Opportunities

I tweeted this earlier but I've not had any time to take photos since breakfast. Left the hotel and headed to the regional office in Bristol and what I thought would be a five minute visit ran for 90 minutes. Then back on the road and I got home at 17:45.

I've managed to get some work done while driving though - a few phone calls (hands free of course) and I checked my emails in the dreadful tailbacks on the M25. Long periods of not moving at all.

I also managed to wrestle with some of the thornier philosophical problems. Are there fewer Indian restaurants in Scotland because they cannot displace the indigenous cuisine? If I was moving a bed by public transport would I need a ticket for the headboard? How large is the group of people who have lived a life so unexplored that they've never eaten cheesy chips? I was stumped by how the woman who was using both hands to text, while sitting in the middle lane of the M5, avoided hitting anything - she was looking intently at the phone too rather than checking her environment. Darwin's theories suggest that she's an evolutionary dead-end.

I also worked on my retirement master-plan. Friends will know that my retirement plan is based around moving to the West Country; an area that I've always wanted to live. During the day I will earn money by selling deckchairs on the beach. During the evening I will be the resident grumpy old man in a local pub - all pubs have them and vacancies are hard to come by but the work is easy and the perks include the odd free pint and a seat by the fire. I simply know that I'm made for this post - I've been in training my whole life. And then I saw this bike this morning and a third income stream started to develop. A few weeks ago I had a chat with a guy who plans to start a business growing herbs and selling them to local shops and catering businesses. Herbs cannot be much harder to grow than bindweed and I have a garden full of that so I could set up a little herb garden and get a bike like this for deliveries. Tend the herbs before going down to the beach and take on a young, fit cyclist to deal with deliveries. If I aimed for south Devon it would work well as the A38 runs from Exeter to Plymouth and cycling is allowed. Obviously there may be spray in bad weather so I'll get a cover for the basket. I need a bit of land and a poly tunnel, a tatty old caravan to live in, a lean-to for the bike and it'll need to be near a pub with a roaring fire, decent beer and a vacancy for a grumpy old bloke (plenty of references available).

Le Weekend c'est arivee mes amigos. Some of us will be busily working but those who have some liberty should drive it like you stole it.