The weekend

The long-awaited four days of all-out logout. Corpo-world left behind, not a thought about what lies ahead on Monday, weather fine. A sin not to make the most of it.

Thursday, Corpus Christi.

Morning starts off with mundane stuff, overdue house-cleaning and ironing. Then drove my mother to the nearby cemetery where my maternal grandparents are buried. Before 10 a.m. duties are marked off, the bike beckons to set off for a ride. Cycling through Las Kabacki I head towards Park Kultury w Powsinie. No droves of people, rather few visitors hang around. I need to bear in mind many people participate in Church processions, many are away from Warsaw, while many sleep off and miss out on the excellent weather. It’s sunny, yet only around +20C, pleasantly warm, yet not hot. I sit back for a while then make my way home along southern edges of the forest. I spend the afternoon in the garden where lots of work needs to be caught up with.

Friday, the day in-between

Business before pleasure as they say. I briskly walk to the swimming pool in Piaseczno, return home, switch on the washing machine and the vacuum cleaner. Two hours later I can go outside, clean the car inside and spend the rest of the day working in the garden, sunbathing, then washing the car. I feel my shoulders are slightly sunburnt. A soothing ointment applied in the evening and tomorrow the pink skin and searing will be gone.

Saturday, it’s downhill now

Feel my spine and muscles have had a decent workout. After another visit to the swimming pool reinvigorates me. Just like yesterday few swimmers in the facility. After a round of household chores… The bike beckons again. It’s already hot, +25C and the sunrays not necessarily treat human skin with care. I ride to Zalesie Dolne, nearby former summer resort, currently still a hangout for scores of locals. It’s late morning, yet the area is far from being densely occupied. Some fishy men stick around. I jump off the bike to take a snap with my mobile and post in on facebook. I realise I have just run out of my data packet for this month so I need to fall back on my company phone to turn on the Wi-fi router and make use of the other phone if I am to show off where I am. The whole operations lasts some two minutes, I turn around to get on my bike… Where’s the bike. No one in sight, not a bike in sight. This came to me as a surprise. Who’d want it? The value of my 12-year-old cheapo bike was close to scrap value… Actually the bigger nuisance than loss of the bike is having to walk back home some seven kilometres in full sunshine, without head covering. Once I get to Piaseczno I consider taking a 709 or 727 bus home, yet knowing I am half-way home and I would need to wait on the terminus till the bus departs, then ride its regular route, I decide to continue on foot. Slightly worn-down, I get home before 1 p.m. Spend the rest of the day loafing about and searching for a new bike.

Sunday, today

What a lovely weather. Wind takes the edge off heat. At 9 a.m. I venture to local Decathlon store. I’m looking for a no-frill, basic, yet up-to-the-mark in terms of quality bike for weekend trips (I estimate I cover between 1,000 and 1,500 kilometres per year). I planned to delay purchase of the new bike until late summer when end-of-season sell-offs begin, but the theft has unexpectedly brought forward my plans. I settle for B’twin Rockrider 340 and buy additional accessories: mud flaps, saddle cover and a prop. The bill is reasonable: slightly below 900 PLN with preparatory works included. I ride off the shop and the impression is comparable to moving from a 12-year-old rickety car to a brand-new car. I took a short ride to Ursynów and back to try out the newly purchased vehicle. It’s a no-frill bike, one cannot deny it, yet everything works smoothly and gently and cycling is less tiresome. The change reminds me one can draw lots of pleasure from riding. I promise to have the bike serviced annually and protect it from the elements of weather and thieves, therefore it will be kept in the garage (and then probably in a storage box).

Hope you also had an enjoyable weekend. Exercise done, but has the test been passed?