2020...Retrospect....

So just how do you put into words this year?...

Covid 19...Pandemic...Social Isolation...Loo roll shortage... HTF did that happen?...

My year was a bit different to most folks... it started with becoming single again!... aye I know what is going on eh?

Never easy life at times... and I was a bit lost through January and did not know which way to turn at the crossroads.. no turn made any sense...I wanted to be far away...sell the house?...sell everything except one bike and personal belongs I can carry?...hit the road on a bike? ... I was again between a rock and an err rock for a few weeks in those dark months...but I knew things would work out... they always do..

What did made me feel good was after work I got on my bikes and cycled... and kept cycling every hour of available daylight  and often into the darkness with the lights on... turning the pedals... going nowhere in particular but just felt good to keep turning pedals...

And as the January daylight hours slowly drew longer...it seemed to work...as hitting the reset button always seems to be the best resort... as January came to an end I picked myself up and decided to get on with life... I have been here in this this position several times and things always come good again...

As the days grew longer and Spring and better weather came around...all the time keeping pedals turning...there is always light at the end of the tunnel...

Meanwhile the News daily reported the Covid Pandemic as it engulfed the UK...and we would soon enter lockdown and I would go on Furlough, off work and on 80% wages... sounded ok to me as I always have plenty to do keeping busy cycling and blogging...

Prior to this I happened upon a message on Facebook Messager from a woman asking about having a go on a Fatbike and WW2 stuff here in East Lothian having read my blog... 

Turned out after we arranged a meet up for a cycle is that G and I had a lot in common...

She really is my Doppleganger! with all the same interests!... I was not ready or looking to meet anyone and nether was she.. but there was something that drew us to spend time together... Chemistry was there and resistance is futile as Vader said... and we continued to meet up and cycle...

Then with lockdown looming we decided to go for it and share the Self Isolation as per UK Guidance recommendations and self isolating together and only venturing anywhere near other folk with a weekly local shop at the Supermarket as we switched between houses...

The rest is all here on the blog in the last 11 months... And how we spent 3 months together in a lockdown bubble... as late Spring temperatures soared and April became a heatwave we relished in it with day upon day of endless blue skies and we cycled deserted beaches - with the car parks closed to visitors...Many days we cycled at John Muir Country Park and Tyninghame coast and met hardly anyone... It was surreal like some Zombie Apocalypse Setting where no one was going about... The only Biting that happened was on BBQ food though cooked out in our gardens...

Each day grew hotter and hotter as we cycled the deserted coast that was also devoid of litter and more noticeable being cyclist was no dog poo!, sadly both things have returned to coastal car parks again and we both wish the coast could have stayed like it was in early summer forever...

But we were real happy in our bubble... we still are months on even though were not out this yet...

We would this year cycle several thousand miles together in the 4 months of lockdown and since on the coast and woodland trails and spent a lot of time cycling in the  Lammermuirs hill tracks...Glenda knows the hills well - that's her back yard growing up a Hill farmers daughter...and we visited many on the remains of WW2 Aircraft Crash sites and miles of gravel roads connecting the huge Windfarm...

Many days we hardly seen another living sole and what an easy day it is to enjoy having so much outdoor space to ourselves...

Those  days in late Spring were baking hot... and those long gravel roads were fantastic to descend into oven like temperatures down into the sheltered Valleys in the unusually unseasonal heat wave...

It was all like a dream... every day was like most Saturdays!...And I knew then I had found what I have always been looking for in a partner... 

And I also loved not working! and just going cycling every day...I knew things could now change for me and sometimes you have to take a big breath and go for it and act of your gut instincts....

And in August I sold my house and moved in with G...

No more Mortgage and bills to pay just by myself... I have never had this opportunity to properly live and share a house with someone before and though most readers on here already do so and probably never give it a second thought or are rich professional singles!...It is a massive weight off your shoulders...and with the support of G... I am now pursuing what I have always wanted to do and earn a little bit cash cycling my bikes daily on the coast starting in the Spring next year and doing a few other part time jobs to make ends meet...

Life is for living not working at the coal face...

If you want a happy Covid story then we are it!, fate spun a lucky dice for our paths to cross at such a time when the world as we all know it are going to change in some ways forever now...

And with a cleared mortgage and cash in the bank that other dream of owning a WW2 Willys Jeep is going to happen... A dream I have dreamed most of my life...

I have bought one and it arrived yesterday!...

But that can wait to be on here until next year!...

See you in 2021... 

Seasons Greetings... enjoy seeing your family for Xmas before the next 3rd wave inevitably hits in the New Year... wash your hands... stay safe...

More soon..