The cheeky God of Taxi cabs

On Sunday our neighbor arrived home in a taxi. I couldn’t help scoffing about how I would never use a taxi unless it was absolutely necessary and how pleased I have been that we have managed so well since our car was put off the road about three weeks ago. Sam isn’t so pleased! It’s been much more of a hindrance to her as she doesn’t feel safe riding at night and has had to forgo some of her activities because it would mean night riding. It’s so great not to be dependent on a car and most places people travel to or from in a taxi can be reached easily by bike.

So after enjoying my moral superiority for a while I went out in the yard with the dog and my mate and pottered around with the bikes, and enjoying the thought of my independence from the automobile trapped society.

We had an accident and wound up spending the afternoon at the hospital.
So just two hours after my sanctimonious speech about taxi’s and there I was riding in one for the first time since went to Melbourne last year and needed a ride to the airport. The Imortals were definitely with me on the weekend and did they have some fun! This coincidence had to have been some kind of divine practical joke!

Anyway when we got there the nurse practically saw us immediately, it was a dislocated elbow, she’d had these cases heaps of times and quickly sorted the problem with a click. As soon as she clicked it back in the pain was gone! Amazing! I still felt guilty but was so relieved. We then walked back to Lisa and Steve’s place where we spent the rest of the afternoon and were very grateful for the lift home.

I don’t know what the moral of this story is but I guess there are times when it is necessary to use a taxi. I then started figuring out the average cost of using taxis occasionally to the cost of keeping a car…. Still looking for a way to escape the automobile trap.

Oh and I had a good time on Saturday because I managed to fix the crank on my Clasic Cruiser. After scrounging a good set of bearings from our friend Chris and a chrome crank from a BMX left out for the cyclone cleanup I was very happy with the results.

Take a look.







Of course I didn't take the opportunity to clean up the paintwork which was obviously quite dirty when I did this job, and I'm not about to pull the whole thing apart so I can get back into those hard to reach places! The point is she rolls like a dream.

The old bearing cups had been seriously warn and the bearing cases bent so there was a constant grinding when I pedaled.