It was never going to be an easy day.

After the car being serviced last week, a fuel line or something had to be ordered to be replaced. No problems. I can stick the bike in the car and cycle home as usual, right? But with the part available and the car booked in this morning ("should take about an hour and a half"), I had an appointment in the city at 10:30, and also had to be at the pathologists when they opened.

I went to pathology rooms when they opened, but so did a lot of other people. It took all of 65 seconds, but I had to wait nearly an hour. After all that, it is possible that the sample is contaminated and not preserved and will have to be repeated. Which would mean another fallow day like yesterday.

So to drop off the car. "Be ready to pick up at 4:30 this arvo". "4:30" I sputtered, "but . . . ". As I walked away I formed Plan B in my mind. Caught a bus into the city, hung around and had a coffee trying to warm up, and got into my appointment just as the sleet was starting to swirl. The temperature peaked at 10:30am at 6.7 degrees, and then deteriorated.

The sky was reasonably blue, but snow clouds hung around the mountains. It was impossible for me to get to the BBQ Stakes today, not enough time to cycle (thank heavens for that), and no running gear with me. I went to Electric Shadows to check out their sessions of Hell on Wheels which starts tomorrow, and snuck in to the start of Downfall, an excellent film about the last days of Hitler in his bunker. Highly recommended.

To cut a cold story short, filled prescriptions (how come "it'll be 15 minutes" can always be nearly an hour?), bought a (***Food Warning****) sushi roll when I had no hope of getting close to FortiJuice for hours, and eventually got the car and home. By some miracle, the lump of wood I put on the fire when I left still had life in its coals and I could get it pumped up easily. It's still cold inside the house though!

Plan B had been to run or at the very least mountain bike from home over the Sri Chimnoy off-road course this afternoon. Unfortunately, it is already dark, and I still have to hang out the washing from this morning and make the beds from last nights sweat-a-roo. I will get up on the wind-trainer after I've done that and filled up the now empty wood-box.
Note to self: wear gloves, I still have a killer splinter in my thumb from a log this morning.

I'm not a fatalist, that would imply that there is a reason for things and therefore some higher power than our own consciousness. But I do believe in making the most of things and looking on the bright side. It was a great movie, not necessarily an easy one to watch, but one I would have been very disappointed to have missed. Going to the cinema usually seems so self indulgent of time when there is sleep and training and so on to do, and it is highly unlikely that I would have seen it otherwise.