Well, here we are again. I’m not going to beat myself up. I stopped writing for a bit, and now I’m going to try starting up again. I told someone today that the main thing is about frequency not quality. Don’t second-guess myself. Just write and see where I get to.

  • I read a book on holiday. I do not prioritise reading if I put it alongside all the chores, walking the dog, being in the gym, riding my bike (and maintaining my bikes), and the million other diy things I have on my list. I should, I know. But, by the time I hit the pillow, I want to sleep. ANYWAY. I read One Yellow Eye. Not that into zombie stuff, but this was more like an epidemiology meets love story. But in a thriller setting. It was good and exactly the sort of writing I like – I had to use zero brain power to follow it. It was very easy reading.
  • Off the back of that, I rewatched 28 Days later and 28 Weeks later on the flight back from holiday in preparation for 28 Years Later. I should’ve just left it there and not watched 28 Years later. Not impressed. It was like that awful film, 300, crossed with a video game and flash-backs of Trainspotting-esque camera framing and fast cut scenes with small handheld cameras. Nausea-inducing on a few fronts.
  • Weekends are a bit like Groundhog Day at the moment. Did some chores. Rode my bike as I start to build up to a sportive at the end of September – trying to capture my form after being sick and then going on holiday. Cooked. Walked the dog. Mowed the lawn and stared at the mess of my garden. Still, it continues to be sunny which is nice.
  • I reckon I’m going to have to get someone to clear the garden. It’s a shit-tip. The ivy has got so bad now that it’s growing inside my shed. I don’t know what it’s looking for, but it’s everywhere and I just can’t face spending two entire days riding it all out. I’ve got better things to do.
  • Speaking of gardens. I have soooo many spiders in my garden. What’s going on? Normally they all rock up in October and it’s around then I start waking like a zombie in the garden to catch ay webs I might walk into. I’m now doing it in early August!
  • I’m missing watching cycling. Bereft, I’d say. From early March there is a flurry of spring classics, then into the Giro, then prep for the Tour. And now I’m lost. It’s been quite the Tadej Pogačar season, though. Reminds me a bit of the early days of Michael Schumacher or of Pete Sampras. When you get someone who changes the level of expectation so much that there is a period of boring. Then, in a race, it’s interesting how the focus switches to the other races within the race, because, well, the real race has been won by him already.
  • I was in London for work this week for the first time in a while. It was smelly-warm. Like New York smelly. You know that smell of hot bitumen, nearby food, the occasional whiff of rotting food, the odd waft of sewers? It’s the first time I’ve smelt London this way. Either it’s the climate crisis or there is something wrong with my nose. Time to invent those smell-cancelling nose-phones.