There many things in life that I don't really understand. In fact, as time goes by, I find that there are more and more things I don't understand. It was Bernard Lovell who (it is reported) said in recent years that we understood nothing. He was talking about the universe. My little conumdrums are somewhat more humdrum.
Today we have been to Wilton Shopping Village. This followed lunch at the Sticky Bun tea shop in the garden centre at Fordingbridge. The Sausages in Onion Gravy was just right for bank holiday Monday when it is wet and chilly.
Wilton Shopping Village has changed a lot since we were last there. At first sight it looked as though Pavers (shoe shop) had left. But they have in fact just moved into a different unit. When we went in, I was struck by the the notices on the wall. One of these said 'If you cannot see what you are looking for, please ask out staff'. I resisted the urge to ask where the Sellotape was. Then there was a pair of notices - a blue one reading 'Shoes for Him' and a red one reading 'Shoes for Her'. Since coming home, I have looked on Wikipedia (which does have some basis of fact) and have found that the ratio of male to female (human) population of the UK is 1.05:1. What this means is that in every 1000 births, you can expect that roughly 512 will be male and 488 female.
Of course, I am prepared to believe that there might be regional variations in this ratio. This is, for instance, the case in our household where the girls won 2-0. But I know of a compensating case where it was 2-0 the other way round and another case where the boys won 4-0. Overall, though it should be, apparently 512-488. But even allowing for regional variations (and the Wikipedia page gives a break-down by country) the ratio should not vary by much more than 1 or 2 percent. (I turns out that all over the world, in every country, the males win by a small margin.)
So here is the little mystery. Why was it that 'Shoes for Her' had about 70% of the floor space and 'Shoes for Him' had the other 30%? And in my experience, this seems to be the case in just about all shoe shops, and clothes shops. And on top of that, it seems that shops that cater specifically for ladies/men are in about the same proportion.
There are many mysteries like this. The standard cyclist's problem is why the wind is always in your face. Actually, this is easy. If you are going 20 mph into still air, you are effectively creating a 20 mph wind against you. So unless you are travelling in the same direction as the wind, and the wind is faster than you are, it feels as though you have a head wind. What was nice this morning was going up the hill in Haven Road where I was moving at about 12 mph and the wind was about 20 mph behind me. That will suit me fine if it happens on 13th Sept at the col de la faucile.
Also on the positive side, the new wheels are amazing. They feel about one gear better than the old ones. That is very good news. Just a short ride this morning, but I'm hoping to get a longer one tomorrow morning before we go out and become tourists - I hope this will be the pattern for the week.
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