cyclelogical

So we took our freshly serviced as-yet-unridden bicycles from the shed on this gloriously sunny day and set off for Kevin's sister's house. We quickly realised that my tyres were completely flat. This is very angering, because I paid €25 to a guy to service the whole bike which includes, you know, putting air in the tyres and basically...nothing else. Grr! I'm going down there on Monday to fight with them for handing my bike back to me, charging me buttloads of cash and doing absolutely nothing to it. I demand a recount. I mean refund.

After a lot of effort, we figured out how to pump up the tyres. The difficulty is that it is a vintage bike and doesn't have standard fittings. The husband unit was stellar. After 30 minutes of frustration, we were finally ready to go.

I cannot emphasise enough how nerve-wracking it is at 247lbs and having not been on a bicycle for 15 years to get out into traffic, but I did it. It was a little wobbly and my steering was terrible, but we got there. Also my shoes kept threatening to come off. In the moments where my little heart wasn't still with terror, I even quite enjoyed it. The sun, the freedom, the wind whipping in my hair...I think I'm going to enjoy this! We're planning another short adventure tomorrow to church.

For lunch I ate: 1 slice of ham, 1 slice of turkey, 1 tablespoon of some kind of Greek chicken dish, 1 chicken nugget, 1 slice of garlic bread and 2 tablespoons of tomatoey pasta. No vegetables! There was a green salad but it was literally drenched in dressing, and I like my dressings sparse. For dessert I went for the lightest option - pavlova (for the non-Europeans, that's meringue with cream and fruit). In this case, there was no fruit on top, but lemon curd and almonds instead. It was extremely sweet and I didn't really enjoy it, but I kept eating. I don't even know why. I also had a slice of Malteaser cake - 1/16th of the whole thing. This was also too sweet and dense. I am losing my sweet tooth!

For dinner we went as planned to a new Mexican place. I think it was a chain restaurant actually - Cactus Jacks? It was good. I wasn't too hungry so I just had a starter of tortilla chips with chilli, salsa and sour cream. It was delicious, but I only managed half of it.

bed nw slepy asdb