Ancient Burial Mound

And so another weekend fades into the distance. It was nice though. There was some serious sunshine yesterday. At last it seems like Winter is ending. It felt like the longest Winter in history. It didn’t even have the decency to get properly Wintery this year. It just got damp and miserable.

We drove up to White Horse Hill yesterday and went to investigate Waylands Smithy. It’s a “long barrow” apparently. That’s a burial mound in common parlance. I have seen it before. I remember my father taking me there when I was a teenager, but I didn’t remember it well. The boy had no sense of history, but enjoyed running around there and crawling into the chamber. The dragon was somehow intrigued by the age of the site. It’s some 5,500 years old. She calculated that as being about 55 of her grandfathers. For her it was a demonstration of our insignificance. We all live an incredibly short time, and then we die. She has moments like that from time to time.

We also did some serious budget eating this weekend. On Saturday night we had roast chicken. It was on offer at Tesco, and I think it was only £3.20 or something. That used about half the chicken, and yesterday we used leftovers to make a pretty awesome risotto. I think that meal counts as just about free, since we already had rice and chopped tomatoes and stuff in the cupboard. I like it when we can do that.

Apparently this weekend just gone was World Naked Bike Ride weekend in the southern hemisphere. San Francisco also appears to have staged an event despite being in the northern hemisphere because they apparently don’t need much of an excuse to shed clothing. I should consider relocating. We in the frozen north have to wait until June 9th this year to get naked and cycle round the capital. I wonder if San Francisco do two rides a year.

New Zealand also staged a naked ride along 7km of beach from Omanu to Papamoa. The ride only managed to attract eight people however. Could do better. And in Bryon Bay Australia, 25 riders took to the streets, though they were required to observe a strict set of rules which compelled them to wear helmets, obey all road rules, not circle roundabouts unnecessarily and paint their genitalia. Peru seems to be the nude cycling capital of the southern hemisphere however. Their ride reportedly attracted hundreds of participants, well done Peru.

I actually got the unicycle out this weekend. I’d really like to do the WNBR on one wheel, but 10 miles is a long way on a unicycle and I don’t think my skills are really up to it. I could do some training. I think I may refurbish the old unicycle. It’s around 20 years old now and it needs a respray. It also needs a new tyre. It could do with a new saddle actually, but I don’t think a standard bike saddle would do, so it might require some custom fabrication.