If you want to ride fast in a group make sure you know and trust the other people in the group
If you come off at high speed don’t put your arm out to stop your contact with the tarmac – you’ll break your wrist, elbow and collar bone
Take up a martial art to learn how to breakfall – when you do stack it on the road you might not get quite so bashed around if you know how to hit the ground properly
It will still hurt
If you travel on business, the martial art that you learned to make it hurt less when you fall off your bike will also help stop you getting mugged
Also, if you travel a lot, or ride a bike or go into the hills for that matter, wear an ID bracelet with your name and your partner’s name and phone number on it
Look after your feet on long walks and always carry dry socks
Prep for your meeting 48 hours before you have to leave
Be sceptical of famous business people, especially ones who wear black turtle necks and lower their voices by an octave
Invest in decent shoes and never wear brown ones with a suit and never wear ones with pointy toes at all
Ernest Shackleton, Eddy Merckx and Muhammed Ali are proper heroes
Energy is the same thing as mass times the speed of light squared
Wear eye protection if you use a strimmer
Denmark can be cold in March
People rarely live or work as individuals
Nobody changes jobs for money
You are a lot more able than you think
Velazquez was a sublime painter but turned into an appalling social climber
Liberal democracy and the rule of law is a thing worth fighting for
It can be hot on the Golan Heights in July
Sunburn is bad
The best drink is beer, and the best beer comes from Belgium
A weekend in Barcelona is never a wasted weekend
The National Gallery in London is free
So is the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford
In the unlikely event you’re a trained clinical psychologist I genuinely value your insight into people’s characters and motivation – if you are not a clinical psychologist you’re probably guessing
You can tell a lot about a British town from the state of its football team
Dutch railways rarely take credit cards
The Louvre is not free
Family matters
If you think your boss is psychotic, he or she probably is
That doesn’t make you right though
A light-year is a unit of distance not time
My French improves in direct proportion to the amount of beer I have consumed
It is worth paying more for the extra legroom seat on EasyJet
Evening EasyJet flights are frequently late
Rail is a nicer way to travel than air
New York is America’s best city
The most beautiful view in the world that isn’t in Scotland is from Muley’s Lookout
Egyptian food is wonderful
Most people are quite nice
Dogs are a good thing
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Posted on: 8th April 2019 by Ivor Campbell
Into his fourth decade of search Ivor has a voice with stories to tell, observations to make and the odd picture to share. Mostly related to the day job.