Rainy weekend

As mentioned in an earlier post, the weekend's plans had revolved around outdoor activities. The foremost of these was a bike ride. It was Dana's birthday this week, and I got her a new bike. It's a pretty sweet bike, in a retro style and a lavender colour. It's an Electra Amsterdam original 3i

Dana's is pretty much as you see here, but it now has a wicker basket on the front for additional "cuteness". It's quite a contrast to the road bike that I ride!

The design has a dew advantages apart from the retro look, or at least according it marketing mumbo-jumbo. These include an enclosed gear system that can't get clogged up and doesn't need servicing regularly (apparently most do, which was news to me). The other is a pretty much completely enclosed chain, which means it lasts longer and you can't get your trousers dirty on it. 

The slightly more questionable benefits are the upright riding position, the big comfy seat and the forward positioning of the pedals, which contribute to a very cruisey ride. I don't know if that will be a benefit on a longer ride, but you can't help but smile when you ride it.

Unfortunately the cycling plans were ruined by Canberra's crazy ass weather. The middle of summer, and what happens? Around 100 mm of rain! It's a massively good thing for Canberra, which is as dry as a nun's nasty dessicated coconut most of the time. 

This is a drainage channel near where we live (we live in Braddon, the channel is in O'Connor). I go running (or walking) on the pathway next to it every morning. It's about 2m deep by about 4 wide across at the top. In this picture it is a gushing torrent!

The drainage channel meets up with a few others, and eventually pours into Lake Burley Griffin eventually. The Lake is artificial, created by Scriviner Dam (not sure of the spelling). There was so much water flowing into the Lake that they had to open the overspill on the dam, which looked pretty awesome.

The picture above (and all the rained out shots) were taken by a friend of mine on the weekend. It's usually dry as a bone on this side of the dam.

The rain also made for some awesome scenery.

It probably seems a little strange how much I'm going on about some rain, but we really don't get much of it in Canberra, and it's been a great thing.

It did mess with our plans for the weekend though. We found an excellent alternative - Season 13 of ER. People may diss this, but I have a real thing for it. I've got pretty much all the seasons that have been released yet (1-13) on my shelf. It's a guilty pleasure that I've taken a bit of flack for, but I care not. It's excellent.

In this season, Weaver has an unexpected career change, and the sassy ambo joins the staff as a doctor. Kovac and Abby have a baby! Pratt's brother comes out of the closet. It's all happening!