Well Autumn is here alright. I seem to
have missed summer, must've had my back turned for a mo and there it
was... gone. But now the rain we've had during the erm... 'summer,' has taken
on a slightly more hostile edge, aided and abetted by some pretty
unruly and blustery winds. Monday night was a prime example – it
battered down. The horizontal rain lashed my windows and the restless tree
outside scraped its branches along the guttering all night (really
must trim it back), making getting off to sleep a frustrating
process. Eventually though I did and Tuesday dawned dry(ish) and
calm.
Now all that rain can only mean one
thing – one of my favourite lanes for a potter will be flooded in
parts. I always enjoy these occasions because despite the depression
and despite being the wrong side of the half century on this planet,
I still behave like a small child sometimes, and enjoying splashing
through the puddles and floods on a bike is one such occasion.
Whoop! Here we go...
I see
people walking bikes along the footbridge beside fords and think what a right load of boring old farts they must be. Surely it is every
cyclist's duty to bomb through puddles and fords, preferably with
feet up and off the pedals, and shouting 'wheeee' as they go. If not
duty then it should be made law, and what a fun world it would be too, along some commuter heavy routes in particular. Cycling through big puddles is good
for the soul. Well that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.
It's also
why I am often to be found taking repeated runs through standing
water, camera in hand, trying to grab some splashfest of a photo or
other. That's another excuse – it's all in the name of art madam,
nothing to do with being immature at all... Ahem...
Anyway, the promise of puddles and
floods saw me setting off on the Voodoo (it was already besoiled from
its previous outing, otherwise snotty, grotty roads would call for a
snotty, grotty bike – the Carerra) armed with a new toy to try out
with the GoPro.
When I bought the titchycam, I also got
one of those huge bags of mounts that litter the Amazon listings. It
was full of useful guff like the oft used so far chest harness, a
head harness (yet to try that, needs to be dark for that I think, and
somewhere I'm not easily recognised), and a collection of fiendishly
clever looking mounting systems to explore, just as soon as I can
figure out where they go, and what they might do. Also in the bag
though was the dreaded selfie stick. I hate those things, as many
others do it would appear. But you don't have to use the darned thing
to aim the camera back at your grinning mush filling the frame ahead
of some celeb or tourist attraction or whatever, it can be used for
all sorts of interesting viewpoints of course, and I had an obvious
angle in mind when I added the thing to my gear for the ride. I just
hoped I didn't cark it along the way – oh the shame of having a
stranger go through my stuff and finding a selfie stick in there.
Some things are just too embarrassing to contemplate.
Anyone who could just see my head over the hedge going repeatedly up and down the road, must've thought I kept getting my jacket caught in a bush or something...
Anyway, it was all good wobbly fun,
hanging the GoPro upsy down in front of me while riding through the
puddles, so the stick proved its worth, and the rest of the ride was
an enjoyable one too. It was a sunny periods/showery kind of day,
although having donned all my waterproof gear (and spare water wings
for the flooded bits – you never know how deep they may be) it
didn't actually rain on me, which is typical.
I've often stopped at this gate thinking there is a photo here somewhere, but nothing has really worked in the past for various reasons. On this occasion though I managed to bag a shot I was half pleased with.
Only a short trundle around one of my
local loops then, but still an enjoyable one. It wasn't just the
puddles that needed negotiating either, but all the other detritus
that a dark and stormy night down here brings – tree branches in
the road, mud that'd been dragged out of fields and across the lanes by fast running water, battered and blown recycling bins and so on.
It wasn't all puddles and mud.
So Autumn is here, but it'd be pretty boring really if it was hot
and sunny all year round wouldn't it.
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