Joy

After a long but fascinating day spent getting to the bottom of some errant behaviour of our solver - and learning some Python in the process - for a user who turned out to be working for an Indian oil company! - there was time after eating to go out on my bike. Climbing out of Penicuik on the old railway, I could see that a sunset was developing, but the route is tree-lined,  once it's climbed out of the Esk Valley. So, I had a couple of abortive attempts to find a clear view. After the second, I saw that there was a track heading in the right direction that I'd never used, so I thought I'd explore. It was satisfying to guess where it came out, and another 100m on I got the clear view of the hills that I'd hoped for. After doing the rounds of Rosewell, I decided not to cross the Esk Valley to Roslin, but headed back home on the old railway. Downhill, in the near dark, I couldn't see much, but it was just me, the bats and the owls. To me, the thrill of speed isn't absolute, but how fast you approach the limit of what you can see: tonight it was most exciting!

RIP Charlie Watts. I only saw the Stones play once - at Murrayfield in 2018 - but they were fantastic, and I thought it might be the last time that I got the opportunity, so I'm glad that I took it.