August 19th, 2005
Days Just Don’t Get Worse
Went for my echocardiogram yesterday to find that the appointment was Wednesday.
Cock.
All my fault.
It could be months before another appointment comes through because the system is full of:
a) private patients paying to jump the queue and not actually reducing the burden on the NHS at all,
b) cocks like myself who have an appointment but waste it.
To try and cheer myself up I rode over to the new STW Towers. I did toy with the idea of taking the Spot in the BOB to join in the Thursday night ride, but I’m worried about the fork dropouts in the base of the trailer. Instead I decide to make it a round trip. But I do ring Sideways to order a front wheel clamp to bolt into the BOB for similar situations*
Sleeveless like, because it was hot.
Riding through Padiham I’d just cranked it into the big ring, all 46 teeth of it, when a blue van decided that he had time to pull out of a side road in front of me.
Cue me swiping his wing mirror with my shoulder as I take avoiding action.
We both stop and van driver, more concerned with me than his van, wants to make sure that I’m alright. “Tin can be mended, you can’t”.
Normally I’d be Mr Angry by now, but the outright reasonableness of then guy keeps me in check. The grazing is superficial. He admits he’d seen me, but hadn’t appreciated how fast I was going (nearer 30 than 20).
He even offers to call the Police because I’m now bleeding (more oozing really) from the grazing.
I’m in no mood for the hassle, so I let it lie.
Then at STW they are in the middle of the office move. I arrive in time to see the coffee machine being unplumbed from the old office and moved to the new.
I feel like a bit of a spare part really.
At least I had an incident free ride home.
* The term ’sporting tandem’ in equestrianism refers to a two wheeled carriage hitched to two horses in tandem, the lead horse under saddle. The idea was that the two horses would be driven to a hunt. The ‘wheeler’ (horse nearesst the carriage) would have done most of the work pulling the carriage. This would leave the lead horse fresh to be ridden at the hunt. At the end of the day the hunter would be hitched back up to the carriage and driven home.
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