Aikido; other stuff

[ewt]

Last night I was at Aikido again. Because rolling of any sort wore me out so quickly on Monday, this time I saved it for near the end. I still ended up spending the last 10 minutes doing ki breathing because I was just too exhausted, but that's okay.

I'm now sortof sad there is no Aikido on Monday because of the bank holiday. Being back at it both days this week has made me realise how much I enjoy it, and how good it is for my brain.

Today I will be mostly doing bicycle-related things - getting some cheap lights (in the long run I would like to get this for the front and this for the back, and also perhaps something helmet-mounted that takes standard batteries for the front - partly for safety reasons, and partly to indulge my love blinkenlichten), and a pressure gauge and perhaps a pump (I am borrowing one for the moment), filling up the tyres and going for a longer test ride. And finding my maps, damnit.

Oh, and I need to stop by ASDA and Robert Dyas to look for new shower hose and head, because our shower hose has come away from the shower head. Might look for some sort of fixative to get the grey water sorted out, too.

The neighbours want us to move 'personal belongings' away from the fence so that it can be replaced next weekend. Would that be the plants, then, or the compost heap? I'm not really sure what to do here. There's some stuff I can move, and that I will move, but plants that are in the ground are not for moving, and the compost heap is more than I can safely manage (and I've been meaning to get a proper wossname for it for ages anyway). I hope they put the fence where the old one was before it broke, not along the edge of their shed which is technically in bits of our garden now. Bah.

I'm thinking I probably will make a rack pack for the Strida. Things I will want it to have, for my reference:
-big central pocket with drawstring and flap over top
-waterproofness (possibly best achieved by one big flap that goes over the top?)
-little pockets for always-bicycle stuff like pump, spare tubes, spare lights/batteries (a pair of these?), lock, cycle maps, leg bands (for visibility rather than keeping trousers in - I can tuck my trousers into my socks quite well, thanks), that really annoying allan key, other stuff I might think of.
-'lastic on the outside for strapping the helmet to it
-some kind of good carrying handle and stowable shoulder strap in case I want to take it off the bicycle and use it as a bag
-a good way of attaching to the rack; I'm thinking straps with clips and also some vel-cro

Comments

[feanelwa.livejournal.com]

Maybe they don't know what is on the other side of the fence, so they're telling you about personal belongings just in case you have some chairs and stuff there.

I would put a cage of some kind over the plants, dug well into the ground, so that workmen don't tread on them. What is the compost heap like? Is it surrounded by wood or something?

[mstevens.livejournal.com]

There's little fence left, so it's very easy to see what's on our side...

[redcountess]

Yes, when the workmen came to replace the fence between our place and next door at Diana Road they stepped all over the neighbour's plants.

Other than that, you could ask the neighbour what they actually meant :)

[mstevens.livejournal.com]

That sounds scarily like talking to people.

[mstevens.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I need to stop by ASDA and Robert Dyas to look for new shower hose and head, because our shower hose has come away from the shower head. Might look for some sort of fixative to get the grey water sorted out, too.

I was going to do that too, see who gets there first... (I was planning tomorrow morning).

[pplfichi.livejournal.com]

SL-LD100 (http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/273) first impression: Whirly lights! Okay, the straps are probably way too short for poi, but... :D I'm sure they'll do the job, too.

You've used the same link (http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/318) for both front and rear lights?

I was thinking about buying the Cateye HL-EL520 (http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/326) as my main light in addition to the ones I saw the other day, as I've used Cateye stuff before and it worked, and this is about what I want, only the slightly dodgy mount is putting me off a bit :/

As for the neighbours... "FFS" and Rude four letter words spring to mind, but potty mouth. I know they are probably trying to stop your stuff from being destroyed by any work and to stop you from you suing them if they do wreck something?. But, this is a garden. There are plants and a compost heap and it's all alive and stuff. Not to mention injury foo, but they don't (need to) know about that? It just sounds so silly.

If you know where the boundary is, and their shed is on your side, you can ask them to put the fence on the boundary, because, your (landlady's) land. If you're encroaching on their land a bit, but that's how the old fence was, you could always ask nicely for the fence to be put back where it was.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

*nog* bike lights make the bestest cybergoth toys.

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

And I meant this (http://www.cateye.com/en/product_detail/280) for the back.

But having seen these (http://www.cyclexpress.co.uk/Products/Quadrant__Mars_3_0_combo_pack_lightset.aspx) in the shop I like them better than the CatEye ones. So.

[(Anonymous)]

*Grin*

Where have you seen them in the shop?

[pplfichi.livejournal.com]

That was me!

[ewtikins.livejournal.com]

Evans Cycles at Canary Wharf.