Trench
I’m half-way through the second dig to get a depth of 40-50 cm. Well, more 40 than 50 I think. It will then be filled in to make a foundation for my shed. It’s not a wet as it looks.
Suffolk
My best friend from school, Ross, has just married a lovely lady called Cath. Something must be wrong with me, since it did not occur to me the whole time I was at their wedding party to actually take a picture of them. Instead above is a picture of the back drop to the event. Not a bad spot I think, and by amazing unusual co-incidence for summer ‘08, fantastic weather that weekend.
Anyway I started off foolish. They were having their party at Moat Farm, and rather than read the invite properly, I let Google suggest to me that it was near Diss. Diss! I checked for train tickets and got them for only £6. Of course, as soon as I’d booked them (non-refundable), I realised the mistake. Diss! I mean, really. It was actually near Sudbury, and despite being a bit closer, that ticket was £28. Hmm. Anyway the morning of departure came, and as per my last blog post, I was going to cycle to the bike shop in Notting Hill to drop off the new hub, and then straight over to Liverpool Street.
But it was the 1st presidential debate the night before, which I’d watched, so I woke up late and started slowly. I started packing and where is my pillow? My Tempur Travel Pillow. My expensive camping luxury that gave me such a good night’s sleep last year. Hmm, hmm? Well, I still haven’t found it, and I wasted several hours on Saturday looking for it. So I had to take my old light and useless Vango pillow.
In fact, by the time I left for Liverpool Street (no time now to deliver the hub!), not only was I too late to get the mid-day train, I was too late to cycle for the 1pm train too. Eek! I rushed over to Catford Bridge to see I’d just missed the Charing Cross train, but luckily a Cannon Street train was on the way. I made it onto the Sudbury train with under 5 minutes to spare. My bike shared the cycle space with a Pedersen, another weird one.
At Sudbury, I had quite the oddest accident. I managed to drop my bike, chain-ring first onto my ankle. It is still healing now, and made the 7 mile ride up to the farm a bit uncomfortable, but not too much though. That ride was mostly uphill, a bit tougher than I expected. I decided to use the iPhone rather than Viewranger for directions, and although I didn’t get lost, I did have a few moments where I wasn’t sure where I was along the route. Turn left after 2 miles it says. How far is that then? Turn right on Church Street (but there’s no street names!), and so on. But I was late, so I hurried on.
When I got there, there was a Punch and Judy show going on for the kids and wine for the rest of us, delightful! The whole thing was great, and in the hangar next door was:
this. Cripes.
Whoah! Hawker Hurricane restorations! I had no idea such a thing existed. Not preservation, but actual aircraft restorations as effectively new working planes.
Amazing.
That night the pavilion where the party happened was lit up with Christmas lights and candles. It looked enchanting. I took this awful pic with my iPhone.
I didn’t dance: so many excuses, wrong shoes - too grippy, cut up ankle - too painful, but mainly too shy. Silly boy.
Me and Ross
In the morning, I thought
I left in such good time to get a midday train. So
much time, that I decided to buy some lunch for a few
hours later. Hmm, took a little while to find an open
shop, and then somewhere to lock up, and then oh no,
oh no, a one-way system in town, and such a big one!
I managed to race around (as best I could on 2nd
gear) and rushed down to the station, following the
signs. Rushing down a road I didn’t recognise,
rushing and, um, where’s the station? I had to
ask a local, it was far back up the road. Annoyingly
the last sign for the train was perpendicular to the
road on a roundabout. Coming at the sign, I simply
didn’t see it and took a wrong turn. I missed
the train by 2 minutes. Argh! Next train was a full
hour later. Ack!
So I had a look a the station. Turns out it’s a
community partnership branch line, kept open with
local support, partly demonstrated by the floral
efforts on the platform:
Quite effective in terms of butterflies and bees.
What you can’t tell from the pics is the
cacophony of bird noises around the station, in the
bushes behind. It was like a jungle back there. Yup,
doesn’t take much to entertain me.
Lovely finish to the weekend though. Best wishes to
Ross and Cath on their Irish adventure!
Postscript - hub
I finally managed to get the hub over to Bicycle
Workshop today. I cocked-up a delivery there on
Monday (closed on Monday), but had an exhilarating
fast ride across central London doing so. You ride as
fast as you can, with fingers on the brakes, staying
ahead of the traffic, but out of the way of it
(certainly not on the inside of trucks!). Riding
cross Hyde Park and then back through Bayswater. A
huge work out for the Moulton suspension and a big
smile on my face.
Speaking of which, you can hear about the Moulton
(and hear me for 10 secs at the beginning) here at
the Bike Show.