183. Feeling the fear, and doing it anyway

So regular readers will know that the new job is in Hammersmith (on the riverbank just by Hammersmith Bridge, if you fancy a visit) which is quite a way from Home, really. So I've been travelling on the Piccadilly line and trying not to mind the cost and the heat and the smell and the ENDLESS hand-chewing practised by my fellow travellers.

I have been trying to pluck up the courage (and required energy) to cycle, but I am afraid of being crushed into raspberry jam by a bus, mainly because I think if that happened Herself and the Parent would be quite upset, and I don't like upsetting them.

Whether or not cycling in London is scary is all to do with available routes. (This may be true of all cities, but I can't comment.) Cycling into the city was fine, because a)it's actually quite nearby, and b)I knew how to get round the arterial roads. But in order to get to Hammersmith without it taking a couple of days, the cyclist coming from town must take the A4 (no way in hell not never), the Fulham Road (FULL of buses and Chelsea Tractors) or the Old Brompton Road (busy, busy, busy). And, frankly, I had a failure of bravery.

Until yesterday.

Yesterday the tube was just too hot and annoying and suddenly I didn't know what my freakin' problem was. So I made sure the old bicyle was working, and set off this morning to cycle to Hammersmith. And it was fine. I only got the route wrong twice, and never disastrously, and I got to work feeling rather pleased with myself. I'm not so happy that it is now the end of the day and it's pouring with rain, but I will endure.

I felt the fear and did it anyway. A slogan not just for tossers, it seems.