- the final countdown begins!

Yep, less than a week to the Christian festival but more important, before that, its the Winter Solstice and hard on its heels, my departure for points German!

But what's been going on since last i posted? Lets go back to Thursday to find out. Well Thursday is my Dad's usual shopping day so a trip to the supermarket filled the morning and supplied an early lunch then it was back to the house for a bit. I always try to fit in a visit with my old racing partner when i'm up in GOC and so late afternoon i headed across the city for a catch up and meal, these things used to be a bit of a drinking fest lasting until the early hours but we've scaled back on the alcohol to the point of none and i was 'home' before ten! But it's always good to catch up in person, especially when you have as many friends as i do$

Friday arrived as cold as ever so i delayed my ride in a hope it would warm up a bit, well by noon it was still sub zero so i set off east for an 'easy' ride to Worksop. It was certainly not ideal, not just the cold but a certain dankness hanging over everything but i made reasonable time despite having to keep an eye out for frost and ice on the roads. After negotiating the town it was time to head back to the hills, i had an idea for the route so it was onto the A60, otherwise known as the Cuckney 10 course that Gaby/Drew races on in the first couple of books, before going across to Clowne.

The idea was to cut across the lanes to south Sheffield but the first 'lane' was rimed and icy so i modified my plan to keep me on more used roads. The downside was having to use a fairly busy and lumpy road from Staveley to Brimington before getting to the 'old' Sheffield road up through Dronfield. This used to be the home stretch as i lived at the top of the hill but sadly, no longer so with the light failing i popped the lights on to cross Sheffield for a final 10km or so.

It was only just turned 16.00 when i got back but it was dark already. 80km this time, far enough given the weather and an average temp on the negative side of zero by a couple of digits.

I wasn't sure what to do Saturday, in the end i spent the morning with my brother swapping cars. The time had come for the motor used on some great road trips to Germany and Austria to be retired and as my Bro is a keen Saab fan, that meant another from that brand, almost as new as you can get which means its still over ten years old. After a bacon sarnie i went for a bit of a walk, was it a bit warmer?

And so to Sunday, my trip to see the kids up in Leeds. So it was a freezing start but all the transport worked out during the day and it really was a bit warmer by the time i got back! Circumstances mean i don't get to see them as much as i'd like but, in all honesty, i didn't see my grandparents that often so whilst not what i hoped, i don't feel quite so guilty about it. Anyhoo, it was a good day, homemade Christmas cake, Lego (the plural of Lego is Lego not Legos!), re-enactment with all the singing of the nativity play, grandson was the inn keeper, ending with chips and curry sauce on the way back to the coach home!

Today is a lot warmer, double digits even but its damp and windy, i had planned a bike ride but i'm veering towards visiting the Chrimbo market and some pre trip chores instead!

I have posted another Gaby chapter, Blotschenmarkt, chapter 8 of Only Five Minutes, see's the Bond household start their trip back to England but of course, it wouldn't be Gaby without there being a bit more to it!

Well that's about it for now, i'll try to get another post out before i depart for my Rheinland Weihnachts trip,
Tschussie,
Madeline Anafrid