Out Again.

       Managed out on the bike yesterday, June 7th. just a wee spin round the Lowmoss area, wee runs are all I do nowadays, circumstances dictate. Gone are the days when I could get up in the morning and decide is it Loch Ard, Arrochar, Callander, Lake of Menteith, Loch Venachar, Strathyre, or Dunoon, then set off with a smile on my face. Now I usually start with a wee cruise around the Cadder Cemetery before heading out onto the road. At that point I lose my camera assistant Stasia, hence the view of so many tombstones. It was a pleasant enough day but I picked the wrong thin cycling shirt, so the temperature was just that wee bit lower that I find comfortable. Of course there is something that most cyclists will be aware of, some of the road surfaces are downright dangerous. There is a bit of the road on the Lowmoss to Lenzie road, though not the only road, that is really a killer lying in wait. The road isn't that wide and you have to go wide from the edge to avoid craters rather than potholes, and with cars doing their usual 50mph minimum it can sometimes be a wee bit nerve racking, especially to an old crater like yours truly.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk

And Now For Something Completely Different.

 

        Been a mixed bag of weather over the last few months, in spite of the good spells I haven't got out on the bike very often, because of one thing and another. I have been out but sadly all rather short runs, hence can't be bothered to stop and take photos. Today was forecast to be the last dry day for a while, so just to remind myself that I used to be a cyclist I took the opportunity to head out for a short spin. My partner Stasia comes along for a spell then settles down and takes some photos. So thanks to her for this one, this afternoon. Don't like swans, they hiss as you cycle past, I have had the odd on go for my ankles. But I suppose they don't like us humans as some of us can be rather nasty to them.

Visit ann arky's home at https://radicalglasgow.me.uk 

Nature's Finite Bounty.

       The weather is not really being kind to us here in Glasgow. We get a good day then a couple of crap days, what happened to that long, hot, balmy summer? Despite the weather, I have managed out a couple of times since my wee jaunt up the Loch on Tuesday. I know there are those young Titans who go out in all weathers, but for me those days are over, needs necessitate that I pick and choose my days carefully. 

      Both trips found me in familiar territory, round the Campsie area but just one photo, as I decided to forego the obligatory plate of lentil soup, and didn't bother stopping on the second run. 

Nature's finite bounty to humanity, clean water.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Wonders Of Smooth Tarmac.

        What a glorious day, imagine a summer like that, in this country. I suppose some people will say that is what we get, sadly it is just a one day summer. I decided that it has been a while since I went up the Loch, (Loch Lomond), so that was where I ended up. It was a beautiful run, the usual chaotic traffic, but after all these years, you get used to it. One surprise, last time up that way, some of that road was in a dreadful state, especially the part where you approach the Inverbeg Hotel. It is a cyclist's nightmare, dreadful potholes, cracked surface, broken tarmac and loose gravel. However, the powers that be have seen fit to re-surface a large section of the road on that stretch. Gone are the nightmares and the swearing, it was pure dead brilliant, smooth black tarmac, and the quiet whir of the wheels, gliding along in magnificent sunshine, with the Loch on one side, the hills beyond, and trees and shrubbery on the other side. A wondrous vista of natural beauty.

The entrance to Tarbet Hotel Loch Lomond.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

The Illusion Of Freedom.

        Free movement, welfare constructed, democratic Europe shows it true colours, with the raising of border fences, increased military style policing, and massive austerity, chopping away at the welfare system. Where now the free movement of people that was trumpeted from the marble halls of power? United Europe is fragmenting, nationalism is on the rise, fascism shows its ugly face in ever greater numbers. What this proves is that the whole edifice was an illusion created to suit the corporate world and can just as easily be demolished when it suits the powers that be. 

           If we want a free movement Europe, then we have to get rid of the nation states and the capitalist system. As long as nation states, big money and corporatism are welded together in a festering marriage, we will have rules laid down and torn up at their bidding and in their interest.

 From Act For Freedom Now:

FORTUNE DOESN’T ALWAYS FAVOR THE BRAVE
        Solidarity and complicity with the comrades arrested in Brenner.
Apocalyptic scenarios of a fascist future, right-wing forces taking hold in Europe, walls being erected and borders being closed, deportations and detention camps.
       The leaders of global capitalism are about to close the Brenner pass in order to stop the transit of human beings. People must be stopped even at the cost of contradicting the constitutional principles of the EU itself, as it crumbles in the face of the first wave of migration.
We knew very well what we were in for on 7th May, on the demo ‘Destroy the borders in Brenner and everywhere’; we knew perfectly well what it meant to march in an unauthorized demo through a 370-metre wide pass from mountain to mountain. We knew very well that the geography of the place was against us.
        We knew all this but we also knew that if in a future made of fences, barbed wire and walls someone were to ask us: ‘Where were you when they were building up the umpteenth wall in Europe?’ we would be able to say that we were trying to knock it down, throwing the first stones in continuation with the trajectories of solidarity and struggle along with migrants that began in Monza and support to the No Border mobilizations and practices from Ventimiglia to Calais.

Read the full article HERE:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk
 

The World's Wanderers.

        Imaginary lines drawn by power mongers and bandits, cross them and you could be an illegal immigrant, all your rights disappear, you risk being locked up, and deported with complete indifference and without dignity. We have no control over where we are born, and it appears we have no control over where we live.

[…] what are you? […] You are not of this castle, you are not of this village, you are nothing. But you are something too, unfortunately, you are a foreigner, someone that is always inopportune and in the way, one that brings a lot of troubles, […] whose intentions no one knows.

F. Kafka

From To The Wanderers:

       The democratic mechanism of citizenship and rights, however much expanded, will always presuppose the existence of excluded people. To criticize and try to prevent expulsions means to realize a critique in action of racism and nationalism; it means to seek a common space for revolt against the capitalistic uprooting that involves us all; it means to obstruct a repressive mechanism that is as hateful as it is important; it means to break the silence and indifference of the civilized who stand by watching; it means finally to confront the concept of law itself on the basis of the principle “we are all illegal aliens”. In short, it means an attack against one of the pillars of the state and class society: the competition between the poor people, the substitution, nowadays more and more menacing, of ethnic or religious wars for social war.

Read the full article HERE:

 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Giving Myself A Workout.

     Headed out on the bike today, but it is getting too cold for my bronchial tubes. One of the many labels from the medical dictionary that have been pinned on me is CRAD, (chronic restrictive airways disease), the result being that as the temperature goes down so does the efficiency of my lungs. Hence the fair weather cyclist, I usually put the bike away when the clock is moved back. So this might be the last run of the season.

       Today as I started to cycle, I found it rather hard and couldn't get any pace at all, not that I have much of pace now-a-days, but it was a bit worrying. However I just gritted my teeth, swore under my breath, and continued to grind the peddles. As I was cycling past Kirkintilloch, a car drew along side and the passenger said, that something had fallen of the bike. I immediately stopped, and the car stopped in front of me. The woman driver got out and come up to me and informed me again that something had fallen from the bike, just back along the road a bit. At that I noticed that my wee bag at the back was open and empty, I thanked her and went to get what had dropped, but she said she would get it, and made off like a gazelle, and retrieved one inside tube. At that I noticed that my other tube, (I carry two just in case) it was wrapped round my back brake and jammed between the brake blocks and the wheel rim. So in fact I had been cycling more or less with the back brake on, it must have been the first to drop off just as I started the run, but got tangled round the brake, I definitely don't recommend this a a cycling method, perhaps good if you really want a workout and to ruin an inside tube. The rest of the run was much easier, with a little bit more pace. 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

A'Kin Feel Th'Cauld Blast.

      A bit late with this one. I was out on the bike on Thursday, but computer problems held up this wee post. It is most certainly getting to the end of my cycling season, a'kin feel th'cauld blast goan doon ma tubes, but still enjoying it when I can grab a day. Everywhere you look, the colours are now changing to that mosaic of reds, rusts, golds and yellows, but it is still a very green and pleasant land.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

September Sun.

       Thank you September, you came up with the goods when summer failed. Another fine day, another pleasurable spell grinding the pedals, didn't like the wind though, never the less a great wee run. They say that October is to be fine in Scotland. Who knows, perhaps this fair weather cyclist will be cycling at Christmas. Ahh, we can still dream.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

Two Lochs, Two Beauty Spots.

        What a wonderful climate we have in this country, I know, I have an excellent short term memory, it's the other half isn't so good. A beautiful day for the bike, not much wind, lots of sunshine, and no rain, Yee-ha. It was up the Loch again, and on round to Arrochar on Loch Long. Let's hope there are many more days like this still to come.

 You can never grow weary of a view of Loch Lomond, and there are millions.

 

Looking down Loch Long just across from the Arrochar Hotel

Same spot, looking up the Loch.

 

Same spot, looking across at the jaggy peaks of the Cobbler.

 

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

 

 

The Beaty Of The Loch.

The Ben peekin' its heid above the parapet 

        What a great day, what a great climate, what a great country. Another glorious day on the bike, again it was "The Loch" cloudless blue sky all the way and back. On the way home, at Duck Bay, met two guys on nice road bikes, they had cycled up from Abington and wanted to know if they were OK for Luss, where they had booked into a hotel for the night, before continuing their ride to John O'Groats. Nice wee run.

My favourite refuelling stop when in Tarbet.

Prime Sites.

      Sunday, another beautiful day, I can see our minds playing tricks and come the winter we'll talk of the wonderful summer of 15. Stopped at another nice resting place, these sites seem to occupy prime sites for developers. I wonder how long it will be before the greed merchants work that one out, and do their wheeling and dealing? It's a nice piece of countryside, must build houses on it.

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk

A Quiet Road And Two Wheels.

        Thursday 30th. June, what an unusual day, not a drop of rain. It wasn't as warm as I like, but never the less, I grabbed the bike and headed out, and it looked like lots of others had the same idea. Lots of friendly waves, nods and hi's as I trundled my way along. What more can you ask on a dry day, than a quiet road and two wheels. Ah, what a beautiful country.

Free Travel In A Beautiful Land.

        Another delightful outing on the dream machine, which means that you get lucky and see another couple of lovely snippets of our beautiful country. 

Enjoy:

Visit ann arky's home at www.radicalglasgow.me.uk