Doctor's orders - a cocktail of drugs, and get back on your bike

More attentive readers may have observed me banging on in my Twitter feed about how sick I am, how I'm now in my third week of having a cold and generally whingeing about not being on my bike.

You know how men are alleged never to visit the doctor? Well, that felt like a challenge to me, so I decided that I would buck current trends and go and see one, and at the very least have a good moan about my everlasting cold.

Drugs smorgasbord

I went to see the good doctor yesterday. He did some good work with his stethascope and quickly surmised that in spite of my fears, the infection had not spread to my chest. Relief. But was it OK to have a horrible cough and a miserably runny nose for weeks on end? Oh yes, a virus can be with you for weeks - nothing abnormal about that. So what can I do about it? Well, here was the surprising bit.

He said - don't do what a doctor says, but what he does. When he has a virus like that he takes:

- two paracetamol
- two ibuprofen
- one sudafed

Remember folks - I'm a blogger not a doctor!

all at the same time, every four hours! My God, I feel vaguely guilty about taking two paracetamol when I have a headache - God knows what this cocktail of drugs will do!

Wow. What about wine. Can I drink wine?

Oh yes - no problem there.

And (of most pertinence to this blog, of course) - should I be on my bike? And here was his best answer:

"Listen to your body". If it makes you feel tired and horrid, don't. If you feel good, go for it.

Result!

I came away from the surgery reeling a bit as I'd never have expected any of those things. I stocked up on the necessary drugs, went home, took some, drank wine. Slept better than I have for weeks. Got on my bike this morning and had a lovely, leisurely ride through London on a glorious sunny day.  Amazing how some positive advice from a doctor can transform you.

I'm sure many of you have doubts about the wisdom of this advice - but it seems to be working so far.

Any thoughts out there about when not to bike - for medical reasons - or indeed, strange things doctors have told you to do?

Felt a bit blocked ... now free???

I have been cycling quite a lot and had a lovely ride in this morning. Cold, fresh, very little traffic on the streets - something to do with half term. But I have been a bit reluctant to write. I've realised that it's because I've put a few people on the email distribution list for this blog - and I now see that I've been worried about clogging up people's email with my ramblings. So from now on I'm only going to email updates on this blog to people who ask - not to anyone I think may be interested.

It also allows me to bang on as usual and feel that I'm not causing inconvenience on email - and if people don't like the blog, they at least have the chance of leaving.

I've been trying out my new "helmet cam" - it takes good video. My next challenge is to take out clips rather than put 3.1 gigs on the blog (!) and bore you senseless with the whole journey. So - look out for clips.

Is this lazy or a clever way of using social media tools? Discuss

I'm really busy at work ("Thank the Lord, he won't be blogging so much about stupid things like airing cupboards" is your relieved cry) so haven't had any head space (don't you hate that expression?) to think about blogs.

So - what do you think is important on our roads? I've got quite a few things swirling around my head that I'd like to blog about - how to say sorry, how to spot a celeb, the art of seeing old friends as you cyle, new ideas for lighting on bikes, how to cope with the cold, motorbikes in bike lanes ... and a host of other things. But perhaps these are not the things which bother/interest you.

Tell me your worries, moans, moments of joy ... or I'll get back to my agenda.

Couple of odd observations from this morning's ride ... bird noises and invisibility

A bird-bike

There is a bird which produces exactly the same noise as my bike makes when it's a bit unhappy about changing gears. Kind of grinding, whirring, whining, rasping, shrilling, scraping. I noticed a bird making the identical sound. In Notting Hill Gate somewhere. Spooky.

Assume invisibility

Thought it would be worth writing a longer piece ("Oh God", I hear you cry, "No") about how to start cycling in London and keep safe. My first rule would be to assume that you're wearing a kind of Harry Potter Invisibility Cloak. Assume no-one can see you, even if you're wearing two dozen lights, a full body suit of luminous lycra and you're sounding every horn and bell at once. It's safer that way. I wonder if anyone else has a "top rule" which I could shamelessly steal and add to this blog?