Today I went for a ride on my new bike which was awesome. I can't tell you about the ride experience, but I can tell you about a conversation I overheard. I stopped at the Farmers Home in Durley, a village about 5 miles from my house and in deepest darkest Hampshire. Well, a guy came out of the pub while I was stood outside waiting for a lady to bring me a drink (couldn't leave my expensive bike so asked her to get my a diet coke and bring it to me) which she did very graciously. Unlike her male accomplice, who suggested I get a car and then I could lock it in the car park. Ba. Anyhow, the chap on the mobile was a tall and strong looking man of somewhere between 30 and 40 and he filled his jeans, if you know what I mean. I mean, not like that, and he wasn't overweight at all, muscly and big and I would have put him as a builder who did bodybuilding for a hobby. Now reading that back it is sounding more and more dodgy as I describe the poor guy in muscular terms. Anyhow, this was his side of the conversation:

yeah, did quite well today. 5 heifers and 5 steers, sold the heifers for 500 and the steers for 6. I was expecting to get 50 quid more for them but surprised by 100.

Now, either this guy was on ebay selling bits of a model farm, or he was a REAL FARMER drinking beer at the Farmers Home. I mean, I have never heard a mobile conversation about heifers and steers. Does predictive text cope with heifer? I was very excited to hear this snippet of a life so near mine and yet so far away, the last person in my family to sell a cow was my grandad who died before I was born. I don't know if he sold cows, actually, but he did look after them and milk them so I guess he took them to market sometimes.

The sun was out and the new bike is a dream and I just waltzed around some of the most beautiful countryside we have so nearby to our house. I am very lucky to live in such a pretty part of the world. And we have trees outside our house now. Yesterday I did a great little run at lunchtime in Royal Victoria Park, a route I have done many times but I did it backwards for a change (not running backwards, just running the opposite way round to usual).

Another exciting thing that happened yesterday was the window cleaner turning up at the same time as the labour canvassers for our vote. I told them I thought our current MP, John Denham, was excellent at his job, he really gets involved in local things and I like him very much and will vote for him again. But even more exciting today, was that JOHN PRESCOTT came past MY HOUSE in a minibus talking on a loudspeaker and saying 'Vote Labour'. How exciting! I was just getting out of the car and heading indoors so didn't stop him to chat.

As well as me being an international triathlete, cycling star, tennis hero and sailing champion, R is not far behind in his own sporting ambitions, in fact, he is way ahead and better than me at all those things. But this week's scoop news is his tenning rating. He had a tennis lesson to get a rating, which start at beginner and go through about 6 levels to get to 'County star - see you at Wimbledon.' He thought he would be middle of the road, but came out as a blue, that is a level below an international tennis pro! Almost! It is really good anyway and a rating I could only dream of one day having. Thus inspired, R had entered a couple of tournaments at the club and finds that one is counted as a veteran when one gets to over 35. So what with the sailing season starting tomorrow (I am on duty as 'general help' 3) and all the training I need to get in, I think R will have to play tennis on the boat to get any practice in. R is so modest about his sport, but really, he is one of those people who has fantastic coordination with bats and balls and so on and just can do brilliantly at sport. I am in awe of him. He can also make a bike out of nothing and knows how to get a mast up on a boat and today he made a wooden car with A. He is nearing Laura's pa in terms of skillset.

I spent the day at work yesterday, yes, sorry to burst your bubble or favourite joke about teachers and holidays, but both R and I went in yesterday - yes , in our holidays! And I spent the day laminating and trying to cheer the classroom up a bit with some new displays and so on. Laminating and using a paper cutter are important skills for a teacher to have. I came home with more work to do than all the work I had brought home in the first place to do at the start of the holidays. And now it's the end of the holidays. Nearly.