Monday, started off like this.

COVID negative, yay! .

I was feeling less like a zombie/ the walking dead and I managed to make a fried breakfast without setting myself alight 🔥 this morning.

I indulged myself with another cooked breakfast. Fried cod and egg with the last of the kalamata olive loaf that has been hanging about the kitchen. The whole setup seemed a bit plain so I squirted a blog of BBQ sauce in the corner which made it just perfect.

Then I went back to my default position which these days is in front of the TV (I’m on leave this week, so it feels OK…). I put Netflix on and settled into my usual doze. However I got to mid afternoon and I could help but notice that the sun was actually shining and I didn’t feel horrible. I thought ‘better make hay Bunmi!’. So I turned off the TV (and did ‘something less boring instead’) headed to garage to reclaim my bike.

Turned out that was its own adventure. My tyres were flat and I could not pump them up. So I took off the front wheel and slung the bike in the boot of my car and drove to Halfords. On arrival to Halford I asked if someone could take a quick look at my bike and I was told I would need to book a whole bike assessment, online, they would then see me and give me a quote and the book in for another appointment to get any agreed works done. I had to stop myself from rolling my eyes at this and said that I just needed someone to have a quick look at the bike and tell me if the problem is my tyres, my bicycle pump or in fact as I suspected, just me. Luckily they obliged me and asked me to bring my bike in when I told them I’d brought it with me. So I went back to the car, took the bike out, put the front wheel back on. Realised that the front wheel was on the wrong way, took off the wheel and placed it correctly and wheeled my back into the store. The bike part of the store is on the 1st floor, so I was contemplating taking the lift or lugging my bike up the stairs. Then a member of staff walked past me at the and asked what I was doing, when I told her what the plan was, instead of helping me, she told me that I could not possibly see anyone, it was appointment only and they were far too busy for walk ins. Lucky for me the member of staff that had actually sanctioned this plan, happened to be walking by and told her colleague that it was OK, that she’d agreed this plan with me. Interestingly she also mentioned that she had not told the other colleague on the 1st floor who was meant to be helping me. So undeterred I carried my bike and pump up the stairs to the bike expert.

The bike expert was dealing with one customer and there was a couple browsing the bikes at the other end of the floor, so I did not wait long at all. Yes, it turns out the problem was in fact me, who at 45 years of age, still cannot pump up the tyres on a bicycle. Well, perhaps I can now…! I left Halford a happy and grateful person.

I drove back home and then finally took my bike out for the first ride in my new neighbourhood. I did not go far, just to Warren Gorge, that is literally on my doorstep. I live right beside Chafford Gorges Nature Park which has acres of green space consisting of Warren Gorge, Lion Gorge, Grays Gorge, Mill Wood and Wouldham Cliffs. I was not aware of this, but the gorges are manmade, having been the site of chalk quarrying from the 18th century to the late 1950s.

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I stopped and looked at the featured creatures for a while, worried a bit that I seemed to be the only human being around then cycled my way out of the Gorge. There is so much more cycling and walking to do and places to explore.