A Bug's Life

Bicycle: I've given my bicycle a bit more of a ride. I ♥ my bicycle :-) There's a park near me where cycling is permitted, and I've been round that a few times. There are straight bits where I can experiment with the effects of changing gear, and twisty bits where I can practise going round corners at various speeds. I have identified which brake is my front and which my rear, and can brake smoothly now. I still need to practise hand signals and knowing how big I am before I'll feel happy cycling on roads.

Couple of problems. One - going up gears is fine - 2+2, 2+3, 2+4 etc - once I'd realised it needs a complete rotation of the pedals for it to take effect. Going down gears, the lever takes me straight down to 2+nothing and my legs whizz about without any effect. Once I click up again to 2+2 it goes into gear again. I was going to ask my Friends list about this, but as I was passing the bike shop I thought I'd ask them instead ;-) I'll take it in for them to probably tighten the cables.

Two - the seat keeps tilting back while I'm sitting in it! This is uncomfortable rather than dangerous, but is quite uncomfortable. It seems to be held in position by the friction between two ridged surfaces; I guess my superior weight exceeds the friction limit.

Cinema: Went to see Fantastic Four last night. The Marvel ident was page-flicking four-colour heaven, the film was good but in a "like the comic but swisher" sort of way. Nice character banter.

Theatre: Was going to see The Tempest at Girton College tonight with friends, but they've called off due to the miserable weather. I guess I have plenty of other things to do tonight, but I had been looking forward to that. :-(

Carrie is not looking too well. She's hardly eaten or drunk anything today, and her breathing is noisy. She was doing fine until I looked up her age (2 yrs 4 months) and found she is getting on a bit. Time to get the gerbil-feeding syringe out (just for water, at the moment).

:-(