Recently I was forced to succumb to common sense and purchase a grown up bicycle *wail*.

JT practically had to force me…  I was saving up for the Marin Bear Valley 07 (now 08) which is a stunning pink mountain bike, which I have been peeking through the window of Leisure Lakes at for over a year.  My current bike had begun to squeak, was very difficult to ride, very rusty and since it got kicked in a while ago in town, it has been, well, faulty.  So I counted the proceeds of the pink bike fund from the pink camper van piggy bank and found £22.57.  Hmmm not quite enough really!

So we went out in th January sales to try to find a compromise.  I found some excellent compromises - a pink BMX (seriously cool!) and a beautiful pink bike called BELLA.  She was a low-rider, kind of like a Harley, but in pink with a basket on the front, a twisty bell, a light up saddle, chunky motor bike tires, wing mirrors and, well, she was a stunner.  Sadly JT wouldn’t let me buy either of the compromises, pointing out that I had to have something that was going to be practical and easy to ride.  I was devastated and sifted sadly through the pile of ‘mummy bikes’ in Williams Cycles (Mummy bikes are those ones your Mum has when you are a child - you have the sparkly mountain bike and she has the sensible one with mud guards, a carrier, etc.  Nothing wrong with mummy but I have just always called them that due to the association of cool vs. practical).  Eventually we found one that was sort of a compromise.  It was silver (so slightly sparkly), the frame was a slightly mountain bike-ish shape and it wasn’t toooo bad.  It was also a bargain.  So that was what we bought.  JT said that maybe I could have a pink bike another time.

So yesterday we decided to test it out.  I was thinking that round the block would be an adequate bike ride, but JT had other ideas.  Cleeve Hill, so that he could fly his kite.  I warned him that it is very steep but he thought it would be ok.  It took AGES and I was spluttering and stopping every few minutes, but we made it eventually with painful legs and not a lot of breath.  We ate a picnic lunch with Dave Dorey at the top of the hill and then the boys flew their kites whilst I froze to death in a blanket and several layers.

We then descended the hill (which took a surprisingly short amount of time) and visited Grandma in hospital…  Grandma was in fairly good spirits but is confined to a little room as her medication is giving her the runs (nice!)  She was a bit bored by this and said that she had ‘taken a few steps this way and a few steps that way but have to stay in here today’.  Tim had written her a list of street phrases and told her that she must learn them.  She had taken this very seriously and referred to the list in her handbag for practice.  She said she had tried a few on a nurse, who had, in return, taught her a new phrase to say to Tim, but she had forgotten what it was!  I had to laugh