Sarah Nicholas
@sarahnicholas
Mostly tediously twee nonsense. Sporadic enthusing about flamenco dancing and cycling to see Cardiff Bay's sunrises. Occasional passing references to being a weary, aging academic librarian.
From now on, whenever I need a little boost of dopamine I'm going to watch this moment between David Millar and @nedboulting.bsky.social. It's from the superlative 'For the Love of Cycling' podcast. #TourdeFrance #TdF #TdF26
Six hours with my nieces, who are now 11 and 13, and I'm wiped out. It was the incessant miming to annoying soundtracks and filming ourselves, which now passes for entertainment, that did me in. Here's how sad, old and, frankly, confused I look trying to mime a breaking heart on some app.
Me, looking out my hotel window this morning: Oh! My goodness! There's a kestrel! Me, putting on my glasses to photograph the kestrel: Bloody seagulls.
Went up Beckford's Tower, in Bath, this morning. Because I've been driving past it regularly for years and thought it was about time. I couldn't see Cardiff from the top. Apparently it's often visible. But I know what it looks like already, so I wasn't bothered.
Lovely pootle earlier this morning near the Purton Hulks, a ships graveyard with wrecks of over 80 old boats, between the River Severn and the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal. The boats were purposely grounded to prevent riverbank erosion. Met bonus cute dog, not pictured.
I came second in one of the #TdF daily quizzes on Kahoot. I mean, not many people have played it. And it HAS to have been easy for me to get stuff right, because I'm largely ignorant about cycling. But also, my French must still be pas mal, hein? www.letour.fr/fr/quiz-quot...
Here is your certificate. Please hand it to a family member or friend for safe keeping. Now join the queue for gowns. Congratulations!
I've had no energy to garden this year. The front yard has, left to its own devices, produced poppies from seeds sown in years past. Lovely.
Feel a bit ridiculous, but there you are. Very much anticipating entering the website and everything falling over and being thwarted.
You know those navy shoulder bags (I think they are copies of Longchamp's Le Pliage tote bag, illustrated) that are everywhere? They look like something my gran would love. Why are they so popular with young women?
Royal Mail delivered this parcel, which I'd chased twice and they'd declared lost, today. The gross melted, crispy, flaking packaging aside, as a 48 hour tracked item, it was 288 hours late. (Don't worry, I've had a refund.) It's deranged, yes?
Today I was woken by arsehole seagull parents attacking a man walking his dog. Again. Look at these bastard things. Every year they have another baby in a stupid neighbour's chimney pot and raise it on our street. Two years ago the baby was run over and the divebombing stopped and I was not sad.
Wednesday 10:30. 29.5°. Like an oblivious boiling frog, I spent 2.5 hours in this space, before realising I felt rather unwell. I have now abandoned the library. If the books combust, so be it.
Next Tuesday looks to be AMAZING. (21°C if you don't understand old money.)
I'm back in the same hotel a year later and, because Travelodge let you do this now, I pre-booked a room with a good view of the traffic. I had a lovely evening.
Eating this chocolate because the lady who just gave me my latest COVID jab told me to. It was definitely medical advice.
The Cardiff School of Art and Design final year show is on at the mo. I thought this, from @ruben.art.insta, was fab.
I enjoyed the graveyard at St Clement's Church in Romney Marsh this morning. These were my favourite headstones. Derek Jarman's (of course), Grumpy's (with the 'its right you're dead' message) and Edward Mark Skilbeck's (because it seems like he lived a good life).
After 2.5 hours of driving, in between more pootling, I've had enough for today. Definitely can't do the remaining 3.5 home. I've collapsed at a motorway services hotel. D'you know what? It's quite serviceable. This is my view. My entertainment will be in the services watching tired people argue. 😂
I'm leaving this place today. When not pootling elsewhere, I've just stared out at this odd view. I've seen the fox, rabbits, brazen and noisy magpies, a flock of linnets, a few pairs of reed buntings, lots of dunnocks and a random little dog. But not a single human. It's been lovely.
This morning I visited the sound mirrors at Romney Marsh (meh) and St Thomas Becket Church (gorgeous, worth the effort of multiple diversions around closed unclassified roads). My favourite part was collecting this giant key to open the church from a nearby house.
The fox visited again. I asked him to move away from the door, then rolled an egg out. He enjoyed his egg. He opened the shell delicately, and licked the contents. Once he'd finished, a magpie flew off with the shell. Nature, eh?
My head is very quiet in this place. Possibly because of the nothingness. Or maybe the unrelenting wind has blown away all my thoughts.
Excuse me whilst I consult my dictionary before walking on the beach. 😜