I have been for a couple of rides, but it’s stupidly windy here and I’ve been lazy. I’m hoping the wind is just a seasonal thing and will settle down soon. I also need a spare tube and tyre irons which I have not wanted to spend money on yet. And now there is rain forecast for the next 10 days, grrr.

From what I understand chain guards (the case-style ones) aren’t designed for use with derailleurs which makes sense – the front derailleur gets in the way and they may not allow for the movement of the chain side-to-side when in different gears. I guess you could do it you could be bothered fiddling and modifying, but it’s easier for me to wear fluoro velcro straps around the bottom of my trousers, and tuck my shoelaces in tight. You can also get chainring guards which might be slightly better than nothing but I haven’t looked into it, not sure whether you can just add them on or whether it goes on in place of the large outside ring. If I could have a second bike I’d probably get a more upright style step-through with internal gears in the rear hub and a chain case (basically an old-fashioned one which are coming into vogue again now), and use it in wet weather or when I was dressed up more. The idea of a stable of bikes is rather appealing…

I know what you’re sayin’ about being unfit, I don’t want to have to get changed so I’ll just have to make myself take it easy for a start so I don’t sweat too much! I do find that hard though, even when I was biking 9km to school every day and used to it, it still didn’t feel right unless I was pushing myself a bit. But it’s only 4km to uni, and a bit further to the farmers’ market, although it can get really windy going around the edge of the harbour.

I see it doesn’t have a chain guard, are you going to get one to protect pants when you’re riding from grease stains & getting caught in the chain? That’s the reason I didn’t wear “normal” clothes when biking to work in Palmy – although skirts were ok.

Ok, not the only reason … I was so unfit I would sweat a fair bit in that 15 mins so needed a change of clothes lol

So gutting about everything being chucked around – especially the garage, that looks terrible. Love the outhouse lol

But yay for starting uni, I’m so excited for you

Yes the buildings are gorgeous but there is no carpark because it’s in the middle of town, and it’s Dunedin so it’s cold/cloudy/windy a lot of the time. Even Mike asked when I’d taken the photos because apparently the day (with the sun) looks unusually good!

I spent AGES working out my timetable today, what a mission. Had to book my labs and lectures for each of the four papers, making sure none clashed with each other. Thankfully I was one of the geeks who was keeping an eye on the opening of the enrolments online, so was one of the first dozen or so people to book them (it’s on a first come first served basis).

Now that’s done I can focus more on revising!

That’s really cool you’re not feeling as stressed, cramming a years work into 3 weeks would have been crazy!

Bugger about the peoples being allergic to kitties, I have my fingers & toes crossed that you find something suitable soon. In the meantime, get lots of sleep, & rise early refreshed for study!