Simple pleasures lost

I'm feeling a little mournful today - I'm flat on the sofa whilst Mrs Lucas is out doing some shopping - I felt too lousy to go with her. Shopping has never been my idea of a great time, but in a small community like ours, it usually involves meeting a few folk you know and haven't seen for a while. This gives you the chance to catch up the news, and to strengthen the sense of belonging that can be an early casualty of long term illness.

The thing I'm missing most is riding my bike. I bought myself an Edinburgh Bike Co-op Country tourer a few years ago, and used it To commute to work, along with rides around Fife. Over the years, I modified it a lot with uprated gearing - including altering the gear ratios to suit me better, uprated brakes, tyres, saddle, and a new adjustable handlebar stem to get a better riding position. It's now a lovely machine that fits me like a glove, but I can't ride it. I'm going to take off the clip-in pedals and replace them with plain platforms, and try it out, though (I daren't try riding clipped in just now - too scary!). My regular 20 mile commute from Kirkcaldy on it seems a long time ago now - I'd love to get back to cycling.