Every now and again I think you have to stand back and reassess your direction and make sure you are happy with where you are headed.Just as the financiers tell us that we all have to learn to live within our means and that the world economy has to readjust after 50yrs of greed, I have to sort out whats important to me and what is basically just silly wants or short term desires.
I did this a little while ago with regard to cycling. Making a shift to quality retro bikes as opposed to giving in to the ever constant temptations to buy yet another piece of cycle equipment guaranteed to reinvent the industry. Luckily for me retro is in at the moment. Much I'm sure to the disgust of the cycling industry as a whole. Since its so easy for people to pick up a classy steel fixie or road bike if you know where and what to look for. Of course better bike manufacturers can always make you one using traditional techniques for a price. I shifted to retro because I had a garage full of old parts that I thought would keep me happily pedalling for years. And it has always made me feel good to reuse something. Part of this feel good feeling I see now is due to the fact that more and more people out there can't fix things which makes me feel ever so self righteous.
I started to thumb my nose at the fuel companies by cycling , then to thumb my nose at the government with regard to the multiple taxes required to drive. I laughed at local bodies attempts to make money out of parking and other fines imposed on motorists. It was then inevitable that I would then thumb my nose at marketing companies trying to sell me the latest Toyota kid carrier. Or for that matter a bike company trying to sell me plastic or fibre bike components.
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| Steel Bikes Are In. But First get Someone Qualified to Check the Sizing. |
The retro man was born. My change in cycling style was a very gradual thing. As was the realisation that I have to focus more of my attentions on Potter's-End's up keep. Its a biggish place and at the rate that I am currently pottering, it will take forever to get on top of it. Something like the way we are bridging the gap between New Zealand's and Australia's productivity.
So from today and more specifically after our next cycle adventure. I will be fully committed to maintenance of home and the lifestyle associated with it. It will be the Good Life re-visited with quite a bit of cycling thrown in for good measure. Because how else do you get around when trying to live off the smell of an oily rag. The catalyst for this change in thought was waking up yesterday to the realisation that we had another pet at Potter's -End. I don't know whether Bob invited him in or whether he thought we didn't have a mouse in the house yet so why not. Anyway there he was blatantly eating biscuits and sipping water out of Bob's bowl! Potters-End's outer defence barriers have been breached and it's up to me to find out where.
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| I Don't Want Another Pet. |
The Global bike adventure is still on track. But there too there are subtle changes taking place that will ultimately determine the course of the adventure undertaken. Diane our lovely travel agent and Alex her partner are on their own adventure in the US. But when they come back in a few weeks time we will be sorting our visas and booking our tickets. The organisers of the Global bike race are deliberating as to whether having Adi following on the Vespa will proclude me from entering the adventure class of the race. So a back up plan is being drawn up late into the night down at Potter's -End. That way when Diane and Alex get back we will be on the drops head down bum up and it will be full speed ahead.
The time of indecision, like winter, is drawing to a close.
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