Gosh, this did a bit interesting and unpointless since I left this morning. But to follow up…

If it’s the syst based bottom operation I’m thinking of, I’ve had it twice.

No, sadly (I think) not. It’s a bigscaryfrightening hemorrhoidectomy. Been put off for a loooong time as docs didn’t seem that bothered/keen to do the op and I was happy to concur. Alas, it seems the time has come to sort them.

What are you going to argue about?

Mainly about me out riding a bike in this weather, when in their opinion I should of course have used some form of expensive, noisy, smelly, cramped, late, and stress-inducing public transport instead. It’s a constant topic of contention between us on the best of days never mind these current short-tempered ones.

Oooh, so does this mean I can gather up all the new threads I wasn’t going to make today and put them here?

I’m away out now. Am cycling to parents to have an argument.
I go into hospital in a few days to have an operation on my bottom.
I think I might change my username for the New Year. Bored with this one.
I have also lost a sock. It’s black though, so there’s no point working out a timeshare sock-swap to pair them up.

Doctors, hospitals, repeatedly.

How do you find Will Smith in the snow? Look for the fresh prints.

I’ve developed a bit of a crush on my auntie. That’s quite sick.

But speaking medically, am back at the hospital this Friday to see if the doc’s and I can come to an agreement/arrangement on operation #3.

Walked past a stunning Sony Bravia in a store yesterday – must have been 50-55″, very slim and with a stunning picture (yes, I know they turn the coulours / brightness up…)

Had been half toying with the idea of getting a new TV and retiring the old one to the kids’ room

Are we allowed to talk about transvestites like this? TV’s are people too!

Is it a Fantastic Four set? Obviously the invisible girl is invisible so that means there’s only three things in the box – the stretchy guy, The Thing (broke in half, hence two of them?) and the one that sets things on fire.

Just to add to the arguement, has anyone got a Blackberry Playbook and is it worth a punt now that it’s been hacked in price?

I suspect the reason that nobody has mentioned Christopher Ecclescakes (alleged) Scottish accent in G.I. Joe is because nobody has watched it.

It is very entertaining. (The accent, I mean. Not the film.)

Maybe we can’t spot these Higgs Bosons because they’re made from neutrinos, and so whizz about so fast they can’t be seen. Seems a logical conclusion to me.

Got it on XBox. At the moment Medium difficulty is too easy (poles* and wins every time) but Hard is too hard. Even just tweaking the traction control down to medium makes me switch from God to dog. Can’t do a lap without crashing. Don’t know if trying a wheel/pedals would help me try to balance the throttle a bit.

* Well, except for Montreal when Buemi managed to qualify in half the time of everyone else. What the ????

I’ll take her.

On a first date I got a meatball lodged in my throat. As in seriously lodged – ambulance called and everything. For the second date we thought a movie would be safer than eating so arranged to meet outside the Odeon. Only I got my cinemas mixed up and stood waiting outside the Cineworld instead.

Never did get around to meeting her again.

Wonderful, wonderful news, that’s truly fantastic!

How would one even procure uranium? I mean it’s not like you can buy it on eBay or from your local Tesco

Although the “Customers who bought this also bought…” links are a little bit frightening.

“…and so I had to sleep on the bus-stop roof and so don’t know…”

Am obsessing about work.

But am also pondering what to do with an old road bike I’ve inherited. It’s unncomfy and unsteady compared to my more newerish one, and it’s got downtube shifters that are rather disconcerting to use. Singlespeed it, donate it on, keep it for rainy days, hmmm, hmmm, hmmm…

And am trying to word a witty and winning (without sounding weird) opening email to send to some burd on a dating website I’ve just joined.

Yeah, that describes me too (except I’m a few years older). And I think I’m almost normal.

As Mr Ton says above, if you ever find yourself unable to ride due to ill-health (I just got back on the saddle last month after 4 months), very few things* will stop you.

* They’d be things like pains and energy levels and things.

Oh good crivvens no, will just lock the bike at the bottom and walk up! The last time I did it there were a few folks carrying bikes up but that’s not an idea I’m tempted to consider quite yet.

Thanks for the replies guys.

I shall remove myself from the re-draw too.

And I would like to take this opperchewnity to thank Mr DezB for organising the draw and to everyone else for the donations to said draw.

I always thought travelling into the future was the easy bit – all you need to do is wait for the future to arrive.

And so all you need to do is figure out a way to not die while you’re waiting.

Weather is quite lovely in Glasgow at the moment. Have got the shopping and haircut out the way, so now about to pop off for a wee run then after lunch a saunterly road bike ride.

(This is my first week allowed back exercising since March, so suspect I would have been doing these with a jolly big smile whatever the weather is/was.)

Another fiver added.

Sorry boxelder, I don’t know what the answer is. I got as far as thinking the R U Y S could be “ring up your school”, “right up your street”, or “roll up your sleeves” before getting stumped.

“Hairy-Bottomed Mountainbike Riders Upset by Youngsters School… Quiz”?

Was hardly ever on the MTB between last September and this March so considered selling it several times. Still commuted daily and the odd road ride kept me cheery.

But having been off all bikes since then I CANNOT WAIT to get back on the lot of them!

Not that I can help with any long-term post-op situations, but it’s been four weeks since I had an open procedure to fix one and I still get knackered walking up a flight of stairs (usual medical disclaimer of YMMV applies).

I thought a hernia was from an inherent weakness in the muscles at that point. If you have that weakness, then you’re at risk of popping a hernia no matter what. Is that wrong?

Been three weeks since a hernia op. Not been on a bike for two months. Still suffering public transport to get to work. Still feel constantly physically and mentally knackered. Still having to go to the supermarket three or four times a week as limited by how much I can carry.

Glad to have got all that off my chest.

I’ve always thought the traffic in street racing games has always been too sparse. There’s never any trafic jams to force you to drive up the pavement or find a completely different route. There’s barely ever enough to make overtaking a challenge/gamble!

And need pesky pedestrians getting in the way too. I’m not suggesting Death Race 2000, but if you’re dangerous enough to mow down an innocent or two then you’d get the public as well as the Polis out to stop you (and probably dragging you from your car and stomping you into jam). Game over.

I still chat with my ex and we meet occasionally. and have done since we separated. Been divorced 10 years. As you move on it will get easier, but you will still always have those tiny, little “but what if” moments popping into your head. Like anything good, you will miss that connection. But time heals. That “ex wife” shaped hole in your life will get filled with other things and other people.

Oh, but DO NOT try to spend time with her and any new guy she’s seeing. I tried that with one, never again. And when she comes round to tell you she’s getting re-married, that will hurt no matter where your head/life is at.

A cracked, scratched and wildly unreliable Seiko Kinetic.

Because I’ve always worn it since my parents bought me it for my 16th birthday, over 20 years ago. Worthless and priceless.

Cycled from young age up until around mid-teens (what were those black Raleighs that were a size up from Grifters? Bombers? I managed to destroy TWO of those doing a paper-run for years!) when I got distracted by girls and then cars and then beers.

Years later, married, the wife and I bought a bike each. Cheap, expensive, horrid things that were used on rare sunny days but otherwise were left to rust away in the shed.

Then years later again (this would be about 10 years ago), divorced and having moved home to within a few miles of work, I started using that bike to commute. Really enjoyed cycling and feeling fitter. Upgraded the bike to a £200 EBC Courier which was a revelation compared to the bike I had. So enjoyed cycling even more! Started going further and further on it, weekends away, on and off road. Used it for everything so sold the car and never replaced it.

Since then I’ve bought a mountain bike, a road bike, a Singlecross, upgraded the mountain bike, upgraded the road bike, looked at getting a BMX (never had one as a kid)…

I’m recovering from being de-herniated last week. Which was the second op I’ve had in as many months so have been off the bike since mid-March.

Still, only another month or so to go. Sigh.

Yes, I have considered it an option for years. The closest I came to going through with it was last August.

speaking personally, it definitely was not through any considerations for anyone else that stopped me. I was doing them a favour by saving them the hassle of me! It felt I failed because I didn’t have the strength to go through with it.

What it did do was give me the kick I needed to talk to family and friends and my G.P. with everything – physical and mental – that I have been carrying around for as long as I remember. Things are being tackled now, but I’m cetainly not “cured” of the idea.

All three bikes able to be ridden, but I’m not able to ride them (post-op recovery now and another op lined up for two weeks time. Should be back on the bikes around the start of June!).

I had my first op on Wednesday, so that’ll keep me off biking and running for 6 to 8 weeks. And I’ll be recovered just in time to go back into hospital for another op and another couple of months off.

Still, could be worse.

I once delivered Glen Michael’s (of Cartoon Cavelcade fame) newspaper.

Not sure they quite qualify as coincidences, but mine are rather “it’s a small world” spooky.

In my last job in an office of only 12 people, I met:
1. an Australian who was bridesmaid to the daughter of the guy who drove my mum to hospital when she went into labour with me almost 40 years ago, and
2. shared the same birthday as the Norwegian who worked there.

I’ll get through my hospital operation next week without any complications…

No, sorry, I’m not that brave. Is it too late to change it to “I’m not going to win the Lottery triple-rollover jackpot tonight!…” instead?