It's never fun being stuck home and unable to do much - for some folk it means being curled up on the sofa watching daytime telly, but I just can't bring myself to do that, and I haven't got a sofa anyway. So I spend the time on the internet usually, and once my usual haunts have been checked for updates, and checked again, I tend to wander off and investigate what is going on in the wider world.
Well it appears this country at least, is going to hell, it really is. Nothing to do with Brexit though, but everything to do with the professionally offended virtue signalling Snowflakes and their rabid Political Correctness.
Nothing it seems, is safe from these self absorbed, self important, attention seeking morons who pump themselves up full of self righteousness and take to Twitter and Facebook to wage hashtag war on some business, individual or even history, and who wimperingly take to their 'safe spaces' as soon as someone with a differing opinion comes along in case they become traumatised.
By crikey my patience has been sorely tested by the daily reports of self entitled imbeciles whining about something new that really is none of their business. What really grinds my knackers though is why these wet dipshits are pandered to, why don't businesses just say something like "Thank you for bringing our attention to the boys T-Shirt we sell with the slogan 'Dad's Little Helper' and your concerns that it is gender stereotyping. We have spent five seconds thinking about the matter and concluded your opinion is irrelevant and stupid, and you would be better served moving on with your life and worrying about something that is actually important. In short, f*ck off and mind your own business."
The trouble seems to be everyone is so scared of being called out on Social Media that they have to give in to these cretins and give them what they want - validation by way of an apology and the offending item being taken off sale or whatever.
What sort of person thinks they have the right to go through life without being offended by such petty irrelevancies as are being brought up on a daily basis by these spinally deficient idiots? What would their ancestors, who lived through real hardship, wars and so on, and who these vacuous morons have to thank for bringing them into this world, think of their great great grandsons and grand daughters and the 'hardships' these snowflakes now find so distressing?
Oh and what the hell is going with gender these days? I cannot count how many stuffs I don't give what gender someone is or thinks they are that day - be whoever or whatever you want, I really don't mind, nor care actually, it's none of my business, just don't expect me or anyone else to somehow magically guess what the correct way to address you on that particular occasion is.
In an ideal world there wouldn't need to be Political Correctness, it wouldn't be a 'thing' at all if everyone treated each other with respect and good manners. But it isn't an ideal world and never will be, so it's only right and proper that certain issues are addressed, but, as with Health and Safety, some idiots take the idea and run with it, as far and as fast as they can, and what a joyless, empty flipping world we are potentially creating as a result. I pity kids of today and the beige, bland future that awaits them unless the tide of moral outrage can be turned and commonsense rediscovered.
The worst bit of all this is that here I am getting wound up and offended by these people, just as they are getting offended by white people with dreadlocks and whatever else it is they are whining about yesterday, today, and tomorrow... That makes me one of them... Aaaarrrrgggghhhhh!!!
Grrrrr....
Anyway, rant over, let's restore some much needed balance, (things aren't actually as bad as they might seem... I do realise that, well, so far anyway) think happy thoughts, and get back to a bit of quality Bimbling.
Good news! Spring is... erm... Springing!
Whoop! Reasons to be cheerful - part one: The Daffs are starting to flower.
Soon the countryside will be awash with bright yellow vibrancy as the commercial grower's efforts come to fruition along with the freelance wild jobbies that highlight the verges and hedges along the lanes. The flowering of the Daffodils is always a sign of better times just around the corner.
After being stuck indoors so long with my temper slowly coming to the boil, it was great last Thursday to get out again at last and go for a potter in the rural sunshine. There was quite a fresh breeze blowing mind you, but t'was a friendly one - a South Westerly, not the eye watering, bitingly cold Northerlies or Easterlies we've been suffering of late (last time out I saw a bloke trying to break his dog off a lamppost it was that cold...)
Part of the beauty of bimbling about lanes like these is their ability to relieve you of the concept of time. I don't feel dressed without a watch, and even continue to wear one when it isn't working, and also as an ex bus driver, I have a pretty well developed sense of passing time. Normally that is.
But once I'm on the bike and enjoying the sun on my face and the breeze on my knees, (oh good grief that was cheesy) then all consciousness of time usually falls by the wayside and I can lose whole hours while bimbling about - suddenly realising my growling stomach is telling me it's lunchtime when it felt more like eleven am or something.
This old boy, a tripod no less, isn't usually bothered when I ride through the middle of Hay Farm near Boswiddle, and he usually barely registers my presence as he lies napping in the road, but on this day, for some unknown reason, he got the hump with me and started making a right old song and dance, barking and howling as if his nuts were being crushed in a vice or something. Yonder mooey was less than impressed by this outburst too by look of it.
Space to breathe.
The compulsory stop at Boswiddle Ford.
Hmmmm... what went on here that left a couple of feathers atop the wall I wonder. Probably just a gust of wind that blew them there...
View from the footpath that dodges round the ford at Boswiddle.
As ever, if a photo looks blurry, right click and open in a new tab sorts it out.
Thursday was obviously National Barky Dog Day as entering the hamlet of Penhale I encountered another shouty pooch. But this one was having some sporting fun, his furiously wagging tail being a give away, as was the 'chase me - chase me' way he took off and then returned a couple of times while I was lining up a photo. If their tail is down between their legs then I'm much more wary of a barking dog, this one was up for playing some games though.
Reasons to be cheerful - part two: The Primroses (or 'First Roses' apparently) are also starting to appear. Also known as Primula Vulgaris, which sounds a bit unfair for such a pretty, brightly coloured, flower. But then I moved in closer to get a better shot and it hissed menacingly "Piss off big nose" at me...
Not so welcome a sight on the roadside is all the litter. I've often brought odd bits home with me that I've come across when stopped for a photo or whatever, but now I've decided to go out and actually pick litter up along the lanes properly. I'll be using the bigger panniers from the old Clatterbus Carrera, and just this morning, a cheap long reach grab/litter picker thing arrived in the post. Litter has always bugged me, and my opinions of those who chuck crap about are best not repeated here, so it's time I did something about it locally. It'll give me something useful to do as well, seeing as I'm not working at the moment. Not every ride will be a litter picker, just now and then I'll head out with the sole intention of scooping up some crap.
Last shot for this particular ride and a peaceful rural scene. Well it looks that way, but that turbine was going like the clappers in the strengthening wind and making some quite dramatic swooshing noises.
Encouraged by completing a trouble free ride and invigorated once more by the great outdoors I headed out again last Saturday, this time on Fatso, for a mooch down through Idless Woods and into the Hamlet of Idless itself.
I love this tree at Treworgan Vean at this time of year, but it's a beggar to get a decent photo of. Another sunny morning though, the better days are starting to outnumber the grotty ones at last.
More Primrosery colour, and this one much more fetching than the more common yellow variety. The bank on the opposite side of the road is full of yet to flower Daffodils so it will truly be a blaze of colour along here shortly.
I don't normally like laying my bikes down, and that is why I carry a collapsible walking stick with me to act as a prop, but sometimes sheer laziness gets the better of me and Fatso gets to lie down.
I've just added Ergon grips to this bike to match those fitted to the Marin and Jamis. I'll be getting some for the Voodoo soon too as they are a very worthwhile addition in my opinion, making for a very comfortable grip.
I took the main central path through the woods on this occasion, as my last outing along the upper and then lower paths made for some very boggy going and cycling in several directions at once at times as well.
This path is hard packed and has a pronounced camber to each side so drains really well. Not only do bike and rider stay much cleaner but I don't leave big tyre tracks through the countryside either.
Looks quiet doesn't it. It's typical though that as soon as I set up the tripod and camera for some selfie action, so loads of people and their dogs showed up and I waited ages to get a clear shot. I did meet several friendly dogs though, they're always fascinated by my gear and bike on such occasions and like to have a good sniff around. The main thing is to try and stop the beggars cocking a leg over my camera gear or bike though...
Reasons to be cheerful, part three: The Snowdrops are out! (of course). Now Snowdrops are a domesticated escapee apparently, and where you find 'wild' Snowdrops you'll also find a garden or two nearishby, or so I've read. So anyone who gets utterly lost and finds some Snowdrops, well they can be followed in a line more or less towards salvation.
At the same location is the old Scawswater Sawmill that is thankfully preserved and given a new lease of life as a residential property. The river is the River Allen.
More Snowdrops at the same location, and sure enough, they do stretch along the roadside away from the garden of a rather posh house on the edge of Idless. So I could've followed them on my hands and knees if necessary to get help. Or just followed the road they are beside, that would work too...
That was it photographically for that ride as the photos I took subsequently were a bit crap so rattled the Windows Recycle Bin within seconds of them transferring from the memory card.
So it's been good to get back in the saddle and poking my nose about again, and the emergence of Spring flowers really gives the spirits a much needed lift after such a wet and windy Winter. A much needed antidote to all the perceived hassles and wretchedness of modern life too - a very effective balance and perspective restorer! To hell with all the dickwit fugnuggets, social justice warriors and PC snowflakes, leave 'em to it, I've got all this countryside to enjoy right on my doorstep, and when I'm out in it all the professionally offended become as irrelevant as their stupid opinions, and that is a very good thing indeed.
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