It's a pretty funny thing but I'm quite sure coincidences sometimes happen just to kick me in the ass. Just after I'd posted my great winge about how nobody reads my stuff yesterday, a couple of people mentioned they had been reading this blog and a friend emailed me to ask for the link! How embarrassing! None of them would have had time to have read my latest post and I suppose I still had time to delete my self-centred rant but I think I'll have to just bear the scorn! Besides it was a good exercise in introspective reflection that only a dose of the blues can inspire.
The Karma
This month I’ve cycled about 500km, mostly commuting to and from Palmerston and one big ride of about 130km around the harbour to Mandorah. I had to replace a perished tyre but pretty much without incident.
Then it happened. All my stuff broke! Seriously! Well maybe some things were spared but pretty much all of my favourite accessories fell apart!
I putt a couple of recharged batteries in my most excellent armband radio and when I turned it on got an earful of high-pitched static that felt like it blasted a hole clear through whatever lurks in the space between my ears! So then when I got to work I dropped my flash new LED headlamp on the ground while fishing around my panniers for the key to the mailbox! The cheap plastic fractured instantly flinging batteries and the damaged casing all over the place! Argh… Sweat dripping from my stressed forehead I picked up the pieces and shoved them back in the pannier with the rest of my mess. I then got changed and settled in to a pretty standard day at work forgetting about my recent misfortune. On the way home I noticed that the pannier was flopping around a bit, ‘I will definitely tighten that screw it’s been getting looser the past few days’. Then just as I hit the lip of the gutter while pulling into the drive way and the pannier bounced violently and the clip fell off! The screw must have fallen out on the road somewhere on the way home! What a day!
Yester day I rode to work without my radio and with the pannier swinging in the breeze, not ideal but manageable, had a reasonably productive day then prepared to head off for a class at Palmerston again. I stuffed all my junk back into the pannier threw on my sweaty shorts and singlet (pheww) slid on my riding slippers went outside to put some air in the tires. I clipped on my 15 + year old Cateye cycle computer and started riding, when I looked down I saw that the digital display was all skewed! It was unreadable! I don’t know what had happened but it kept showing half numbers and stuff like that, it was still accurate but it took all my powers of cryptology to interpret the reading.
Got to school, did that, managed to stick the LED headlamp back together, got on the bike and rode home in the dark. At the very end of my journey about five minutes from home I hit an unseen bump and my rear tyre blew out! Fair dinkum!
Tally for the first two days of the week.
50 km
Damage:
1 - radio (possibly never to work again)
1 - headlamp (integrity diminished but still working)
1 - pannier (screw lost, clip repairable, stability reduced)
1 - cycle computer (seems work now, possible glitch in the matrix or reaction to air-conditioning)
1 - tire (blown out not assessed due to fatigue and disinterest)
Now where does karma come into this? Well you see I am fairly messy, hate spending money and prone to rushing, so here’s my theory.
I used really old rechargeable batteries in the radio, I charged them way too long on an old charger. I reckon the malfunction had something to do with that.
I dropped my headlamp because it was just shoved into my pannier on top of all my other stuff and was rushing
I noticed the loose pannier screw two weeks ago but did nothing about it
No idea what happened to the cycle computer possibly punishment for some past stuff
Tyre blew out because I was rushing
There you have it Karma! On the other hand I could be the victim of bored or vengeful Greek or even Norse Gods who consider my life as fair game for their personal entertainment! Yeh that sounds quite plausible!
McArthur River Legal Challenge
The people of Borroloola's legal challenge has begun!
Please check out the McArthur River website and show your support for the people of Borroloola who are fighting to be heard above the din of our nations Greed!
Please post any constructive comments on articles that interest you they need support. Pass links to the site on to your friends. It is very difficult for remote communities to convey their message to the world and they surely have a great need to be seen and heard. All Australians need to be aware of the situation confronting these people.
See what respect our leaders shown for culture and environment when they are not in plain view of mainstream Australia?
Who is listening to the plight of these people? It seems that their remote location makes it easier to be indifferent to these peoples dilemma. What questions are the mainstream media asking? More importantly, what questions aren't they asking? Why?
Culturally and Environmentally this is an issue that should concern all Australians. Please take an interest.
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