Playing The 'Poor Old Me' Card

Legs not too bad. So I cycle in to work. The only difficult bit is hobbling over the A52 bridge, that bit always kills me. No hassle from the white vans and the school runners today. Also no rain. My time is appalling but I’ll get over it. L reckons slow is good occasionally. I'm not sure where she got a silly idea like that from.

A rant about Amazon. I've received two deliveries from elsewhere since I placed an order with them. Some cycling socks came next day from the excellent Wiggle with no delivery charge. Also a CD I ordered from Play.com came in two days, again no charge. But still no CDs from Amazon that I ordered a week ago. I realise my mistake, I selected 'Dispatch in minimum number of parcels'. If this means one parcel then why don't they say so. I would have thought their system would have had the sense to split the delivery up as the order can be split into two batches and still qualify for free delivery but no. Estimated dispatch date is 24th July, nearly three weeks away. When I ordered the stuff, a week ago, it said everything would be in stock within 7-10 days, which it's still saying now. So why 24th. They should be almost in by now. So I’ve split the order into two myself. Now everything on one order is in stock, yet it says a dispatch date that is still three days away. Why is that, when the stuffs in stock? Wiggle would have it out the door by lunchtime.

Other CD delivery companies such as Play.com and CD-Wow don't have delivery charges at all and dispatch all CD's separately so that they fit through your letterbox. I have learnt my lesson well, as the Kaiser Chiefs would say.

When I come to bike home the weather is still fine but that doesn't last long, in fact only as far as Chaddesden. I end up sheltering in a bus shelter. A hoodie with a pierced eyebrow on a mountain bike joins me. Contrary to stereotype he doesn't mug me and we get chatting. Don't know if he sees me as a fellow cyclist or not because I don't really count him as one but I shouldn't be discriminating. Anyhow he's a nice chap and he wishes me a pleasant evening as he gives up on waiting for the weather to improve and disappears into the deluge.

Eventually the rain slows and I carry on but within minutes the rain is back. I stop at another bus shelter and put my waterproof on. It doesn't help a lot and I'm soon soaked. I think of crying off my planned swim but tell myself to not be such a wimp. I arrive at John Carroll, park my bike, and squelch into the centre.

The swim goes well, although as usual after a bike ride it takes me a while to get my legs working. Just one chap in my lane and we are happy poddling up and down until a girl gets in and starts swimming very impressive underwater breaststroke. I don't have the legs to try and be menacing today, so I'm the one who gets intimidated out of the pool.

In the changing rooms an overweight guy is on his mobile arranging his lift home. 'Just got out the pool' he tells them. A few minutes later when he's dressed he rings again. 'Be five minutes, just putting my shoes on'. Then as he leaves he's at it again. 'Just coming out the changing rooms'. How did we cope before mobile phones?

I get home and cook chilli with added salami. It was going cheap in the shop because it's passed its sell-by date so obviously it's ideal for a spicy dish.

Well L gets back we hit the alcohol. Bottle of Bateman's Dark Lord, 5%, and then two glasses of white, yes white, wine.

L's been extolling the virtues of dark chocolate to me today. Which reminds us that we forgot to have any when we went to bed last night. L says it was my fault for playing the 'poor old me' card so that I could get her to bed early. I was only thinking of my health. An aerobic workout is another thing that's supposed to be good for your heart. Seems that three of the best things for you are dark chocolate, red wine and 'aerobics'. My favourite night in and the bonus is that they can all be indulged in without leaving the bedroom. If only they could add slag curry to the list, life would be perfect.

Incidentally the 'poor old me' card worked again.