Got very wet cycling to the station this morning. Really soaked.

That's the worst bit about the bike/train combo. I got to the station for 9.15, but had to wait for the 9.37. Which was late, so make that 9.41 or so. In a wet tshirt and socks, with wet hair. My shorts were dry because I wore my waterproofs, but I don't like to wear my waterproof top when it's warm because I just sweat buckets instead and still end up soaked. I wore my merino tshirt and wool socks, so I didn't get as cold as I would have in cotton, but still. That's a long time to have to sit still in wet clothes.

I'm dry now, and I've had my coffee. The only part of me that's still wet is my feet. I brought dry socks in, but then I had to put my shoes back on which has made my dry socks wet. Damn it.

I am really looking forward to ditching the train ride. Don't get me wrong, I like trains. But it just makes life so much more complicated!

As you all may or may not know, I am in the middle of producing a dissertation. I may have mentioned it. Somewhere along the line. It is all about energy use in the office, and how we can persuade people to stop using so much.

As it is also for a degree in human-centred computer systems, I am supposed to be all human-centred and design what people might actually want, rather than making huge sweeping assumptions about what I'd like them to want and design for that.

To that end, I have put together a little survey. If you work in an office (it can be a home office... Anywhere with a desk, really), would you perhaps be so kind as to fill it in for me? It's only 10 questions long, it won't take up much time at all.

Thankyoubye. 

Now I am officially working out my notice, I can no longer get work to buy me a monthly rail and bus pass. That's ok, because soon I won't need it, given that I've managed to get a job in the same town as we chose to live. (On an aside, that seems to be more unusual than you'd think. Really.) But it does mean that I'm back on the bike after a long period of laziness.

I've gone back on my road bike, but I've modified it a bit. It's worth posting a picture, but I haven't got one right now! I've changed out the front gears for mountain bike ratios, because they give me a fighting chance of getting up some of the hills where I am still too weak to churn big old road ones. But that meant I had to change out my front derailleur, because road ones are the wrong curve for the smaller mountain bike curves. And that meant I had to change my gear levers, because road shifters don't pull enough cable to operate mountain bike derailleurs. I got some nice bar end shifters, but they wouldn't fit my chopped down handlebars, so I had to replace my handlebars too. I went for some Nitto moustache bars, and while I was at it I got some cheap brake levers too.

Oh, and I added a rack. And changed the pedals to toe-clips so I can wear normal shoes.

So yeah, it's changed a bit. I've been riding in along the coast on the undercliff walk. The weather has got good - hot, not too windy - which is great timing, and the view is spectacular. The bike still needs a little fine tuning, but it feels sweet.

I still can't get up the hills, but I'll get there.

I just had a phonecall from a charity I support. They wanted to take me through the advances they'd been able to make thanks to my regular (relatively tiny) donation - a precursor to asking me to increase it I would guess. When I mentioned that actually I was at work at 2.30 on a weekday afternoon I got an amazed response.

"Oh, you're at work! I didn't realise we'd caught you at work. Another time."

Is it really so surprising? Really? If it is I need to find out what the rest of the working world does. Clearly I'm doing something wrong...  

What a lovely weekend! (I'm ignoring Sunday. The cricket Shall Not Be Spoken Of...)

And yes, I'm burnt. I knew it would happen yesterday, but I just kept thinking "well, this won't take long", and "I'll just do this"... My shoulders are roasted. I am an idiot.

On the bright side, I finally chopped the forsythia down. It's half the size it used to be. And I've potted on a load more stuff, and planted out lots of bedding. The back garden is starting to look more full and green and lush. I'm falling in love with it all over again.