Category: Bike

Damnit. I was just about getting into the work. Just about. Words weren’t exactly ‘flowing’, but they were kind of plodding. It wasn’t great, but it was okay. And then I looked at the time. I looked at the time and thought, ‘ack, I wonder if all my bike gear’s still around’. So I went, and I looked, and yes, there it was. But since I’d stopped working I thought I’d go and check the ‘zeds brake. Still okay. Okay, but while I’m the garage I should get together stuff to take… that’ll be… uh, a spark plug spanner then.

Oh, and a spare plug.

Oh, and the D-Lock. Crap though it is.

Oh, and where’s my bike helmet?

Riiiight. That’s everything all together in the one place.

Hrm. But now it’s only half an hour ’til I’m intending to leave. Balls. Too late to really get any work in. I’d forgotten how much I loved riding the bike. And it’s all coming back to me. I’m ridiculously over excited. At the same time I need to be really careful. First up, the bike’s equiped with delightful Chen Shin tyres. Not the Chin Hung that nearly killed me. Some people say these tyres are ‘okay’. I’m willing to give them a test, since they’re on there. First sign of teflon’d mahogany like grip and they’re gone (potentially so am I. But we’ll see). And second up – coming to bat now is Kate hasn’t ridden a bike for months. Lots of months. More than 6. Again. I’d only just started to get back into the swing of things with the last bike.

So, excited though I am, I must take care, oh, and go and have a second quick look at the iffy fork and check it’s not leaking.

Wish me luck, I need this bike to pass.

Because, right, they’ve made the MOT test in the UK all computerised right, which means that it’s all done by computers which is Brilliant. Right. And that means that when the computer network goes down. They can’t do any tests. Which is Brilliant! Aren’t computers Brilliant. So I can’t do my bike’s MOT test today because all the test places are saying the network’s gone down. Isn’t that Brilliant….

[end of fast show reference]

So, it’s morning. I’ve had breakfast, watched Azumanga Daioh, had a shower and managed to check my bike’s brakes (spongy, but better. Added more fluid. Better still, still spongy though. Hopefully passable. I can now not pull them back to the bar). And I started to think about work. Grabbed breakfast bowl/mug/cafetiere, headed down the stairs and my ankle randomly and without warning gave way.

I managed to save myself, and all the breakfast stuff except the spoon which did what I was expecting to do and skittered down the stairs.

So, rather gingerly made my way down the stairs, got my fresh cup of Raspberry and Loganberry tea (which fails the blue test (it’s purple, like *all* fruit teas)) and decide to nip off and cut my toenails (I realise this is excitement personified) – during which process I manage to snap the nail clipper. I mean, completely snap it. Like ‘plink-crunk’ – which left me feeling a little shocked – especially as I’ve no idea where a chunk of it has gone.

Then while scooping up the bits of broken nail clipper, I sneezed, scrabbling for a tissue I did think… what on earth is going on today. Did I hit the ‘clumsy + chaotic’ button on my alarm clock? Feh.

Anyway. I need to book an MOT (place opens in about 30 mins, I think); and then write like a demon. Although I am exhausted, which I blame on everyone else keeping me up late.

I’m shattered. I’ve done some research for the 2k word essay despite falling asleep while trying to read some of the papers I’ve got. So yeah. I’ve won an auction for a bit that I need to fix Cherry but I’m waiting for the bloke to e-mail me back to say whether he can supply the rest of the bits. I can’t see the wing mirrors that came off Claire anywhere, so I’ll have to have a proper hunt. Hopefully though, I’ll get her back on the road next week…

Blah. Really. I just feel completely done in and want to sleep. Lots.

I went swimming this morning though, with Nikki, Lorna and Onne; Nikki, Onne and I forming the world’s worst synchronised swimming team under Lorna’s careful direction; and Nikki learning to do Butterfly stroke (very impressive, if somewhat more splashy than the rest of her strokes).

Then Lorna headed off and we went back and produced a roast dinner. Sadly, the Yorkshire’s were made with gluten free flour (a mistake, but it was all we had), but the rest of it went really well. We then played Mashed, Auto Modellista, and some racing game that I can’t remember the name of, but discovered that if you set the damage to ‘simulation’ instead of ‘cosmetic’ I actually have a hope of winning – or at least, not embarassing myself quite as badly as I did yesterday…

But the poot. The poot is because I saw someone interesting on LJ, in a community, either queer Toronto, canadian lesbian, or whatever; and I thought ‘ooh, I will keep their page open and I shall look…’, only I closed it and now can’t find their post. So poot. And the house is going for insaneoheat. I wish it’d make it’s mind up.

My god, I’ve actually updated the bikes page. No, really, I have. Go meet Cherry (who I keep typing as Cheery which is actually how she got her name (“Chirpy chirpy cheep cheap cheery cherry”) (or something)).

The picture of Cherry is, incidentally, very flattering. And yes, I realise that for reasons which are not entirely apparent to me I’ve managed to call all my bikes names beginning with C.

Err. I appear to have aquired another motorcycle. Um. Yes.

Cherry, I think, from our first meeting. A Red 1996 Kanuni MZ ETZ 251. Err. Yes. She runs, and is complete, which are definately the best things about her. The layer of surface corrosion is less attractive, the rattly top end isn’t brilliant, but she’s got lots of bits, so there should be two good ETZs, and she’s pretty much ridable; I just need to put a battery in, put a new fork-seal in and a new speedo cable, she should then be fit for an MOT :-)

Shiny* :-)

*Shiny as in the firefly / serenity, not shiny as in shiny, ‘cos that she ain’t.