The End Of The Old Year

Well, it is that time of the year, time to rid of the old and bring in the new. I really hope that 2009 will be a year of changes for the better and that we can come out of the problems of the credit crunch and things get back to normal. Happy new year everyone

5

Slide Along The Road

I came off my bike on Wednesday morning. I looked out of the window at 6.25am to see how bad the winter conditions were and it looked bad but not as bad as it had looked previously. The cars were frosty but the roads looked ok. I got on my bike to ride to work and went straight off it and hit the road hard. I hit my ribs on the road and it winded me and I laid there for a few seconds and got up again, I walked a little on the pavement and climbed on my bike again and came off again hitting the road. I can't remember the conditions being as bad as this ever, I have been cycling to work for 26 years and I cannot remember it being as bad as this. So I have got bruised ribs and a huge 6'' bruise on my left hip plus numerous other bruises on my body. The bike I'm glad to say is fine and I'll heal to ride another day!

5

Winter's Here!

Well, today it started to snow, only slightly but it is cold and hopefully we will get some snow. I had to work this morning but today we went to York for the afternoon. Walking around it was so cold and windy but sometimes really sunny. When we got back into the car the tempreture guage in the car showed it was 1 degree outside and coming home from Goole there was no sign of snow until we got into Hull and there was snow everywhere. I was planning to go for a bike ride early Sunday morning, but let's see how much snow has fallen overnight!

5

Dark Cold Days

Well, Winter is in full swing, it is cold, wet, windy and dark and I'm just fed up of it raining. As quick as the sun is out, it suddenly goes cloudy and starts to rain. We were supposed to be going to Leeds on Saturday but we woke up to get the early train and it was pouring with rain so we decided to get the later train. The temptation of a cuppa in bed and a lovely warm bed meant we didn't go for the later train and never went to Leeds. We spent the rest of the day wandering around Hull city centre and midday the sun comes out and becomes a nice afternoon. After tea the weather changes and starts to rain about 7pm, that is typical of the weather here.

5

The End Of The Week

It's Saturday and my weekend off. I'm back on a 4 day week although I worked yesterday to try and pull us forward with our work. So I've been chilling out and was thinking of going for a ride but went into town for a wander and get some shopping in. I've booked my bike in for a service two months after I bought it, that's part of the deal at the cycle shop. It's going in for a service on Friday but will be taking it straight from work on Thursday. Also I have been looking for more winter cycling lycra as the weather is so unpredictable this time of year.

I got my nipple pierced today, I had it pierced originally 16 years ago but about 2 years ago it started to go a little bit manky so had to take the bar out and it closed up. The other nipple piercing is fine so finally I deced to get the other one done again. It bled a little and got a plaster over it but now I got to peel it off so there goes some chest hair lol. So now I'm gonna start to get my other piercings put back in that rejected and get some more too. I used to have my eyebrow, bridge and nape done so might get my eyebrow done next and bridge. The nape was great but I kept catching it and there was my bikers jacket collar that always rubbed on it and made it sore!

5

Fresh Air

I went for a ride today across the Humber Bridge. First time I have ridden across and really enjoyed it although it was pretty cold, windy and wet. The idea behind the ride was to find how to get to the car park of the Humber Bridge as we don't have a car and I don't drive anyhow so I didn't know what route to take. Anyhow, back to the story, I'm thinking of joiining the local CTC cycling group and they meet at the car park for quite a lot of their rides, so I needed to know how to get there!

I really want to get out more on my bike, mainly for the exercise but also the fun part and getting to places I wouldn't normally go to. Also there's £1200 worth of bike there that's just getting used to go to work and back. I am also thinking of buying a road bike, I have seen one, another Cannondale and same colour as my MTB but that's another £800 and seeing I'm back on a 4 day week at work, I don't think I'll be buying it for the near future!

Here's a photo of my bear Five posing on the Handlebars

5

Happy Birthday

Yesterday was my birthday and I had a pretty good day. I'm on holiday and me and Vince spent the day wandering around town after I got home from the gym. I also finally got my new bike so I got a new lock as a birthday gift and went to buy another lock for the bike so that's nearly £80 in locks for the bike!

I'm off to London next week so the money I got for my birthday will be going towards that trip as London isn't the most cheapest of places! Now I got to make sure that all my chips for the camera are clear, the batteries are charged and what to wear!

5

I Just Don't Know What To Do

I went to look for a new bike today and basically the bikes that I'm looking at are more money than the claim settlement so looks like I'm gonna have to put more money too. The bike I want is the next model up from the one that got stolen and it looks like it is going to cost me about £300 more but they don't have my size frame in and might not be able to get one. They are going to try Cannondale on Monday to see if they have any more. It is brilliant red and looks great. The next bike up from that is a Cannondale Prophet and thats £400 more. The bike I had was a fantastic bike and I don't really want to get anything less, but I'm still on short time at work and there's no money in my account for savings right now so I might have to go for a lower model of bike. I guess it is like owning a fast car then having to desize and end up with a budget car. Oh well I'll get it sorted I hope!

5

Some Good News

I have just heard that I'm getting the money for my bike from my insurers which is great news, now all I have to do is wait and they will transfer the money to the bike shop and I can go pick another bike. I'm just pleased now it has been sorted and I look forward to getting back onto two wheels

5

What Have I Done To Deserve This?

I wasn't sure if I wanted to put this in my blog or not. I've been thinking if I should want to be reminded or not of the last three weeks. Three weeks ago I had my bike stolen from outside of a shop, I had put 2 locks on it and they had gone through both locks around 10 minutes after I locked it up. I am still devastated as not only was it my maid mode of transport seeing I don't drive, I also went out for rides on it at the weekends. It cost me just short of £1000 and it was a fantastic bike to ride and I guess it has been sold by some scum of the earth crawling out of the gutter to sell it for drugs.

Trouble is now, I am waiting on the insurance company to see if they are going to pay for a new bike or not, they wanted the receipt or the packaging to the main lock I bought and to prove who I am (seeing I don't have a drivers licence or a passport). So I guess a big note to me and whoever should read this, make sure that you keep all receipts to everything you buy, you never know when you will need them. I also now know that I am being forced to get a passport just so I can prove who I am, how crazy is that?

Two weeks ago I fell at work and hit my face, wow did it hurt, but I smashed my glasses into my eyebrow and cut it, plus the pile at work I fell onto, the corners cut my face. Luckily for me it has healed really well and just a slight black eyelid is left but my face is still numb although I'm getting some feeling back slowly so I guess another week and I should be back to normal.

I've been on a three day week now for a while at work as the economy isn't very good and there's no sign of it getting any better. I'm doing 3 days next week, then the following 2 weeks up to my summer holidays we are on 4 days, which is to make sure that all the orders are taken care of for the shutdown of the factory. Money is tight and I'm working hard at clearing all my debts and taking care of the credit card, once this is sorted then hopefully I might be able to break into the black and save a little money. I have had to stop getting tattooed as the money is not there and until I get back into full time it might be next year before I get my back finished. It's all doom and gloom but I'm staying positive that things will change for the better!

I'm now back at the gym and finally it is beginning to show, I'm slowly getting some shape back and I'm feeling good despite of what's happened. I've been on a diet which is basically detoxing the body and eating as much vegetables and fruit as you can to give the body back all it's nutrients. They say that the body is starved of it's vital nutrients then it cannot do it's job of clearing out the body of all the toxins that are in it so it gets sluggish and they stay in. So I may end up with my dream of having a good healthy looking body!

5

I'm Still Here

I can't believe that I haven't added to my blog for ages. So I'm going to change and try to keep it up to date more. A few things have happened over the last couple of months, the main thing is that I'm on short time at work, the Easter week I worked 3 days out of 4 and last week I worked 4 days. So right now I'm on a 4 day week which isn't fantastic but at least I still have a job.

So I'm going to try and use the time off to the best I can, so I'm going back to the gym to try and lose some weight, I'm going to try and go for a ride on my bike this week and try to do anything so that I'm not just sat at home thinking about things and sat on the computer. My photography hobby is slowly growing and want to try taking still life shots now, that should keep me out of mischief for a while. There's a photo!

5

Still Ill

Well, this cold is still pretty bad and I have been to the doctor's who told me I have a bad chest infection. Pills to take and cough medicine so hopefully it might start to shift this cold. I Haven't been anywhere on my bike so I'm missing not going out as I can hardly breathe so hard cycling is really out of the question
5

Aarrgh!

This cold I have is really hanging around and I've had to ring and cancel my tattoo appointment for Saturday. I'm in a lot of pain with my chest and there's no way I can sit for 3 hours without coughing and splutering. I was looking forward to this and now it has put it back further but at least next time I will be fit and ready for getting tattooed.

5

A Start Of Things To Come?

Happy New Year to everyone and I hope that Christmas was good for everyone and that you all had a good time. I spent the new year with the flu and was laid up on the settee all new years eve daytime, good job nothing was planned for the evening. To be honest I hate New Years Eve, I don't like the emotions that come with it such as people wishing they had done such and such a thing and another year passed ect. I think it is just another excuse for everyone to get really drunk, I sound a proper misery but I much prefer the feeling of Christmas.
So far after the cold, I went back to mayhem at work and then on Friday night the fridge freezer caught fire so that now has to be replaced and £250 pounds later the fridge comes on Thursday and the freezer in another couple of weeks. I have a huge gas bill to pay and I have another tattoo session on my back this coming Saturday so that is a lot of cash I have to come up with. I hope this isn't a sign of things to come!

5