Older, but no wiser
Andy Borrows' musings on life and all its confusion, contradictions, richness and opportunities
Thursday, January 17, 2008
5 minute blogging
Things are busy. New role at work, rehearsals on the go for two shows, and all the usual incidentals filling the interstices. No capacity for anything particularly reflective or thought out, but I’m reluctant to abandon this space for too long, so a different approach is needed. Lucy has chosen the approach of 30 word blogging (albeit for a different reason); I’m going to try 5 minute blogging. Expanded Twitter, you might call it.
As a rule, I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions, but the advent of a new year (and a new ‘comfort’ saddle, courtesy of the excellent Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative’s winter sale, to replace my ultra-light, ultra-streamlined and ultra-hard racing saddle) seemed like an appropriate juncture at which to make good on my original intention when I bought my motorbike, namely to continue to cycle to work one day a week.
Two weeks into January and so far so good. Last Friday was distinctly wet (oh, the delights of donning cold soggy cycling shoes for the journey home…), but at least the wind’s energies had abated from the 40pmh gusts earlier in the week. And yesterday, although a chilly 5 deg C, was otherwise fine – and with most of north west London almost gridlocked for some unknown reason, threading through the lines of stationary evening traffic gave a distinct feeling of superiority over those locked in their immobile boxes.
I have some way to go to match the times I was putting in when I did this regularly though. (Can I boast a little? Best time ever was 52 minutes 56 seconds for the 15.2 mile trip, although just over an hour was more typical - and yes, when you’re that self-competitive, you do measure these things to the second). I used to race against the clock every day ; maybe it’s a sign of getting older, but I haven’t felt that need so much this time round. Or maybe I just didn’t want to know how much slower it was (about an hour and a quarter, I think). Whatever; it just felt a lot more relaxed not to be straining for maximum speed the whole time.
Well, that was a lot more than 5 minutes. It’s oh-so-hard, even with a straightforward diary entry, to slap down the desire to tweak and edit and generally mess with the words (not that you'd notice). Oh well…
As a rule, I don’t do New Year’s Resolutions, but the advent of a new year (and a new ‘comfort’ saddle, courtesy of the excellent Edinburgh Bicycle Cooperative’s winter sale, to replace my ultra-light, ultra-streamlined and ultra-hard racing saddle) seemed like an appropriate juncture at which to make good on my original intention when I bought my motorbike, namely to continue to cycle to work one day a week.
Two weeks into January and so far so good. Last Friday was distinctly wet (oh, the delights of donning cold soggy cycling shoes for the journey home…), but at least the wind’s energies had abated from the 40pmh gusts earlier in the week. And yesterday, although a chilly 5 deg C, was otherwise fine – and with most of north west London almost gridlocked for some unknown reason, threading through the lines of stationary evening traffic gave a distinct feeling of superiority over those locked in their immobile boxes.
I have some way to go to match the times I was putting in when I did this regularly though. (Can I boast a little? Best time ever was 52 minutes 56 seconds for the 15.2 mile trip, although just over an hour was more typical - and yes, when you’re that self-competitive, you do measure these things to the second). I used to race against the clock every day ; maybe it’s a sign of getting older, but I haven’t felt that need so much this time round. Or maybe I just didn’t want to know how much slower it was (about an hour and a quarter, I think). Whatever; it just felt a lot more relaxed not to be straining for maximum speed the whole time.
Well, that was a lot more than 5 minutes. It’s oh-so-hard, even with a straightforward diary entry, to slap down the desire to tweak and edit and generally mess with the words (not that you'd notice). Oh well…
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