Misfits Mid-Life Crisis Adventures in …………..Surrey, Croydon, North London, Essex.

Week 45 (or Week 8 of the new adventure), Saturday 25th April until Friday 1^st May 2015.

 My view of Croydon between 9am to 5pm Monday to Friday.

This week I have been cycling to work, that’s 30.2 miles there and back.  There are a few hills otherwise it’s a pretty flat ride.  The worst part is towards the end of the return trip, I’m minutes from the bosom of the family from cuddles from my nephew and niece but I have to first negotiate a couple of nasty hills.  There great to cycle down in the morning but I pay for it on the way home.  Newton’s Third Law comes to mind “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”.

 Lunch time can be so boring.

I’ve been cycling for years.  I remember my first bike, it was more of a tricycle that was blue with a red seat and all made of metal, I actually preferred to use it as a drum if I remember.  I also remember the amazement when my stabilisers came off as id leant to cycle properly.  One memory I won’t forget is going down a steep hill with George my best friend from school, my brakes didn’t work as well as they should.  But his brakes failed completely I actually think he lost a brake pad (or am I imagining that) he did manage to stop without injury.

 Ice cream at the weekend in North London, emmm so tasty.

Another memory of travelling on wheels but not on a bike.  I was moving house and had somehow gathered an old office chair (I’ve always collected crap), I rode the chair down the very steep long slope at Norbury Train station from the platform to the street.  As I travelled faster and faster one of the small caster wheels came off and rolled away in front of me.  I actually went out of the station and was only stopped by the railings before the main road.  “Thank the Great Pumpkin” no one with children or elderly was coming.  Yes looking back with older eyes it was a very stupid thing to do, but at the time we laughed like drains (George was with me on this occasion as well).

 This is not my home, its Kenwood House in North London.

I love to cycle, I have done 9 Triathlons (you wouldn’t know it from looking at me) the cycle part is in between the swim and the run.  I really enjoyed doing the races, I never raced other people I was only racing myself, could I be quicker than the last time.  The cycle section was on a closed track in which I had to do 4 to 5 laps (about 5k each lap), it was my responsibility to keep track of how many times I had gone round, to few and I would be disqualified too many and I would had screwed up my overall time.  There was every kind of bike at an event like this, from posh expensive racing bikes made from super space-age lightweight materials to bikes with a basket on the front that I always expected to see a dog sitting in it with its ears blowing in the wind.  The cycle was my favourite part of the whole race.  The 5k run at the end was always horrible; I must have looked like I had been on a horse for far too long without a saddle.

  look who I met  In Reigate this week, yes I got very excited.

I wear all the high viz gear and a helmet so I stand out but even so I have been knocked off twice in the past.  This means that every day there is a small amount of fear in the day’s journey.  I am weary of parked cars, are they going to pull out suddenly, is a door going to open.  At junctions I am careful and always nod or give a little wave to the driver that’s waited for me to pass.  This week I’ve had a car pull out in front of me, and 2 people just step off the pavement and right into the road, I’ve managed to stop each time cycling in London you have to be alert.  I’m also a driver (was a driver, don’t have a car at the mo), so I fully understand why drivers get angry with cyclist who break the road rules, run red lights go down one way streets.  It annoys me when I see this happen as were all tarred with the same brush.

 At the weekend  watching Car Share on the train.

I’m enjoying the ride in to work, it’s saving me money and hopefully it’s helping to keep me healthy, if my knee holds out that is.

 Testing new water colours.

End of another busy week.  Continued strolling round North London with MOZ, went to Kenwood House and Hampstead Heath at the weekend.  Raced on the tube to make a train at London Bridge, made it by 1 minute (woo hoo) it felt like Treasure Hunt (the classic TV show).  Got some new watercolours and have done another test painting for the children’s story.  I signed up with a GP.

The Mid-Life Crisis cont…..

This week I have been watching: “Graham Norton” (Season 17, eps 4), “Have I Got news For You” (Season 49, eps 3), “W1A” (Season 2, eps 1), “The Last Leg” (Season 6, eps 1 & 2), “Car Share” (Season 1, eps 1 to 6), “Thunderbirds are Go” (Season 1, eps 4), “The Mekong River with Sue Perkins” (eps 1 & 4), “Mama”, “The Maze Runner”, “Atlantis” (Season 2, eps 9), “Tatau” (Season 1, eps 3), “Inside No9 (Season 2, eps 6).

This week I have mainly been listening to: “Blur”, “The Good, The Bad and the Queen”, “They Might Be Giants”, “REM”, “Kylie”, Carly Simon”, Morrissey”.

Reading on Kindle……“A Game of Thrones, A Song of Ice and Fire” book 2 “ A Clash of Kings” by George R.R. Martin.