(no subject)

That was a busy week. On Wednesday at swimming I did 40 lengths and didn't feel anywhere near as tired as usual afterwards; time to increase the target a bit. The same evening a few of us went to see The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It shares an author with Being John Malkovich, which I completely failed to get on with, which initially put me off, but LNR's recommendation convinced me to give it a go anyway, and I'm glad I did, as I really enjoyed it.

At Karate on Thursday we went through the next set of things we'll be graded on; the next grading is mid-June. To the pub afterwards, which had some interesting conversations.

On Friday LNR got back, and very nice it is to have her around again (though at the time of writing she's out). We went to see Van Helsing, sadly the end credits were probably the best bit. Still, good of sphyg to cat-herd.

Today I've mostly been reading. I did take some time to extract the accumulated crud from some of our more reachable gutters (in particular the front of the garage and the porch), pretty much filling a bucket with mud, moss, sand, stones and the occasional weed. I wouldn't be surprised if there's at least another couple of buckets full in just the other gutters I can get at with a stepladder, never mind the ones that'll need something taller.

Sunday

Up early to cycle with Mobbsy, Ben, Naath and Becky to Heydon. Initially regretted not bringing my hat because of the rain but before long decided that the light drizzle was actually quite pleasant.

Although we mostly stuck to the roads there was a mile or so on grass and mud, which my bike isn't really designed for. As soon as we were able to speed up my gears rebelled though after some shifting up and down they started to behave again; I assume there was some mud in the way somewhere. The other challenge that was unfamiliar from cycling round Cambridge was hills. The advantage of getting to the top first is you get to rest for longest...

Anyway we met up with Emily and Thomas at the King William IV for a very nice lunch. I'd initially forgotten this but in fact LNR and I had been there with her parents (at Mobbsy's recommendation) some time ago. The suspended table and my barrel-based chair made for a rather individual setting l-)

Rather than cycle all the way back to Cambridge we decided instead to head to Royston and catch the train back (except for Ben who cycled all the way back by himself). In retrospect it's not clear that our approach was actually less effort; getting to Royston involved going up a number of hills, which was slow and tiring (though rapid and exhilarating on the way back down). The train arriving under a minute after we reached the platform was a nice bonus though. First time I've taken a bike on the train.

Had a lazy dinner and watched Mercury Rising, which was very silly, with LNR.