Is it a bird or an orange beetle?

Christine’s exploits on her freezing cycle ride yesterday became reality for me this morning when I set off for work looking like a rotund orange beetle.  The rain on top of the icy river path made my journey fairly treacherous and with my dodgy left toe protesting at being forced into cycling shoes, I was nervous about taking a tumble.  Needless to say, I didn’t have any inclination to admire the scenery through the glacial drizzle.  I concentrated hard so I made it through without any mishaps, although I experienced the terror of a rear wheel slide at one point! 

My colleagues took this in disbelief that I'd cycled through the icy drizzle with a broken toe

Independent Icy Pavement Protection

It’s been a cracking start to 2010. A slip on ice when walking our dog and joy, an evening spent in Casualty, a wrist in plaster and an enforced exile from winter hill walking. But, every cloud has a silver lining and no immediate change predicted for the weather means there will still be opportunities to get in the hills once the wrist heals.

I seem to remember that in the past, pavements used to be gritted. It seems progress has relieved local councils of this responsibility. Note to self – buy some cleats and declare UDI on those icy pavements