Day 68: Office cleaning day and a cycle

Friday, 29th May 2020
Weather: Still hot and sunny.

The three of us left home early this morning, just before 8am. We dropped Andre's car off for it's MOT and then went on to the office. It was the first time in over 2 months that I've been into Reading and it felt a little strange. Still didn't get to see the town centre, we just drove straight to the office. 

We were there until lunch time preparing the office for people to start returning from next week. Isabella helped vacuum and wipe down desks with anti-bacterial wipes and we placed masks, hand gel, gloves and more anti-bac wipes in all the rooms. She also left chocolates and packets of biscuits on the desks of the first eight people to return next week. For now we will have only one person per office for the first week. We got a good workout in with all the stairs, running up and down and around the building!

We got back for lunch time and just sat down in the garden to have something to eat and let Tabby wander around a bit when the garage called to say Andre's car is ready. So to Reading again to pick up the car. Isabella had a busy day out of the house today! I was a bit worried what they neighbours must have thought of us going out twice by car as a whole family!

Back home Isabella and I went for a cycle to paddle in a little stream. It was a hot day again today. She also conquered her fear of going down hill and did really well at going down a long slope and up again the other side.

Back out in the garden again for a bit before dinner and that was our Friday.

We found an unlocked swing!! She was so happy to be able to have a go on a swing again.
This was outside her first pre-school for those who have been there. She used to swing in
those little baby swings then!

Lovely cool water!

On the way back home we stopped to look at some horses.

Day 45: Bike riding on the road!

Wednesday, 6th May 2020
Weather: sunny

One of our school activities was art sculptures. We looked at the work of Alberto Giocometti and then created our own sculptures using foil. We also had to draw some stick figures before the time which was a lot of fun. Even daddy joined in!

Isabella's drawings

Isabella had her first bike ride on the road and she did so well! No actual road pictures, but this is the way to her forest school site.

And Tabby still owns this chair!

King of the Boss chair, hear me roar!

Cycling: a video

Here's a little video of a few of our weekend cycles along the canal as well as through Wokefield Common which is the forest area close by our house. We've discovered a pub 6 miles down the one side of the canal and another just under 7 miles along the other way! We generally cycle around 15-20miles which takes us around 2hours going at a leisurely pace. Only a few hills which I always dread on the way back home from the canal but good for getting the heart rate up!

*Best to watch this video in vimeo by clicking on the link. If you're in SA with slower internet you might want to click pause and leave it to load. You can click on the four arrows pointing outwards in the bottom right corner to view fullscreen :-)

Kennet & Avon Canal Bike Rides from Anneliese Mostert on Vimeo.

Last weekend's sunny cycle

It's a very rainy weekend compared to last weekend which was very hot and so sunny. We went cycling along the canal last weekend all the way to The Oracle (which is a shopping centre in Reading). It was a 20mile cycle there and back. We did stop at a pub along the canal on the way back for some lunch and something cold to drink. We were hoping to go for another cycle along the canal, the opposite way to another pub, but with the rain today that won't be happening. Instead I'm sitting in front of the tv watching the happenings of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee on the Thames. Tomorrow we're planning on attending a Jubilee picnic on the field behind our house for our village. 

Sunday Skate

As you saw in the previous post, André bought a slalom skateboard yesterday. This morning we went for a ride, him on the skateboard and me on my bike. Here's the video, or you can click here to see it on vimeo.

Slalom Skateboarding, Switzerland from Anneliese Mostert on Vimeo.

Cycling along the Limmat

To work of the good Swiss food I either go for an hours cycling most mornings or a walk along the river Limmat. From our apartment I walk 5 min to the train station with André when he leaves for work. Then I pass underneath the train station to the other side where the river is. I cycle all along the one side, then cross a bridge and return home on the other side of the river. It's so beautiful especially on a sunny morning like today. Lots of other people are out walking their dogs, jogging or cycling and once in a while I pass a fisherman.

André bought me a purple girly cycling jacket this weekend for rainy days and it has pockets so I can take my camera along! I'll take it with until I can get a picture of the swan family here with their six fluffy babies. Didn't see them today..

So here's some photos from this morning's cycle.

A convent above. Isn't it beautiful?

I have a bicycle!

We saw this bike at Ochsner sport a while back. It was a good bike at a good price, but we were still thinking about it. Then last week we decided to start doing yoga again and went to buy yoga mats at the same Ochsner sport shop at the Spreitenbach shopping centre. And can you believe it, there was only one of these bikes left! It was a sign.

The very helpful sales assistant (who happened to speak very good English too) adjusted the seat for me and asked if I'd like to try the bike. He showed me where I can ride between the shelves and down the aisle in the shop. I couldn't exactly say no thanks I'll just buy it. You see, it's been many many years since I actually cycled. Probably in primary school last. Although a bit shaky at first, I managed not to fall off the bike or knock anything over.

Then he said he thinks I should also try this other bike to see the difference. And after that another one. I did as I was told but in the end still found the first one to be the most comfortable. The price of that one also felt more comfortable...

So here's my bike. I've been enjoying cycling in the mornings when Andre gets on the train, all along the river. Now I'm just waiting for him to get a bike too so we can go cycling together.

Some girlie details...

I didn't get a 'marybell' bike, but I got a 'primadonna' one instead! Hehe ;-) I like the sound of that!

You have to buy a vignette (something like a license) for your bike. I was lucky, I got it for free with my bike but it doesn't cost too much. I think around 5 Swiss Francs I've heard. This is like insurance in case you have an accident. Above the vignette is a sticker on which I was told to put my name, address and phone number. So if my bike gets lost and someone finds it they can return it to me. I had to smile imagining that ever happening South Africa!

So now I'm joining the rest of Switzerland on my bike :-) By the way, it's national 'Bike to work' month here.

Bicycle shopping

André and I went to the Velobörsen at Helvitiaplatz in Zürich on Saturday. This is like a big market for bikes. Some new ones but mostly second hand. André was looking for a bike for me. I think what he wants he won't find there. His of course needs to be a super fancy bike from a proper bike shop... But I don't want anything fancy. I actually wanted what André likes to call a 'Marybell' bike. A nice comfortable one where my toes can reach the ground easily and my arms won't get sore from leaning so way forward. And I want a bell and a basket for my shopping. André doesn't agree. He feels I need a proper mountain bike so I can go up and down the mountains with him. One with shocks so I can also go over the big boulders and tree stumps after him. Hahaha! I can just imagine myself now bouncing along behind him down the mountain! 

Anyway we didn't buy anything. I think we will go again to the next one in three weeks time. So here's some pictures of the bicycle market in Zürich.

We walked around some more in Zürich after leaving the Velobörsen and passed a shop with this in the window (for my South African readers!)

I don't know WHY this was in the window. It looked like a normal clothing store inside, but only with mens clothes and I don't think this was the name of the shop because there was another name too. Perhaps they import some things from China via South Africa?? I think it has something to do with those SA flag coloured trunks stacked there... Oh and did you notice they spelt colours incorrectly if they're trying to be South African! (Spelling it the American way.)

Oh and another one for everyone back home, I bought some South African grapes! They were really good quality like all the other fruit and vegetables are. Not sweet hanepoot which I like best but still good. If you look carefully you can see it says Südafrika. Today they had grapes from India. They always tell you where it's from. Interesting.

Oh, I bought the green grapes, there were green ones too from SA.