h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Yeah, definitely with you on the cycle gloves thing.

Why can't you ride a bike with a bog-standard pair of Thinsulates? It's not like you're playing the piano or anything.

Extremities get really bloody cold when cycling in cold weather- there's an in-built wind chill.

Having said that, I have no problems with changing gear with any of my winter gloves.

For example, I once went from here (Cardiff) to Swansea and back on a day in March 2013 when the original ride I'd planned from Oxford got snowed off. Back in Wales it was just freezing.

1 mile from my house I went to a Tesco on the way back and decided I couldn't be arse to put my gloves back on as they were wet and fiddly when I got out.

This was a MISTAKE.

One mile later at my house I had to take ACTION to prevent what felt like frost bite. I certainly had chill blains.

Most of the time though, thinsulates would work provided you don't fall off or want to go any real distance.

If you fall off, the first thing you do is put your hand out. Stripping of hand skin is probably the most common cycling injury, closely followed by knee scrapes.
Secondly- if you cycle long distances you lean on your hands, your bars are hard - you get cyclists palsy - numbness of the fingers and palms (like Carpal Tunnel Syndrome). So cycling gloves are padded to reduce the risk.

That's one thing I love about my recumbents is that there's no stress on my hands and wrists. They're destroyed enough already.

That was one of the main reasons I got my first recumbent was all the pain in my wrists and hands. Also neck and seat. I was amazed how I felt on my first ride on it, 20 miles and no pain at all. On my previous bike, 5 miles was about my max. Of course that bike was more uncomfortable than most. It was a Fuji folding mountain bike I got from saving Marlboro miles. (I don't miss the smokers cough either.) The dimensions of that bike really didn't fit my short legged, long torsoed body.

I have a lovely thick pair of Thinsulate gloves that do indeed keep my hands nice and toasty. Sadly, when I try to cycle in them they are a bit too thick for the gap between the handlebar grip and the brake lever. To operate the brake, instead of lifting my fingers up and over to the brake lever I have to slide my gloves out from the gap sideways. This isn't a natural action and if I needed to brake suddenly it might take too long.

I'll probably have to get thinner gloves, but in the past have been put off by the small number of cold days.

This week's PH is the national chain we bought a washing machine from over a week ago who said we could have it installed next day, but we're still waiting as despite what they said, they don't actually have it in stock. I'll name no names, let's say a fictional chain called Indian Meal Police Constable Land.

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I remember I once wrote a journal about the ame fictional chain store. They were Tandoori's, in competition with Halley's next door.

Today's PH: People who disparagingly describe porters as "thin". They're supposed to be thin, otherwise they'd be stouts.

It's like moaning that water's "wet" or that ice is "cold".

I ordered a freezer from that same store and paid £20 for the privilege of having it delivered in a 4 hours timeslot - 9am - 1pm.

At 1.15 I called their helpline and was on hold for 25 minutes before getting someone who checked their tracking website and told me it was on the way. The same tracking website I'd checked 25 minutes earlier, right before dialling. I pointed this out and was told to hold on, then got put on hold for another 20 minutes - he'd basically decided he couldn't be bothered and stuck me back in their hold system for someone else to deal with

During my second bout on hold it dawned on me that I'd never actually measured the size of the freezer I'd ordered. It looked the same as the one I was getting rid of. So whilst holding I got the tape measure out - too big for the space I could have put it elsewhere and would have used the freezer capacity, had it actually been delivered in time instead of being, at the last count, an hour late. But when I was finally answered for the second time I was told me exactly the same, it was on it's way. I was so angry I told her I could no longer wait as it was already late and I had to go out, so please cancel the order. I have never felt so good

Of course, now I have to re-source a freezer - no easy task as I need one suitable for an outhouse which limits me to a Beko. Hey ho.

Deb

Ah yes that happened to me last year.

'Guaranteed' next day delivery - which is actually what you actually blooming need when you have a "FREEZER' on the blink.
Did it arrive the next day? Did it heck. Though of course the delivery people made sure my wife was imprisoned in the house for the whole weekend waiting for the never-arriving delivery.
Where was I? Well I was cycling all weekend (pre-booked long before, freezer went on the blink on the Friday evening) and not really oblivious, I had to do all the firefighting with the delivery people whilst on trains with no/intermittent phone signal or in fields in rural somerset and Devon sitting on a bail of hay.

We had food going off so you can't really refuse it (though we were sorely tempted). I shall never be using that company again for white goods though.

Well done for cancelling, good for you.

After a bit of googling for appliance shops in the UK, I finally deciphered "Indian Meal Police Constable Land."



They don't have those in Texas as you might imagine.

I'm still puzzling that one....

Ah, it is the same as Tandoori isn't it?

My last two electrical appliances came from an online company. I think they were originally called Appliances Online before they just used the initials. I paid extra for installation and removal of the old appliance, but next day delivery is free as long as you don't mind when the item arrives. They let you know the delivery slot by email and/or text, and the delivery man calls you when he's within 30 minutes of reaching you. On both occasions the item arrived at the specified time and was installed efficiently by a very polite man. The company is now the first place I look if I want a large electrical appliance of any kind.

Isn't AO owned by Amazon? I try to avoid companies that don't pay taxes…

A not unrelated PH – current lack of clothing.

Oh, and laundrette opening hours. We have a laundrette within a mile of our house, so it is nicely walkable. The washing machines take 55 minutes to complete a cycle, and the laundrette closes at 6pm each day. I finish work at 5pm and it usually takes an hour to get changed and cycle home. So there's no way to get clean clothes before Saturday, which is the day the washing machine is supposedly coming…

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6 pm closure
I recall the days before we had a washing machine & it was almost a social outing to go & do our laundry of an evening.

When I was in college, in a college town, there was a local business that recognized an unaddressed market. The business was called "Rub-a-Dub Pub". What a brilliant idea, combining a laundromat and a bar.

I never went there, I just took my laundry home each weekend, but I loved the idea.

*Resists making jokes about taking the wife to the pub, in case Sho's reading this*

Bluebottle, ao.com is not owned by Amazon. It never has been owned by them and has no connection with them, apart from two letters of the alphabet.