It was – like the cavalry passing in full flight on every lap.

That was mental. We were spectating on the course so we didn’t see what happened to M VdP though… it was already quite a race then suddenly everything changed.

So, not only are more and more events actively trying to get people to cycle to them for both traffic congestion and environmental reasons but the fact that the bike industry can’t organise parking for the product that it, checks notes, relies on selling, is the proverbial failure to organise a piss up in a brewery.

To be fair, previously I don’t think I’ve been to spectate at a race without cycling at least a leg of the way – Tour, cobbled classic and cyclocross. I’m livid.

Not sure whether the ouch but temporary pain of having a foot on backwards is worse than repeated migraines with their associated ‘how bad will it be this time’ uncertainty (where top of the scale was the pain made me throw up so hard that I put my back out).

The foot pain was four hours from telling my beloved that rather than putting my foot down gracefully at the end of the ride I had in fact broken my leg to a team of French medics pulling it out and popping it straight. That was a bad four hours – waiting for the ambulance, being manoeuvred into it (I could be stoic when it was still but moving was whimper inducing), an hour’s drive down roads which suddenly felt like it might as well be a farm track (more whimpering) through X-rays and medics gathering round with pain relief and working on their course of action. To be honest, the difference between foot on backwards and foot in right direction was from off-the-pain scale to bad but deal-able – much more than any pain relief they gave me.

The only good (and weird) bit was working out that despite their not being where they were supposed to be, I could still wiggle my toes. The other bit was the French doctor going into ‘soothing speak’ just before pulling my leg straight – suddenly French at a speed I can fully comprehend.

For some reason reading these whilst laid up with a cold is cheering me up enormously.

I had a difficult diagnosis of an appendicitis when I was 22 and literally graduated into hospital the day after the ceremony. ‘We don’t know what’s wrong with you but clearly something is very infected’. I only found out later that 1 in 10 people have their appendix tucked behind a bit of intestine so they don’t do the classic leap in the air that is usual when the site is prodded. Anyway, 22 years old me was hooked up to intravenous antibiotics and in a very attractive hospital gown looking a shade of my girl about town student self so I was hugely delighted that the annoying med student living upstairs from my then boyfriend appeared at the end of my bed on the ward rounds. I’m not sure whether that was worse than the v dishy male nurse giving me an internal ultrasound (mmm never great even if administered by a kindly female dr – see also smear tests) to see whether they could see my ovaries. They couldn’t. Eventually a surgeon went in and took out a suppurating lump of appendix and ovary. Yuck.

Hmm, having a tooth pulled does not automatically save future issues. I had one pulled a while back. Tooth next to it is moving into the gap creating a space which is a) hugely annoying for getting food stuck in it and b) possibly leading to other tooth decaying. I have a plan to get an implant which is even more expensive.

South of France edition – tapenade on fougasse. Also croissant with cheese (local tomme Catalane or the next door farmer’s Camembert) and a slice of jambon cru. I reckon I need to cycle 100km just to keep on top of the calories. 

Don’t give up! Plastic is utter shite. If companies were made to be responsible for disposing of their products before they make them they wouldn’t churn out the crap they do.

I think the UK is more plasticy than France- much more cardboard packaging and beer at gigs and fetes is in reusable ‘glasses’ here. This translates into us putting out fewer bin bags which is easier on the bin lorry etc not just landfill/recycling plants.

Are they in an area with air quality regulations or that is likely to become one in future? If so, ‘replace now with grant’ is more compelling as replacing later under pressure could be expensive without grant.

The second most shocking thing after the blatant injustice is just how slowly justice has come and how slowly it has reached public consciousness. I have been seeing snippets about this in Private Eye for years as the challenges mounted. They catalogued the consequences – dreadful stories of destitution and suicides – too. But the wheels of justice have turned so slowly. I really hope that people are prosecuted for false testimony. It’s just incredible.
Anyway I reckon that if you want to know what the next big scandal is, I’d suggest subscribing to Private Eye to support their journalism because they were on it near the start.

Oh yes, the other amazing thing in France is the sheer number of people devoted to healthcare admin. Because it’s free but run on an insurance basis there are immense amounts of paperwork and you get to see what your broken ankle (to give a pertinent recent example) would have cost if social care hadn’t picked up the bill. I am totally not sure about whether this is an unnecessary waste that contributes to the higher social care levy here but it’s interesting.

One of the unfortunate things about the UK is how little people look at other countries’ experiences and reflect on them. In France I have had absolutely excellent healthcare mainly funded by taxes (it’s a little bit complicated but basically emergency care and long term health conditions are entirely funded, the rest is 80% funded unless you are on benefits).

However the health and social care component of taxes are a flat 23% of everything I earn. The annual income only adds a few percentage points but it does mean that overall I pay more tax here than I did in the UK. NI is tiny in comparison.

The UK has got more (ok a lot) for less out of the NHS for decades and somehow doesn’t seem to appreciate it.

We fostered Jess as a RSPCA court case dog. They try and find foster homes for dogs that were not doing too well in the shelter.  She is remarkably unscathed by being starved to within an inch of her life. To be honest, the hardest thing was not being allowed to put pictures of her on social media. With the legal case dogs you have to have a secure exercise area and they need be on lead once they are off your property at all times as well. Once her case was sorted we were given first refusal. We could not pass that up. Little croissant that she is. 

Bikepackers weight update…. a jersey fold+rºll weighs 145g and my prototype waterproof waxed cotton (from Halley Stevensons in Dundee) with jersey interior is 166g, with a towelling interior (more useful for the weight in my opinion) it’s 218g. Sorry about the delay but I had to go out for a ride.

And yes, I should do an update for my email sign-ups to say that anyone wanting a pre-order can place one with Singletrack towers. I’ll get the hang of this marketing thing at some point.

Also thank you for feedback :-)

No family this year – we live in the south of France and both sets are a thousand miles away in different directions. We just fancied staying in our village to see what it was like at Christmas (having moved here a couple of years ago). Our friends from Wales had some time off this month and have been staying with us running and riding our dry trails and stocking up on vitamin D and enthusing about where we live. It’s been lovely, low pressure, combined effort. Everyone enjoyed the outdoors in the middle of the day when it was warm, then we made all the food and ate a few courses over several hours. Definitely can recommend for a change.

My own husband. Christmas mix. Sigh.

What a nice thread! Congratulations everyone.

I finished a book this year too. It’s not really a massive page turner unless you’re into the development of integrated mobility.

I also applied for a patent and registered a design.

For balance, I broke my ankle. Keeping from utter despondency (so far) has been the final achievement of the year.

10 years time? That’s 2033 and manufacturers will be winding down ICE production. Times will have moved on by then. Today’s 911s will be retro. Which may be great and you may want to be driving an old technology car but it’s something to consider. Cities will be less and less likely to let you in. The filling station network will become weird. The future is coming at us very fast.

Brilliant thread! I have a temperature question. Is there a reason that I sleep best when our bedroom is freezing cold? If it’s too hot (I reckon more than 14º) I start sleeping badly. Is this a bit extreme? I’ve always liked the window open a bit for as much of the year as possible but I think being female hitting 50 seems to have exacerbated this. I just feel really groggy and prone to headaches if its too warm.

BTW the first thing I noticed when I had to take iron tablets a couple of years ago for anaemia was feeling like my sleep was more refreshing.

I just clicked this because I’m in France and suddenly had a random desire for fish and chips. Now it’s turned into a random desire for curry as well. Cheers all…

Had to drive to Germany on my own during Covid. I was dreading it as we had shared driving previously and I’d still arrived shattered. On my own in the Tesla I was fine. It’s quiet and less vibration than any car I’ve had, plus the driving assist is useful.

Charging is less of an issue for a model 3 because you don’t have to do it everyday with a 300 mile range.  

Never went to a lesson and got an A. Obviously I misspent my youth. 

Traffic offences are one of those weirdly misunderstood things. Cars being driven badly change people’s attitudes quite fundamentally- streets feel unsafe, kids don’t play out, busy road dwellers’ sleep patterns are disturbed, people can’t walk or wheel from a to b because the pavements are blocked. Also huge public expense with every accident.

Getting into a car seems to affect people’s adherence to rule 1. So cars need to be taken out of the hands of those not considerate of their fellow human beings. If I get my public transport investment programme through there will be plenty of options. Until then we’ll all be driving round like with a bit more caution.

1. Proportional representation. No more capture of the political landscape by a small faction of one party.

2. Public services require investment. Stop pretending otherwise. Countries work better if you tax and spend. Look at France.  Never mind subsidising public transport., you can’t have roads unless you’re prepared to give people ‘something for nothing’.  am fully in favour of subsidising public transport by the way.

3. Mandatory school trips to at least 6 different countries by the age of 18.

4. Three traffic offences and your car goes in a crusher . I’m including parking on pavements here.

5. Devolution. Keep going. More power at local level focuses people on civic process, and brings people in to improving their areas. If it’s worth being a local politician,  quality will get better and the national talent pool will improve.

I am a similar ‘niche self-employed’ person. I run myself as a company (with one part-time member of staff) and use the People’s Pension as our pension provider. I pay monthly wages and then the pension contribution is calculated by the pension platform. This ensures that the 20% tax advantage of pensions contributions works out. If you start now even with a small % it is there building up. If there are dividends at the end of the year I then work out what to spend them on (at least this worked until I moved to France, now it’s a bit more of a headache).

You can check your national insurance record here: 

https://www.gov.uk/check-national-insurance-record

This will tell you how many years of contributions you have paid – you need 35 for the full state pension which you can only draw down once you get to 67 (or whatever they change it to).

You have Adam Tranter on your side in the West Midlands (and by extension the Mayor). I’ve just seen him on LinkedIn exhorting people to use the police portal to report bad driving.

Here

Fat fingers this morning. As you were.

The northern section of the Pennine Bridleway is along the Settle and Carlisle line. You can ride from Horton northwards and catch the train back from Kirby Stephen.

The last place we lived used to be prone to speeding. Cobbles and narrowing it would do wonders.

Despite its imperfections this the first time an AI tool has made me smile…

Hmmmmm… I have a Model 3 (one car household, not many local miles, a few 1000km+ trips per year). Used to charge it from our solar panels but have since moved so just on a cheap nighttime tariff now. I work in transport and the trends are interesting.

Demand for ICE fuels has largely flatlined despite growth in the national fleet (partly the EV effect, partly increased fuel efficiency somewhat undermined by SUVs).

If you live in a rural area, the filling station options will contract (even more) over the next decade (unless some radical diversification ensues). Distribution of fuel over long distances is expensive and the margins in filling stations are slim. The network was already shrinking before EVs gained any traction, I expect it to be put under further pressure.

Even as an early EV convert I have been surprised in the increased uptake – Stellantis is reporting that its growth in sales this year is driven by increased EV sales. The main problem (as an environmentalist) with EVs is that they’re really nice to drive. Which may encourage more driving. Aargh. More CO2 is emitted in manufacture but the lifetime emissions are still lower (exactly how much will depend on the electricity fuel mix). That’s on an individual vehicle level – we still need to reduce the total numbers of vehicles on the roads to get to net zero, not just switch 38 million cars to renewable-powered electric.

IRC – the rail estate is more complicated than bus stops. For comparison bus stations (buildings) are staffed. Each bus has level access boarding for wheelchairs, something we have not achieved on rail. Disabled people are reliant on assistance at stations. 

Unfortunately rail ticketing is not at the level at which all tickets are available to buy at ticket machines or online. This is an absolute nonsense situation but closing ticket offices in this nonsense situation would only made it worse. 

The government told the operators to plan to close them. Now it’s seen the backlash it has changed its mind. 

I’m all for efficiency but it would have further contributed to the lamentable treatment of disabled people on trains, not to mention you can’t actually buy all ticket options on apps or ticket machines. Plus fewer staff at stations makes everyone feel less safe. It would have eroded passenger numbers and been pretty awful. 

I’m not sure you can be disproportionately cross about the Post Office scandal. Rage at least is completely reasonable. And despair. 

+1 for big hugs and sympathy.

B

Ooh, reading the ‘things which might work’ post above (@savoyad), one of my friend had NHS prescribed Botox which works for some people. She kept a diary and the number and frequency noted meant she got access to a specialist prepared to try everything (along the lines of ‘what, you’ve been dealing with this for how long??’). For context she had changed jobs completely to one where taking days off at a time to lie in a darkened room could be compensated for by working overtime. It’s so horrid and debilitating.

I had a coercive partner for several years. It took me ages to work out he was tracking my every move. One of the things I didn’t even think about for years was that we both used the same email provider and the default password was our postcode… I had naively let him set accounts up for me so there was a whole process of auditing digital things he might have access to. Good luck (obviously do all the reporting people are suggesting and honesty is the best policy with your new partner). 

Did you get in touch with Empowered People? I used to live near the guy who set it up and group rides were great. We went to the Isle of Man a few years ago. It was glorious. It also turned me into a passionate advocate for accessible cycling infrastructure. So many people can ride more easily than they can walk (not just MS) and cycleways should be properly joined up and lovely to trike, bike and wheel (I’ve not succeeded yet but I keep trying).

Offer to run comprehensive training courses for your colleagues from your newly established consultancy How To Do My Job Ltd.

This all explains the conversation I had with IP lawyer when submitting patent application. I submitted it as my company but as that is basically me it is reasonably straightforward so I wasn’t quite sure what all the other employment questions were for.

I’ve run my own business twice. Once was basically because there were no jobs (I moved out of London and was surprised to find that my particular skills weren’t so great for Yorkshire). It was a great idea with quite a few fans but made me minus money. The second time, I was made redundant and just ended up working as an independent consultant which has been pretty good for paying the bills. I’m now on no. 3 as the independent consultancy has thrown up an idea for product that I would like to take to market. It’s quite hard work juggling keeping the money coming in from consultancy and getting something to market but it’s more secure (particularly as manufacturing has required quite a lot of costs up front and protecting the design from the outset is costly too and I can keep all that separate from the salary I pay myself).

Can you contract for someone else part-time as part of your route-map to launch? All the IP things being ok.