O8ride
O8
Was expecting it to be wet all day, but surprisingly it didn't start raining until I was just leaving work at 6. So stopped just outside work's underground car park, put on my waterproofs, and off I went.
Then it started hammering it down.
Pitch black, glare of oncoming lights producing stars on my visor, hurricane-force wind and rain and snow lashing at me, and I couldn't see the bloody road at all. I commute it every day, and have done for two decades but only the past year on two wheels, and I was down to 40mph with a very considerate car driver behind for 7 miles.
The worst bit was not being able to see whether there was bad standing water on the road, cos it was bucketing it down.
Petrol light came on, and I stopped to fill up. Where's my wallet? Bloody nowhere in sight. Furrowed brow and slight panic, along with my son's text asking for Chinese tonight. Thanks Wallet, I'll have to cook some crap again. Have I got any change in my pockets? Trouser pockets! Yes! But my trousers are hidden beneath my waterproofs and my Hein Gericke's. Bloody hell, it's freezing, I'm soaked, there's an old bird in a BMW waiting patiently behind for me to get a bloody move on and fill up, and there I am doing a rather ungainly midriff strip to fish out some coins from my pockets.
Paid up, and then tried to get my gloves on over my cold and wet hands. Do I hate that!? It's damn near impossible. Not sure if the old dear is looking at me with contempt, amusement or pity.
Get home to find a message on my phone that a work colleague found my wallet and is keeping it safe, so I start hunting for a credit card that may be lying around. Yay, got one, but not been used for 3 years. Ring up to find it is still ok to use it, and start discussing the order with my lad. Then I realise I don't have the pin for the card. He's rather unchuffed.
I'm off to bed. Tomorrow's another day.
Then it started hammering it down.
Pitch black, glare of oncoming lights producing stars on my visor, hurricane-force wind and rain and snow lashing at me, and I couldn't see the bloody road at all. I commute it every day, and have done for two decades but only the past year on two wheels, and I was down to 40mph with a very considerate car driver behind for 7 miles.
The worst bit was not being able to see whether there was bad standing water on the road, cos it was bucketing it down.
Petrol light came on, and I stopped to fill up. Where's my wallet? Bloody nowhere in sight. Furrowed brow and slight panic, along with my son's text asking for Chinese tonight. Thanks Wallet, I'll have to cook some crap again. Have I got any change in my pockets? Trouser pockets! Yes! But my trousers are hidden beneath my waterproofs and my Hein Gericke's. Bloody hell, it's freezing, I'm soaked, there's an old bird in a BMW waiting patiently behind for me to get a bloody move on and fill up, and there I am doing a rather ungainly midriff strip to fish out some coins from my pockets.
Paid up, and then tried to get my gloves on over my cold and wet hands. Do I hate that!? It's damn near impossible. Not sure if the old dear is looking at me with contempt, amusement or pity.
Get home to find a message on my phone that a work colleague found my wallet and is keeping it safe, so I start hunting for a credit card that may be lying around. Yay, got one, but not been used for 3 years. Ring up to find it is still ok to use it, and start discussing the order with my lad. Then I realise I don't have the pin for the card. He's rather unchuffed.
I'm off to bed. Tomorrow's another day.
