Married life...And mountain bikes

I love my husband very much. He is so full of energy it is nearly impossible not to catch his enthusiasm. We go biking every weekend now - and I don't mean a nice quiet little peddle down the country lane...I mean far afield and over hill and dale! I really enjoy it a lot - all except the hills.

This past weekend we were in one of the royal parks in the Greater London (http://www.royalparks.gov.uk/parks/Richmond_park/) area. We took our bikes on the train and got off at Wimbledon - biked through the Commons (often in what seemed like a circle - but I am just the wife here) and eventually into Richmond Park. This is a mind-bogglingly big park in the middle of the city. It used to be a royal hunting grounds and still has roe deer (I saw them) roaming around, along with all sorts of other types of birds and beasts. There are fabulous bridle paths where people go riding - lots of horses were to be seen as it was a sunny day - and of course loads of bike trails. The only thing that is a bit annoying about the park is that it is well utilized - which is a criticism that is on the selfish side...I would have really enjoyed having more space to ride and be on our own a bit - but from a civic side it is glorious to see families having picnics and playing cricket, driving their bikes, runners doing marathon loops around the park and people sitting by the ponds (plus they do a mean bacon bap there - brown sauce please).

Hills in Richmond Park are pretty spectacular - there were several that could have been grounds for divorce/annulment - but luckily we made it through - and some of them definitely had the "weeee!" factor when you were whizzing down after slogging up! All in all a good day out!

We are off to the New Forest (yeah 1200s are "new" here): another royal hunting ground for the long weekend here. We are going car camping and are taking our bikes to get out onto some of the many paths in the park. I haven't been camping in ages and am looking forward to it - even though they are forecasting rain the entire time. I am going to buy some extra socks this week and rain gear to cut the whining to a minimum - another way of preventing divorce/annulment! (clever eh?)

Steak and kidney pie and other English things I have done of late

Friday, craving to get away from the world of estrogen that are my work friends and rang up one of my favourite blokes at work and asked if he was off to the pub at lunch - not dissappointed - he said sure enough he and another bloke from work were off to The Guinea on Berkley Square for a pie and a pint at noon if I fancied coming.

At The Guinea: real old fashioned standing-room only affair. The size of a North American fridge with REAL original Punch pictures hanging on the wall. Got our pies (arriving at noon got us the last three - good sign of quality of pies). Now I am not one who would normally say that kidney is something one should eat - but reserved judgement and have to say I enjoyed it. Great joking about blokey things (mooning and our experiences of it, Monty Python, Lennie Henry) all sorts of fun was had by all. 1 and a half hours later (and 2 pints of cider) wandered into work feeling fine - if a little sleepy!

so now realise why I am feeling house-proud and have the urge to sing "Land of Hope and Glory" at the top of my lungs! Well not so house proud that I will get the hoover going...but you get the idea!

Rubbish...Or how I haven't posted yet

Well have survived the summer in London...Yes bombings...Worse: weather... When you come back from Canada and people act like you been to a tropical clime because you have some colour (ie. You do not appear to have come from beneath a rock or from the lightless depths of the ocean) you know you are dealing with something entirely different.

I got married this summer...and was told immediately afterwards by a helpful colleague..."Don't worry you will only fight for the first year and then it gets better"...And so to prophesy I address my ire! It is amazing, actually how as you are getting to know one another and you realise that it is expensive now to break up - how relaxed you get about bad moods, bitching and looking as rough as a badger's *rse in front of your partner! But with all the stuff that went on around the time we got married and how my husband stepped up to the plate (my mother died 16 hours after we had a special service for her to witness at the hospital) it seems to me that I have chosen well...no matter how much his hanging clothing on the top of the door like we are living in a slum gets on my t*ts!

It is interesting that part of my mourning is to walk around feeling hopelessly grumpy a lot of the time. I would appreciate a bit of crying and moaning instead...but this "being strong" stuff is very tiring...Also what is with all the peeing...Part of my mourning seems to be getting up 2 - 4 times a night for a waz! I mean by morning I am exhausted and is it any wonder that I am fit to kill when woken up for the morning ritual of "why did you move my stuff?"

To balance out the previous kvetching I will now discuss our wedding-present-money-mountain-bikes:

First a poem:

Oh beautiful bike
why do you mock me so
I thought I was a jock
but gym-fit and up hill both ways
soon gave me saddle sores
pity me at the coming weekend
make it easy and downhill all the way!

So far it has been up and down and up and up on our bikes. We live near the racecourse at Epsom so we go biking along the bridle paths there....it is up both ways and this is not just for the effect of this telling....The only part of Epsom Downs that is down is the race course. Mud...Horse poop and lots and lots of bramblely stuff...Big grin! Loving it...And mostly I don't winge so my husband is enjoying it too...Plus...The dough-like bit on my back known as my ass is now doing what dough should...And is rising! No sh*t...It is now no longer a uni-thigh rising directly up from my leg!