Not much to report, except for some storm damage to the back garden - see photo!

Everything's been repaired. I was hoping I would need to do less to the garden in the winter. Turns out I was wrong. I think I'm developing that gardener's feel for the seasons, or at least something resembling it, as follows:

Winter = Prune trees
Spring = Plant stuff
Summer = Weeding
Autumn = Throw buckets of leaves in compost bin

More reports on Glastonbury and the fun we had in Malta (where I managed to misplace an entire ship) coming soon.

Back Again

I should really kick this blog post off with a better title, but I'm coming up blank. Normally I mentally write the title first, then think up the post to match.

Anyway, yeah, I'm back. I went missing due to Christmas, then the need to interview for my own job. Our team is losing two posts, so we all had to reinterview.

I cannot say it was the most fun Christmas I have ever had. Although it was good to see the family again.

But I'm still working (I kept my job), still cycling (thank goodness for mild winters), and soon I'll be back diving.

Watch this space...

Winter Comes

The wind howls around the corridors, nibbling at the office workers.
The stripy jumper is fetched from the back of the wardrobe.
The puddles glint, and the bicycle takes corners more slowly instead of being flung around them with gay abandon.
The latest Silly Hat Trend appears upon the heads of students, and at the stall that sells Smelly Balls outside the Northumberland Street branch of Dixons.
Hat and gloves become an automatic reflex, and Doc Martens cease to peep shyly from beneath the bed, and stomp merrily about the streets, insulating their owners’ feet.
Christmas decorations cease to become a source of vague it’s-too-damn-early-we’ve-not-even-had-Halloween-yet irritation, and instead a reminder of joys to come.
Hot chocolate becomes a necessity not a luxury.
Women don their skimpiest clothing for going out at the coldest time of the year.
The populace scoff currywurst and slurp mulled wine whilst contemplating buying a sponge soap and a trapper’s hat from the Continental market.
Marks and Spencers devotes its attention to fattening the populace now, that it may sell them diet ready meals in the New Year.
Winter comes to Newcastle.

A Ride in the Rain

The "Cycling" part of my blogging name is still active, which is just as well, as an ear infection has temporarily stopped me diving (though I expect to be back in the water a week today). I cycle to and from work, and last Tuesday I went for a ride from work in Newcastle out to Derwenthaugh in Gateshead, shown on the left.

Boy, was it a mistake to decide I didn't need my waterproof trousers and overshoes! The top half of me was dry, but the heavens opened both on the way there and back, and my legs were drenched. Not as drenched as our group leader, who is famous for cycling in her ordinary clothes including, on this occasion, white trousers and red high heels. In a funny sort of way, I really respect that, although on this occasion it did mean that we were pedalling like maniacs to keep up with an angry Frenchwoman who wanted to get home to a towel and a shower.

It was actually quite a good ride, in a strange way. There's something in the British psyche that derives a certain pleasure in being out of doors when it's tipping it down. The world was being washed clean, and only those few of us out of doors could truly appreciate it. It wasn't that cold, and as the sun came out, we had some glorious views of the Tyne and its bridges. Even so, it was a very welcome hot chocolate that I consumed when I got in!

Warmth Comes to Newcastle

I was standing outside the City Library about 7.45pm recently, about to head down to the pub, when it occurred to me. We were all standing outside and not shivering. Somehow, almost without our noticing it, the freezing cold of January and February has given way to spring.

I love it. I hate to be cold more than almost anything else. At work I attract comments about my being part-lizard, since our office has the thermo-dynamic properties of a greenhouse, and when everyone else is panting and turning the fans on, I'm sitting there cheerfully smiling away going "Turned out nice again today, didn't it?". (Occasionally it surprises me that I chose to take up a hobby where I regularly plunge myself into cold water. Then again, when I do that I usually have nearly a centimetre of neoprene all round. It's still not pleasant, but the only way I can describe it is that when I dive, as indeed when I cycle in cold weather, I seem to be able to partially suspend the part of me that hates the cold in the interests of the joy of diving and cycling.)

So here is a nice picture of Newcastle in the spring:

And here are some bunnies. The Civic is tricking itself out in its spring finery, and indeed it can be a very pleasant walk in to work, as the duckling splash about on the pond, and the bunnies hop and gambol (safely) amid the bluebells and daffodils.

Life ain't so bad.