Mostly lemon based

Category: General

Not going entirely well

So, to be fair, I didn’t sleep much last night (or today). Despite staying up until 3am my hayfever woke me up at 9:30, and I’ve not had any extra sleep since then.

On the plus side, my parts for my bike arrived. On the minus side? I broke the new brake master cylinder. I’d forgotten how fragile MZ Alloy is, and I’d also neglected how tired and clumsy I was. One crack later and I’m back on the damaged old master cylinder, down 20 or so quid, and need to order a new one. I’ve also discovered that the old cylinder has actually got a sheared piece of metal across the brake lever pin, which is currently being held together with a thick washer. It’s crap, is what it is. And now I need to ring and order another one, because whilst last year I managed to wedge the front brakelight switch into the old cylinder, this year there’s nothing left. The alloys disintegrated completely, so I can’t get the bike through it’s MOT. This has, as you can probably imagine, left me feeling very fed up. I’m overtired and and my hayfever’s bad (‘cos I’m on nights, I can’t have the antihistamine until the evening).

So, well, I’m going to order the bit for the bike and endevour to have a nap. If I wake up early enough I should make fish pie for dinner; but I’m so tired and fed up I really don’t feel like it at the moment.

2/6/2008
Ahh, firefox, it’s been a while.

So, today I finally got around to reinstalling the laptop. It’s now running xubuntu 8.04, I think. Unfortunately, due to a bug, it takes about a week to boot which is somewhat annoying. I am so out of practice with Linux that it’s going to take me a while to dig up the enthusiasm to find some enthusiasm for finding the knowledge I need to find out why it’s pausing for ages during the boot. I presume it’s waiting for some piece of hardware, but I’m not sure what.

On the plus side, this time the WiFi card just works, out of the box, as it were. Although due to our preshared key being basically line-noise it did take several goes to get it typed in right (as a side point |, I and l look awfully similar in some fonts). It’s nice though to be out from the pain-in-the-ass that was IE. Several sites had stopped speaking to it, and the machine as a whole was dog slow. Under linux it’s not exactly speeding along, but it’s better. I’ve also got a PPC install for the G3 – so we’ll see how that goes. I may attack that tonight, depending on how I’m feeling.

My mum came up yesterday and after some gardening we headed up to the town centre for Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull. The reviews have been terribly varied and I can kind of see why. As a general rule, Spielburg has resisted sticking aliens in the Jones series (I think, although my memory is a childhood one, and a bit vague) – but I think in the general adventure romp nature of the film it goes well :)

Basically, if you liked Indiana Jones as a kid and still have the great good sense to be able to suspend disbelief for a film, then it’s great. If you’re expecting something more adult, you’ll hate it…

We also made Lasagne, and a really pathetic veggie toad in the hole. The veggies tasted great (much kudos to Kathryn there), but the base didn’t rise at all. I think this is a Soya Milk issue, and I think we had it before (Nikki?) but I’m not sure what to do about it. Is it one of those occasions where cow squeezings really are required? Or is there some other trick to it.

I also prodded the bike with vague intentions of changing the gearbox oil, but it’s only one week until we go to Burwins with it; so my enthusiasm is pretty minimal, and it turns out we don’t have any gearbox oil anyway. Which kinda put a crimp in that plan. I did check that it had oil, though; and tomorrow I may check that it’s got gearbox oil (that’d be a good plan, huh?). I also checked the brake fluid too…

We put up the bathroom cabinet, it helps to balance out the bathroom… Kathryn had the excellent idea of putting up some of our photos in there, but somehow my mood’s a little meh and I don’t really feel able to pick out anything terribly interesting from my shots – nor to offer useful suggestions on the shots she was picking.
Finally, I took around the letter to the peoples who damaged our shed. They weren’t terribly friendly, were very pushy and made me feel quite intimidated; which is why I declined to discuss it with them there and then. They can write. I think my suggested remedy is entirely reasonable; but we’ll have to see what they say.

Tomorrow I’m back on nights, but it looks like I’ll have some Drama to keep me amused. I very much hope legomymalfoy isn’t silly enough to beÂ being the sort of individual to retaliate against those who voted for someone else; because that’d really be sad. I hope it’s just some sort of drama-inducing-miscommunication. But, if all fails, I’ve never stopped dual-posting – both on LJ and on my own site, so I can always shove off back there. But it’d be a shame. I’ve been on LJ a long time (a lot longer than this user account; way back in the mists of time and invite-only-accounts)…and would be sad to see it screwed up for the sake of a powertrip. Anyhow. Wish me luck for the nights :)

1/6/2008
More updating

So, I found this blog Â yesterday; it’s by someone who doesn’t live miles away – I actually found her hunting for a place to bulk buy oats/almonds/etc for the making of our own granola. I’ve actually decided I think I prefer my Granola to the shop bought stuff (despite the fact it was slightly overcooked). It tastes more natural (probably because it is), but the price is, well, it’s a close run thing buying the stuff at Sainsbury’s. If I go down to Lidl, I guess I could get cheaper Oats, and possibly cheaper fruit (although Kathryn said she’d like to get one of these which’d solve the problem). Anyhow, so I hunted for somewhere – and heard at the same time about this incredible whole foods place in Kensington High Street – and found this blog which talked about it. Anyhow, she’s interesting, so I recommend reading her…

Having ‘mailed her, she pointed me (us) at these sites, which are good for veggies in the Thames Valley region: Farmer’s Markets, T3V. Which seems good to me. Although I knew about Reading farmer’s market, I’m slightly frustrated by the fact thatÂ – as when I first looked at it – it falls when I’m on nights; as does the Windsor one.

But hopefully we’ll be able to head down there at some point :)

In other news, I’ve started to feel quite excited about the prospect of having my beloved minor back. Whilst I am incredibly upset and frustrated by what Charles Ware did, or didn’t do, and the standard of what they did do; I’m really pleased to be getting my car back in a safe, if not pristine state. JLH Minors have done (from what I’ve seen from my one visit and the many photos they’ve taken) an awesome job resurrecting a car that Charles Ware had, quite frankly, ruined.

I’m thinking of writing an article on picking a car restorer; because of my hideous experience. Obviously, the MMOC (Morris Minor Owner’s Club) won’t let me name who did the work on my car originally; but I think I have accrued some useful advice; and I’m sure other members of the message board would provide other useful tips, and it could save other owners the heartache of what happened to my Minor.

But, all that said; I’m quite excited about the prospect of having her back…with a working engine (actually properly set up!)… Quite excited. I’m actually considering whether I could (should, might) go to the National Rally; there’s a variety of people I’ve not met up with for quite a while – and while I don’t think I can justify the expense of the petrol to get there; I’d quite like to go.

Between that, and some excitement about getting the DAF on the road, and some excitement about the possibility of the Bike working properly for the first time since I bought it… well; it all amounts to quite a bundle of vehicular thrills.

Despite debts, I’m also considering getting quotes in for the work on the back of the house. I’m debating having the lath-and-plaster ceiling taken down and replaced, because I don’t think it’s going to be possible to get a good finish on it otherwise, which is a little unnerving. It’s more expense, but if the quotes come in around the cost of the extra shifts I can do then it might be worth getting it done, just so we can clear up the kitchen and stop it being so dusty – because quite honestly, being dusty is probably not helping my allergies. And my allergies seem to be gradually getting worse.

Anyhow, I think it’s time for me to go read… and wait for my mum to arrive…

31/5/2008
Posty Posty

So, today we’ve had a less lazy, but superbly unproductive day; instead of doing any of the jobs that ‘need’ doing we headed out into the hinterlands twixt Slough and Maidenhead and wandered about enjoying the beauty that is available, free of charge, to those who like to wander. We actually spent much of (or indeed almost all of) the morning engaged in web-browsery activities, with Kathryn reading and me hunting down bits for the DAF. Not, as it happens, particularly useful bits, but bits, none-the-less. I’ve got four sets of brakeshoes heading to us – not because I need four, but because it was cheaper to buy 4 than to buy two. And while we may not (it is likely not) get through 2 sets in the time we have remaining here; we might. And it seems silly to chance it. I also paid for a new side repeater. This is because, for some random reason, the DAF has a side repeater on one side and not on the other. It has a cable for it, and I imagine that at some point, someone’s replaced the wing on one side. Presumably they suffered a fit of intense lazyness and decided not to get or transfer the rolo shaped side repeater. It is, I am told by some very nice members of the DAF Owner’s Club Forum, the same as that used on the Fiat 500 – and thus it is that which I’ve ordered… Unfortunately, the sills haven’t materialised yet. They did say 2-3 weeks, so if they’ve not appeared after my nights I’ll have to contact them and check progress. It’s not like I can afford this, but hey, what’s money if you don’t use it? I also sorted out my Agency application; it’s been dragging on for a while and thanks to them I’ve had live vaccine injected into my arm (because my MMR wasn’t complete, because I didn’t get it as a kid) – but I neglected to get a copy of the evidence that I got it. So I need to send that in… Which is silly, because if I’d’ve put on the original form: Dates of Vaccination 22/4/03 and 29/05/08, and then sent it, that’d’ve been fine. But I can’t write to them and say I’ve had it now, because I put I wasn’t sure of the dates. Which I wasn’t. Bah. BUT – by ringing them – they’ve been through the file, and all the stuff they said they didn’t have it turns out they *do* have. So it now does just hang on me getting a copy of my vaccine dates. I have, however, failed to change the oil in the bike. I’ve been thinking about changing the oil in the bike, but quite frankly, I’ve done so few miles on it that I resent the need to change the oil. This is, I suspect, linked to the reduced top speed – in that I suspect that some of the missing petrol is going into the gearbox oil, and some of the gearbox oil is being burnt instead of petrol in a crank-case-over-pressurisation issue. But I’m not really sure enough to actually consider fixing it myself – because the only way I could do so is to strip the engire engine down, replace all the seals and measure everything to check tolerances. This would take me weeks, and ideally require a workbench. I don’t have one of them, so… The afternoon, however, was spent wandering the countryside which was a far more sensible way to spend it – despite the grey and overcast nature of the day. It’s been warm and not actually muggy, leading to a very pleasant walk (hayfever not-withstanding). Photos are here. And now, given the impending arrival of my mother, it is probably time to clear and clean the lounge. And perhaps also, finally, put up the cabinet in the bathroom. Kathryn’s painted it, and I’ve done the wall in the office… Which means, it’s time to do things.

30/5/2008
So, today

So then – did we leap into action today – given the rain outside and the related inability to service the bike or work on the daf – did we instead leap into action and finish the bathroom?

Did we paint the wall in the study?

No, we did not. I had a headache this morning, and we only actually got going some time after 1. Possibly 2. But we’ve had really nice day; scrambled eggs and bagels for breakfast; a nice long shower; yesterday’s curry for lunch; I’ve sorted out the bike getting the bits needed to make it not only MOT worthy, but in a better condition than it’s been for ages – and organised a day to get it down to Burwin to see if they can figure out why it’ll only do 50mph. And maybe get that efficiency up a bit, because it’s down around 25-30mpg which is way-low for an MZ.

Kathryn used that opportunity of me ringing to head to the post office, and then we settled down reading websites and doing little of import for a while before embarking on a mammoth larder clearout. Rubbish and tools out; mould off the wall (but it really needs a coat of mould resistant paint), and then cleaned and tidied and labelled and reorganised. It’s actually a usable space now (although I can’t wait to clean it, rip out the old shelves and reorganise that).

Finally we cooked an awesome dinner.

Kathryn made gorgeous shortbread biscuits yesterday, which I may have to eat some more of, when I’m less full. The good thing about not being on holiday all the time is I suspect I’d weigh about 3 times more than I do if I was.

And now, potentially, trivial pursuit.

As an aside, the burn on my hand is peeling…

28/5/2008
Dyke Cred Rating = +50

So, Brick’s winged his way to a new owner; apparently en-route he shed some bits of distributor, but handily the spare one we’d thrown in the boot (along with all the other spares) turned out to have the relevant bits. The new owner didn’t seem that mifffed… it seems about par-for-Brick’s behaviour. I hope that he gives the new owner less trouble.

Anyhow, on to the Dyke cred. We’ve gained points:

We’re terribly green little dykey people; Kathryn cycles all over the place, she cut my hair today, we grow our own veg (and fruit, if the tomato brings us fruit), I do car maintainance, ride a motorbike, we do DIY, and for extra bonus dyke cred:

We made our own granola!

The recipe is not quite right; more honey, and such… but I’m dead chuffed. I do, however, need to find a bulk purchase place for rolled oats, almonds and such.

In other news, we went into a charity shop today, and I left with 3LPs, a single and a book; oh, and a Buffy the Vampire Slayer game (that’s almost certainly terrible) and we got Trivial Pursuit.

And in final news for the day, Jejy’s now insured; and Kathryn’s been added to the insurance…all this at a grand total of nothing :)

I’m quite pleased. Well, it cost the Â£15 administration fee, but still.

We’ve also been making progress, slowly, on the house, the hideous wall of doom in the office has had a coat of basecoat and it’s 3rd coat of yellow. Hopefully one more (and hopefully when it dries it won’t be all cracked like the lastÂ 2 coats) and it’ll finally be done.

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Kathryn found this comic. It’s excellent.

27/5/2008
Social Life Compression

So, our social life here in lovely Slough is somewhat, well, limited. We don’t know anyone – that’s the easiest way to put it. So our social life tends to consist of going somewhere else. Unfortunately – at the moment we are without a road legal car, and have only one set of bike gear (not to mention the bike’s top speed when it’s warm is about 50mph; instead of the more normal 90).

So the sudden offers of visitation and a party was a bit of a coincidence. Then, to make it more odd, Nikki offered to visit too… So all in all, we had a crammed Saturday. First up, Alex, a very nice chap with a DAF came down to let us haveÂ a little ride in his DAF 33. This is the model before ours, and has a smaller engine and body. Having sat and generally chatted for a while he let me go out and drive the DAF.

Nikki, you’d love it – apart from it’s pollution producing engine it’s just like driving an EV. It’s completely smooth – you basically put your foot down (something I struggle with as I try and modulate the acceleration) and the car gets faster – there’s no clunky gearchanges. The 33’s apparently somewhat noiser than the 44 should be. And there’s a couple of tips he gave us and some advice (apparently the non-forced-air heating and cooling system isn’t hugely effective; and augmenting it with a dinky little 12V fan is a cunning plan). Also, the heat-exchanger which uses exhaust fumes to warm the carb is missing. It could be repaired, and I may at some point discuss doing so with an engineering workshop.

Anyhow, after our little journey in his ‘Little belter’, Nikki and Kate came round. We showed’em the local abandonment (mostly ‘cos when they arrived we were showing Alex the pain of having a workshop and a large garage feet away from the house completely in disrepair). They very kindly offered us lunch, and we grabbed some Pizza from the local pizzaria. A fine time was had showing them the progress on the house and chatting about their new Prius, and being reminded that I’d promised to make a music video for one of Nikki’s songs (but she’s not supplied the good-quality copy of the track yet. It’s only been a few years… I also need to find some actors to do the video).

Anyhow, the plan then was to hang around for a bit – Kathryn looking to see what we might do to kill time in London – before heading to a party (in London, obviously). She found this. I wish we’d’ve had more time to explore it – the live music we heard was good, and it looked like it’d’ve been a fun place for us to kill a few hours – but because it was so out of the way (it’s quite some distance from Mile End tube), we ended up only having around an hour there.

Unfortunately, someone spilled beer on Kathryn’s jacket – which was somewhat annoying. We headed out from there and across London to the party – which was with some of her University freinds. It’s ages since we’ve been to a party and I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed it. I was pretty nervous, not being good at meeting people outside work; but in the end it turned out to be a thorougly pleasant evening.Â

It was ostensibly a Eurovision party; but they were (perhaps thankfully) not playing any of the Eurovision music! Sadly, the host had cooked – and what looked like awesome food – but we’d filled up on burger and chips and flapjack at Paradise Park, not realising there’d be proper food at the party… They’d got homecooked flatbread and cous-cous and…. it looked soÂ yummy. So we chilled out and chatted to people and so on for a while. Unfortunately, the trains being the trains we had to leave at 11pm to get home. Or so we thought.

The tube took us almost 50 minutes to get from North london to Paddington (we were about 5 minutes walk from a tube station) – meaning we pulled in to Paddington station and our alledged train was no longer on the noticeboard. Of course, there weren’t any people to ask. However, what we did note is the last train of the night which was meant to stop at Burnham, didn’t. Indeed, there were no trains that stopped at Burnham. The little paper timetable said Burnham, the computer said no. In the end we took the next train to Slough, and ended up forking out nearly 8 quid to not-quite-get-us-home. We didn’t have much change left – and the Sunday night rate on taxis here is extortionate. I’m pretty much convinced that we should stop getting (or attempting to get) the train in to London anymore – and go back to my old system; Drive in much of the way and the tube from there inwards. The train is so astonishingly unreliable that the minute benefit of being able to drink just doesn’t seem worth the hastle anymore.

Today, the plan was to sort out the Viva ready for blokie to collect it on Tuesday. Unfortunately it’s rained all day; and having taken us in excess of 2 hours to get back from London we’re both absolutely wrecked. We’ve both spent large chunks of the day asleep (Kathryn’s asleep up on the bed atm), and, well, that’s really all there has been to our Sunday. We watched Into the Woods – which was excellent, heartily recommend that to everyone. Haven’t even eaten lunch (which is handy, ‘cos we’re really short on food!).

25/5/2008
Consumer

Before I start, it’s the 23rd of May; get recording, peoples…

So, this is kind of a whine brought about byÂ reading off the map (which I’m still reading) – and thinking about my life, and the fact that despite plans to the contrary I start most days by spending an hour or two reading journals and news sites and browsing, and just generally consuming other people’s content. Despite big plans for zines, books, videos – I never seem to get around to producing any more, or creating any more than I ever have done.

I don’t – in a way – mind that I’ve been sucked in to the whole capitalist dream of owning a house and a car and whatever – because I put my own very distinct spin on it. Those status symbols of capitalism that I have, the house, the car; they are my own works in progress. Now they are mine-and-Kathryn’s works in progress. While it may be furnished from ikea and John Lewis, the art is ours; or found on the streets of Toronto. The bookshelves contain the eclectic and bizzare, the selfpublished and the interesting. And much of what is in is recycled, second hand and home made. It is not your standard house (but then, perhaps, that’s what everyone thinks).

But I find myself frustrated by my lack of creativity. By my ability to sit and suck-up though a straw that which I place in front of me. Yes, I hunt out journals and sites that match my interest and ideals; and I imagine that I’m better informed than the people who sit reading the daily mail cursing everyone who’s not english, white and middleclass; but I don’t give anything back. Some of that I blame on ‘lack of time’ – when I have the energy that could be used to create I’m trying to sort out the car, the bike, the house, the garden. Although the garden doth rock; and the house is more and more a home.

And I make promises over and over again – “I shan’t spend today in front of the computer”. “I’ll fish out the bits for the zine”. That kind of thing. I ponder, over and over again, how I came up with “7 minutes into the future” – and the faint sadness that comes with the fact that I made that over 3 years ago and have yet to do anything even as good.

And so, perhaps I can manage today – the day I’m recording random bits for A.M. – to make that committment and stick to it. This week off is, ironically, reserved for the house, the bike, the car and the garden… But perhaps Kathryn and I can slot into it some creative time.

23/5/2008
lucky, lucky, lucky.

So, whilst I may not feel lucky, I was, in fact, incredibly lucky yesterday.

I had what I can only describe as a nice day at work and headed home. Part way home the Viva overheated and I pulled over. Cutting aÂ long (and dumb) story short I ended up with aÂ hand and face full of boiling hot coolant and steam.Â Slightly panicked I realisedÂ I needed (a) an ambluance and (b)Â (rather more urgently) something cold. The car proved to be lacking anything cold (like water, for example), and so I dashed of down the motorway spitting furiously on my hand to try and cool it, andÂ dumping, some what unsavourily that onto my face to try and cool that. Sadly the first marker post I reached indicated that I’d set off in the wrong direction, so I headed back the other way.

Fought with the car whichÂ had a bay full of coolant now; and gotÂ it to limp to the next emergency phone where I called for an ambulance and a recovery vehicle. The Highway Officers turned up first bringing with them much wanted water – which cooled my hand, and got rid of theÂ retching from the coolant that had landed up in my mouth.Â The firebrigade were next with their (really very nice)Â tea-tree dressings (which soothed my hand and face a lot), and then streaking down the road – blue lights and sirens wailing, the ambulance.

I can’t thank theÂ crews enough.Â I’m sure I was hardly the most appetising sight covered in flecks of brown coolant-and-rust-streaked water,Â saliva andÂ such. Retching and constantly swilling my mouth with water and spitting it out.

But the thing I can say is that I was lucky.Â Very superficial burns to my face and left hand and superficial, if sore,Â burns to my right.Â The nurses got me oromorph; I hate morphine and can now say that oromorph does absolutely fuck-all for me. Then sent me off with Naproxen and CoDydramol. I’ve a whopping great dressing on my right hand. and my face feels like it’s sunburnt.

I will not be sad to see the back of that Viva.

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18/5/2008
Posting for the sake of it

Really, I’ve nothing interesting to say. At least I don’t think I have. I could go on at length about feeling undervalued and mightily underpaid because my shift roster includes a 9 day stretch that goes ELELELLEL; and which, well, when I struggle to pay bills and we can’t actually afford to see friends or eat out, or go out, those nice things which make life a lot nicer; well. I can’t say as my opinion of my job is high at the moment. That shift roster is also likely to impact on my ability not to laugh idiots out of the department, or at least suffer from snarky-sarcasmitis.Â

By idiots I mean the sort of people who turn up at A&E with an ‘irritation in their nose’ which has gone on for 5 days. Now, I’m only now doing the training which allows me to assess our newly booked in visitors, but I have to admit as I stood looking at this individual and my highly skilled trainer questioned him on his symptoms I feared breaking out into hysterical laughter.

Why was he there? Why did he stop A&E doctors treating minor injuries and people who need our services? Because he couldn’t be bothered to wait the extra 30 minutes to see the local GP out of hours service, and he also couldn’t be bothered to register as a temporary resident at a GP.

When the assessment nurse I was working with wrote his notes for the doctor to see – and I admit to hoping it was one of our less patient doctors who booted him out – I did suggest she could stop after the first word (“irritation”). After much laughter we put him (well, his card) into the doctor’s box; but I wish we’d not been so busy I could have peaked in and listened to the conversation.

Although GPsÂ are something that I increasingly find I have less respect for; having had an individual come in a while ago with a ?Dislocated shoulder from a GP and found her to be septic – the doctor it seems hadn’t even bothered to check her pulse when he’d seen her… there’s busy and there’s busy. Thankfully our assessment nurse did her obs and found her (for the technically minded) tachycardic, tachypneic, pyrexial, hypotensive and hypoxic (or her heart was going to fast, she was breathing very quickly, had a high temperature, very low blood pressure and had low levels of oxygen in her blood)…

And, as a side point, having been there a while – I’m able to prompt the newer doctors on correct management of acutely unwell patients. Which is nice.

But, for all my whining they’ve offered to (possibly) send me on the ATLS course as an observer (I’m too green to go on the course for real, yet, but knowledge even without qualifications is a good thing). I’d seen the poster up, but presumed there’d be others who wanted to go who were perhaps more skilled, or experienced than me. But it seems I’m the one who’s been offered the place (because no one else is interested! Not because of skills or experience, sadly). But I’m looking forward, if somewhat nervously, to that. More strings to my bow, as they say.

Anyhow, so that’s put me in a better mood; and ironically it may fix my attrocious shift pattern too (or, I suppose, potentially make it worse).

In other, other news, the DAF should be off to be repaired shortly. A nice chap from the DAF owners club’s offered to come and let me/us take a little ride in his DAF so we know what we’re getting in to. I’ve bought a DAF manual off e-bay (various people kindly offered to give me a manual, but one needed me to ride in and collect it (which isn’t far, but my bike’s not exactly the wellest thing in all christendom and was *very* kind of him) and the other seems to have been struck by the disappearing curse of e-bay) – since there was one on there for a fiver – and it means that I can start servicing the brakes and such like so as to get the little car up and running (the intention being that I get it taken down to Langley for it’s repairs and then take it straight from there to an MOT).

What is proving to be a little of a challenge is that the previous owner can’t locate the V5 for the car. Despite promises from the chap who had the car in the garden that it’d be with me soon, the previous owner (who I have to admit, is disabled and thus I don’t really hold a grudge about this, it’s more an annoyance) can’t locate it at the moment. Is, apparently, looking for it though. It’s not a disaster, instead it’s an annoyance. I can apply for a new one – but I just know as soon as I do that then it’ll appear.

I’ve also been plotting a new route to work – given how sickly my MZ is becoming, with it’s new top speed of 50 whole mph, I’ve started to contemplate the usefulness of a non-motorway route. Unfortunately, between my home and the hospital there is one moderate sized town; through which I would be forced to ride. Unfortunately googlemaps reckons it’d take me 40 minutes (which I take to mean, at least an hour). So I think I may have to pull Charlie back here and get her fixed and running. Ach. Life, it’s too complicated.

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16/5/2008