It appears I shouldn’t swear online at poor driving, no matter how much it might threaten my life. On my way back from my weekly massage yesterday morning, my left boot accidentally clipped into the pedal, and I couldn’t get it out. I cycled slowly along Comely Bank Avenue and Queensferry avenue, looking for somewhere I could stop and lean against a signpost, fence or wall to extract the boot. No joy, and I eventually came to the traffic lights before Randolph Crescent. They were red.

So I had a choice between trying to lean against a car waiting at the lights, breaking the lights or falling onto the pavement. I chose the latter as the least likely to lead to a strawberry jam episode*. A few people stopped to check whether I was OK, and helped me free my left boot and stand up. I soon felt fine, so I walked home, picked up my kit and cycled on to Napier.

However, I noticed some pain in my ankle after lunch. It got worse over the afternoon, so that I was hobbling very slowly and hardly able to concentrate by 4pm. One of my colleagues saw me limping along the corridor, and offered me a lift home at the end of the day. This involved him going out of his way to deliver me safely to Servants’ Quarters – yet another example of how kind my Napier colleagues are!