Thursday 28 October 2010

Cycling in pregnancy and beyond

Although Eenie is not keen, this lady was able to cycle right up to the birth.

Worth a read I reckon.

Wednesday 27 October 2010

Oh God I miss my bike, waaaaah!

Yesterday was crap.

Late night on Monday I moved in for a cuddle with Mr Weenie to be met with 'Wow, it's like a bowling ball! It's all hard and you're so much heavier.' Bastard.

Tuesday morning I awoke with the horrendous mood carried over from the night before. I set off for work at 7.20am and took the train with Mr Weenie, all lovely. I had forgotten I was meeting Little Roboat that morning and missed out on a natter.

One stop into the District Line journey, Mr Weenie hopped off to go to work. I got back to reading my Metro. I got on that train at 7.45am, I reached Victoria at about 9.05am. I was on it for what seemed like forever. It was hot, it was slow and t was full off commuting nobbers who insisted on stepping on my feet, tutting at each other and spreading their papers out wide to be as annoying as possible.

I finally emerged from Hades into Victoria station. The next train I needed wasn't until 9.25am so I started to stride towards the Boots to pick up bits and bobs. As I reached the door the sirens began. An emergency evacuation of the station later and I was stood outside, in the rain, with 2,000 other commuters. Sirens wailed, fire engines and police arrived and many of us grumbled about the fact it was probably just some carrot batons in a dropped M&S bag or something.

The station finally reopened and I had that sinking feeling. Baby was on bladder and I needed to pee. Needed doesn't even convey the urgency. In desperation I used a loo on one of the stationary and posh looking trains that weren't leaving for a while. I then did a waddly run down to the distant platform where my train was waiting.

At 10.10am I was nearly at work.

Sheesh.

I then had an utterly rubbish day at work before trekking the hour and a half home without the capacity to pedal out my rage. This blows.

Monday 25 October 2010

C*ck off!

No, it's not sodding twins.

Yes, I'm aware that the bump is big, I do not need to be told every time you see me.

Oi, tosser, I see you staring at the bump and the chalky complexion of someone feeling ill, I see you're able to stand and in a seat.

Hmmmmm, why would a pregnant lady be lying across a couple of seats looking dazed, could it be she's near to fainting. So why be so f-ing rude?!

Really, I see, you're an expert on all things pregnancy and feel I should be told what to eat and that cycling while pregnant 'is just irresponsible'? Thanks for that.

And, finally, although it's not happened to me yet, but has happened to someone I know and has nearly happened to me a couple of times already:

Do NOT f***ing touch me without my permission.

I don't give a crap that pregnancy is fascinating, my bump is just that, MINE. I live in fear of this happening as I am seriously worried thatI will kill the perpetrator.

Hormonal much?!

Tuesday 19 October 2010

My converts live on....

Reg is still at my parents' house so I remain bikeless. There is also another problem. Eeenie weenie does NOT like exercise.

He or she has decided to make me so exhausted I can barely walk home from the station, let alone get on two wheels every day. Stairs render me breathless and t's very irritating. I'm most annoyed because I've always thought that the attitude that pregnant women shouldn't cycle is completely wrong and I was hoping to be a good example. Sigh.

However, while I stew in annoyance over my forced exile onto public transport, I have been greatly cheered by news from those I have or am hoping to convert.

TM is a former colleague (pre-work woes). On mentioning he quite fancied giving cycling to work a go I pointed him firmly in the direction of the Ride to Work scheme and he promptly bought a Brompton. He fell in love with it and, as luck would have it, there was a tube strike shortly after his purchase. He used the LCC bike tube to get to an important meeting in town and hasn't looked back. As well as commuting he recently took part in the Brompton World Championships. Wonderful!

The lovely S trekked out to my new office to say hello on a day off a couple of weeks ago. She's still cycling and is, in fact, encouraging others to do so. In a recent email she gaily told me that she was buying her husband a bike, as he had been inspired by her enthusiasm and fancied giving it a go. Rather than get the bike delivered, she had decided to venture out to an area she'd not been to before to collect said bike and cycle it home. Hurrah!

Moomin has ordered her new bike after the theft of her old one but, not being able to wait, has been using Roger and Reg while they've been stored at her house. My sister, who had an unfortunate accident as a child while on a bike, has also decided to give cycling a go and I have decided to give Roger to her to cycle to vet school and back. Marvellous!

I'm aiming to cycle to music school with my sister on Saturday if Eenie is amenable but even if I can't it makes me glow to know there are cyclists in London enjoying bikes and that I, in a small way, encouraged or helped them to do it. Sigh.

Tuesday 12 October 2010

Bike theft and insurance

My new employer is fairly bike friendly. They offer Ride to Work, but their bike racks are butterfly ones and there's often jostling for space.

Yesterday two bikes went missing, during the day, from the racks.

They were both nice bikes and I'm gutted for the owners, both of whom are colleagues. Bike theft really annoys me. Any kind of theft does, to be honest. It's just such a lazy and dishonest thing to do. Bastards.

I, touch wood, have never had a bike stolen but my parents have had theirs stolen twice and many people I know have been hit multiple times. Both Roger and Reg are insured against theft as well as my paying for membership of the London Cycle Campaign so that I get free third party insurance and legal advice of I have an accident. My insurance costs about £7 a month for both bikes and LCC membership is about £35 a year.

In my opinion, it's worth every penny.

Think about it people.

Monday 11 October 2010

Roger was back!

And has now gone again....

My younger sister has decided she fancies giving cycling a go, so Roger was brought home briefly and then cycled over the my parents' house for her to experiment on.

Reg went too as we're having a new sofa delivered today and his presence in the stairway would have restricted the deliverers' ability to get it up to the living room.

I've not used Reg for a while and it was nice to pedal him even a short distance. Moomin was cycling Roger and manfully refused to let me put the seat down. As she's a good four inches shorter than me it led to a lot of giggling along the way. Her legs were at full tilt at the bottom of the pedal rotation and she looked a bit like she was riding a clown bike.

Hopefully Reg, Roger, and younger sis will all be cycling to music school on Saturday. Fingers crossed!