So the plan was to start gently and work up. The first day I only cycled about a mile and my legs felt stiff and unused. OK, I thought, I’ll do two miles tomorrow and four the next – except that when a friend called and said did I want to meet in Quorn, I thought I do! I do want to meet in Quorn! And what’s more, I want to cycle there! Quorn is actually not that far away; it was a seven mile round trip but what’s one small hop for a man was one giant leap for this person. Actually it wasn’t as hard as I’d feared – the cycle path network round here is pretty good and I was able to admire the hedgerows and enjoy the sun as I pootled down, which you definitely can’t do in a car. Coming back was harder, partly because it was uphill but mostly because it was raining and my waterproof trousers aren’t any more. In between we had a gentle walk in Quorn ending up at a pub where I saw a couple of people I’d not seen for ages. It was great to hang out, albeit outdoors, and see lots of people. It felt like being human again. So that was a real milestone in lots of ways.
It was a weekend for doing new things; on the Saturday I discovered that Leicester were in the FA cup final. I never normally watch football but I opened a bottle of beer and as I had nothing else to do sat down to give it a go. I was able to follow it reasonably well and it was clear Leicester were the underdogs; throughout the goalless first half they were outplayed by Chelsea right across the board, but I guess that’s why they say it’s a game of two halves because early in the second half Leicester scored. Massive jubilation from the blue-clad fans (it was a bit confusing because the fans were in blue but on the pitch Leicester were maroon and Chelsea blue), only to be dashed when Chelsea equalised. But that goal was disallowed after a video replay proved it to be fractionally off-side (I’m not even going to pretend I understand what that means) so everyone was on tenterhooks for the last 20 minutes or so. But that was it! Leicester won, and good luck to them. It really brings the city – and the county – together because as someone pointed out, Leicester has only one team which means that everyone gets behind them.
Never thought I’d find myself sitting in front of the TV, beer in hand, shouting ‘Come on City!’ Not that I did; being a tennis fan at heart I just clapped quietly and murmured ‘Jolly good show.’
And that was my weekend. So now we begin the fourteenth year of this blog…
Kirk out
Sarada Gray 