08/01/18 - or should that be 8/1/18?

This past week has not been easy, for some reason or another …

NY day was a lazy day at home & TB went home on Tuesday. Started the morning with breakfast at Sprout cafe ($50), then went to catch up with the coffee crew at Deakin Uni cafe. Except it was closed. So ended up at the place opposite Eastern Gardens/Geelong High. Where granddaughter & son of Xmas had to sort out some family drama stuff. Which was also, coincidentally, time for us to leave … went up to Melbourne & wandered around their Botanic Gardens, where I was told that we should have got a picnic to do this in Geelong, then patted on the back & told that I just did not understand, when I disagreed with an argument … actually, it was more that I did not understand it quite, and TB could not explain it any further … Also picked up a few books from BD.

Saturday was outrageously hot - touched 43c after lunch! Rode out to Drysdale along the rail trail, with Simon & Coop, met up with all the others, then rode back. Sat at home, drank two VBs & stubby of Coopers Stout, then went to Pivot to watch ’The teacher’ - interestingly, the place was tepid, rather than cool & there were a lot of senior citizens there …

Been reading ‘Chasing the scream’ and ’The globalization of addiction’ … kind of brings up an urge to contribute …

Looking at the amount of money that I am apt to be getting, I reckon I could save $50, spend $50 on books & still have enough to live on … could be something to strive for. The other option could be to increase the tax taken out - makes for a good refund for 18ITR, but would also mean that I could not access it until then …

Apart from Saturday, there was one time when I toddled down to Breamlea, dragged a bloke up to HSB, then turned right to come home. Actually, that was a strange day - caught up with two blokes at Armstrong Creek, and one bike was so shiny that it reflected the light rather disorientatingly …

The last couple of days have been a bit ill … especially with a disturbing headache, maybe sinus? In which case, maybe I should be eating some wasabi … stomach has also been playing up, which seriously detracts from urge to ride - after all, don’t want to have an accident on the ride … on Sunday, took the left over ham bone, from Xmas, and cooked it up with pearl barley and vegetables. In particular, this was an attempt to move towards a more macrobiotic-based diet … on this basis, have tried to cut out alcohol - but a bit early to decide on that one!

14/10/17 - B2GC ride

The run down on the B2GC was rather hard …

So much rain, having started at 6 the night before, with BoM report was expecting up to 90mm, along with 45kph SSE, i.e. headwind … Anyway, thought that if I did not go, I would never live it down. So set the alarm for 0400, had some porridge & muesli, packed three (3) cookies and got Mother to drop me off at Vulture Street. Joined a bunch of other cyclists to turn down Grey Street, then ran into the start line, where I had to get a replacement number, my original still being on GC, for some reason. One of the CQ volunteers (Kylie) was there. Start line was absolutely chaotic, with people meandering across the road and/or pushing their way forward around the outside! So, tried to take a more conservative approach, and eventually got away - along with (apparently) about 5 000 other riders …

To this point, there had been an intermittent patch of drizzle, which had been dampening, but nothing too bad. This continued, apart from little squalls, until the climb up towards Mt Gravatt, where it really let go for heavy shower #1 … at the turn off on the BusWay, there were two (2) cars, with flashing lights, and four (4) big burly security guards - no doubt to stop any of us from discreetly withdrawing from the ride?

Starting later meant that there were more riders, but it seemed that most of the better riders had already left, so there was not too much competition on the hill climbs :) sorted through the chaff … by the time I got to Logan, I resembled a drowned rat & with soggy sox! It was pretty much a straight through run - got a banana & (two) mueseli bars - then kept going again, eating as I rode ...

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Is it fair to say that the tolerance is wearing thin? The abrasive nature of these two is disheartening - it is almost that they are codependent? In another sense, it is like the Somali proverb - ‘Me against my brother; us against the family; the family against the tribe; the tribe against the world’ … all a bit too much for my delicate sensibilities, I am afraid … So now to move on to the Mother Spider, in her lair … Families: you got to love them, but you don’t have to like them ...

In other news, have been walking a bit around the area, as well as doing some hacking :p the town seems a little tarnished at the moment, with shops closed and people wandering around, down at the heel. Must say that I am getting a fresh appreciation of disdain for all these people that wear thongs and/or open ended shoes (e.g. Crocs or sandals). But then, I have always been an advocate for the Dunlop Volleys :)

On the final morning, the wind has dropped & the sun is shining - in my absence, they have been enjoying 30c days, and light winds; here it has been exceptionally not like that … when I was here, I wanted to be there; when I was there, I wanted to be here …

it really is too much at times - and not just because of the lassitude :p probably I will need to just lie down for awhile and get the kinks out …