I am writing this in our spa pool, it’s ten pm at night and it’s a lovely evening. I’ve seen the sun set and now I can see at least a couple of the planets that are all supposed to be lining up in a row around now. I am filled with a sense of wellbeing.
I got up this morning when my alarm went off around six, much to the delight of the hounds who hate it when I sleep in.
I had work this morning, which was basically just making everyone’s day better and getting paid for it. How lucky am I? Certainly luckier than the man with probable stomach cancer who was an emergency add on to the end of the list, but at least I could do my bit by making a potentially very unpleasant procedure a breeze for him. I had mixed feelings when I saw the packet of cigarettes on his bedside table with lurid photos of cancerous lesions and SMOKING CAUSES CANCER written in big letters on it, when bringing him back after his gastroscopy. Of course no one ‘deserves’ cancer, but is it less bitterly unfair when people have been indulging in risky behaviour? A moral question for another day. My ill will is reserved for the tobacco companies.
By then it was late to have lunch but luckily the best local bakery had one left of my favourite sandwich, which I ate before having a well deserved nap.
I’d had a phone call this morning to say my new bike had arrived so we then drove over to the shop to pick it up. I was nervous that I’d have buyer’s remorse having already changed my mind twice, so I took Simon with me to provide moral support, as well as muscles and a big car so we could bring the bike home in the event of a successful sale. Well, it was great.
I don’t know what I was thinking, toying with the idea of a E mountain bike. Look at all those bells and whistles! Well, the bell is literal, the whistles are more figurative. Kickstand, lights, chain guard, even a basket – heaven!
By the time we got it home it was late afternoon, just enough time for me to take the dogs for a swim before we took my new bike out for a spin. Summer has finally arrived, this was the first time since autumn that I’ve swum across the estuary with the doggies. I was thinking that this is a relatively new tradition for me, but then I realized that I used to do it with three completely different dogs: we had Ruby, Poppy, and Katie when I started the habit. We think our lives are short, but to our dogs with their fleeting existence, we must seem permanent and unchanging.
By the time I got back and had a shower, Simon had attached the new basket and we were ready to go.
It was sold to me as an unremarkable loop including dinner but ended up being much more of an adventure than either of us expected. I even rode my bike for a kilometer along the beach, which was not something I envisaged doing quite so early in my bicycle’s career. In retrospect I’m glad we did, because I was starting to think the knobbly tyres which I’d thought were going to be great for all the off road stuff we’d be doing are actually quite the hindrance on a good road surface. One concession to its beautiful new condition was that I carried it across the shallow stream we came to, rather than cycle through it and expose it to nasty salt spray. At 28.5kg, it was lucky for me it was a narrow crossing.
We had a few dinner options, and I was hoping for something low key and al fresco as I was sweaty and grimy by then. By chance, at the restaurant we chose, a good friend was just sitting down by himself for a predinner beer, so we joined him and had a very pleasant evening. Nice food after some exercise, good company, lovely weather, and a no alcohol beer, what more could you ask for? We had wide ranging discussions, and briefly touched on retirement plans. Apparently there’s a known risk of doctors retiring from full time work and then dropping dead within the next twelve months. That sounds like a particularly bad idea, which is food for thought in future career planning. Surely keeping active and with a wide range of interests will provide some sort of protection?
Anyway, I’m starting to feel pleasantly sleepy. I’ll just decide whether to post this and then hit the sack, I think.