"Highlights" from the past 1.5 days..
Yesterday was a lovely mild, somewhat clear morning. Tired already I took it steady and the waft towards the city felt more akin to relaxing in an armchair than dragging myself to work. Passed fellow CC'er
@Rocky again; despite his apparent efforts to escape my attention by wearing a different colour coat
Unfortunately the sheer pleasure of just being out turned to anger and anxiety upon finding a slow puncture on the rear at Folly Bridge. I elected not to fix it immediately and instead limped to work stopping several times to stuff more air up it / occasionally push.
Further investigation revealed the cause was yet again a thorn courtesy of the dickhead hedge-butchers of Yarnton - the second puncture they've caused in as many commutes... lazy wastes of skin that they evidently are
Thankfully the journey home was more pleasant; leaving work knackered but quickly buoyed by the lovely spring-like evening ultimately causing me to push the distance out to about 16 miles with a lovely jungle soundtrack
This morning was better than yesteday - walking the bike past the shredded vestages of hedge littering the tow path to avoid any more punctures, and progressing steadily from there due to being even more knackered than the day before.
This was a journey of "interactions" with large vehicles - notably the bus that started pulling out accross me from the bus station on George St as they sometimes do - the look of absolute disgust the driver got was enough to make him stop to let me past; I waved, he smiled, all was good..
Second was a bus driver on the High St. who evidently was unaware of the purpose of the shiney rectangular things hanging off the sides of his vehicle - slowly pulling out from a stop across me as I approached at speed, right over to the centre of the road. I was level with the cab with the distance down to maybe 2-3ft before he clocked me out of the side window and pulled back in sharpish..
Finally was a delivery wagon on the Cowley Rd. I joined other cyclists in cutting through the static traffic, switching from one side of the road to the next to get around the randomly-distributed cars. Getting to the front of the queue I started to pass a wagon on the inside, only to find it starting to slowly turn left across me. Credit to the driver for checking his inside mirror and stopping to let me pass.... although of course I'd not have been passing in the first place had he used those blinky orange things on the side of his vehicle to signal his intent to those around him..
Anyway, no harm done and for the first time this year (and dickheads notwithstanding) the commutes so far this week have felt really enjoyable in the conspicuously milder temperatures
Wasn't so bad then. 
