Wednesday 13 November 2013

DOH!

So there I was, merrily peddling home, singing along to some song.

I was just hitting the second hill of the ride home, changing gear when CLUNK.

Yep, I knew straight away.

The cable had snapped.

The rest of the journey was done in the lowest set of gears, legs whizzing around while I crawled along.  Luckily a fair bit of the trip is on a downward slope, so I could freewheel some of it.

Too dark to repair it when I got home, but should have enough time in the morning....



Morning came.

I looked at the situation.

Poop.  Clearly not repairable without a new cable.  Time for Plan B - Number One Son's bike!

As soon as I set off it did not feel right.

I hit a bump and felt the rear wheel rim hit the road.

A FLAT!!!!!!!

Well gosh darn it!!!!!!

OK, those are not my exact words.  Feel free to imagine the words I used and then make them much worse....

Back at home, stripping off my rucksack and cycling jacket - time for the last resort - the BUS!!!!

Quickly re-equipped, I headed to the bus stop.

Now the road by the stop is an utter mess, a thin road repeatedly smashed by the buses and poorly repaired by the council.  Guess what?

They were repairing it again, meaning the buses were being rerouted.

I found the new route after a short walk and waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Eventually it arrived, so I hopped on.

The bus crawled along.

A young mother got on with a total brat of a kid, who proceeded to have a massive tantrum for the next 45 minutes.

Wonderful.

I took out my notebook and, trying to blot out the sound of screaming child, wrote another scene for my zombie book.  Somehow I did not include young mothers and brats in the scene - aren't I good?

Tried to phone work to let them know I was going to be late, but the network was up the creak and I did not get through until I was already half an hour late.  Ho hum.

Playing catch up after a crappy journey - my favourite way to spend a morning.

Nearly there - doing this while the copier does my work for me!

Have a better morning than me!

6 comments:

ShadowRun300 said...

Ugh! I hate those kind of mornings! Always seems like when it rains it pours. Hubby makes fun of me for leaving 1 1/2 hours before my scheduled shift, but with a 50 mile commute, I want to be prepared for anything. Most times I'm WAY early, but on the rare occasion something goes wrong, I have extra time to spare.
Hopefully the rest of your day has improved. If not, a big bowl of ice cream at the end of the day will make you feel better. I know this for a fact.

Abby said...

Like you, I have plan B and plan C and plan D in case something goes awry with plan A. I think you deserve a raise for your perseverance in getting to work. In the real zombie apocalypse, I want you in my camp.

agg79 said...

Wow. Definitely a sign that today is NOT your day. One might assume that the gods are not smiling upon you today. After the second sign (flat), I would have probably called it a day and stayed home. Kudos for your perseverance. I hope that things turn out better for the trip home (or at least you don't get the same mom/ toddler combination.

terri said...

That is a rough start to the day. You seem to have maintained a pretty good sense of humor about the whole thing, so I commend you for that.

Riot Kitty said...

That sucks! Although you did make me laugh when you wrote, "Poop" as an expression of dismay.

Anita said...

Yep... Comparing Abby's bad day to yours, you get the prize for worst day. The baby having a tantrum solidified it.

I'm glad that day is over for you. :)