I got a bicycle repair kit and watched a youtube video and thought, 'How hard can it be??' and then I tried to take it apart and like so much glitter off a unicorn's tail, everything dissolved magically into the wind. Pieces. Just pieces everywhere. I successfully managed to take out the old inner tubes and put in the new (using a tire lever took two more youtube videos) but the reassembly has simply proved too much. I eventually got so frustrated I just crammed the tires back on - forcefully, too angry for anything like a gentle touch, no, no, this bicycle needed a safe word - and then went about chasing down every nut and bolt I could find littering the pavement and wrenched them onto wherever I could find a nut and bolt hole. While it's all *technically* in one piece now, everything is sort of . . . crooked. Like it wants to be sobbing in the shower, like it will need therapy to feel whole again. Also the brake pads are hanging out all footloose and fancy free, and those seem like a piece that SHOULD be secure. The only solution I can possibly think of now is to throw the whole thing in the bin and call it a day. I'm sure it will thank me for it.
We did have ONE tire success today! We at last got a replacement for the chipped death trap. So we can safely make our return drive to Engrand this weekend.
Tonight we are having yet more foie gras for supper (I have a jar, it is open, it is going on everything) and a glass of barrel juice has been poured. It's a quiet one, perfect for one of our last nights here.
Big hugs,
Essss
Tyre replacement? Why, that is one of my specialities. And don't worry to much about the brakes. Just do it like we used to and jamb your shoe between the forks and the top of the front tire.
ReplyDeletehaha! You're right, brakes are a LUXURY. I'll put on my steel-toed boots now and give it a spin!
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