The plan was for an early morning bicycle ride on Saturday. I had to wait for daylight to break at 8am.
Even then it was still overcast and grey. I had my lights on for the full duration of the 35km route.
This was a morning for layers - LOTS of them. I had six different tops, two pairs of cycling tights and two pairs of socks. I remained chilled throughout.
Most of the mini-lakes have now dried up around the lanes. I only had to make one detour to avoid being splashed.
I passed a farm house outside of Great Bentley. It thought it slightly optimistic to see the sheets hanging out on the washing line.
The lanes were gloriously empty. I was treated to a close flyover by a couple of very gracious swans.
This is the first time post-op that I tested myself on the bike. I pushed it to the max and gave it full power throughout.
Chapeau!
A bit of gardening took place back at base. The first flowers on the honeysuckle have started to appear. The cats joined me, enjoying some winter sunshine.
To the University! For a basketball triple header!
These are becoming quite an event up on campus. The theme for today was Retro Night. Every game needs a theme, natch.
The problem here is the time shifting interpretation of the term retro. For the Bright Young Things on campus, this seems to be between 1995 - 2005.
Some careful wardrobe planning took place beforehand. I didn’t want to appear on the big screen wearing my current 2024 look, and then be congratulated in public for nailing that special Retro Night style.
The plus side was that we knew most of the retro songs being played. Shazam didn’t make an appearance throughout the entire evening.
I was tempted to ask Mr DJ to drop some Jesus and Mary Chain. They were from the 80’s, right? They must be retro…
The Div 3 men were up on court first. They set the ball rolling with an impressive 77-57 win against [don’t know who.]
We went for a brief walk around campus ahead of the women taking to the court. We walked around some old University haunts. I struggled on some steep stairs. Back in the day I use to vault these two at a time when I was running late for lectures.
You know you are growing old when the old student pigeon holes for snail mail have been replaced by an Amazon locker installation.
The women’s match was a Cup quarter-final against what we thought would be a strong L******er Riders. The away team barely showed up.
Rebels had a little wobble in the fourth quarter, but still booked a semi-final place next weekend with an 84-70 home court win.
Finally the Div 1 men held court for the evening entertainment. The warm up was weird. Some of the players were using an electronic device that looked like a drill to warm up their muscles.
Don’t try this at home, etc.
It must have worked. The hat trick of home court victories was complete with an impressive 77-63 win over Newcastle.
Some catching up took place back at base. A BEAUT of a Giant ONCE appeared in the ebay emails. It’s collection only from Lincolnshire.
I will get my hands on one of these frames at some stage.
Chapeau!