closing in on my 40th book of the year; this should optimistically be read sometime next week
I’m starting my bicycle ride to turkey next week. Due to life I ended up coming short 1k on my budget, and so I’ll have to forgo the electronics for now, and only have my legs!! Luckily the nl is a flat country so I’ll be ok for the first month or so. I hope my depression fucks off so I can earn some cash, otherwise it’ll be hell getting through Belgium. Either that or it’ll get really cold this far north.
Otherwise prep has been going well. I’m practicing daily, as I’m excited, but also pulling a cart is a new and unique experience. Today I practiced hitting trash on the road with the cart wheels, as I could hear it get crushed behind me. Parking in reverse is a real headscratcher. Where is a guy when you need one, amirite?
Oh and Saturday was pride here. It was officially the first day of my journey!
Omg so cool that you’re doing this!!
Any particular reason for it or did you just want to prove to yourself that you could?
Is the pride flag coming on the trip with you? 🏳️🌈🏳️⚧️🇳🇱
Thank you for your support! It means a lot!
I’m planning to get my hair transplant operation done in Turkey. The Dutch healthcare system is like the nine circles of hell and at the end of it they’ll give you a cheap synthetic wig!
And the flag? I suppose I should!
Very cool! Great trailer, I use one almost daily to get supplies for my restaurant. Make sure you know the weight limit!, and how to load so you don’t get the swaying motion.
Have fun and don’t worry about your depression, daily riding will keep that shit in check, for sure. Happy Pride & ride!
Hey banana. Hey tips on loading? I thought simply put the weight as low as possible and balance it.
I’ve got a bunch of stuff and will try out soon. I’m aiming for 60kg max rn. It’s steel so it can carry a lot more.
What kind of restaurant do you have?
Simply put, more weight to the front of the trailer
I originally had a 40kg trailer I abused for 4+years and recently upgraded to one rated 80kg. The new one has a support on both sides of the tires like yours, you should be good to go.
If I was to take a long road trip I would invest in an orange flag on a long whip stick (placed on the left back corner of the trailer), and a red flashing light for the trailer (even for the day). But then again, I’m from the US and drivers in The EU tend to be more aware of pedestrians & bikes outside of the motorways.
I have an American BBQ joint, and we’re celebrating our 5th year next month, which is a miracle since we opened 4 months before the COVID lockdowns…lol.
What’s your plan? Route, expected timeline, countries you will visit, what you would like to see…
I’m traveling spontaneously. I imagine I’ll stay in southern Spain this winter and then continue through Italy and cross by boat to Greece and continue on to Istanbul. Beyond that I can’t really say much right now. I might have to adjust my plans based on safety and infrastructure. Right now I am thinking of circumventing eastern europe for those reasons, but I’ll look into it later and I still hope that it’s possible. Those places are gorgeous and I’d like to spread trans visibility.
Take it then through central Europe. CZ and SK take some routing skills but it is really nice to bike here, don’t worry about Austria the bike infrastructure is top quality. Hungary is good too but it is really boring (too flat). Don’t trust that Romania and Bulgaria are backwards in this regard, it is doable (I would say it is bit worse than CZ and SK).
I wasn’t in all countries I mentioned some of it is from friends who were there. Maybe mention it in bikepacking/touring community (it is on lemmy.world so you will need another account) someone will give you more hands on advice.
Job interview tomorrow weeeeeee 😊😊
It’s at a software development company that one of my best friends works at so I got an easy leg up and kind of just lucked into the easiest application process I’ve ever experienced. Fingers crossed besties 🤞
Good :) thanks for asking!
There will be an assignment and a second interview to discuss said assignment. Then hopefully get hired :))
Trying not to be too hyped in the mean time but I’m really manifesting this so hard rn
We moved 2 days ago, and in the first night one of our cats managed to escape. We’re both broken beyond belief, crying constantly. We’ve been out on the street with treats multiple times, but to no avail. She’s quite a scared cat, so I can’t imagine what she must be going through. We put out flyers, alarted the neighbours, etc.
What sucks most is that it totally could’ve been prevented. The living door was slightly ajar, so she got out and made her way to the basement (because we forgot to close the door…) and she crawled out the basement windows (that I was going to cat-proof ASAP).
Our other cat is obviously distraught. They were a mom-daughter pair, and she’s obviously missing her mom. Frequently, she lets out these gut-wrenching high-pitched miaws, as if looking for her. She also craves attention from us constantly, and refuses to eat or drink.
What should have been a joyous move has really turned sour for all of us. I can’t stand to think abour our poor baby alone and scared on the streets.
That must be horrible! Did you move far from your old home? She might try to make her way back there if it’s close enough
We moved relatively far, about a 40 min drive by car. I hope she’s not trying to find her way back, but there’s no knowing. She was kept as an indoor cat there too, so I doubt she knows her whereabouts well enough.
Our main hope is that someone will scoop her up at some point, as she’s microchipped. But there’s many free-roaming cats in this neighbourhood, so I doubt anyone would have that reflex.
ugh that’s terrible! i have an anxious baby too, i don’t even want to think about how awful it would be if he escaped.
Frequently, she lets out these gut-wrenching high-pitched miaws, as if looking for her.
I’m no expert, but if you put Daughter in a cat stroller and took her for walks through the neighborhood, I wonder if that would draw Mom back to you?
Yea we thought of something similar, but we’re too scared. It’ll probably also stress out the younger cat even more, and she already hasn’t eaten for 2 days.
I tried recording her to maybe play back on a speaker while walking around, but it’s very tricky to capture properly.
yeahhhh that makes sense, you have to consider her comfort and stress of course. I’m so sorry, I hope Mom comes home or is found soon 😭
Finally after 2 years making cider. Last year there wasn’t any apples left on trees (I don’t know if they froze or what happened, it was bad year). So it is bit hectic, runs between home, “juicery”, brew shop and my friend home where it stays. I was bit worried my reserves started to run dry and I have 1 archive bottle left. Trying adding hops and spices, more info here.
I’ve never had homemade apple cider before! I bet that’s gonna be delicious
I started with it because I couldn’t get anything decent from store. Now I can get some really good cider from small makers.
For most people it is love/hate, it is really simple and completely dry, it isn’t for everyone. I really like it and now we started to experiment with it more so maybe more interesting brews are coming (I hope that I will make at least one more batch this year).
‘Adventures in OCD (and Other Mental Shenanigans)’ has had about a hundred and fifty thousand sequels at this point and I’m beginning to wonder if I’m maybe growing a bit tired of the overdone and recycled plotlines.
Other than that, mostly meh. Some good, some bad, it’s a veritable everything bagel. I could do with a bit less seasoning, though, if I’m being honest. Like maybe bring it down to a chill poppy seed affair. That’d be nice for a while.
