A sliver of glass in my new — ten-day old — rear tyre got the day off to a bad start. Rain and punctures, punctures and rain. I thought I could pump it up enough to ride up the road to the shop, but managed to tear the valve off the tube in the process. Walk the bike up to the Trek shop on Bridge road to grab some tubes — with no spare I’ve been riding on borrowed time. The shop doesn’t open until 09.30 am, so I get to walk back home again. I’ll know better next time!
Back up the stairs, get changed, grab the keys to motorbike and car and down into the garage to try and start the bike. The battery is going flat, so that doesn’t work, jump start it from the car, whose key I had thoughtfully brought with me. A cloud of smoke at last, and I’m finally on my way.
Nearly at work, only one set of lights to go, the corner of Ferntree Gully road and Gardiner road and what’s this, two motorists have driven into each other — again. One turning right across the front of the other — again. Two ambulances, a fire truck, the police divvy van and a highway patrol car, flashing lights all around.
Finally get to work, it barely seems worth the effort! Time to go and sit in Cinque Lire, get a coffee and get my breath back.
King Kong is playing on the TV on the wall, Fay Wraye passed away this week. Some students behind me are avoiding their assignment by trying to calculate the mass of the monkey. Looking about I see half a dozen students studying, interestingly, half of them seem to be using their mobile phones as calculators. The mobile phone is turning into the PDA. Me, I’m avoiding work, my personal development portfolio is due this afternoon and I’ve done so far is read about it and felt my eyes glaze over at the bureaucratic wordage.
