The First Signs Of Spring

Blog Date - 22 February 2012

It's not been a bad winter this year.  We've had a bit of frost, a few days where the snow made it impossible to ride and plenty of cold, wet and windy days, but nothing like as bad as the 2 previous winters.  Don't get me wrong, I don't think we're quite out of the woods as it's only the end of February, March may hold some surprises, I sure hope not though.

This morning though I rode from my home town of Horwich to Runcorn, starting at 0610.  This was the first morning in quite some time where I didn't feel the cold, where my fingers remained snug inside my gloves and where the road was neither wet or frozen.  It was a pleasure.  It was so refreshing to be able to enjoy the ride rather than worry about ice, damp, water and painful fingers.  The ride, the morning, the air and the mood felt like hope, felt like an awakening, it felt like spring.

The days growing longer makes life more tolerable too.  It was dark all the way to Runcorn this morning but as I passed the last few miles the skies were starting to lighten, by the time I was locking the bike up it was all but daytime.  I know when I leave at 1600 there'll be enough daylight to see me home just before dark.  I can't wait, I can't wait until the sun comes up before I awake and remains high and warm in the sky until I go to bed.

As if.  It's a dream.  It's a dream that comes true maybe a few days each summer.  It's rare to find a day where the sun shines warm all day, where I'm not trapped in a windowless office and the rain keeps away.  And on those rare days when the stars align to provide such a day, I shall sit in the sun and like a true Brit I shall utter the immortal words "It's too hot!".  I can hear myself complaining of the heat, complaining that at least in winter I can put an extra layer on, moaning that all these bikers only ever come out when the weather's good and how I wish I could sleep in my sweaty sticky bed.

I'll forget for a few months about not sleeping in my cold and shivering bed, about wearing 3 jumpers and 2 t-shirts and long-johns and 2 pairs of socks, about fingers so cold that I can't move them and of shaking ice off the front of my jacket.  Then a few months later I shall forget about sweaty beds, clammy bike jackets, being naked not being cool enough and sunburnt faces.  I suppose this is the circle of life.  I love the changing seasons we have in this country yet somehow I shall always yearn for the next one.

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