Monday, 16 June 2014

On a very bad day for Floria die Fleddermoose and a very evocative Aussie-ism

Last Friday, I picked up Floria die Fleddermoose at the bike shop with her new back wheel.  It wasn't cheap. I took her home riding on Leonardo. It wasn't an easy task. I locked Floria to her usual sign post and hauled Leonardo indoors.

As the forecast called for rain that evening, I "wimped" out and took the Metro to a friend's house for an evening of wargaming. I returned home very late and got up very late. After a prolonged bit of mucking around, I assembled my gym kit, and went down to use Floria to get to my gym to lift weights.

The seat and seat post were missing.

Some S.O.B. had stolen the saddle.

An S.O.B. with an Allen key.

WTF?!

I am very upset about this.  I have been living in this neighbourhood for going 16 years and have left my bikes out on a regular basis with only one issue of theft (viz a milk crate).  Hell, a few occasions, I accidentally left bikes out unlocked and found them still there in the morning.  To have a seat stolen with an Allen key really makes me paranoid, which in turns upsets me.

My neighbourhood isn't the best of neighbourhoods.  At one point, someone across the street was selling drugs.  I actually viewed this as a plus as he was always sitting on his stoop which meant his presence probably discouraged casual theft!  A former neighbour told me that there was a bunch of ex-cons living at one end of my street.  As they didn't want trouble (partially in case they might be accused of any misdeeds), they made a point of keeping an eye on things. where they lived.  I used to have the feeling that my neighbours were relatively trustworthy.

Now I don't.

Thankfully, I have a number of spare bike saddles on hand owing to my pack rat nature. I "only" had to fork over for a new seat post.

A very evocative Aussie expression
  
The Aussies are well known for some of their "colourful"  terms, but this one rather tickles my funnybone:

"Budgie smugglers - tight-fitting skimpy swimming trunks"

Courtsey of the BBC.

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