After another stupidly busy week at work, coupled with the now seemingly traditional sunshine all week, followed by rain all weekend and feeling, somewhat lacking on the motivation front, an easy weekend was on the cards for the 18th & 19th. I had a bit of a mixed day on the Saturday, being up early for a quick 20 mile blast on the bike before coming home for second breakfast with “The Emma” and then getting my running shoes on for a cheeky 10 mile plod around the local countryside. I'd normally see this approach as the worst of both worlds, if your going out on the bike you might as well make it worthwhile and 20 miles certainly isn't particularly worthwhile in my book. 20 miles is a distance you run, not a distance that's worth putting the Lycra and special shoes on for! But, needs must when the Devil drives and all that. Having said that, it actually made an enjoyable change, mixing things up, and my legs seemed quite happy with the transition. Don't worry though, there's no way I'm starting that triathlon business, that's just not normal! “The Emma” however was less impressed with the idea of my managing to make 2 sets of sports kit dirty in one day. You'd think from the way she goes on that she had to wash it by hand in unicorn tears. Unicorn tears, that she'd had to milk herself, after catching and hand rearing a flock of unicorns. Not just put it away after I'd washed it and hung it out to dry; and she only has to do that because I don't do it right! Never mind though, washing sorted and onto something different. The soft fruit on the allotment has been really good this year. I'm not sure if the weathers been better than normal with the warm dry spell early on followed by plenty of rain, or, and more likely, the winter net project has seen an end to the Pigeon problem so I'm actually getting more than my fair share of the pickings. Having had my fill of Strawberries, Loganberries, Blackcurrants and Gooseberries, this week was the turn of the Redcurrants and I easily picked a couple of pounds from my single bush. Redcurrants are a bit too sharp for my sweet tooth to be just eating raw, but they do make an amazing jelly that goes so well with Roast Pork so that's where these ended up. Bring them to the boil with a dash of water and an apple or two for the pectin and allow to simmer for a few minutes before draining overnight to collect the juice. Then it's a simple matter of adding the same quantity of sugar to the juice you've collected and bring back to the boil until setting point is reached, then pot the resulting goo up into sterilised jars. An easy hours pottering around in the kitchen and something to look forward to after a chilly winters day out. Yummy! Sunday started with rain that looked set to continue all day, so I stuck on my brave legs and got the bike out. Despite the rain it was still far too warm for waterproofs so getting wet was the order of the day. Luckily it only rained for the first couple of hours I was out, then the sun came out and it turned into a nice day. I suppose that will teach me for being up and out early. What is it about the early bird caching the worm? That's because the worms have been washed out of their hiding places by the rain. Stupid weather!
Other than that, there's not a great deal to report. I told you a quiet weekend was on the cards.
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Paul PerrattOld enough to know better, young enough to still feel invincible, stupid enough to keep on trying the same thing again and again. Cyclist, Gardener, Runner, Hiker, Cook, Woodworker, Engineer, Jack of all trades and master of none, Anti social old git and all round miserable bugger. Archives
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