An eventful journey

I was turning this morning on to a busy road and a cyclist was too. I judged that there was enough room for the both of us, but I was conscious he was there and tried to steer clear. As I passed, he shouted something but I didn’t catch what it was. I was mystified but even more so when we stopped at lights and he glared at me. I beckoned him over and opened my window to indicate I wanted to ask what the problem was. He cycled round and over and leant on the car very cross with me. He said I didn’t give him enough room as we turned the corner. I apologised and told him I thought there had been enough room and that I had been aware of him as I turned. He asked me whether it would have hurt to wait a couple of seconds to ensure he had enough room. To which I said, no of course it wouldn’t, and apologised again. He was very surprised that I apologised. He cycled off a lot less annoyed. So there you have it, my partner is a cyclist and I genuinely respect the rights of cyclists but even someone with that attitude can get it wrong. And believe me a car can do a lot more damage to a bike than a bike can do to a car. It’s embarrassing because I’m a very good driver, but next time I will make sure I don’t think there is enough room, I’ll make sure I know there’s enough room…

I continued the rest of the journey in a very sombre mood. I’ve seen cars knock into cyclists, cut them up, act like they don’t exist and it disgusts me but this morning, I was one of those idiots and I didn’t like it.

Today is very cold. Hat and gloves weather and I’m still fretting over a winter jacket. We’re trying to save money as I have mentioned before (although Paris and a new car in one week is not a great example) and in November I bought a winter jacket that I thought would be just the job. It’s not. It’s too short and if you do the neck up you choke and if you don’t you get a very cold neck – although a scarf would help. You don’t really identify the flaws until the temperature drops. So now I want a new jacket that is more effective. But it seems like such a waste of money. The only thing that I could do is take the ‘old’ one down to the charity shop. It’s a designer coat, generally very warm and would please someone, sadly however, it’s not pleasing me!

I’m working from home tomorrow because we’re having a new boiler fitted. I could do without the hassle – they will be there all day and it’s a messy job – but it will be great to be more energy efficient. I think we should see a real difference in our gas bills as well.

Well I better get on with my coffee and to-do list and hopefully my commute home will be less eventful.

Two careful owners...

It’s going to be a cold winter… well, I hope it is, I’ve just bought two jackets in two days. What can I say, I like jackets! And to be fair I did need a new winter jacket. I just hadn’t planned on buying two… I love pay day!

Tomorrow is car hunt day. We’re both a little nervous. For one thing we don’t have a great deal of mechanical knowledge and although we both have good instincts and are fairly astute (and have been cribbing on ‘what to look for on a second hand car’ websites!), we will be relying on the trustworthiness of the seller. Also, I don’t want to be racing all over London seeing cars that were listed as ‘great’, ‘fantastic’, ‘excellent condition’ which are actually turkeys.

There’s also a party I want to go to in the evening, and we’ve been invited to another party on Sunday. We will be busy!

Anyway, back to work, I need the money for jackets and cars!