The beginning of the end of the bit before the beginning

"Fear has its use, but cowardice has none"

(Mahatma Gandhi)

Yesterday I received confirmation from Tower Hamlets that I can take a week of annual leave at the start of my placement there. The significance of this?...

... I now have no reason not to go. This is quite terrifying. Yes I've still got a lot to do, not least of these is a major part of the MSc summer project, but the thing is there is now no obstacle other than my own cowardice to stop me going. As if to drive this home a package arrived today from wiggle. This had front and rear racks for the bike and a new cycle computer. The old one, which had accompanied me all the way to Edinburgh and Land's End and round London over the last year, was removed from my bike a few weeks ago by some entrepreneurial spirit on the Holloway road.

So here I am with a green light to go, lots of equipment (the subject of a future post no doubt) and a sleeping cycle computer with 00000km on the clock,

...but no plane tickets.

So what did I do? I chickened out and bought travel insurance instead. I did actually look up flights (and interestingly found out that a return flight to Windhoek is cheaper than a single! How does that work?) there were still plenty of seats available. Luckily I found some excuse for myself about needing to check airline cycle policies and cargo procedures, which should delay me having to take the leap until at least tomorrow. Pheew! Then I will (probably) buy them for sure.

SPOILER ALERT!
If you're reading this it's because I've actually bought the tickets since I've promised myself that this blog stays private until tickets are bought and is deleted in it's entirety if I end up bottling it.