I have just been seen off at the pub, and cycled home, glad of the gibbous moon.
Many friends were gathered, hugs exchanged; I'll see them (you) all tomorrow anyway but it still feels really huge. I must be stupid - but I'm going to learn so much about my fears and limits and desires... and derailleurs and brakes and tyre pressure...
I may even have to learn to swallow my pride and ask for help from time to time, since i don't know the first thing about bike mending or maintenance- despite the weekly opportunity to attend the Dyfi Valley Bike Club, where many of my friends gather and share their knowledge and enthusiasm on those amazing machines.
I regret missing these groups, there always seemed to be something else more important, but I should have made it to at least one!
Just assembling my new companion, not even from scratch, amazed me- every part has an obvious purpose, it's so smooth and efficient in design. It looks so fancy without having any unneccesary frills. It's a good look, for a bike.
I was talking to Tobi earlier, about this, and he wondered aloud how many individual 'bits' there are in a bike. If you count every nut, every bearing, every little spring... There must be a thousand? We put it in our search engine but found nothing.
Does anyone know?
Anyway, I should be packing.
I'm doing that thing where I flop instead of trawling through my daunting to-do list. Something about the time limit puts me off. Anticipation of tomorrow morning's panicked regret is not incentive enough.
I was glad of the nearly full moon as I quietly cycled home; a paper kite and a glass heart to take on my journey tucked away safely in my panniers with a wodge of notes to savour- I'll ration them for difficult times.
The deep nostalgic sense of all the adventures to come is still with me though I'm back in my barn, the excitement dancing some mad drunken jig on the dull dread of all the lessons I am bound to learn...
Getting a bit deep here, sorry. Can you tell I'm scared?
I think I'll even miss the snails. Never mind CAT (heard described today as 'Disneyland for Environmentalists' - it is!) not to mention the Farm!
The wonderful extended family I am so lucky to have, the ins and outs and social dances of a shared house, bounteous garden... homes don't get much more dynamic and I'm already pining for all the changes that I'm bound to miss.
Sorry. The deep stuff will stop when all I can think about is my acheing legs.
I better get packing! x x x x
Thursday, 29 July 2010
Wednesday, 28 July 2010
New toy- sorry, Machine!
Eek!
The stress has evaporated and I’m literally quivering with excitement! Ask anyone of the poor folks at Info, I have been having a great deal of trouble concentrating all day.
The thing is, you see, I got a text off my lovely housemate Suzanne yesterday informing me of the arrival of my new bike- exactly as described, exactly the right size, exactly what I needed and just just on time! A big thank you to Big Bills Bikes in Chester for that (www.bigbillsbikes.co.uk), after all my ebay troubles they helped me so much and restored my faith in internet shopping- a dangerous activity indeed, and far scarier than cycling across Spain and Portugal.
After staring wide eyed at the screen and jiggling for a bit I asked my very understanding boss person and friend, Tobi, if I could go and play; whistled down this side of the valley, panted up the other side at record speed, and put the beast together.
Oh he’s so handsome. A fine and trusty steed. Definitely my favourite non-living object of all- I’ll soon sort that out with some googly eyes and fluff (sorry to all you real cycling enthusiasts who would sooner die than (de)face a brand new shiny kona jake in such a way, but it has to be done. Things might have been different if I wasn’t travelling alone, but as it is I’m going to need his company!
After putting him together, with some help from my other lovely housemates Tom and Paul, I got on for a little test run and somehow couldn’t quite get a grip on the brakes. Juddered down the little driveway from our house over some bumpy rocks and roots of the ash tree, turned the corner at the bottom a bit wide and a bit fast with eyesight still wobbling, and had a forceful encounter with a big clump of brambles draping across the track. Tom found me picking the many embedded thorns out of my arm and sulking.
I’ll show you a picture when I work out how! I’m starting to understand that weird psychology of bike people where the worse a crash or an injury is, the ‘sicker’ or ‘sweeter’ it is… I’m actually quite proud of my wound! Now I will really respect my new machine, and I expect our relationship to be a fiery one!
Today he took me to work, and we missioned to town in my lunch break to get some last-minute essentials at the Holey Trail again. People stop and look at him in the street. I overtook 8(!!!) people and 3 of them said "oooh, nice bike!" or words to that effect. I swelled with pride each time and am still having trouble thinking about anything else. I feel like singing. Basically my friends, I'm in love.
Tonight there is a clothes swop in town to raise money for Grania's circomedia funds, and afterwards I'm being seen off by my dear friends at CAT. I can't believe my volunteering stint is over, it has been a beautiful spring and summer and I have seen a totally different side to my already amazing home town, and learnt so much about all the things I expected, and even more about all kinds of things I never expected to learn- about myself, about people and their incentives, about volunteering and what a wholesome thing it is to do...
I've made so many lovely friends and I'm going to miss them! This aspect is really starting to sink in now, and I won't be able to sneakily skulk off like I usually do! I better go off and see them now...
The stress has evaporated and I’m literally quivering with excitement! Ask anyone of the poor folks at Info, I have been having a great deal of trouble concentrating all day.
The thing is, you see, I got a text off my lovely housemate Suzanne yesterday informing me of the arrival of my new bike- exactly as described, exactly the right size, exactly what I needed and just just on time! A big thank you to Big Bills Bikes in Chester for that (www.bigbillsbikes.co.uk), after all my ebay troubles they helped me so much and restored my faith in internet shopping- a dangerous activity indeed, and far scarier than cycling across Spain and Portugal.
After staring wide eyed at the screen and jiggling for a bit I asked my very understanding boss person and friend, Tobi, if I could go and play; whistled down this side of the valley, panted up the other side at record speed, and put the beast together.
Oh he’s so handsome. A fine and trusty steed. Definitely my favourite non-living object of all- I’ll soon sort that out with some googly eyes and fluff (sorry to all you real cycling enthusiasts who would sooner die than (de)face a brand new shiny kona jake in such a way, but it has to be done. Things might have been different if I wasn’t travelling alone, but as it is I’m going to need his company!
After putting him together, with some help from my other lovely housemates Tom and Paul, I got on for a little test run and somehow couldn’t quite get a grip on the brakes. Juddered down the little driveway from our house over some bumpy rocks and roots of the ash tree, turned the corner at the bottom a bit wide and a bit fast with eyesight still wobbling, and had a forceful encounter with a big clump of brambles draping across the track. Tom found me picking the many embedded thorns out of my arm and sulking.
I’ll show you a picture when I work out how! I’m starting to understand that weird psychology of bike people where the worse a crash or an injury is, the ‘sicker’ or ‘sweeter’ it is… I’m actually quite proud of my wound! Now I will really respect my new machine, and I expect our relationship to be a fiery one!
Today he took me to work, and we missioned to town in my lunch break to get some last-minute essentials at the Holey Trail again. People stop and look at him in the street. I overtook 8(!!!) people and 3 of them said "oooh, nice bike!" or words to that effect. I swelled with pride each time and am still having trouble thinking about anything else. I feel like singing. Basically my friends, I'm in love.
Tonight there is a clothes swop in town to raise money for Grania's circomedia funds, and afterwards I'm being seen off by my dear friends at CAT. I can't believe my volunteering stint is over, it has been a beautiful spring and summer and I have seen a totally different side to my already amazing home town, and learnt so much about all the things I expected, and even more about all kinds of things I never expected to learn- about myself, about people and their incentives, about volunteering and what a wholesome thing it is to do...
I've made so many lovely friends and I'm going to miss them! This aspect is really starting to sink in now, and I won't be able to sneakily skulk off like I usually do! I better go off and see them now...
Monday, 26 July 2010
3 days of preparation to go...
Well, I'm not ready at all, in the practical, physical or mental aspect.
I left the festival I'd been looking forward to all summer early as the ever-expanding to-do list in my mind whirled round and round, drowning out even the pounding techno at Free Rotation festival, Hay-on-Wye, where my brother Sam was playing; making me tired, distracted and detached - grumpy too.
For those of you who don't know, I am cycling to Boom festival, on the shore of Idanha-a Nova lake near Castelo Branco, in Portugal, next week.
The plan has been developed, destroyed and reconstructed entirely differently- the most thorough of these processes was the deconstruction but even that has not taken so much as the enthusing aspect! Maybe that's all I need...
I'm leaving for Bristol on Thursday, to do some work setting up for the Invisible Circus show, The Swing Thing. (www.invisiblecircus.co.uk) Then on Wednesday morning, I catch a train to Portsmouth and a ferry to Santander, where my journey really begins.
When I started volunteering at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT)'s Information Centre 5 months ago, Caitlin was working in the same office as me, answering the phone to people keen on tapping CAT's extensive knowledge and experience in the world of green technologies, carbon reduction and low-impact living (www.cat.org.uk/information). We tried hard to concentrate on our work but found ourselves diverging into the realms of subjects the two of us found we shared massive interest and enthusiasm in, bouncing ideas off each other and rattling away about the minutiae of our environmental concerns, cultural and social dreams, glittery enthusiasm, nutritional passion, and festivals! So it wasn't long before we discovered we both had plans to go to Boom this year, and we both agreed that the carbon footprint of all the party people getting to this beauteous occasion is probably its sole let-down. So the obvious answer, to us at least, was to cycle there. Why of course! We can take tu-tus, and body paint, and glitter, and sleep in the hedges and do yoga in the morning and dawdle through picturesque and sleepy villages and wild and vibrant towns on our way...
Our plan didn't form much further than that, apart from me borrowing my dad's bike, which has already carried my uncle Greg to Spain, and trying to get used to the idea of using it! Until, that is, Caitlin told me she may not be able to come any more. My initial reaction to this development was blinding shock and some gnarly terror somewhere at the bottom of my belly, covered up with a thick but probably transparent- like the walls of the shark tank at the aquarium- layer of "Of course that's fine!"
But it turned out to be exactly the kick up the arse I needed (am I allowed to say arse on here? Who's going to read this, anyway- I don't have any 'followers' yet, so I'm basically just talking to myself really, aren't I?) As soon as I'd had a good potter around the exhibition, I nipped over to my local bike shop the Holey Trail and got myself a basic tool kit, some advice, some of those tight and padded shorts (goodness! what a combo...) and told them never to let me come back and get a regret-fuelled refund. My incentive being, if I spent loads of money on stuff I'd never use unless I went on the trip, then I'd have to go, wouldn't I?!
When I got home I booked my ferry ticket, train ticket to the ferry, and chased up the bike I'd been eyeing up on ebay. All kinds of drama with the bike that you really don't need to hear about, but hopefully it'll be here tomorrow so fingers crossed all will be well!
My fixed-grin-desperate enthusiasm only waned when I arrived at mums house and broke the news to her of my now solo trip, and was told bluntly "If you told your councillor you were planning on doing this, she'd tell you not to go!"
What follows are my truncated diary entries since that day.
I left the festival I'd been looking forward to all summer early as the ever-expanding to-do list in my mind whirled round and round, drowning out even the pounding techno at Free Rotation festival, Hay-on-Wye, where my brother Sam was playing; making me tired, distracted and detached - grumpy too.
Hopefully my severely delayed but beautiful bike will arrive tomorrow, and my lovely bike-enthusiast friends (if I've got any left after the way I've been behaving) will be able to help me assemble it so the whole journey starts to feel more real- not that it ever leaves my mind for more than half a tic. If I'm lucky I may even be able to try it out before setting off!
For those of you who don't know, I am cycling to Boom festival, on the shore of Idanha-a Nova lake near Castelo Branco, in Portugal, next week.
The plan has been developed, destroyed and reconstructed entirely differently- the most thorough of these processes was the deconstruction but even that has not taken so much as the enthusing aspect! Maybe that's all I need...
I'm leaving for Bristol on Thursday, to do some work setting up for the Invisible Circus show, The Swing Thing. (www.invisiblecircus.co.uk) Then on Wednesday morning, I catch a train to Portsmouth and a ferry to Santander, where my journey really begins.
The real preparation was not even started until one week ago, when I saw my friend Caitlin at her beautiful exhibition in the Tabernacle in Machynlleth (www.toomuchneverenough.co.uk, www.momawales.org.uk), and she gently informed me of the dramatic decline of half of the adventure's participants.
When I started volunteering at the Centre for Alternative Technology (CAT)'s Information Centre 5 months ago, Caitlin was working in the same office as me, answering the phone to people keen on tapping CAT's extensive knowledge and experience in the world of green technologies, carbon reduction and low-impact living (www.cat.org.uk/information). We tried hard to concentrate on our work but found ourselves diverging into the realms of subjects the two of us found we shared massive interest and enthusiasm in, bouncing ideas off each other and rattling away about the minutiae of our environmental concerns, cultural and social dreams, glittery enthusiasm, nutritional passion, and festivals! So it wasn't long before we discovered we both had plans to go to Boom this year, and we both agreed that the carbon footprint of all the party people getting to this beauteous occasion is probably its sole let-down. So the obvious answer, to us at least, was to cycle there. Why of course! We can take tu-tus, and body paint, and glitter, and sleep in the hedges and do yoga in the morning and dawdle through picturesque and sleepy villages and wild and vibrant towns on our way...
Our plan didn't form much further than that, apart from me borrowing my dad's bike, which has already carried my uncle Greg to Spain, and trying to get used to the idea of using it! Until, that is, Caitlin told me she may not be able to come any more. My initial reaction to this development was blinding shock and some gnarly terror somewhere at the bottom of my belly, covered up with a thick but probably transparent- like the walls of the shark tank at the aquarium- layer of "Of course that's fine!"
But it turned out to be exactly the kick up the arse I needed (am I allowed to say arse on here? Who's going to read this, anyway- I don't have any 'followers' yet, so I'm basically just talking to myself really, aren't I?) As soon as I'd had a good potter around the exhibition, I nipped over to my local bike shop the Holey Trail and got myself a basic tool kit, some advice, some of those tight and padded shorts (goodness! what a combo...) and told them never to let me come back and get a regret-fuelled refund. My incentive being, if I spent loads of money on stuff I'd never use unless I went on the trip, then I'd have to go, wouldn't I?!
When I got home I booked my ferry ticket, train ticket to the ferry, and chased up the bike I'd been eyeing up on ebay. All kinds of drama with the bike that you really don't need to hear about, but hopefully it'll be here tomorrow so fingers crossed all will be well!
My fixed-grin-desperate enthusiasm only waned when I arrived at mums house and broke the news to her of my now solo trip, and was told bluntly "If you told your councillor you were planning on doing this, she'd tell you not to go!"
So my vague suspicion that I've gone completely mad has been confirmed, but I think that's just the first stage of the process and it wouldn't be possible to make this kind of trip with too much sanity on my back the whole time (it's heavy stuff, you know) so as I've said already- it's going to be FINE!!
What follows are my truncated diary entries since that day.
Enjoy, and if you feel inspired by my trip, please donate money to my favourite charity of the moment, the Bees for Development Trust - http://beesfordevelopment.org/support_us/donation - and forgive me for not getting organised to get some sort of sponsorship thing going, things have been a little too manic, as you've heard.
Bees for Development Trust is an international charity working to promote sustainable beekeeping in developing countries, to support livelihoods and to conserve biodiversity.
We love bees, bees make honey and they're furry and they pollinate our food and flowers x x x
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