6 sleeps, Foxes and Squirrels

Interesting and unexpectedly busy day.

The scan. Pedalled up to Queen Mary's hospital at Roehampton. Decided to go through Richmond Park, which was quite nice if a little 'undulating'. Was met and gret, or should that be meeted and greeted? All went fine, the machinery made noises and spoke little messages. The person looking after me was very lovely and exclaimed "Oh hosepipes!" about my veins. They seemed to do a pelvic scan for free, perhaps it was bogof day.

I'd had a voicemail from the nice people at swettyshoppe in the morning so, from Roehampton, I cycled my way over to Teddington to retrieve the latest Garmin 305 ( the 3rd). On the way, there was a fascinating/frightening study of nature. I was going downhill in the park. There was a young squirrel in the middle of the road. There was a car coming towards me, they'd seen the furry baby too. So, I approach, hands on brakes. It tries to scatter in my direction, away from the car. Then it saw me and dashed in the other direction. Fortunately, the car had passed by at this point so there was no splat. I was rehearsing in my head closing my eyes and not braking ridiculously. Baby squirrel survives to dart about another day. Heart dips again.

The afternoon found me negotiating a run with old friend. He won. So we went out, with a "We'll decide later" approach to the distance. Hmmmm. I'd brought the wrong legs. Were they affected by the chemicals introduced to my body in the morning? Or, were they plain shagged out with all this damn cycling? Who knows, but the 'run' was carp. We did the shorter, 7.93 miles at a sedentary pace. I wanted to lie down when we got back to the house. I really did.

Some toast and fluid intake later, I made my way up to the club (on the bliddy bike again). "Yes, I have run....". "Yes, I am here to be smug about my holiday." "Yes, I'll have a pint, thanks." And I chatted with good friend who I've not physically bumped into recently. Which was good. Thank goodness it's mostly downhill on the way home.

Tomorrow? Dyson to be fixed. Stuff to be sorted. And I've just realised my rucsac has not appeared in the house while I was out. Which it was supposed to do.

The foxes? They were out in force on my cycle home from the club. One had a superb 'brush', the others were probably a bit younger.

The squirrels? Apart from the baby in the road, they were out everywhere. I presume it's "Gather your nuts" time of year.