It's The Asking That Counts

It's come late in life but I have discovered the benefits of asking. Normally a shy retiring thing, I leave all that to Sally, or hold back and hope the other person will realise my need. It didn't have a high success rate and I looked like a wimp. English reserve I call it.

Now I have a better approach. It's one of the reasons for lone cycling, it forces you out of yourself. Actually, I really do it for the other person. They feel good having helped me. Like the lady on the Rue de Canal de Calais who let me camp in her garden even though she and her husband weren't going to be home that night and left me the keys to lock up.

Or the farmer lady near Arras who badgered her husband to let me camp in a corner of their field.Or the lady at the campsite that sold be two of her beers when all the shops were closed for a religious holiday.

I am just glad that I was able to make so many people happy. What a hero.