The Greater San Fransisco Area

Continuing my quest to travel the world.

It has been my quest to cycle around the world for a very long time, although I have ticked off 16 countries to date, I still haven't achieved the ultimate goal of cycling the world. I cannot wait any longer for the conditions to be perfect, age is catching up with me, so it is now or never.

picture drawn by Jim my Step - Father on our trip across Australia

picture drawn by Jim my Step - Father on our trip across Australia
After our trip to Vietnam in 2012.

Monday 17 October 2011

Retail Therapy

I've just put on my new saddle. No, don't get me wrong, I'm not some mechanical superwomen, but I do TRY to do things myself. I got on it and,my God, I thought i was sitting on a brick! Yes, it's a female anatomical one with a lovely hole in it, and compared to Niel's saddles it looks like a comfy armchair. My old one was ripped and torn, but at least I did feel like my favourite corner of the sofa. Now I look at this lovely saddle and inwardly groan at the hundreds of kilometres it's going to take to break it in. I'm glad I got it now and not weeks before we leave.

New Saddle

Am I the only female in the world who hates spending money?? I take great pride in the fact that I have T shirts older than one of my work mates. I make things last and last, however they've got to die some time and unfortunately this year seems to a year of things needing replacing. New carpet and curtains in our flat, the vacumm cleaner blew up, the fridge / freezer was no longer fixable. Our tent is completely worn out. How do you wear out a tent? the tabs the pegs go through are tearing away from the main tent - yes they had been professionally repaired. The sleeve the tent poles slide through have been torn, sewn together, retorn, resewed, and it's all disintergrating. It's no longer waterproof, and the zip keeps catching - very irritating when you want to get in or out in a hurry - yes it is worn out. I'm sure we can find a use for it somehow.

Niel's gloves have lasted and lasted past there due by date.
So unfortunately we've had to spend some money. I have another work mate who loves shopping. It's her sport and hobby. She even loves window shopping. Niel and I went window shopping for a new fridge / freezer - it took weeks. After 2 shops - I had had enough. Then we had to compare notes and have another look, two shops is my maximum before I feel like I'm going stark raving crazy. I'd rather spend less and work less. Am I alone in this attitude?

We've also had to buy new pannier bags for the bikes. It's no longer affordable to take a bike and trailer on the airlines, as I've mentioned before - only 1 peice of luggage now. A bike bag stuffed with panniers works, a bike and trailer doesn't.

Niel was hilarious this week. Two girls leaned out of a car and yelled "nice bum" at him. God, you'd think he was 30 not 50, the way he was preening [...just kidding Niel]. My boss say's he can always recognise me when I'm cycling, by my bum, and I don't think he is being complimentary.

Is Niel's bum that great??


Is my bum that bad??

We were out on our weekly long ride [108 kms this week], and I have to admit all the orchards were in full bloom and very beautiful, when I got a puncture. I had a brand new puncture repair kit - still unopened. You know as you get older - things appear smaller? Well this repair kit had a tiny tube of glue and only 4 patches. 4 patches!! I'm sure they used to have a bigger tube of glue and heaps of patches. Well I used one to fix it, I didn't wait long enough to let the glue dry and the patch lifted. Patched it again, and the spare tube had a hole in it, I fixed that and I'm left with one patch. New repair kit and 1 patch left. Does that seem like value for money to you? It doesn't to me.

Apple Orchards in full bloom

I suppose that's one of the reasons I hate buying things. Some people buy things because the 'retail therapy' gives them a lift. Buying things just seems to dissappoint me, so I prefer not to do it, until I absolutely have to.

1 comment:

  1. Keep your blogs coming Adi. I enjoy reading your musings. Jane

    ReplyDelete