I’ve not had the appropriate combination of energy, time and inclination to blog recently. Many things have made me want to say something but I’ve not been able to distill it into coherency until now.

In common with just about everyone in the UK, I’m dissatisfied with the election results. I’ve shoved my soap-box into a corner so that I avoid ranting about PR, regionalism, federalism, etc. It won’t help choose who governs just now anyway. However, those of a religious persuasion might be pleased that while the parties try to coalesce, GOD is in charge.

The last week of campaigning mostly passed me by anyway.

• I visited Worcester last weekend to do more about my sister’s finances, dealings with HMRC, IT, etc. I put versions of VNC running on both her laptop and my dad’s PC so that, provided they open a relevant tunnel on their router, I can sort stuff.
• I got back to Edinburgh late on Monday, only to have to get up far too early for the first stage of being assimilated by the Bishopborg. I didn’t leave early enough to cycle any further than from the station to our offices-to-be but I was able to cycle from there to Croy before returning to Edinburgh. The route passes through Kirkintilloch before diverting into countryside and passing a bit of the Antonine Wall. I feel more exploring coming on.
• When I got back to Leckie Towers, I found a mountain of work waiting for me, so that I escaped well after 8 pm.
• If I recall correctly, Wednesday was another late day, leading to me being utterly brain-dead all through Thursday and Friday.

However, I appear to have regained some energy today. My hostess cycled to her piano lesson in Colinton this morning. My plan was to catch her up somewhere on the canal towpath, so that we could then cycle on as far as we liked. As I left Servants Quarters, my hostess told me she was on the path and would keep going. By the time I’d reached the start of the canal, she’d reached the bypass. She then told me that she’d stopped at the Bridge Inn in Ratho. I managed to completely miss Ratho, not beginning to realise this until I was through Broxburn – about 5 miles past Ratho. After sending telephonic apologies, I started back for Ratho and met my hostess just east of the Almond Viaduct. We then cycled in a more leisurely style to Linlithgow. It was quite pleasing to find that our leisurely cycling pace was about 8mph. I think both of us could have managed to cycle on to Falkirk: a further 12 miles by the towpath. Next time!