is battering Brizz as i write this.

Outside of my window strong winds are howling, driving what is really quite light rain, into penetrating shards of H2O. We have been fortunate hereabouts to have missed the strongest winds, up in GOC wind speeds in excess of 100mph have been recorded, here its currently gusting around half of that.

The weather, we Brits talk of little else of course, has impacted my activities this week, i put off my Thursday ride until Friday and even then confined it to a 60km spin to Bath and its environs. Yesterday was a better day but i've picked up a bit of a cold so no ride then and of course today would be silly - wet, snow and cold can be dressed for but wind is so unpredictable, well its safer to not be on two wheels. I will get some exercise later, there is a calmer, drier window @ teatime.

I've not been idle with my enforced inside time, i'm working up a new short story but i've also been doing some model building for my 'city' project. No kit bashing or scratch building this time, just some vaguely customised kits that i sourced in Germany at the back end of 2024, a couple of houses and town wall elements. I'm not super skilled but i've been doing it since i was about six or seven and find it quite therapeutic.

Later this week i'm heading up to Yorkshire for a week and i'm having some issues with it. Let me explain a little. After Dad passed last year, we expected that my brother would take over the tenancy on the family home but to cut a long story short, the council decided after five months of dithering, that he has to leave. So after living there for over twenty years and never having 'left home', my little bro has to find somewhere else to live and my trip this week is to help clear the property, moving the contents to storage.

Whilst its never been my home it has, for over twenty years been the centre of our family life, this week will almost certainly be the last time i'm there. I'll admit that I'm feeling quite emotional, it has been a sort of anchor for me the last few years, my Yorkshire refuge, base for trips to GOC and so on. That will be gone, the memories both good and bad, the connection to my parents that those bricks have provided, taken away.

I go north on Thursday, returning late the following week so my attendance here at BC may be a bit haphazard after Wednesday. Before then i'm hoping to get some riding in as i'll be bikeless for over a week but what else is currently open for discussion. What i do know is i'll be making a lamb stew with dumplings tomorrow and we've got fried beef for dinner today. There is of course a new Gaby chapter today, you can read Opel Fruits now.

That's all for now, i'll be back on Wednesday,
Tschuss,
Madeline Anafrid

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