Here's mud in your eye!

Le Blaireau (Bernard Hinault)

My back is out... thrown out... pain... owww...
Happened during the making of dinner, which was stuffed mackerel, served over a parmesan polenta and provencal tomato sauce... food was good, but am now out of service....

fuck.

On better news, the weather promises to continue being shitty, all through the weekend. Consistent day temperatures of 6 or 7 degrees, coupled with showers. Why does this fill me with glee? (besides the obvious reason that it comforts my staying at home) It's because this Sunday is the legendary Paris-Roubaix bike race, legendary for being one of the more horrible and difficult bike races. Horrific climatic conditions coupled with riding bumpily on cobble stones for a good latter portion of the race make for lumpy stories some geezer tells by the fireside. I had the good fortune to be in Roubaix for the finish last year, but it was a sunny mudless race, and therefore, less impressive. This year, though, we can guarantee that there will be many "terrible chute!" and muddied faces arriving on the finish line. Cold, rain, mud, slippery cobbles, pain, horror, the horror, l'enfer du Nord (The Hell of the North)... and at the end, one chevalier to stand tall after the crossing of the line on the Velodrome. As if going to Roubaix wasn't bad enough already.