Bank Holiday Monday today and roads a lot quieter than usual (even than the weekend, which is strange). Today is the last day (of 8) of the Manx GP, which seems to be some sort of a mini-TT. Only one week, more practice days than racing days and road closures in the evening for the most part. I guess it is normally pretty busy with it being in the school holidays, but no. Definitely a lot quieter and a lot less visitors.
For the most part, the entrants seem to a step-down too,. Yesterday I saw an interview with a guy who was getting his entry in for next year - and he was saying that he had competed in the Southern 100 (down our way) and now wanted to go up a level and try the GP. Asked if he would consider the TT, he said "no way" - the GP was as far as his ambition went. Now as it is the execact same course for the TT and the GP, that seems to indicate a difference in level of competition (speed?). To the unskilled eye, there do seem to be more "classic" and small bike events in the GP - and certainly less laps in the "majors".
As it is, the whole exercise has been in vain, as the weather has intervened almost every day - and even impacted the (undocumented) contingency periods. Today (Bank Holiday Monday) is the final day - and it has started pretty dull down her in Castletown, so what it is like on the mountain part orf the course, I hate to think. We are not alone in our weather though, as the UK has been experiencing storms and the ferries have been delayed due to high winds, seas and berthing issues at both ends of the (non-existent) sailings.
As I may have mentioned before, the weather here is ever-changeable, so even on a day when racing has ended up cancelled, there have still been beautiful sunny periods (ok, sandwiched between the winds and showers).
For an (as yet) unfathomable reason, the hospice where G is working as a volunteer (and which is inside the TT course) had cancelled activities last week (despite the course closures being from 1800, and even cencelled events this week - and the ones in Port Erin too (siting difficulty for staff to attend). Shades of paid staff at Cudeca methinks, as unluess they suddenly extend the GP to this week, I cannot see a justification.
On the electrical front, we had a visit from the site electrician early in the week. Nice guy who proved an interesting source of information (and potential skills for the future). He was as much at a loss about the cause of the problem as I had been, but changed the switch as it was the only logical point of failure. (and, as I suspected, the switch is not actually trippable, so the mystery deepened). Good news is the microwave now works (is there a fingers-crossed emoji I should be using?)
Ah, and I had my annual MOT with the nurse at the local practice. Seems my cunning plan of having tests and suchlike on a Friday (after 4 days of dieting) might have backfired, as the doctor is thinking I might not be diabetic, but pre-diabetic!! Next time I will get a blood sample on a Monday morning and let them find the excess alcohol, cheese and chocolate in my system). I guess it is good in some ways as it shows that diet is the best control. She had one caveat and that was that I was low on HDL cholesterol (oily fish) - a pretty rare event in a place famous for its kippers, but at least a very palatable solution (for me, not G, as she hates the smell).
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