Weekend 21/1/12 – 22/1/12

Saturday

Up at 6am for Zazen. I then changed into some warm bike kit and started fettling the bike for a bit (chain was starting to jump last ride, which says it’s really wearing out, so I gave it another coat of chain lubricant and noticed some small rust spots on the chain. It must really be on it’s way out – but I’ll live with it until it gets un-bearable), then I had some breakfast.

Dave arrived around 9:10am and due to the very strong winds (25mph from west) we loaded my bike on top of his car and drove to Garforth. Setting off we had the wind behind us, so made good progress across through Church Fenton and headed towards Selby. We stopped off in Selby for a rather nice Bacon Sandwich and a cup of tea (cheers Dave!)

Once we were fed and watered it was time to turn from riding easterly (and having a tailwind) to riding north-north west, so having wind coming from our left and feeling a little like a headwind. It’s knackering riding into a wind at the best of times, but this was pretty constant – I reckon 25mph or so at points. It was a hard slog riding back up the cycle path, but at least it didn’t rain too heavily and we did get some sun for a part of the ride.

We arrived back at my house and Josie came to pick up Dave and the bike – a great 32 mile ride.

Michelle had been cleaning after they’d been Horse Riding and the house was brilliantly clean.

A pretty chilled out afternoon and evening, and Michelle cooked the penultimate chunk of the turkey left over from Christmas as a turkey curry, which was very nice.

Sunday

First time Michelle joined me for Zazen this morning.

We then finished tidying the house and then I went for a nice walk to the local shop to pick up some bacon and some bagels which I cooked for breakfast. At the same time, I put a nice piece of gammon into the slow cooker with some apple juice, star anise, cloves and a bay leaf.

Once we’d done that it was down to Askham Bryan for the kids to feed the ducks, then a quick jaunt to Ikea to pick up a blanket for Lucy (and to replace a couple of broken plates) and then home.

The cars were looking rather shabby so I washed both cars, then spent some time making sure my dive gear was all ready for next weekend. I’m going to have to keep an eye on the long regulator hose as it’s starting to wear out. Might try and get a spare 2.1m hose sometime this week.

We then watched the penultimate Harry Potter before we also managed to see a very faint Aurora Borealis in the sky outside the front of the house. Not quite as green and bright as it was the last time we saw it when we lived in the wolds.