Yesterday, I took the train to creepy-Crawley with Emily and Sophie, and we had a girly shopping day. We all found the things we'd set out to get (a new jumper for me, an entire new outfit for Emily for next weekend's party - which she paid for herself - and a new winter coat for Sophie), the sun shone, and we had fun together. Oh, and I scored a free Guardian on the train (I'm so glad I didn't have time to buy it before we left) so when we got home we could sit in the garden with the paper and cups of tea. Bliss. And, once I'd relaxed, I kicked into efficient mode. Cleaned the bathrooms, vacuumed, mopped, and got my lessons for the first half of next week sorted. And, just for good measure, did the week's ironing after dinner. House was on TV while I was ironing, and we'd all just been speculating about how accurate the medical details are when, lo and behold, they started a plot line about growth hormone deficiency, which is one of the only medical conditions which we actually know anything about. Sadly, I can now report that if that particular episode was anything to go by, the medical accuracy of the show is practically nil. Pity, really - knowing that it's completely unrealistic makes it a lot less enjoyable to watch.
So that was Saturday. One of those days where you don't do anything special but somehow all the ordinary little events add up to something wonderful.
And today has been even better. Once again, perfect weather - but today we got to spend the whole day outside enjoying it.
We got up early, cycled to the station, and took the train to East Croydon. From there, we met up with a bunch of other riders and cycled to Clapham Common before riding into central London to enjoy the London Freewheel, an annual event where the roads that run past the Tower of London, Tower Bridge, the Houses of Parliament, the London Eye, Trafalgar Square and Buckingham Palace are all closed to car traffic and open for bicycles.
This is me, trying to pretend that I'm not intimidated by having been given a marshall's vest at the start of the ride in Croydon.
Secretly -or not so secretly, the foldeded arms are quite telling - I am feeling distinctly inadequate compared to the lycra-butts (as I call the professional-looking cyclists). As it transpired, however, despite my lack of lycra I was at least as competent a cyclist as they were, (better than many, actually) which was reassuring. Not that I did any actual marshalling, mind you. Bobby on the other revelled in the Power of the Orange Vest; stopping traffic for the convoy seemed to give him immense pleasure. He took one of the weaker cyclists under his wing too; I love that side of his character.
The ride from Croydon to Clapham Common was far prettier than I'd expected - all through residential neighbourhoods where, as usual, I found myself picking houses where I'd like to live. There were so many things I'd have liked to have photographed - stained glass windows in some of the old houses, flowers blooming by the roadside, murals on walls - but riding with everyone else meant I couldn't stop to fiddle with the camera.
At Clapham Common, I took the opportunity of trading my orange marshall's vest in for a regular yellow one.
I was amazed by how many people there were when we finally got to the start of the freewheel route. This is Bobby, at the start of the route outside Buckingham Palace.
And again, when we took a break next to the river.
There were jugglers and stilt-walkers and unicyclists and rollerbladers and people dressed up as witches along the route - none of whom did I manage to take a picture of, sadly. I did manage to get a picture of a cute dog, though.
More pictures from the day here...
We arrived back home at 4-ish, having cycled either 50km (if you look at Bobby's cycle computer, since he refuses to make any concessions to Imperial measurements) or 30 miles (if you look at mine, since I think it's easiest to go with the convention of the country we happen to be living in) just as my parents and aunt arrived to have tea with us.
A very nice end to a great day. We should sleep well tonight.
2 comments:
That sounds like a lot of fun. I took a bike ride but the pace when marshaling a wild yo, a wobbly 4yo and hauling a 1yo in a trailer is not quite aerobic. Unless you count the yelling.
What a fantastic weekend, that sounds like so much fun and I think you look very important in the orange vest!
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