Oo-er, you're right - black on top. Argh! And it took ages to get the flag on the flagpole as the pole was just a fraction too wide.
Well I had a very enjoyable day yesterday. After various fights with my cassette to try to stop the machine-gun like rattle in gears 5-9, I gave up, did some work with the football on in the background and then chucked the trike in the car and set off for Castle Hedingham.
A slight lack of pre-preparation meant I couldn't remember which pub we were going to. The first one that I came across, The Wheatsheaf, had a full car park so I dumped the car on the road opposite the other pub. Being dim I didn't notice the other pub had a large car park with lots of spaces. D'oh.
So I set off heading for the Dolphin at Bradwell with my machine-gun sound effects most of the time. The route was surprisingly rolling (in that I live in Essex too, and it's flat where I live). I had a nasty moment going up a single track road when I could hear a car whizzing towards me round a blind corner but the edges of the road were too high for me to get out of the way. I resorted to shouting 'STOP!' when I heard the car almost upon me. It came round a corner and did an emergency stop which threw up clouds of sand and gravel. Fortunately it was a mini so we could squeeze past each other. The drive said 'Awright love' to me, which I suppose was a semi apology. I resolved to make sure I was behind a couple of other cyclists when returning.
I arrived at the Dolphin and realised Wow and Del weren't there yet so I headed southwards to meet them on the road. I passed a pair of white knickers beside the road in Cressing, which was a bit random. after two and a half miles Wow and Del hove into view so I did a five point turn and off we went, back to the Dolphin.
The Dolphin was a surprisingly decent pub considering the busy road it was beside. We sat in the beer garden out the back which was still a bit noisy. We had burger and chips for dinner and Del insisted on taking lots of photos; as I am exceptionally unphotogenic I'm not entirely surprised they haven't appeared upthread.
Oscar's Dad and Oaky arrived in due course and had a beer. There was lots of discussion about Tomsk with his ability to eat anyone out of house and home, and then we thought we really ought to set off to see him at the pub in Castle Hedingham. Unfortunately Wow had achieved a puncture during the stop so he had to fix it. We were all supremely unhelpful and just faffed around, with Oscar's Dad taking my trike for an extended spin which left me wondering whether I'd have to ride back to Castle Hedingham on his Dribble. He reappeared, florid of face but clearly having enjoying his triking, despite the noisy gears.
Wow's tyre was fixed pretty quickly and we set off again into the gathering gloom. I had had a rather disorganised exit from home which meant I didn't have my glasses for driving home, nor my lights. Oaky was able to lend me a flashing rear light and I had a tiny front light on the trike which was enough to make me visible. Off we went, wending our way along the country lanes, passing a Little Owl sitting on a stump.
When we arrived at the pub at Castle Hedingham Tomsk was already there, as was Oscar's Dad who'd whizzed ahead in order to get some Maldon Gold before it ran out. I stuck my bike in the car and then, disappointed to discover there was no tea, had an orange juice before a pint of water.
We set off at about 11pm, me homeward by car, the rest by bike. I was pleased to hear that Germany had won their football game too and will very much look forward to the England v Germany game as I don't mind who wins. I must put the flag the right way up on the bike though...