unironedman

Regular devotees to this blog (!) will know of my fondness for Anemone nemorosa, or the Wood Anemone; that rather wonderful member of the buttercup family that literally takes over St. Catherine’s Wood every March and April before just as swiftly vanishing for another year.

Once the first few pop up out of last year’s undergrowth, you know fair weather is on the way. Of course, this Spring has sputtered into life like my first car: a Ford Escort, which had seen several owners before I got my hands on it, and many better years too. It was red, and to prove it, it had a sticker on the rear bumper, which said ‘Simply Red’.

And who could argue with that?

It didn’t have power steering, so the first test drive nearly resulted in a shoulder dislocation, but it did have one attractive feature in its favour. I could afford it. Maybe I should have called it an Afford Escort?

Anyway, the reason I mentioned it is because this year’s weather has been a bit ropey. We have had several incursions from the east, bringing with them lots of cold air, sleet and snow. And we are apparently due a third such cold snap in the coming week, so that will probably play havoc with training outdoors. And the local flora too. The daffodils are probably going to go out on strike.

So I just thought I’d throw in a few pics of the back garden. The top one is from the famous Beast from the East/Storm Emma snowstorm that hit us at the start of March. Three weeks makes quite the difference…

This week saw the last remnants of snow vanish from the local area, though there are still large patches up in the mountains (which we can see from Leixlip). Running outdoors continues, and this week I clocked up three runs.

I have also managed a few trips to the gym, and I can tell the difference already a few sessions have made. I have also had a productive week in the pool… okay, I didn’t spend the ENTIRE week in the pool, you understand; I’m not that fella’ from the Shape of Water. I just mean I had about four trips, and clocked up well over 4k. Two of those sessions were 1.8k each.

Biking will kick in soon, and that’s timely, because S got her new bike. It’s a Trek Domane 2, and looks rather wonderful.

It is the colour scheme of the one above. That’s to say, Black Satin with dusky pink bits on the top tube, chainstay and forks. S baulked at it at first, when she saw it in the shop. Why, oh, why does every lady sports thing have to have pink on it? Or words to that effect. I stayed out of it.

In the end, the make and model, and price-point where all about right, so it is now part of the family of bikes in our household, and had her maiden voyage today. It means that the Mercian we had borrowed was also returned to its rightful owner, so we managed to stymie the usual ‘n+1 rule’, and instead remain ‘bike neutral’. At least for now 😉

And Holly? What does Holly think of the new bike?

She could hardly contain her joy…