Riding

I took the plunge and took to the pedals today. I've been for a couple of little rides around for amusement, but this time I rode to work. It's not far - about 5km - and flat enough. The traffic wasn't bad, so overall the trip was enjoyable - especially going to work. It meant that the others all went to school, and they were able to stay for assembly, which many parents seem to do. After that, three of them made it to British Camp - one of the Malvern Hills, where they went for a windy windy walk. (Yes, the path wasn't straight, and the air wasn't still.)

Riding home was not unpleasant, but it was dark and wet. I had a jacket, but it wasn't waterproof. (I think "fogproof" is the most complimentary term I should apply!) My jeans weren't waterproof, and neither were my work shoes. I did have lights, although I'm going to get a brighter one for the front. And I'll need some kind of goggles (it's hard for my fingers to type that word with a double g instead of a double o), preferably with wipers! I never went anywhere on my bike in Australia without sunglasses. I don't think it's an option at 5pm in this climate unless you're 106 miles from Chicago.

I'm anticipating a cycling accessories acquisition morning tomorrow. Stephanie's going to her first hobby (pottery), but the second hobby is cancelled, because of the school's Christmas Fayre. Then there's another Fair (Fayre?) at Eastnor Castle, just a few miles SW of here. (The Castle hasn't been open to the public since we've been here, so this will be a stickybeak opportunity.) Then we've another community choir rehearsal (normally they're on Thursday evenings), before we have an choir Christmas dinner at the local (Colwall) pub.

I spent another enjoyable part of the day (between road adventures) trying to come to grips with more quantum stuff, such as Multimode Interference beam splitting, creating entangled photon pairs, and electrically modulating photon polarisation. It mostly sounds believable, but I'd love to understand it all in more detail one day.

We didn't have wine tonight, but I have yet to comment on the 2005 St Emilion. As with so many of the wines, the label for the UK market doesn't give any more details of the pedigree (or should I say provenance - a word that I'm seeing more and more in information assurance circles). It was £11.95 at a local Threshers (where they, like most Malvern wine shops, only had about 20 different French reds), and was probably worth it. Only a Merlot, of course, coming from Bordeaux (see, I'm learning!), so it's behind from the start, but quite ok really. I'm half hoping that I'll start to like these wines, so that when I get back to Australia, I'll really savour those tasty Barossa Shiraz bottles stashed away in my secret, climate-controlled, hiding spot. Mmmm, I'm getting thirsty just thinking of the Rockfords, the Turkey Flat, the Leasingham Classic Clare (ok, not only Barossa), and the Wolf Blass Brown (or now Grey) Label. I'd better stop.