Hövding deployed, a birthday and a BBQ

Yesterday my Hövding helmet deployed the airbag and I wasn’t even on my bike at the time. The Hövding is an airbag helmet. You wear it around your neck and in the event of an accident while cycling, it deploys an airbag around your head. It’s got much higher shock-absorbing ability than a plastic helmet and has the added benefit of being around your neck rather than head which means you can cycle with your hair up or wear a beanie and also confuse the trolls who want to accuse you of not wearing a helmet.

I’ve had mine since 2015 and have never used it as I’ve never fallen off my bike or been in an accident. This is good because the Hövding is a single-use device. Once the airbag has been deployed it’s useless and you need to purchase another. This makes what happened yesterday all the more depressing.

I had cycled to the service station to get some wood for our fire pit. I chained up my bike and went into the shop but forgot to deactivate the helmet. When I went back out to unchain my bike I bent over the bike and must have done it in such a way that the Hövding thought I was falling off. I heard a bang and then a hiss and I didn’t know what was happening. I screamed. I thought I’d got an electric shock at first and then I thought I was being strangled because something suddenly felt tight around my neck. Eventually I realised what had happened and I quickly took the thing off my head and looked around sheepishly to see if anyone had been watching. Thankfully no one saw or heard anything as far as I could tell. I felt very silly and now I have no helmet.

I turned 47 yesterday and the additional year must be making me clumsy and forgetful because I also accidentally dropped my glasses when I was on my bike and then I cycled over them crushing them into bits.

We had a lovely BBQ last night to celebrate my new Britishness and insignificant birthday. A friend made me a cake with a Union Jack on it. Isn’t she clever?

The kids had a terrific time first on the trampoline then later playing a game called “Murder”. No children were harmed over the course of the evening.

Ben must be saying something very interesting here.

And I just love these fabulous ladies.

It was sunny, windy, rainy and cold. Eventually we had to retreat indoors.