Mitigating?
At the stage of entering my teens, I used to love riding my bike. Really loved it. I started smoking around that time too and I'd ride about 7 miles every evening to enjoy a nice smoke in a pretty riverside spot. (cautious? moi?)

My all time best mate and I would ride all over on our bikes, and one day, after 'camping out' in his back garden, we decided to have a jaunt to a little village I know in the countryside. With nothing but a dozen smokes, 50p, and a bottle of squash we set off.

It was a glorious morning, we enjoyed the ride all the way to the quaint town, stopping only to fill our drinks bottles with spring water and to catch our breath on the beautiful Northumberland Cheviots. It was past lunchtime when we arrived at our destination, tired, thirsty, and hungry.

As our 50p was unlikely to go far, I proposed that my friend act as decoy by buying something from behind the counter of the Spar shop and I'd sort the rest. Browsing gingerly until the till-monkey was preoccupied, I adopted the technique, favoured by smackheads worldwide (not that I knew it then), of grab & bolt.

We feasted that afternoon by a burbling moorland stream in glorious sunshine. I think Jammie Dodgers, roasted peanuts, salt 'n' shake crips and Tizer were the dishes of the day.

***HOME TIME***** 18:01 14/01/08

It was a fucking long ride back. It pissed down. We didn't get back until about 7pm (left about 8am). We got fucking hammered by worried parents for going missing.

Didn't get caught for the shoplifting though.
The End

See y'all tomorrow.
Mitigating circumstance? We were fucking starving, 45 miles from home, on our own, and had no money!
(Greencloud Wanted to go fishing on, Mon 14 Jan 2008, 18:03, 3 replies)

Ah, the Cheviots
Very close to my anscestral seat, they are... In fact I can see them on my drive home from work. In the summer, obviously - it's a bit dark just now
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Tue 15 Jan 2008, 10:48, closed)

Luvverly
Since you know the area, I can reveal that we pedalled from West Newcastle to Rothbury via Cambo & Scots Gap, then home via Otterburn.

It's one of my favourite places for a jaunt (in the car, obviously. I'm not that daft anymore!)
(Greencloud Wanted to go fishing on, Tue 15 Jan 2008, 11:48, closed)

That's...
...quite a round trip there. Lovely part of the world though. My other half maintains that if you have to live in the UK, Northumberland isn't a bad place to be - coast or hills both no more than a 20 minute drive away.
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Tue 15 Jan 2008, 12:29, closed)