BIKE TROUBLES

I meant to include this in Friday’s entry, as this is when my bike betrayed me, but I got side-tracked by employment worries.

As I’m sure I’ve written about ad nauseum before, our main mode of transportation in Cambridge is by bicycle. At least, Ray and I cycle, and other people sit in their cars on the packed roads. It seems that it truly is more efficient to get about on bike than on four wheels, but I imagine once it starts to snow, or even get rainy and windy with any sort of conviction, I’ll envy those drivers in their heated cars.

In any case, my trusty steed of a bicycle failed me on Friday. I was walking with Ray and leading my bike when I heard an unmistakable “Pop!” followed by an even more unmistakable “fzzzzzzz….” and thus I had a flat tire. Wheeled my bike into the nearest shop (they are everywhere in Cambridge, due to the prevalence of bikes) and was told “That’ll be nine quid” for a new, inflated tire. Considering that my bike only cost £40, this is nearly ¼ of it’s value – I look at the investment as similar to installing a new transmission in a car. It could be worse…I could still HAVE a car in need of a new transmission.

So that you are reassured, my bike is once again back on its tires and I’m cycling madly all over the town. Until the next blowout, that is!