What’s been happening…

Right. Last thing I recall was Monday. Tuesday I didn’t bike into work, for reasons that somehow escape me now. But I did the rest of the week. Good little me.

Well, apart from today, when I developed a flat tire about 1/3 of the way there, had to abandon the bike at The Shop and bus the rest of the way in. Then, after a thoroughly awful day at work, back home, buy bicycle pump and helmet (see Mum, I do listen sometimes), pick up parcel from the post office (thanks Kate!), pick up cycle toolkit and puncture repair kit, bus back to The Shop and repair the tyre.

At first I couldn’t find the puncture; I even thought that it in fact was a slow puncture or the air had been let out of the tyres or something, and thought I’d be able to cycle home on it if I just pumped it up. But it was not to be. Fortunately the Denizens of The Shop didn’t stay long enough to see my failure at bike repairing!

So I had another go, and found the leak, right near the valve. What I also discovered was that the plastic strip that protects the tyre from the screws securing the spokes to the rim didn’t have its valve-hole line up with the rim’s valve-hole. This Was Bad. I didn’t think that the inner tube could possibly survive the brute force and ignorance required to get the valve through the valve-holes (and, on reflection, I think that the hole misalignment and the holes in the innertube may be related), but the tire lasted me all the way home, so I guess it worked, in the end…

By the end of it all I was sweaty and grimy enough to justify the after-work shower.

Work’s been a stone cold cow this week. Don’t know what it is exactly, but I’ve been stressed and hacked off pretty much every day. And I don’t think it’s particularly the workload, for once. Or even the early shift. Dunno. Just really annoyed and angry.

There have been external annoyances too – it turns out to be difficult to redeem a package sent to you that couldn’t be delivered because your letterbox is too small should you manage to lose the little card. I had it sent to the local post office, as I wasn’t going to be in for it to be delivered again (darn earlies!), but they wouldn’t accept ID, just the card. They told me that I had to phone the depot again and get them to send me another card. Of course, when I call the depot, they tell me that they never ever send out cards.

I am familiar with this situation.

However, the Post Office did in the end accept the small pile of identification I provided, and Damian’s present (cool Tshirt! Darren will love the books!) was eventually in my hand.

So naturally, I kept the card that came with Kate’s last parcel very safe indeed…

Very much looking forward to the weekend.