Yesterday, whilst His Lordship Malarkey and I were living the high dining life in Pizza Express, Himself said, ‘Now, you can so ‘no’ but I am thinking of buying you a bicycle for your birthday. Because you had mentioned finding ways of getting more exercise.’
Dear Reader, in theory, I do like the idea of a bicycle. Images like this immediately sprang to mind...
...me on a lovely lady bicycle, sunshine on my face, a gentle breeze wafting through my hair, flowers in the basket, along with maybe a novel and a nice sandwich, so I could stop somewhere gloriously scenic on my perambulations and partake of a leisurely luncheon. Or, even better, this...
...accompanied by my new and VERY cute canine companion. My what fun and larks we’d have, scooting along the country lanes, around the parks, or following the miles of canal paths there are around these parts. Oh yes, we’d go for days out, stopping at a waterside pub, maybe, for a light luncheon, or detouring to the local town on the way home to buy a few lovely foodie bits from the independent shops to prepare for supper on arrival at home.
The conversation even got as far as the purchase of a cycle rack for the back of the car, because Andy is keen to get a bicycle, too (despite his dire and dangerous history regarding cycling) so that we could find off-road trails to attack with vim and vigour at the weekends. And, of course, regular cycling would go a long way to helping shift this last and determined-to-stay-stuck stone of weight. I could ride to work, as well. Very eco-friendly.
And then I started to think a bit too much about the road that passes the front of our house which, whilst being newly tarmacked, is still full of deep bends and twists, and milk lorries from the local farms, and lunatics in Audis who are incapable of reading 50 mile per hour speed limit signs, or staying on the correct side of the white lines, come to that.
Despite being a mostly quiet road, it is a dangerous road. People die on this road. Two have died since we moved here 4 and a bit years ago. And so images like this sprang to mind...
What a dilemma, Dear Reader. How much would I actually use a bicycle? How big would the basket have to be in order to make a death defying shopping trip worthwhile? Could I cope with a crash helmet with my unique head bump? Would the dog stay in the basket?
This morning I was still in two minds. I do love the old fashioned lady bikes with baskets. Who wouldn’t? They are stylish and a bit of a middle class fashion statement.
I started writing an alternative birthday list for Andy, which consists mostly of books because yes, I am that boring. But will ‘a bicycle’ be added to the mix?
Comments
KJ
Jessica, all these things need to be considered. We are looking at at least a 20 minute drive to find somewhere suitable and off road, which is not all that in the grand scheme of things. And, of course, we are going into colder weather now - the sun is shining this morning, lovely clear blue skies. But there’s a bitter wind a-blowin’ and would I be out on a bicycle this morning? No, I would not!