pumpkinstrokemarrow

One small oddity so far. The font in which I am presently typing, in the Blogger window, has changed. So Chrome must interact with the display options of applications in a slightly differant way from Internet Explorer. Will this prove to be the tip of an iceberg?

The next technology challenge of the week was the creaking transmission on my bicycle - a Trek touring series 520. Which came complete with mudguards and a carry frame for panniers, both essential as far as I am concerned. And lots of Bontrager parts, a company of which I had never heard of before. Good service for getting on for three years now, maybe 6,000 miles. But have made the mistake of only changing the chain once. And have the habit of cycling in a high (lots of wheel revolutions to the pedal revolution) gear. And am quite heavy. All these things combined seem to have added up to the whole transmission system being shot. Bottom bracket bearing clunking, real wheel bearing feeling distinctly odd (and making me slightly nervous), chain stretched and gears worn. Man in local shop does not do Bontrager and suggests replacing the lot with equivalent Shimano which he does do. Big bill. So go into deep think; even go as far as poking around the Trek web site and asking in another shop which does do both Trek and Bontrager. It seems that Trek no longer make quite the sort of cycle that I want, a divide having opened up with what they call road bikes and what they call urban bikes. I seem to be somewhere in between. And anyway, while the bill seems a bit strong, it is a good deal less than a comparable new cycle. So big bill it is.

The third technology challenge is the people who sold FIL his flashy new motorised chair. He is clearly a man marked for a motorised chair with wheels and is now one of a number of runners up in a competition for a free one. Being a runner up entitling one to a fabulous discount. We are now due to be host to a demonstration of one of these things. It will be interesting to see if the demonstrator is as good at keeping his foot in the door as the one who demonstrated the motorised chair without wheels. Not, to be clear, that we have any complaint with the chair. It does very well and we are very happy with it. But it did come with a fairly cunning sales performance.

The fourth challenge is horticultural, although not really a challenge, more of a puzzle. Our replacement water lilly came with two adult leaves, a baby leaf and a bud. Some weeks later, the two original leaves have rotted. This we understand to be normal; the life span of a water lilly leaf not being that great. The baby leaf and the bud duly made it to the surface and are now rotting in turn. A fifth leaf is now heading for the surface. But it is not looking too good. The total leaf count seems to be headed in a firmly downwards direction. Advice from Cambridge is that, in the event of a second fatality, try a larger Marks and Spencer. They sell water lillies as sturdy as their socks.

Talking of babies, much interest down at Stamford Green Pond. Two clutches of baby geese, a clutch of baby moorhens and now a clutch of baby rats. These last seem to be very tame and are voted cuddly rather than vermin by most passers by. And today, the pond was visited by a caramac (for those with a long memory for confectionary) coloured cat which looked a bit pedigree to me. Not your average moggy. It was sitting by the side of the pond, perhaps hoping for some rat action, when one of the clutches of goslings came along, accompanied by two adults. Cat looked very excited for an instance, I thought because the feline mind had jumped to gosling fritters. But no, one hiss from an adult goose and the cat legged it fast, not to be seen again for the duration of our lunch. The goslings settled down to a quiet graze, which they seemed to find most comfortable from a sitting position. They looked most odd. And they did not seem to care for daisies.

Yesterday, cow chop for lunch with white rice, crinkly cabbage and carrots, these last boiled but not peeled. Not peeling seems to make a lot of differance. Best cow chop for a while. One sitting and sandwiches later did for the lot.