otherwise known as Mum's birthday!

The 31st of October has always been a bit weird in my world and this year possibly more than usual with the changing of the clocks across Europe last night on top of everything else. Mum would have been 84 today, a stark reminder that she's been gone for a little over 4 years now, but lets not dwell on the departed well unless you are into All Saints day tomorrow! I don't make a thing of Hallowe'en but I thought i'd make a little effort this year so i've gone a bit 'extra' Goth!

It was planned to be a lot more, hair, nails, the full nine yards but for reasons i will explain in a bit, I had to make a last minute change to my plans.

I know its not exactly a 'feast' day but I have been slaving over a hot stove/oven to produce a Sunday roast, beef, Yorkshires, 3 veg, stuffing and 2 potatoes.

And very well it went down too, eh Bev?

So why didn't i dye my hair? (it was going to be Poppy red again) Well I got a phone call yesterday from GOC, the lock up which we've rented for 40 years and in which most of my worldly goods reside has been sold and apparently the new owners want us out in 8 days time. So its probably not best to be quite as full on Maddy Goth, i've clearly got to go north this week to do the moving once we've found some alternative location - time and cost I really could've done without expending.

Next up - the 'new' book release. Well Amazon actually excelled themselves this time around, A Gaby Compendium is now available as a standard Kindle title, 5 self contained, non cannon stories, over 600 pages for less than a cent per page!

What else has been happening? Well I have of course been out on two wheels a couple of times, Thursday I was feeling a bit bleh so I decided on a shorter, more local ride, just over 100km, 1000m of up and only straying a little east of Bath. It was dry but a bit grey and blustery, the effort was enough for how I was feeling.

With yesterday being the last day of summertime I thought i'd make a bit more effort and so i set out into the wind for another Somerset explorer ride. The forecast actually suggested it would be dry but damp descended on mea couple of times before i reached Wells, interspersed with sunshine, the wind never letting up for a moment. Then it was the start of 25 miles of new to me roads, around Glasto and Street before a lunch halt at Dundon with 75km showing.

After eating i got caught in another downpour before starting the journey across the partially flooded Levels back towards Brizzle. It was a bit disconcerting to have ditches either side of the road brim full of water to road level and indeed the River Cary hemmed by dykes was running @ a metre higher than the surrounding fields! The wind got around behind me more and I was saved from further cloud bursts for the rest of my ride north eventually stopping the clock at 162km but only a little over 1000m - well they are called the Levels!

That actually put me ahead of target by a few miles but all my hard work may be for nought if I have to be in Sheffield for more than a couple of days.

Today then, its another chapter of Gaby - Ontario, Lost Freedom.

Well I now need a post prandial walk and with the darker evenings I'd best not dally too long before setting off!

So for now at least,
Wiedersehn,
Madeline Anafrid

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