Magic moments

Well it was bound to happen sooner or later, but it always comes as a shock when it does.  As I was cycling along between a row of fast moving cars on my right and parked vehicles on my left, someone opened their car door, catching my pedal and sending me flying.  One of the things I'm very good at is recovery, and I managed to stay off the floor.  One of the things I'm not so good at is keeping my cool, so I exploded.  The guy got out of his car, shrugged his shoulders and said it was an accident.  The police were summoned, and we'll see where it goes from there.  I got away with a scrape on my shin and a scratch on my thigh.  My back and leg were quite stiff, so we hopped up to the local A&E...fortunately early enough before it got too busy, sadly too early to witness some of the characters who inhabit these places late on a Friday night...The rear wheel of the bike was ripped out of the frame, is buckled and there's a bad notch on the frame...as it's carbon fibre I'm not sure whether its just aesthetic or if it's irreparably damaged...at least I want to know how his insurance company will restore it to the condition it was in before the accident.

The top of the red line marks where it all went horribly wrong

On another subject, I read last week about the glass ceiling (again).  Further evidence for this was thrown up by some statistics that showed men and women being equally paced up the corporate ladder in their twenties and thirties, but after that, women get left behind.  The article did acknowledge this was the age when many women have babies, and it even acknowledged that many of those then decided either not to work, or took less 'pressurised' jobs and chose not to continue their thrust to the top....but still decided that this was categoric evidence of the glass ceiling.  I don't deny that in some places there is a glass ceiling and equally I'm the first to acknowledge that I'm not best placed to make a judgement as I've always worked in an industry where women reach the top, but it does strike me that 'glass ceiling' is entirely the wrong descriptor, if women decide to put family ahead of work. That seems to me to be a lifestyle choice...and a very good one at that....it's just as challenging bringing up children and making a household work as it is working in the corporate environment.  But infinitely more emotionally rewarding.  They do say nobody goes to their grave wishing they spent more time in the office, but I bet they do go to their grave wishing they'd spent more time with their family.

The Office Mother brought Baby Boy in yesterday.  My word he has grown and grown and grown. And he's very attentive and smiley too.  Lovely lad indeed.  He was off to his first swimming lesson at the tender age of just five months.  I'd like to show you a photograph.  But cameras are banned. Yes, in the current climate where everyone is suspected of being a latent paedophile, photography of babies is a big no no.  Of course, it doesn't matter so much to you or me, but for the parents, this is one of those magic moments they would like to treasure and remember...it's a first...and they cannot.  I do feel that somewhere something has gone terribly, terribly wrong with our society.