Sunday, February 04, 2007

Fixing stuff

Well living up here in the Top end can guarantee one thing above all else. Your stuff won't last half as long as it does down south. I'm sure there must be a breakage / rottage probability factor that increases the closer you get to the tropics.
This weekend we discovered that the rear wheel bearings on the car are about to seize, the chipboard cabinet that our extremely heavy TV sits on has buckled and is at the point of collapse after one too many years in the humidity, our DVD player will only play when it feels like it and the horizontal beams on our fence have been consumed by termites.
So today we started fixing the TV cabinet and I had a go at repairing a couple of my bikes. As usual I tried doing everything at once and ended up in a huge mess, I was just about to ride my bike to the tip for some materials when the sky opened up and down came the rain. That's Darwin for ya!
In past years I'd found that all my good quality work boots had lost their soles to some kind of parasitic rubber eating bacteria! I have finally given in to the fact; the only footwear that can meet the high demands of a tropical environment is the humble yet resilient thong. I'd always hated thongs until I came to Darwin. Back in Victoria I much preferred to go barefoot but up here we have killer germs that live in the soil and can enter the blood of innocent barefoot pedestrians and gardeners. It's a tough place for the unshod.

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Raleigh in need of repair

My list of urgent bike repairs is growing. My mule (carry anything bike) The Raleigh needs so much stuff I should probably get rid of it but it has a nice large frame and has been my most reliable transport for the past 6 years. I've decided to give it a new crank, new peddle arms, new wheels, brakes and maybe a new gear shifter(when I say new I mean working).
The shogun, my road bike, hasn't been ridden for about 3 years I need to grease all the bearings and lubricate the cables, it'll also need new handle bar tape. The new mountain bike I picked up from the tip needs a whole new crank, peddles and all and will also want new gear shifters and handle grips, and a gear service.

Yesterday I started fixing all this stuff and my lack of knowledge brought me to grief with more than one component but I will persist.



Tug boats

Two tugs in the sunset at Fort Hill Wharf

On Friday night I took the family out for dinner at Stokes hill wharf. It was a lovely cool night and the atmosphere was quite relaxing. I thought these tugs looked great with the sun setting behind them.

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