Comparing christ with anti-christ has the very same vernacular as hobbies and work. Obviously, currently being out of work (without delving into the very fact that I haven't particularly looked too far for any) has led me to have substantially more time for hobbies - loosely translated - pursuits that I enjoy i.e. not work.
The weather is a complete an utter bastard in my humble opinion, dictating like a headmaster would to a mischevious child what we can and cant do, and when we can and cant do it. Maybe its because the human race is predominamtly weak when challenging the extremes of nature or simply maybe we aren't fundamentally nor physically compiled to withstand certain extremes. Either way, the majority of "what to do" spare time decisions are influenced by the fucking weather.
1. Swimming / Gym / Punch bag -(any type of weather)
This, I have been doing regularly for years through times of employment and unemployment so it really doesn't take up additional time space nor extend my enjoyment and fitness now that I am unemployed. However, when reneging on completing these exercises I do feel quite lethargic an unfulfilled. It's very true that exercising gives you energy, it keeps you physically and mentally alert, do not under estimate this. Obviously being indoors this is available all year round at liberty (liberty meaning the gym membership is paid in full).
2. Fishing - (from good weather to not so good weather, if bad weather revert to 1 above)
This is a past time I have rekindled only last year, late last year, so late that I think I spent 1,200 euro on gear and only got out to fish 4 times before I started to freeze my bollocks off, and therfore my enjoyment from fishing was limited to the anticipatory imaginative kind from the comfort of the living room, until this years weather lightened up a little. I have since come to the conclusion that fishing is more enjoyable during weather conditions that are not so good. What I mean by not so good is overcast, dull, maybe a touch of light rain if the clouds permit such an act. These are the times I seem to catch most fish, and lets face it, what fucking fun is there sitting at a lake or river all day staring at trees on the other side. Catching fish is the barometer that measures your enjoyment of the occasion, a fishometer so to speak.
Since redundancy enlightened my soul enough to smile every morning on awakening, knowing that I dont have drag my ass to work and talk to idiots I dont like (minority that they are) who talk shit and take credit for my work, I have come to the conclusion that there is a void in my life, no I have a beautiful girlfriend, which makes me think I should put aside more time for treating her, hmmm, anyway back to the initial void - good weather activities.
Drinking I can do at night, and come to mention it I can mix this with treating my girlfirend, one problem solved, now for the other. I require something I can do during the day when I'm normally working to make my boss look good in comparison to his/her peers. You've probably assumed by now that I have a greivance with previous superiors and you have assumed correctly. Without going into detail lets say that i'm a straight up matter of fact type person and abhor the double crossing, political game playing type of people I've been unfortunate to encounter. Dont get me wrong, I've met loads of great people through work, its those fuckers who pretend to be your mate then shag you sideways that dampen the enjoyable experiences. Its a long road with plenty of turns, heard that somewhere before.
So I decided that my new hobbie for fair weather conditions is:
3. CYCLING: (starts off as good weather only, and as you get to like it more it becomes any fucking weather you want to ride in).
Cycling is a great sport, and has history with me. As a teenager I was introduced to cycling through my father who was a very keen cyclist. So keen that he always had two bikes, one for cycling to work everyday (Peugeout) and another, thee bike, for sunday spins (Dawes). Thinking back to 20 years ago when these 2 bikes cost a total of 1,000 punts (400 & 600 respectively), they were great machines. I still have the dawes to this day in mint condition, with new tape bar, everything else is the same as the day it was bought.
It was as a kid I attempted to emulate my father and tag along on these sunday spins, unaware that I was a nuisance simply draining the patience from an athlete wishing to get through what would normally be an enjoyable training session less my company. I was of course on my sisters Puch-Mini bike, god fucking knows what it was. After the first session, and the second, etc he finally got the idea that I wasn't giving up and surprised me with a brand new junior peugeout road bike with slicks, groupset if thats what they called it back then, the lot... I could now try and keep up in style and look good at the same time. Plus I could kick my friends asses when out on our bikes.
I showed promise, enough to be entered into a few local junior races of 10 - 20km or thereabouts, which I performed credibly in, winning a few. This was the height of my success in the saddle as I followed the path of most teenagers when I encountered alcohol and girls. I strongly believe that kids need a mentor for sports when at that critical pivot point in their lives, someone to stress that they should continue following their natural talents when faced with blending with their comrades getting pissed at the weekend and sacrificing a potentially successful sporting career. I was a particularly good soccer player when I was younger and now when I see some of the guys that made it makes me cringe. We wouldn't be allowed drop out of school so why give up on sports, even though the law has different views (which is due to people complicating life with laws and rules for every fucking thing under the sun).
Back on topic, I now needed a mechanism to release this new enthusiasm for cycling, yes, a bike. At this stage I knew nothing about bikes anymore, not that I knew much years previous; so I logged on to a few forums, namely boards.ie, and read up on few websites to regain some long forgotten basic knowledge, and learn the ins and outs of the current climate regarding components and what not. Soon after sickening myself with shimano this, campagnolo that, Look here, Beone there, etc I gave up on attempting to divulge the mountains of types of bikes and components and decided I'll like what I like when I see it.
Eventually, the online perusal began in earnest, website after website looking for something to catch my eye, as soon as I saw it I knew I was gonna get it, Pinarello FP2 with those weird looking forks, pictured above; just needed to decide on the groupset. My budget before I saw this was 1k for the bike and some accessories, now it was 2k, eventually I spent 3k on bike and gear. I asked for the vloce groupset/white frame at CycleSuperstore.ie (based in Tallaght). They order direct from Pinarello who only had white with Ultegra so I said fine, I'll take it. Pinarello sent a white FP2 with 105 groupset, at this stage I didn't give a shit, "I'll take it" was my answer. I probably could have got carbon this or that elswhere for the same money but I wanted this bike and wants are stronger urges than needs so it was a done deal as far as I was concerned. Bike cost 1.7k, spent over a grand on gear LOL. Jesus, when I last rode if I had have offered 1.7k for a bike the guy would have thrown in his missus with it, now you dont even get a set of fucking pedals with the fucker........christ I thought, accessorizing is an expensive hobby!
Within two weeks ended up with - Bike, pedals, 2 cages, 2 bottles, mini pump, sidi shoes, saddle bag, tubes, multi tool, 3 jerseys, 3 shorts, 3 under garments, 2 tights, helmet, garmin 705 with HR monitor, mud guards (one which doesn't fit cause of the wobbly forks), bike stand, cleaning kit (degreaser, brushes, etc), track pump, puncture kit, 4 x new tyres, gloves.......thats off the top of my head.
Next to get out on it............
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