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Seasons

Good ride today, the bank holiday rest has done me a world of good. Some of you may have known that on New Years Eve an extra second was added to atomic clocks around the world to account for the slowing rotation of Earth and bring us back in line with solar time [ full article at the BBC ]. Didn't you see the countdown clocks go to :60 secs? No? Me neither.

What everyone forgot to mention was that here in the UK they have not just added an extra second, they have also added an extra calendar season. It's called Grey. Grey will last between January and December. The other seasons no longer have official dates, but instead will be randomly interspersed throughout Grey. The only definite rule is that the other seasons are highly likely to occur during weekdays, when the average UK citizen will be office-bound.

I understand that some American companies allow bed-days, when staff can call in and request one day off at short notice. Well I propose UK weather-days, if you wake up on a workday and the weather is better than good you will be allowed to call in and request the day off to escape on the bike. They would happen so infrequently that the work impact would be minimal but the staff morale would rocket. How many times have you ridden to work dreaming of riding straight past the office window waving hello to your colleagues as you pass by and disappear into the distance on an marathon all day ride.

I had intended to take some photos on today's ride as I was going to some new places, however the perpetual grey made it difficult to get a good shot. Perhaps it's my fault for going out in the afternoon, rather than heading out at the sound of the first sparrow breaking wind. So instead you get a picture of my post ride meal. I have never met a cyclist who didn't like food so I reckon most have a favourite pasta recipe and can cook them far better than me, but I'm going to share mine anyway.

Simple pasta and tomato sauce [two large servings]

• 250g of whatever pasta is in the cupboard
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes, or five fresh tomatos chopped
• As much garlic as you like or your social calendar will permit
• 3 anchovies or a few cubes of unsmoked bacon [pancetta if you can get it]
• 5-10 chopped olives
• Oregano or basil

1. Put the pasta on to cook
2. Fry the anchovies/bacon and garlic for a minute in a bit of olive oil
3. Add the tomatoes, herbs and seasoning and simmer for 5-10 minutes
4. Add olives and mix in with the pasta

Right I'm hungry now, I'm off to the fridge.

Comments:

Iain,

Yeah, UK weather can be a bit dull, huh? Apparently, when one of Earnest Shackleton's crew-members returned to London, after 22 months of being stranded in the freezing arctic, he noted that the weather in London was the most "foul" weather he had ever encountered...

Mags
By  mags
 

Too right mags. What I like is proper seasons, by that I mean snow and really cold in winter, and hot and sunny in summer. A proper year of four different seasons is much more refreshing than a variation on one theme.
By  iain
 

Iain,

I agree.

Mags
By  mags
 

The coldest winter I ever spent was two weeks in London in July! 1976!
By  Tom Stormcrowe
 

'proper seasons, by that I mean snow and really cold in winter, and hot and sunny in summer'

SO the Siberian lowlands, famed for their scorched summers and deeply frozen winters would be perfect then.

Sarcasm aside, I agree - so you can swim and bike in summer, and ski in the winter. and in between, you just plan either biking or sking! Oh yes and the meals that inevitably come in between, as you rightly point out.
By  RL
 

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