Jam today

Today’s guest picture comes from my brother Andrew. He is on a short holiday and visited Tadcaster on his way to the coast at Scarborough today.

We had another sunny day here, and it didn’t take too long for the temperature to warm up enough for me to be able to go out for a short cycle ride. There was a brisk and chilly wind though, and it was far from warm as I cycled round my familiar Canonbie circuit.

In spite of the sun, it was a hazy day again and the light was very flat, so although I stopped to take pictures of two old friends as I cycled up the hill out of Wauchopedale . . .

. . . it didn’t feel like a good day for stopping for more pictures, and I battled on into the cold wind down the hill to Canonbie.

It was just as well that I was going quite slowly into the breeze because just before I got to the bottom of the bypass, there was a ghastly crunching noise and my bicycle came to a rapid stop. If I had been going any faster, I might well have been tipped over the handlebars. I dismounted safely though, and looked for the cause of the sudden arrest.

It was easy to see. Gravel had been swept up from the road and got jammed between my front tyre and the mudguard. My mudguards have a safety feature which means that the stays come away under pressure, and this should have prevented the jamming. However, in this case, the stays themselves had come away from the mudguard and become jammed between the brakes, the frame, and the tyre. I was beginning to think that I might have to call upon the MTRS, but I managed to disengage the stays, pack them away, and pedal home with a gently rubbing mudguard, but without further incident.

I cheered myself up with pictures of forsythia and celandine in the garden.

As you can only buy mudguards in sets of two, front and back, and I have previously suffered from a broken back mudguard, I have a brand new spare front mudguard on a shelf ready to put on my bike, if my aged fingers can cope with some fiddly work. Time will tell.

Mrs Tootlepedal had made lentil soup for lunch, and buoyed up by this, we went for a three bridges walk after lunch.

Having Mrs Tootlepedal on the walk was a double bonus, firstly because it meant that she is steadily recovering from feeling poorly, and secondly because it meant another pair of eyes. Between us we saw quite a few birds.

Black backed gull, one of a pair beside the river

A duck doing what comes naturally

A grey wagtail some distance away

A pied wagtail quite a lot nearer

And the same wagtail again because you don’t get many shots of a wagtail standing still

An angry black headed gull . . .

. . . which flew off in a huff

Another grey wagtail also quite far away

And a wren lurking under the Sawmill Brig

Not bad we thought for a short walk beside the river.

We also saw the race course rails laid out in preparation for the new racing season . . .

. . . and a flourishing dandelion . . .

. . . complete with insect.

Back in the garden, we were pleased to note that the vinca which Mrs Tootlepedal had planted when we relaid the drive slabs last year are beginning to flower freely.

After a cup of tea, it was time for me to drive to Carlisle for choir practice. As I went out to the car, I saw a small tortoiseshell butterfly land on a flowerbed. I rushed back to get a camera, but inevitably, by the time that I came out, it had flown away.

I made do with a bumble bee on the winter flowering honeysuckle.

In the absence of our regular conductor, we had yet another conductor for today’s practice. He was absolutely excellent. As we were allowed to sing without masks, and I had a good singer sitting next to me, I got much needed fun and therapy from singing this afternoon. I have been depressed by the international situation, as doubtless everyone else is too, but this two hours of music made me feel better than I could possibly have hoped.

The flying bird of the day is that black headed gull, going off muttering about intrusive photographers.