It seems as if there has just not been enough time recently, which means that in terms of priorities the first thing that has to slow down is Posting to my Blog. The next thing that gets reduced is taking pictures whilst out on my bicycle - but the good news is that I have been cycling pretty much every day.
Last week I had to go to London on Thursday evening and Friday afternoon and I chose to come back in the middle. The trip down on Thursday was towards the end of the day returning on the 10.15pm or 11.15pm train. The great thing about the Internet is that, in general information is much easier to find. So checking the train times and ensuring that there would be no delays from engineering works was simple. Trying to check what the off-peak and peak hours were defeated me. I wanted to check whether travelling from Cambridge to London on the 6.15pm would be considered a peak-hour service. I also wanted to check what was the earliest train back from London on Friday evening that would be considered as non peak-hour.
I cycled to the station but first has to check that I had some means of mending a puncture in my bag. I usually cycle with a rack-pack with a pump, patches, spare tyre, multi-tool and some antiseptic-wipes. The bag easily swaps between bikes and has helped me "limp" home more than once. (When I catch up with my Posts I had some mechanical issues 20 miles/ 32Km from home on Saturday - which you will hear more about.) The trouble is, in my experience, Cambridge Railway Station is not the best place to leave a bicycle or easily detachable bits on a bicycle - such as a rack-pack and stuff in it. The commute to the station is not too far so I generally only carry a small pump and an aerosol inflater which fills the inner tube with gunk that also seals punctures. This way I can patch up a tyre quickly and without getting too dirty and then sort things out at my leisure when I get home. It works, although I can't get 100+psi into the tyre. When I fix the tube properly there is a lot of gunk to clean up though.
As I end up carrying extra stuff on the train in addition to work related stuff (lights, pump, aerosol inflater, GPS, gloves, cycling rain-jacket, speedo ...) I do try to cut back to only essentials. I also take my smallest camera a Sony DSC W200 with 12mega pixies. Although I do not take many pictures to the station because I have a train to catch. Just before I set off on Thursday I looked high and low for the Camera but could not find it. I last had it the day before and remember having it with me in the car. Unfortunately I did not find it - so no pictures.
When I have meetings in London I tend to wear clothing that will fare acceptably - eg linen shirt, linen jacket - not very business-like but not too out of place in the Summer and my colleagues know that I cycle and excuse my eccentric appearance. I also have trousers where the lower leg will unzip - great for cycling and not too bad in meetings. When I had an office I would take a week's set of clothes in sometimes also leave my car at work - there were showers as well. The journey into the station was wonderful, a sedate pace in the sunshine and because I was catching the train at the end of the day it was also quite straightforward finding a place to lock my bike up in the cycle racks.
In London the Tube was intolerably hot, as usual I wished I had taken my Brompton and so could have cycled in London. We were ending up in a restaurant which is why I chose not too. Most restaurants are fine and will happily park the folded Brompton - but I like to check them out first. If you are interested the restaurant was Langhams Brasserie, near Green Park - and for additional entertainment a "close-up" magician performed various tricks for each table. The magician was Fay Presto and she was both very good and also very entertaining - our table enjoyed it very much as a brief interlude between the business talk. We were not expecting it - but apparently she has been appearing there for over 15 years.
The journey back was awful, the Tube was hot and the train to Cambridge was full and I found myself sitting next to a heater and sweltered until the first stop when some people got off and I could move seats. Why do they switch on the heating when it is too warm already! It was a pleasure to get back to Cambridge and get some fresh air. As always it was a relief also to find my bike still there. I have had a bicycle stolen from the station and know the feeling of sickness when you realise what has happened.
I took a slightly extended route back home and cycled out along to Marshall's Airfield along Sustrans 51 to check out the new lighting that has been set into the shared-use cycle path. It is pretty good - you (well I) still need lights, but it does help. They have not put lights in the middle bit and the occasional light can get hidden by vegetation but it shows the direction well with red lights at junctions .
When cycling back along Newmarket Road (not long after midnight) I did see an unmarked police car that had stopped a car that appeared to have been driving on the wrong side of the road. It also started drizzling as well - but not enough for me to stop and put my rain-jacket on.
Fortunately I did not have to get up early the next morning and after wasting more time looking for my Sony Camera gave up and just before lunch made the journey back to the Station. Once again there was a convenient cycle space available (there were also quite a few car spaces available). As it was lunchtime I bought a Cornish pasty to eat on the train - I have mentioned my weakness for Jelly-babies before, well another weakness is for Cornish Pasties - although not for breakfast.
The only thing of note was that when I returned to Cambridge that evening to cycle home (in the light) the roads were very quiet - something to do with a Cup-World football match I think ;-)
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