out living

I should have inspected and prepared my dad's mutant bike in advance of the window of being able to pop out on it but didn't and then had to adjust things and persuade his pump to work so only had time for a once-round-the-lanes (with Stixwould extension, taking it just past twelve miles) before it was time to return to Horncastle pool for one of its rare public swimming sessions. The last time I came here it had been slightly expanded about the spectator section (behind which there is now a small gym) but the old glass roof was still in place, which was always fun when we came here with swimming club in the winter and the visibility would drop to a few feet as the splashes became suspended in the air. After a bit of persuading we got Edgar to allow himself to dangle by the armbands by himself - he was fine without them but is apparently required to wear them for some bits of the lessons he goes to but started going all clingy when wearing them, which is understandable as they basically immobilise his arms. We want him to learn to swim rather than learn to dangle but now that he's more accepting of them they can start to be bled until they're less restricting and less effective.

As the work photo-of-the-month competition was "landscape" this month I was hoping to be able to get out to Lincolnshire's, particularly either a giant stack of bales or the view of Hoe Hill from Fulletby but settled for a revisit of my favourite tree/barn combination rather than other similar tree/barn combinations or one of the nice old-fangled wooden signposts still used on some of the sub-B-roads around the sides of beyond. The combination of the wind and the weird uprightness of the bike meant I didn't get too horribly sweaty despite the extra effort involved in pedalling something with front suspension, a soggy rear tyre and tri-bars. The combination of the absence of sunlight and lack of hills seemed to mean that the voting audience for the photo of the month didn't understand my entry, not-voting it into fifth, sixth or seventh out of seven.