pumpkinstrokemarrow

Found that I had forgotten where all the pot-holes are on the these bits of road. Memory being what it is, I need to do them every day to be able to remember where they are in time to avoid them. Which can be a pain for following cars when one swerves at the last minute to avoid one. Seeing them on the stretch of road just before St. Paul's church, heading towards Epsom direction, made difficult by the strobe effect of low flying sun shining strongly through the rather thin, unfoliated hedge. A bit disorientating anyway and then the complex of shadows on the pavement (the technical term for the black stuff on the road, not the black things one walks on by the side of the road, more sensibly known as side walks) do a wonderful job of camouflaging the pot holes. Some of which might throw one over the handlebars if hit full on.

Same sort of thing heading west towards the cross roads at Malden Rushett where there are some pretty fearsome potholes behind some more thin hedges. Now I hear that the council is intent on chopping down another ribbon of trees on Epsom Common in order to make a bicycle lane alongside. For my money the money would be much better spent on repairing the potholes. Or maybe on funding a few more care workers. Why on earth does redeveloping the West Park site mean that we need a cycle lane going towards Malden Rushett? Or maybe I have heard it all wrong? Maybe they are just going to have a cycle lane coming back from West Park to Stamford Green, where it will peter out. Which is the main reason why, for me, cycle lanes are a waste of time. They are always coming and going, and getting on and off them is a right pain, never mind about as dangerous as cycling on the road in the first place.

Rewarded on the way down Howell Hill by finding two more of those large ratchet clips which hold the soft on the side of soft sided lorries. Taking my total to three, all slightly different. Look like they might cost £25 or more each in somewhere like Screwfix and more or less without value to me - until that is the dot sprogs are of an age to be fascinated by mechanical gadgets of this sort. Kept against that eventuality, by which time I should have found a few more.

The other notable number is that, having achieved a record of 5 books withdrawn from Surrey Libraries on Thursday 18 February, I have now got back down to 1 again. When will I break this newly set, lifetime record?

The one remaining book is Hourani on the Arabs, it having been suggested that this was a good follow up to Rogan on the Arabs. Which indeed it is. The latter is rather political and concentrates on the modern era, while the former spends much more time on beginnings and on faith. Which is a bit hard going for those without faith, but does provide a solid foundation to what comes after. And the impression that Islam had many of the ecclesiastical trials and tribulations of our own Christianity, modified for geography and politics, is strengthened. When is a saint not a saint? Should one have them at all? What about relics and tombs? When can a saint intercede with the almighty on one's behalf? Can one influence a saint in this regard? Low churches and high churches. Back to the literal truth of the word revealed or a more pragmatic approach? I will have to find the right sort of Muslim with whom one could talk about these kinds of things.

Plus the interesting business of a small number of Arabic speaking Arabs from Arabia colonising large chunks of the Mediterranean world and beyond. All sounds rather similar, although on a much larger scale, to the business of a small number of Normans colonising England. Assimilation slowed down in the case of the Arabs by the strength of common religion and language. But the bit about the more one could claim descent from real Arabs, rather than grubby locals, the posher one was, must have worked in medieval England too.