Turns me into a gutless wonder

It was great to hear Nicky Wire of the Manic Street Preachers say that he was still full of rage and anger this week. Sometimes there is a tacit acceptance that people mellow and calm down as they get older. I would prefer to believe that some people just get better and concealing their feelings and passions about the world, to fit in, to be socially acceptable.

I was watching a Robert Peston drama, sorry documentary, this week, about retailing of all things. Not really my thing, shopping, but it was an interesting interlude between a shared watching of Waterloo Road and Dad's Army. The programme focused on Philip Green before straying into the story of the rise of Primark. When they showed a woman saying she didn't really connect the collapse of Bangladeshi sweat shops with her pleasure at wearing clothes twice before she felt able to throw them away ("because they are cheaper than a bag of chips"), it was almost like watching someone else as I let out a stream of invective and profanity.

I think the work vacuous came into it, to give it some kind of moral intellectualism. I felt good though, that I could still feel the outrage, even if I can't actually do anything to stem the tide of rampant consumerism and pointless celebrity culture. Now where is my HTC kit, oh, it's hanging on the hypocrisy hanger.

I was due to ride Ken's Autumn colours Audax today, a 100km undulating ride on Exmoor. But family circumstances dictated I needed to be around the house in the afternoon, so I had to bail. I'm sorry if I let anyone down, hope you all had a great time. Instead I decided to cycle up a few hills in the near vicinity, and do my 100km more locally. I even got to see some real mountain goats in Burrington Combe, looking down on the pot-holers and cyclists below.

The final route had a very pleasing rule of three to it. It also fulfilled the no-doubling back rule, and at over 5500 feet of ascent (Garmin & Strava seem to dispute the actual climbing figure so naturally I'm claiming the bigger number!) it was not short of effort either. Still haven't got to grips with Strava, can't summon the competitive spirit for this one either.

It was nice to have time in my own head as well for a few hours. I am an introvert by preference, and as it says we like being on our own with our ideas and thoughts. In so far as 100km is ever relaxing, it was a very refreshing change to have a conversation with myself instead of you lot. Nice though you all are sometimes I just have to be on my own.

Of course it was very wet, pretty cold, and at times windy, but I mixed up my direction, route, hedges and exposed bits, and there wasn't an awful lot of flat in this ride, so I kept pretty warm for most of it. Winter is coming though, that's for sure.

So the cycling calmed me down a bit. But it's still there you know.

It's time we all did something, isn't it?