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Tiny Moments #18 - dust clouds

Green Lane is a single lane farm road lined down the middle in places with gravel and occasional sprouting greenery. Tractors are fairly regular sights. Cars and vans less so. Today I spy a massive articulated truck bearing down towards me. I figure it’s about to turn into the side track, towards the industrial farming compound, and so I refuse to slow and make the calculation that it’ll be turned before I reach the junction. I’m right, and as I pass I ride into the cloud of dust kicked up in its wake. In my head of course I’m in Paris-Roubaix, on the Carrefour de L’arbre, dropping Spartacus and on my way to a solo victory in the velodrome. The race was never won so slowly.

 

Tiny Moments #17 - zig zag

My laboured breathing disturbs two plump robins, one on either side of the track. Startled, they take flight and zip ahead of me for several metres, zig zagging from side to side like tiny dolphins in an ocean of air.

 

Tiny Moments #16 - nothing to see here

Head down, legs turning. Nothing to see here.

 

Tiny Moments #15 - a drop of custard

Cold again. Below zero. A crisp frost covers the land again and I worry about our Agave left undressed last night. On the flood plains of the Exe valley Copenhagen farmhouse sits gently illuminated by the morning sun peering over Bretheridge wood, like a drop of custard on a pristine white table cloth.

 

Tiny Moments #14 - a warmer corner

This morning in the cold was grim and slow again, but this afternoon, in a calmer, warmer corner of the day I feel better and even feel able to push a little. Rolling down through Rewe and past the national speed limit signs I glance at my Garmin. It ticks past 30.08 and I recall how, some seven or so years ago I would cycle home from work with a tailwind and be striving to hit 30 minutes at this point. In the summer. Suddenly I don’t feel quite so bad.

 

Tiny Moments #13 - why is it always an Audi?

Riding out of Bickleigh a black estate car come blasting past from behind, horn blaring. Why is it always an Audi? As it passes I can see the driver gesticulating wildly. Is he waving? Is this someone I should know or who thinks he knows me? Or is this just another Clarkson devotee expressing his distaste for anyone else on the precious road he thinks he alone owns? I only marginally hedge my bets, raising a hand in ambivalent greeting and shouting ‘fuck off!’ at the rapidly disappearing black smudge.

 

Take away an impression

There was a Matisse that I liked

Chloe's Lung - Foam On The Daydream (from 7" single. Bandcamp)
Jasper - Hooton Tennis Club (from 7" single. YouTube)
Slammer - Tuff Love (from 'Dross' 10" EP. Bandcamp)
We Fly By Night - Tufthunter (from 'Deep Hits' LP)
Your Brain Is Made Of Candy - Mourn (from 'Mourn' LP.  YouTube)
Pop Stardom - Rossy Layne (from 'Knitwear // Gluesniffer Rising' tape. Bandcamp)
Age Of Concern - Thigh Master (from 7" single. Bandcamp)
Pedestrian at Best - Courtney Barnett (from 'Sometimes I Sit and Think, and Sometimes I Just Sit' LP. YouTube)
Action Stations! - Flies on you (from 'Etcetera' LP. Bandcamp)
Dream On, Baby Blue - Chorusgirl (from 7" single. Bandcamp)
Swirl - WESTKUST (from 'Last Forever' LP. Bandcamp)
Burning Embers - The Manhattan Love Suicides (from 'More Heat! More Panic!' LP. Bandcamp)
Terrified - Evans The Death (from 'Expect Delays' LP)
A Complex Outline - Virginia Wing (from 'Measures Of Joy' LP. Bandcamp)
Jogalong - Rozi Plain (from split single with Rachael Dadd. Bandcamp)
Stand - Paper Dollhouse (from 'Aenonflower' LP)
aftertouch - brute love (from 'Brute Love 01' digital EP. Bandcamp)
Winter's Gone - BELLE GHOUL (digital single. Bandcamp)
waiting for touchdown - Sneaky Feelings (available on 'Send You' LP)
Velvets In The Dark - Michael Head & The Red Elastic Band (from 7" single)
Close - Lizard Kisses (from 7" single. Bandcamp)

There was a Turner that he loved

Tiny Moments #12 - the good earth

A tractor catches my eye on the lip of a field as the last dip and curve into the village stretches out ahead of me. Its trailing plough turns over the ground to reveal the trademark rich burnt umber hue of the Devon earth. A drowsy low sun clips the the edges of the furrows and proclaims that Spring is, perhaps, finally visible on the horizon.

 

 

Tiny Moments #11 - a veil of fine muslin

The morning mist clings to the valley floor. I descend into its murk and climb out again to clarity. Towards Ashley the sun hovers above the hills like a weak bulb behind a veil of fine muslin.

 

Tiny Moments #10 - kudos

The seafront at Dawlish is crowded on the first genuinely sunny and pleasant afternoon of the year. My usual stopping spot is already taken: two cyclists sitting on the sea wall, bicycles propped behind them. I pull up and pull on a drink. We exchange greetings and pleasantries: them new to the area and keen to hear about potential rides; me suddenly aware of the number of years I have spent here and the changes I have seen. Later we exchange kudos on Strava and express a hope to catch each other out on the road again at some point. It doesn’t matter in the slightest that this hope is as fleeting as the sunshine.