Due to the rain..............

I had all good intentions of going out cycling today, however the heavy rain and thunder storms that fell on Birmingham this morning meant that this did not happen.

Slept in for 3 hours longer than I would normally do,  waking occasionally to still hear rain and thunder and sparing a thought for those riding to work in it, as a regular cycle commuter or as a newbie due to the tunnel closure.   For the Newbies I began to think "This is going to put off cycling big time"

When I did eventually get out of bed  I began to clear up the clutter from the day before.  I then began to add my collection of cycling themed badges and patches to my sun bleached panniers, in the hope of covering up some of the fading.

Whilst searching for needle and thread  I stumbled on an old 2010 Birmingham walking and cycling map.  I then fetched my old button making machine and decided to have ago making some button badges myself.   

Having not done this since 2004 and with with absence of any instruction manual.   I had to turn to YouTube to learn how it all works again.

After numerous mistakes and hash-ups, I finally got the hang of making button badges.  Using popular sections of the Birmingham Cycling & Walking map, a compass and some sticky backed plastic  I managed to create a selection of  large button badges, with plenty of map left to use.

Hours went by quickly and I was totally distracted from the bad weather

  

Whilst this was not an active outdoor cycling  activity, I  certainly felt a similar feeling of freedom, and an opportunity to loose myself in something that turned out be quite therapeutic.  Also I had a good feeling that I had recycled something that would have been thrown out.

So all in all I still  had a very happy bike themed morning.  The afternoon brightened up considerably, so I'm hoping for a local bicycle meander with the family later.