which i guess is quite apt given the turn of the month!

Yep, in case you'd somehow missed it, we moved from October into November, the weather has changed from sunshine and early teens to grey and struggling to reach double figures - in short its typical weather for the time of year.

So what has been going since last i typed here? Well Thursday i took the bike out for a short trip to Aquae Sulis, i wasn't in the mood for a longer ride, the sun and comparative warmth (@15c) ebcouraged a degree of sloth. I'd just about finished my explorations when my front brake gave up, no warning just a horrendous noise and no stopping power - disc brakes really are crap. Anyhow, i met up with Aunty Bev for tea and bacon then we had a pleasant ride back to Briz.

Friday was pretty uneventful other than cooking up another batch of chutney - which didn't go totally to plan but wasn't a total disaster.

It was a mild forecast for Saturday, i had a plan and set out east to put it into action. There was/is a stretch of road/bridleway that i've wanted to explore for quite a while, i've made excuses several times, its too wet, too late, off route etc but today was the day. It went well for pretty much 2/3rds of the length but then it got a bit stony, i walked a slope as the leaves made picking a route difficult, but i got onto firmer ground and started to fly along the now singletrack path. Next thing i've got a tangle of tyre and tube flapping around the front wheel, bgr!

I ended up walking the 400m to the road where i fitted a new tube before getting back under way. I still had another spare but i trimmed my route a bit, losing @ 20km, by the time i got back i had a little shy of 90km covered.

Originally i was just doing a short walk today but i got a reminder last night that it was the last 'bun run' of the year with a bonus of bacon sarnies available. Well i couldn't miss that, it was definately cooler and greyer, real November weather, but the riding was good, the hot sandwich followed by cake and tea went down a treat and i returned home to add 56km to the week's tally.

Once i was cleaned up it was time to don the chefs hat to cook dinner, this week it was a proper beef roast, 4 veg, 2 taters, roast beef and Yorkshire pud, not a 'Dorchester' but certainly enough, washed down with a glass of Merlot, very decadent! Last job of the day was to post the next Gaby chapter, Personality, Check which i hope you will all enjoy.

The rest of the week is quite busy again, tomorrow is Bonfire night, when us Brits celebrate the failure the failure of a terrorist attack on Parliament in 1605 - yep 419 years ago and we are still going on about it! Then i have to get ready for my short trip to GOC - i'll tell you more about that later, next weekend we'll be 'celebrating' the cessation of hostilities after WW1, these days we remember all those who have fallen in conflicts, the second war, Korea, the Falklands, Afganistan, Iran etc so it'll be red Poppies on lapels, buses, adverts and collecting boxes until next Monday. That will at least bring 'dark' fortnight to a close.

Well thats it for today, i'll be back midweek, but for now,
Tschussie,
Madeline Anafrid

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