Kurang semangat

[thelawnet]

In other countries language often reflects cultural differences in terms of how people express themselves.

In Indonesia, the word 'no' is less popular, with 'belum' ('not yet') being preferred. 'Have you been to Bucharest?' 'Not yet'

Similarly 'kurang' is 'less than' and can be used in such phrases as 'kurang cocok' ('less than suitable/compatible', i.e. 'totally and utterly unsuitable') or 'kurang semangat', where semangat means 'satisified' or 'happy'.

How was your ride today? 'Kurang semangat'. Not to say bad but not quite right.

I plotted a 50-odd mile route and went out in what seemed to be last week's warm sunshine. Except it was much cooler than expected. Kurang semangat. And then it started to drizzle slightly. A quick check on the weather forecast on my phone. No rain. Ok fine.

I had decided to take the slightly shorter main road route but immediately regretted it as it was cars all the way, even with a 40mph speed limit it's not great. After getting onto the lanes the lakes I had passed last week did not seem quite as nice as they did then without the same bright sunshine.

I quickly decided that it was not good and I would cut short my route by 10 miles or so, so I stopped on the side of the road to check my GPS. But no phone signal for the maps, so I fiddled with the airplane mode to try to get it to work, but no dice. I set off again without realising I'd broken my GPS connection so had to fiddle with that on the road for several miles. Eventually I decided that coffee & cake was the thing.

I stopped in a garden centre, but my scone was burnt. Kurang semangat. Ok, time to go home. I headed up the same hill I had gone back on a group ride last week. It ascends, descends, then ascends again. Last week I was with a slower group of riders and had made my way with them ponderously up the first (6%) hill before amusing myself by attacking the second part (8%). Today I didn't have the excuse of being sociable, it was just me, so I had to do both sections of hill without the luxury of waiting for people to catch up. Any delusions about my ability to attack the second bit without the rest in between was quickly dispelled.

Nearing home a couple of cyclists passed me, so I sped up a bit. There was a road closure so I thought 'I will cleverly take this short cut, rather than cycle through the mud'. However I went the wrong way and ended up getting slightly lost. Oh and I managed to put airplane mode on again so had to fiddle about a bit more to wake everything up.

At any rate about 50 yards from home I got a glimpse of the full moon through the trees. Apparently it is the biggest full moon of 2019. So that was nice.