My sister and I went for a bike ride yesterday, as finally the weather had cleared up a bit (now it's going to rain again, I think). I wanted to have another shot at photographing some orchids. We went round via the stream which had risen a fair bit after the rains. Camera in one hand, pulling the bike with the other and vaguely hoping my trousers wouldn't get wet, I waded across. I'd misjudged the current. The bike was swept off its feet and I was stuck in the middle of the stream, holding my camera as far in the air as possible, and desperately clinging onto the bike which, at every moment, seemed to be about to travel off downstream. To make matters worse, my (cheap) flipflops had both become unstuck and as I didn't particularly want to lose those either, I couldn't move.

Thankfully, my sister was on hand. I shouted for her not to bring her bike across, and then handed her my camera which she took to safety. I was then free to wrestle with the bike which I managed to drag to the other bank. By now I was soaked up to the hips and a fair bit on my arms as well. I went back for my camera, took it to the other side, and then brought my sister's bike across too.

One good thing about being all wet, I suppose, is that it didn't make a difference if I sat down in the mud which had appeared over night around where the orchids grew. But we were both pretty cold when we got home! Although now I come to think of it, my sister was wearing a dress...why couldn't she have held it above the water?