This morning, going up the steep hill out of the house I couldn’t get her to stay in bottom gear which is a real shame as it’s a big hill and at that hour I am cold and asleep. Eventually I gave up and settled for second to easiest and the weiner ring. Oh woe is me!
She was kind enough to play-up only moderately throughout the ups and downs of the Naramata roads and the KVR with all its undulations. Finally, though, at the end of the cemetery road, the gear shifter would work no more and the cable hung limply from its sheath. This left me only weiner ring, middle ring and dinner plate ring to play with. “Ladies and Gentlemen, please fasten your seatbelts, we are about to experience some turbulence”.
One has to make the most of the 40kph downhill into town at times like these.
Then, to top it all off, there were three of us on bikes at the lights outside work. All employees, all heading in the same direction. Testosterone laws took over and a sprint was on. We looked like the kids from “Byker Grove”. Brynt asked, “can’t you do better than that” as I just beat his mountain bike over the gate threshold.
I think I did quite well with my three gears really – considering.
So in the news this week: Ernest Alva (Smokey) Smith Canada’s last surviving recipient of the Victoria cross has passed away at age 91. He lay in state in Ottawa all last week and has now been returned to BC for a full military service in his home town of Vancouver. He single-handedly fought against German infantry and tanks in WW1 in Italy to defend his mate who was injured in the ditch next to him. True hero.
Two straight male buddies are going to get married under the new Canadian Gay-Marriage laws so that they can enjoy the tax breaks associated with marriage. Response is generally, “Good for them” for pointing out the legal loopholes in law but then what should married couples (gay or otherwise) have to go through to prove themselves before marriage? Love testing? What if these men then met the woman of their dreams and wanted to remarry? So a few gay people have been outraged and a few people are using it as an excuse as why gay marriage should never have been allowed and a lot of people are annoyed that they’re taking the piss out of marriage. One man said on the TV yesterday, “Anyone can marry anyone now” which made us laugh as we discussed the possibility of marrying your dog.
In ice hockey, they’re getting the rinks ready for this years NHL season (cancelled this year due to contract negotiations between the player’s union and the owners). The players are essentially the equivalent of UK Football stars – so not very bright. Proven by one chap last night that insisted that the machine they have produces “better molecules” for the ice that they’re making. Correct me if I’m wrong but I didn’t think you could go too wrong with a water molecule. Two parts hydrogen, one part oxygen. Bingo! Unless they have heavy ice or something? I dunno.
Ho hum. Off to the bike hospital.
jj said...
you killed the bike. bike killer.
Trepid Explorer said...