michaelmas term

It's the Saturday before Full term, and so the roads in town are grid-locked. On most street corners there are groups of lost-looking students and family members either admiring the architecture or examining an upside-down city map. Unfortunately they tend to stop suddenly, so that people behind them slam into them, or decide to set off immediately without checking for cars or cyclists. And of course there are the new cyclists, rather lacking sense of direction and sense of balance, and also the sense of their brakes.

I nearly got run over by a cyclist yesterday. Well, wobbled over. It was a little like an old-fashioned comedy clip, Laurel and Hardy style - I had already stopped to let the cyclist past, and she was only going at about 3 mph. But for some reason she wobbled straight for me, and only by twisting round at the last moment did I avoid having tyre marks up the front of my coat.
Having avoided that, I then proceeded to be crushed in Sainsbury's, dodging backpacks and baskets. These days, I feel my blood pressure rising the moment I step across the threshold of Sainsbury's.

Start of a new academic year. Looks like it's time to stock up on the aspirin.