ice ice baby

`11/2/12
In a fit of bravery I remove the shoes from the box and yes they still fit.  Paddi very kindly fitted the scary pedals to the beloved bike and even though we are still skating up and down our track I felt honour bound to go for a trial pedal. With every down stroke I said "feet" and with every upstroke I said "ice" and somewhere in between I remembered to breathe. So going at approximately 2 miles an hour and repeating that mantra I manged to negotiate our potholes,snow and black ice in one piece. This is rather more impressive than my first ever outing on a bike without stabilisers when I turned round to smile at my anxious parents and promptly ended up in the roses. OUCH! Steering is still a bit of a challenge particularly whilst chatting. I am so glad that there are many straight avenues in the french countryside. Of course the trees lining said avenues may prove interesting particularly post - prandially...but I will respect their space if they respect mine.

12/2/12
Lesley and I made an executive decision to wimp out of the Long Melford trip due to everything outside being encased in a carapace of frozen rain. So once more a trip through the frozen countryside with the slavering beast .He was as full of bravado as ever and studiously ignored the roe deer stag we encountered on our travels.
Random thought - Eddie Izzard is the sort of mascot for the Olympics volunteers and I just wondered if I were to encounter him in a canteen type setting I would have the guts to tell him he needed a tray....(watch Dressed to Kill if you are puzzled).

Looking forward to Wednesday and a proper christening of the new kit. I will do a splat report afterwards...