Unlocking my bike was accomplished once the key had been found and I detached it from another bike I'd fastened it to for safety.
The tyres were both flat and the back one was especially difficult but, eventually (after an hour and a half), I figured out what was necessary and blew it up, posed for the photo and set off for an inaugural (first for about 3 years, anyway) ride only to discover that the back tyre was flat again!
I put it back in the shed. Maybe later...
I've started making my through
IMDB's 20 top-rated films and have watched The Matrix and The Godfather and the Godfather Part II. Two per month from now on. However, I also found One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and watched that, too. It was a reminder why I've always liked that film.
One of the tasks I have been set is
to star in a play. Well, aside from a general aversion to am dram and the extreme unlikelihood of being discovered by a top Hollywood studio, I don't think I could hope, realistically, to star in anything before the year was out.
As a substitute for that, I have just qualified as a tram conductor at Crich Tramway Museum ( after 10 weeks of training) and was, tonight, recognised in the local chip shop by a lad whose ticket I punched yesterday. That'll do nicely.
A quick word about the training. It took me far longer to achieve a good level of competence than I had expected. Perhaps there is some truth in the saying about old dogs. Anyway, it has been worth putting up with people telling me, with varying levels of sensitivity, that I'm not doing something properly, to pass out through both the theory and two types of practical assessment. I feel I have achieved something.
I also had to
wear leather which was accomplished during a very nice few days away in Devon with Sue. Great to be beside the sea again and I wore the flipflops Sue had bought me. We had decent weather for two days. On the Saturday, we went to Putsborough beach and, after getting over the shock of paying £8 to park the car, had a lovely stroll along it, splashing through the tide.
Finally for July, I also managed to
play a round of golf although I'd have to confess that it was, in fact, 18 holes on a putting green. The most interesting part of it was that, at the 12th ( a notoriously tricky slight dog-leg for those of you who are familiar with the Lynmouth Course), Sue scored a hole-in-one! Sue is seen here waggling her putter vaguely and the ball is, in fact, already in the hole but you get the gist.
Always interesting to see how you can't keep your eyes off De Niro and he's always absolutely the character he's playing, in contrast with Eastwood, who is always Rowdy Yates. "Rollin' rollin' rollin'. Keep them dawgies rollin'..."
On 8th August, 100 days exactly after my birthday, i put the hundredth pound into my savings. It is interesting how easy it has been to save a £1 a day and now I feel quite rich, I'll keep it going and aim to have the £365 saved by next May and, then, do something unusual with it.
