Tempting Fate!

A couple of days ago I put a comment on Mary’s post that

Apart from the odd shower it has been dry for ages here, I think I am a bit spoilt!

What a foolish thing to say! Talk about asking for trouble, I don’t think its stopped raining since!

Yesterday morning the rain and hail beat down with a vengeance but the forecast said sunny intervals for the afternoon so I seized my chance. I had the added incentive of a parcel I wanted to post. I wrapped it in a couple of plastic bags to keep it dry and put it in the rackbag on Why?bike. A couple of years ago there was a Post Office at the end of my road but not now. There is one down in the town but I didn’t want to go that way and headed instead for Chale Green where I had met up with Patrick and Sandra back in the summer.

I got as far as Whitwell (where there also used to be a Post Office) when the heavens opened again. It was fun at first, sloshing along as the rain bounced up off the road but you can have too much of a good thing and I sought shelter in the porch of the village hall. After 10 minutes or so I was starting to get bored (and cold) and as it seemed to have eased I set off again. Down came the stair rods once more and I retreated to a bus shelter, keeping well back to avoid the tidal wave thrown up by passing traffic. ( A Wayfarer legend tells of a last determined stover who set up his Trangia in a bus shelter when all the others had gone home or to the cafe. Just as his kettle was coming to the boil a passing lorry threw up so much water it doused his Trangia and filled his kettle with dirty water! His response is not printable!)

Eventually it eased and I continued on my way to Chale, arriving like a drowned rat. The shop was open but the Post Office counter was closed. Wednesday is half day closing. ‘But I’ve just cycled from Ventnor’ I said pathetically, as I dripped all over the floor. I hoped this might inspire them to open up for me but no such luck, just a bit of sympathy and a suggestion to try Niton. Common sense did suggest that I should head for Niton as that was in the direction of home but there seemed to be a glimmer of light in the sky and, as my mother always said, I’ve no common sense. I decided to continue to Brightstone though I strongly suspected that the Post Office there would be closed too.

Chale to Brightstone coincided with the ‘sunny interval’. It was pleasant cycling, I dried out and whats more the Post Office was actually open. Mission accomplished! Not just open but stocked with a wide range of tinned food and also puncture repair kits. Very enterprising I thought and you never know when that might just come in handy (altho as I always carry a spare tube and 6 self adhesive patches it will be a very sorry day if I need to buy a puncture kit while I’m out!)

Leaving Brightstone the stair rods came down again with some hail for good measure but I got home feeling very satisfied that I’d sloshed happily through the puddles and finally posted that damn parcel!

A Sunny Interval (taken on my phone)