Nothing- absolutely nothing- ever happens in the village on the outskirts of Newcastle where I live. It's the sort of place where a broken down bus brings a crowd. So when it was a little bit soggy last week I didn't think much of it. I was away in Yorkshire visiting my parents and it was moderately moist, and that was about it.
Imagine my surprise to come back to the village to this:
My house is about a quarter of a mile away from here, possibly even closer to the river Tyne than these flats are. Luckily my house wasn't built on top of a culvert by a disused mine, but still. It's been a strange week for where I live; the only way from one side of the village to the other has been on the old railway line, now a cycle path.
So that's what I've been doing.
I live in Newcastle and work in Durham and normally the commute is a joy to behold: a smelly unreliable Stagecoach bus, a crappy CrossCountry train and then a walk in the rain to work. It beats trying to drive along the A1 Gateshead Bypass along with the rest of Tyneside, but not by much (at least on the train I can drown my sorrows in gin). The buses can't get through the village and whatever semblance of a timetable they once had has completely gone out of the window. So after taking 90 minutes to get from my house to Newcastle station, a distance of about six miles, I decided it was time for a change. And to finally use that bike properly.
And well, commuting by bike is better than I thought it would be. Riding from work to the station in Durham is a traffic snarled nightmare, and I can only take a bike on EastCoast if I book a fortnight in advance, but the ride along the river home is splendid. So much nicer than sitting on that bus, full of farting sixth form schoolboys drenched in Lynx, and if I'm going to be in the rain I'd rather be moving than standing around swearing about Brian Souter. It's been a genuine pleasure to be doing it and I know that it's a good way of turning back into a normal shape after a few weeks of too many beers and pies. Even if I did "accidentally" stop off at the Free Trade Inn during a ride last weekend:
And then also accidentally go and see the Smoke Fairies as well:
The only flaw in my plan so far has been Freshers' Fair. It's too busy to be able to lounge around with a nice healthy lunch (or indeed any lunch at all) but this year was slightly better than most. Domino's Pizza had a stall, as did Krispy Kreme donuts, and despite liking neither they beat having nothing to eat at all. And yes, I didn't have to take an entire box of donuts back to the office (even if the sabbs nicked most of them), but they were offering them. I'm from Yorkshire and can't say no to freebies or bargains.
So the "change back from being a blimp" plan isn't going quite as well as anticipated. And I'm off to meet my dad tonight to consume a few hop-based beverages too, so there goes that plan for another week.
Just remind me I'm supposed to be training for a marathon, yeah?
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