Holy cow

So, more about calves this time. However, now I am talking about baby cows rather than the leg muscle. Ok, so maybe I'll mention both. Since the calf (muscle) is now fine again I thought I'd head out on the bike today.

Trying to decide where to go I remembered Ponder got himself a cow photo so I thought I'd pop down to Pollok park and grab myself a few. There were a pile of really cute calves (baby cows) which I'll post up over the next few days (well, once the gallery's working again. <mutter>Can't get the staff</mutter>.

The there was the F1. Grr .. the BBC really need to win back broadcasting rights as their BBCi stuff would just rock for the whole thing, and the lack of adverts would be a blessing. Plus it would give them the change to ditch that useless twat of a commentator, James Allen. Moo

Holy cramp

On Saturday I got frigging cramp in my calf (that's muscle in the leg by the way, not a baby cow) and it was uber-painful. Plainly I've annoyed the Gods somehow but am at a loss as to how. And, naturally, my leg is still extremely painful at the moment. Still, gives me an excuse to sit about rather than do other stuff.

Although, this also puts paid to my plans of being out on the noo bike on Sunday. Instead I ended up watching Constantine on DVD which I should really do a review of, since my review section is looking a little empty. So hopefully the ole leg will be better by the weekend so I can be out and about.

And while I'm not on the subject even remotley, I was coming back up the motorway at the weekend from doon soof. I stopped at a service station to get robbed of huge amounts of moolah for some more car-juice (that's petrol BTW). So ... I'm about 30 miles south of the Scottish border, on the northbound services. I enter da petrol place to pay for the petrol and greet the pimply faced youth behind the counter in my user manner, to which he mumbles some reply.

Now ... I don't sound like Sean Connery, granted. But to anyone who lives that close to the border (which I am assuming the pimply face youth does) then I am obviously from the north of it.

So .. we've established I'm heading north to Scotland, and am Scottish. And to re-enforce the fact I hand over a nice Scottish £20 note to pay for the petrol (£15 quids worth BTW). So .. using all his o-level knowledge and racking his brains, he managed to enter the details into the till and it proclaimed I was to get five quid back. So he removed a crisp Scottish fiver from the till and started to hand it to me. Then stopped, looked at it, put it back into the till and said I'll just get an English note for you.

Um .. why? No, but really .... why? W? H? Y? I should've asked, but I was tired and had a sore leg, so just left it. But I'm still confused. Maybe he thought I was English and heading south ... but ... gah. Who knows. Moo.

Mmmm, moist

Moist things are better. Yes indeedy. And no, get your mind out the gutter (you know who you are). The world just smells so much better in the morning if there's been rain overnight. You can smell life. The trees, the grass, the plants, etc. And a pleasant cycle in the morning when it's been wet overnight is even better.

Unfortunately it has a downside too. While awaking the senses and increasing your enjoyment of this big ball of spinning mud we live on, it makes actually going into an office to work that much more difficult. How much would I rather be wandering about somewhere than sitting in a warm office in front of a monitor? Well, a heluva lot, lemme tell you.

But, enough of this down heartning banter. As time for much rejoicing is afoot. You'd never have thunk it, but Andy is now engaged to Keli. Much congratulations all round. Ample amounts of beer will need to be purchased to celebrate this chance of a free feed ... So, if you've not already done so, congratulate the man. Go on. Yes, you! And don't forget to say Moo!

Productivity

Wooo. Productive weekend. Well, more productive than usual at any rate. I got a haircut (yay), I defrosted the fridge (boo), I did some shopping (grrr) and I purchased teh bike (super-yay).

Oooh yes, it's a sexy little number. Errr .. ok .. so it's a bike. But it's lighter than a bag of sugar (almost) and goes like shit off a shovel (assuming I pedal hard enough). But, most pleased I am with it, is what I would say if I happened to be a small, green thing who frequented starwars movies.

Today I headed back over to the mountain bike circuits in good ole' Pollok park and bravely attempted the blue run as I did back in February. Now, maybe it's the speedy new bike, or maybe it's cause the ground wasn't as muddy as a .... er ... muddy field, but it was a piece of cake this time.

This led me to try the red run, which was fun with a capital eff (that would be Fun then I guess) until the point I christened the new bike by (rather unspectacularly) falling off. I would give you the reason why, but needless to say I it boils down the me being an ass. However, you'll all be super-glad to know that no damage was sustained. At least to the bike.

And on that note I'm off. I shall leave you with this, brief monologue which just made me spit orange juice over my laptop screen. Damn you to hell!

-> Paradox returns after 2 mins, 27 secs
Paradox says: "OMGWTFHUGESPIDER!!!11!"
Paradox says: i eventually had to run after it with a glass shouting "FEAR ME !!!"
Paradox says: thank god i caught it
Paradox says: its bigger than yer mum
-> Paradox is away

(Yes, no photo today cause it's late[ish] and I CBA) Moo!

Flat out to flat, out

Well it had to happen eventually. Zipping home last night I came unstuck (where the heck does that phrase come from?) as I reached Paisley Road West and discovered my rear tire no longer had any air in it. After a few choice phrases I examined the damage. Well, it was .. um .. flat.

Being a sensible chappy, I do carry with me a mini-pump, some tire levers and a spare inner tube. So I upended the two-wheeled contraption and began the quick process of replacing the rear tube. The culprit of the puncture, I discovered, was a half inch nail. Bugger .. that's one big hole. Oh well. Now .. I put the nail down while I completed the repair with the intent of picking it up before I moved on. Natually, I fogot, meaning it'll be poetic justice when I cycle over it again later on. Or if you hit a nail on the bridge over the M77 just after Paisley Road West then I whole-heartedly apologise. Gah.

Anyhow, after the quick process of changing the tube was complete I started to inflate the tire with the mini pump ... only to find it wasn't working properly, and kept letting the air out the handle end (WTF?). Grrr. Another few phrases were expelled before I ended up pushing the beast home the remaining 1.5miles or so. Oh well, at least it was a super-sunny night and not pissing it down. Moo.

Too hot, too cold, never just right

<rant>At the first sign of snow in Scotchlandia, you can expect delays on the trains. And believe me, we get snow up here. However, while living in Finland there could easily be 5ft of snow in the city and the trains were practically never delayed. Certainly never cancelled due to snow. Are we that unprepared?

So, today it hit 27C in sunny Scotchlandia in what is predicted to be the warmest day of the year. Now, 27C isn't exactly super hot, but for Scotland it's pretty warm. London easily hits 30 and Finland got up to the odd 35C or so. So why, when it hits a meagre 27C does First Scotrail cancel all the trains claiming the tracks are now too warm?

Did they use marshmallow for the tracks instead of steel? After standing in a bus queue for half an hour in the blazing sunshine, not a happy bunny am I. Tomorrow I think I may be taking the ole' bike instead</rant>

On Saturday I headed off into Glasgow (after I got rid of Andy and Ian did a vanishing act) fully intent on purchasing a new bike from Dales. However, I returned with nothing but a new pair of shorts. A swanky new pair of shorts I should add.

Still, I popped out for a ride on Sunday morning and while zipping along the side of the Kelvin I turned a corner and had to slam on the anchors fair sharpish as I can face to face with a large fence and a Road Closed sign. Most unexpected. Turns out they're upgrading the path. Diversion is not well signposted either. Oh well. Moo.

Like an arrow

Time certainly flies. Where does it go, I ask you? Is it just me getting old, and if so will it continue to speed up? Sheesh, scary thought that. Exponential life. So, over a week since the last post and what have I achieved in that week you may ask. Well, I'm sure it won't come as a huge surprise to you to know that the answer to that is nothing.

Another CD of photos has arrived from Colin, which will no doubt appear along with the others sometime after the weekend. (Many thanks to Ponder).

With all this photo m'larky, I was beginning to feel out so I blackmailed persuaded James to give me a (temporary?) gallery where I shall aim to stick an image a day. Unlikely I'll actually manage an image a day, but I'm off to a good start with day 2 having a 2nd photo. Woot. Now all I need to do is figure out how to get it displayed automatically over there -------->

Update: So the image is now part of the post ... undecided on that .. but I'll see how it goes. I guess it means I need to do a post per day also. Or maybe not.