Things

I) It's stopped raining and gotten colder. We've had a few hard frosts and some very chilly mornings, but it's not quite at the severe level yet. That's usually in Jan/Feb.

II) I will be able to stop complaining about the cold soon, as I have a much looked forward to trip Down Under (avec L for a bit) to visit the Family et al.

III) Training has been satisfactory. Even a week-long cold didn't dent things too much, and I'm now at the same level as I was in mid-Jan of this year. Sealskinz sockz rulez for keeping one's toes warm.

IV) This blog could do with more photos.

V) Only 2.5 more days of work. We had our bikes Xmas lunch last Thursday, which involved a sunny ride out to the Lock Inn in Bradford-on-Avon. Lovely but very muddy (I rode a 'cross bike). We didn't, in the end, choose to ride back. I'd had four pints of cider and of the remaining folks, I was the sober one.

The main Future Xmas party be on Wednesday. I'm not sure my liver can cope...

VI) I don't think much of professional golf but I did note that Tiger Woods is taking an indefinite break from it. Apparently he's done some ... questionable things. That he has let his family down. Etc. Which is a shame for someone who earns so much money, because it is meant to buy happiness. $110 million a year should buy an eon of it.

I won't pick on Mr Woods but his fall from grace illustrates the dangers of hero worship. People see him hit a hole in one and think "For T is a golfer, and therefore he is God." (soz Benjamin Britten. I'm also not religious, God is just a convenient construct). Then they project all kinds of other holy qualities on him. Which is a mistake. Because when the slip-up happens, he is very much not God, he is human and a bit of a poor role model. So the fans are left flailing around with a worthless idol. Some of them continue to worship anyway, which is a shame because their energies could probably be better used on productive things, like Families.

The same argument applies to any professional athlete. Yes, that means cyclists. As a colleague of mine once pointed out after watching many riders' post-race behaviour, "If they're prepared to cheat on their wives, then cheating through drugs isn't too much of a stretch."

VII) Bankers, on the other hand... I really don't see the problem with capping their bonuses to a paltry few million per year.

The argument against seems to be "Oh but we won't be able to attract the best people if we don't offer them enormous bonuses."

The best people who got us into this mess into the first place, you mean? "Oh no, they've all been fired. The other best people."