A Little Secret Sees the Light!

Back in 1993 Valerie and I went to England for a vacation, and we took our tandem bike with us. We planned to tour the country during our stay, but wound up taking a side trip to Blackpool without the bike (there were a few roller coasters that needed to be ridden there).

During this trip we enjoyed the hospitality of many people who members of the [British] Tandem Club. We were perhaps a little rough around the edges for some of these folks, as we still smoked at the time (which doesn't really seem compatible with the "healthy" cycling lifestyle). There was one couple who befriended us that we've kept in touch with ever since... it pains me that the commute is so big as they're the kind of people you'd love to have over for dinner at least monthly.

After my last post ("It was Twenty Years Ago Today"), Graham sent the following e-mail... which is so priceless that I've got to share it!

We always love your blog! I've never really been a beer drinker and when you were about to visit us for the first time in England those many years ago (in fact half an hour before you and Valerie arrived) I rushed to the store and bought a box of 24 Budweiser - the only "American" beer I could name. And I hate the stuff! Imagine my shock/horror/gloom when I offered you a beer and you said "no thanks, we're reformed alcoholics"! I think that we still have some of the cans!

I don't think I ever told you this before, did I?

No... you didn't! But thank you for sharing it now -- it just shows an even deeper side to your kindness and hospitality!

As I seem to recall, this is the same guy who borrowed a friend's lorry and then went looking for us along a cycle path that ran between Bath and Bristol just in case we were tired and couldn't quite make it all the way to his home. He arrived just as we pedalled by, and tried to run after us calling, "Rich! Rich!" The wind was in our ears, and we thought we heard some lunatic yelling, "Bridge! Bridge!" I brought the bike to a stop just in case this person knew something about the trail ahead that I needed to find out about... like a bridge that out. Instead it was just Graham, making sure that we were okay and giving us his first welcome to the area!

Between Graham and his amazing wife "Ros", there couldn't be two nicer people on the planet. If more people were like them, this world would be far better off. My thanks to both of you for some marvelous memories!

It Was Twenty Years Ago Today...

Perhaps one of the most famous opening lines for a song, it was also twenty years ago today that I spent my first day doing something other than consuming alcohol... and the clock is still ticking! (Do you hear any honking in the background? It's probably just me tooting my own horn!)

The last twenty years have probably been my best, and the years before this period are those I wish I could go back and revisit. What a waste of time, potential and a burden on other people -- whether or not they even realized it.

Thank-you's are due to Jodi, who got my butt kick-started on the road to sobriety, Susan who has always been a good friend and mentor in sobriety, and Valerie who has made life with another person good enough that I have no desire to run off and hide in a bar or a bottle.

Today is going to be a gorgeous day... so I'm turning off the computer and going... outside!

Back From the Dead...

Last Sunday I suffered from premature brain-death and totally forgot to add a post to this blog. I'll cling to the excuse that I was feeling absolutely rotten, with either a chest and nasal cold going on... or the heavy onset of seasonal allergies. I don't know which it was, but I do know I didn't enjoy it at all! It wasn't until yesterday afternoon that I even thought about this blog and then started wondering if I had skipped right over the weekly post. And the answer is an embarrassing "yes".

The picture included today is from the trip to Idaho Falls for the convention mentioned is the previous post. I was driving with another letter carrier (and coincidentally the guy I work right next to in the mornings when we put our routes together). He was armed with field binoculars and was on the hunt for anything that moved, and we had several deer and elk sitings... and then up ahead crossing the road was a wolf. We had to stop and watch him, while trying to get the cameras out before he trotted up the side of the hill and out of range. (The picture isn't great, but it's all I could get.)

We also managed to see antelope on our return trip home, but the mountain sheep he was hoping to spot eluded us during our trip through their little niche in the wilderness.

I've been working with a friend (the carrier who works on the other side of me) mowing lawns after work for the past couple of weeks. Perhaps this is how the allergy and/or cold cycle got its start. He's been needing help, and I've been assisting... last year I filled in for a couple days a week and I was slated to do the same this year. But until the end of the month it looks like I'll be doing a Monday through Friday thing after delivering the mail, which means leaving the house at about 5:45 in the morning and generally not getting back home until 9:00 PM at the earliest, which makes for a long day.

We used to ride bikes together, but then he started doing his lawn service and things got a little out of hand for him, so bike riding became a thing of the past. I started mowing with him mainly as a way to spend a little time together being that he wasn't going to go biking... the sad part is that I've never liked yardwork of any kind and have always insisted that God's greatest gift to mankind was asphault! He loves yardwork, and keeps talking about when we're both retired from the USPS that we can make this a full time business! Please... somebody... shoot me NOW!