Excuses, Excuses

Well, the British summertime has come and gone, apparently. From blisteringly hot days of being stuck working in a garage, and riding while wearing winter gloves becomes some form of masochist self-torture, to cold, dreary, rainy days where you'd rather sit in a car with dodgy windscreen wipers.
I could complain about anything, I am British after all.
So my days of pottering about on my bike that thinks it's bigger than it actually is (maybe its all the Project Hate I'm listening to while riding) have come to a bit of an end for now. Searching local shops revealed no summer gloves so I ended up ordering some from ebay (had i known i was going to Newcastle on my only Saturday off in a fortnight I wouldn't have bothered) and here I am, still waiting for them to arrive. And now it's raining. And my bike's stranded in the garden while the patio thingy at the bottom gets built. Want more excuses? Theres scaffolding around the house, meaning I'd have to walk round the whole street because my crash helmet won't fit out the garden door.
Ok, I'm also just lazy, but I really do want to get back on the bike. While I can't get as fast as in my mighty Micra, and I usually get annoyed with trying to pull the bike into the garden in it's current state, I do enjoy the ride a hell of a lot more than in a car. The short-lived triumph of beating every car away from lights. The minor sense of accomplishment that follows every corner; shifting weight on a bike and feeling it lean into, and rise out of corners is so much more rewarding than just turning a wheel.
Anyway, for the time being I'm taking a relaxed approach to the whole going-across-Europe thing. Around the end of August-ish I should be getting put through my big bike lessons and tests, as part of my employment. So because of this I've got a sort of "it'll all work out" attitude, but partly also because I'm letting John do all the worrying and, erm, work. Hey, this was all his idea.