Janathon Day 4: Cycle 16 miles, Time 1hr 13 min, Weather grey and cold (monkey, off, balls, freeze, brass, in any order)
This morning was a total waste. If I was to mark my productivity on a scale of 1 to 10 it would have achieved a -5. Perhaps a lunchtime ride would perk things up, get the blood flowing and instil a feeling of zest, I thought. Perhaps...
Sad to relate, contrary to the prospectus of all exercise blogs (including my own), the ride did nothing to aid my concentration. I was just as useless in the afternoon; but it did increase my contentment as I came back glad to have gone out and satisfied that I had not let the day totally slip by. The sad fact is that exercise cannot really compensate for lack of sleep.
Over Christmas my sleeping pattern tends to go haywire and it takes time to settle back into a routine. This does not mix well with Janathon because it is a well known fact that if you up your activity you need to make sure you have enough sleep to repair all the frayed threads. So I need a new New Year's resolution - make sure I have a full nights sleep. Obviously it is not a proper New Year's resolution as I have already missed 3 nights but at least I can try to start from today.
The picture from today's ride again results from a winter landscape with few leaves. For the first time I noticed this wreck of a house through the bare trees and stripped-back vegetation, even though I have cycled the road many times before. It looks as if it was a grand property, a home of some affluence, but now it is empty, destroyed. It could almost be the beginning of a romantic novel: "Last night I dreamed I went to Mandalay again".
Except it is probably not at all romantic. The house is quite close to the Buncefield depot and was probably destroyed by the blast. It is a shock to realise that it is 5 years since the explosion and a number of people have still not been properly compensated and there are a number of empty buildings looking like skeletons. The fine Total had to pay for causing £1 billion of damage was £3.6 million, which for a major oil company is not very harsh.
Perhaps this property was caught in a limbo of compensation. I do not know. All I do know is that as a passer by I find the site of wrecks, the visible evidence of lives interrupted, quite haunting.
2 comments:
My sleeping patterns have also gone haywire. They always do over Christmas. I could understand it when I was in London working full-time most of the year and then partying full-time over Christmas, but now every day should be the same sleepwise.
If only time and money allowed such properties to be sought and renovated. The joy of creating a good old-fashioned, quality cut and pitch roof and restoring the former glory of the garden would be worth the entrance fee alone. The oil depot fire did look good from the tower crane I had on site in Maddox Street, London at the time though. Maybe the fine was lenient owing to the offset pleasure I felt!
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