It's that time of year...again!

[Kirbstone]

Pius thoughts, Martin. Living where we are, at least one of us needs to be independently mobile. My MM is so busy with all sorts of societies & tennis &c, that I need my own 'independence'...also I'm still gainfully busy eight miles away and I need to get to work in the morning...and get back. To cycle that stretch would increase my likelihood of ending up in Hospital exponentially. It's comforting to have lots of mobile metal around me when out there on the road. It also keeps the heat in!

I don't actually need to BUY a saucepan...While fishing on a lake with a friend not long ago we retired to an island for a picnic lunch and lo & behold I spied a perfectly good saucepan left behind by someone else, so I helped myself! I should keep it in my car.

T.

[couyalair]

I expect I could do the 8-mile ride you mentioned, Tom, but not in your climate.

I used to cycle into Grenoble, only 4 km, in winter -- with a ton of clothes! -- but after getting colder and colder in a barely heated building, oh, how I hated the ride home at night. It used to take me an hour to warm up at home before I could contemplate any useful activity. So I won't begrudge you the use of a car. Considering how much petrol I wasted in my dissolute past, it would be hypocritical to do so!

Grenoble, by the way, about 500 km from the ocean, can be horribly cold in winter, but it's fairly dry and is blessed with blue skies and wonderful views of the Alps all around. It is also flatter than Amsterdam (having fewer humpback bridges) and ideal for cycling.

Take care of the saucepan!

Martin

[Tor]

Carl, that's rough on the farmers. Not sure whether to hope it's a brief cold spell like the beginning of New England's winter last year. Riding my bicycle in coastal Maine last year I was glad of the mild winter, though. I still had a chance to ride down to about zero (F), though. That was a bit cold, but with decent gloves, pants with long johns, and a flannel shirt under a windbreaker mid to upper thirties made perfectly fine riding weather, though I'm glad I never had to ride in rain at those temps.

Round about where I am now, "cold" comes some thirty degrees above freezing. Of course, said cold comes with windy rain and houses that don't seal the way New England homes do, and peoples wardrobes are likely to be quite spartan if one were to remove all the shorts or short skirts and short sleeved shirts.

Tor

[Since1982]

Carl said:within an hour's drive we have beaches, mountains, and everything in between. Most of the populace is intelligent and forward-looking, and I have a job that pays well and is reasonably secure --

The only difference there is our MOUNTAINS are up side down, we call them cravasses and ledges. No mountain sheep, just sheepshead fishes...lots of sharks, in the water and in the businesses....

[Sarongman]

...lots of sharks, in the water and in the businesses....

Oh? Wasn't B.P. run out of town?

[Tor]

The only difference there is our MOUNTAINS are up side down, we call them cravasses and ledges.

Sounds like said crevasses and ledges are more like an hour's dive away.

Tor