Emotional

Bleary eyes aren't great lenses for reading but after a full 7 hours sleep I was awake, the house was quiet and I had a great book. After a coffee and a wander around the garden I fell into a comfy lounge chair and picked up that big fat book by Paul Kelly 'How to make gravy'!

HAPPY Drawing by the boy

A chapter for every song in his A - Z kit, every story a slightly different angle, and I'm connecting with every word! The writing is pure! Clear.... A thousand lies couldn't be more true. When I reached a really interesting chapter, Emotional, I heard the bedroom door creak and eldest child came out of her room. Also bleary eyed but keen to chat... It often happens like this, just when I think I've got some time to myself... This chapter surprised me. Paul Kelly's writing can do that. Shifting from amazing introspection to compassionate empathy.

As I read Emotional' I realized that I had misunderstood the lyrics of his song. It was not about what I thought it was. Kelly recounted the intense experience of visiting people in the Baxter detention Centre and the disgraceful treatment of those stuck in the Woomera hell hole! The scenarios are quite familiar to me since they started converting Darwin into a giant emigration detention centre! The sad and horrific stories are not uncommon among people I've met who have been transferred from Christmas Island or those who dread being sent out to Nauru. Living in limbo, having their hopes and spirits crushed at the whim of the Immigration Department who consider punishing them as parto fo some master plan to deter others from seeking safety in Australia. 

As I tried to read this unexpected chapter, which I found particularly interesting, on account of there being at least four detention centres within half an hour drive. my daughter decided it was time for a meaningful conversation about the nature of dragons and unicorns.... I persisted with the book and tried to answer her questions along the way, luckily the chapter was quite short, Kelly got his message across loud and clear, didn't waste any words and told it like it is!

I am so glad he has taken the time to tell this story and that he felt it was worth including in his book. So many Australians couldn't give a flying f-ck about the way Refugees are treated! It seems all the country is now against these people but here's one of our national heros openly declaring his compassion for them, he even wrote a song about it!

My head is swimming with emotion! Love for my kids, connection to the legendary song writer and mostly thoughts of the people I've been meeting at the DAL just down the road from where I live. The latest arrivals are from Iran. They shared their stories with me about the terrible journey across the sea from Indonesia. They all have hopes to see their children grow up in a peaceful place and to learn English and to be happy. It's nearly Christmas and a group of local people I'm involved with are trying to get Christmas presents for the kids.... nearly 180 of them (kids)! We've only got $10 to spend per kid and there's just 9 sleeps until Christmas so the next few days will be busy.

When I'd finished the chapter I put the book down, my was swimming with ideas and emotions. Thinking about the gifts I've got to find with a very limited budget I jumped up to grab the discount store brochure from the dining table... maybe something there. As I strode forward I kicked over my coffe cup! "NOoooooooo!"

Coffee cup with a crack

My favorite coffee cup! I smashed it! The cup I got from the Op Shop two years ago. That one I love with the romantic 1950s Hawaiian scene, with the girls dancing and the colonial American tourists and the flying boat.... Oh... Bleary eyes and foggy mind! Why do you mock me!

I'll try to fix it, no big deal really. What's a broken cup? I heard a fella got charged for smashing up some plates and shit in one of the detention centres! If you fuck up in detention and smash something they can charge you with destruction of property. I reckon if I was in there I'd break every frigging cup I had. What good is a favorite cup!

CROSS Drawing by the boy

Get me a bike!

This month has been a doozy for bike repairs!

I've already mentioned the Avanti with the broken spokes and the badly adjusted rear derailleur. 

On the weekend Sam called from the Uni, the folding bike with the new Tyres got a puncture... 'What do you mean you got a puncture!". I went out and picked her up and there it was. A punctured rear tyre. With a great long piece of brazing rod running through it! No wonder. The bike is resting in the back yard now.

Tire Piercing Brazing Rod

Now my trusty Long bike has bit the dust!
A couple of weeks ago I decided it was time to replace the chain and sprockets on the long bike. The bike still had it's original chain plus the extension provided with the Xtracycle kit, the rear sprockets came with the bike but I put them on a decent wheel I bought from the old bike shop in Darwin about ten years ago. After nearly 20,000 km of cycling the chain and sprockets had become worn out! The chain kept slipping and the teeth on the sprockets were worn to a sharp point! By now I've re-packed the wheel with grease at least twice... Basically the whole kit has had it's day.

Two chain pins bottom one is newish the top link is from my worn chain having done nearly 20,000 km (It appears that the new pin is slightly longer than the old one... they should be the same length)

Some left over chain... (After pulling them apart I got to appreciate the quality of the steel and the various components)

Long Bike all messed up!

With stuff all money to spend I had to improvise and unfortunately compromised a little too much. Having an Xtracycle means that my chain is longer than the usual bike. I needed two. The tip shop is usually pretty good for parts and I managed to find a couple of decent chains and a barely used 6 speed sprocket. I took them home, replaced the sprocket and was reinserting the final pin of the chain when I snapped the chain breaker! I got the pin in but was not happy with the job and was worried it would not stay... It didn't!

Messing up the gears! (The shiny chain is the result of no oil and rubbing on the disconnected front derailleur...)

  
Last night on my way home from work the faulty connection came away and the chain broke and got caught in the rear wheel. Luckily I had some tools to fix it and a joining link (The part I should never have compromised on!) I fixed the chain bent the derailleur back into what I thought was a suitable position and proceeded to ride on. No problem. Clicked her into a lower gear, OK... clicked her down again into first and WHAM! Chain came off and tore through the spokes on the rear wheel, seized the wheel and bent the derailleur all the way! One look and I could see it was terminal. The Long bike will be off the road for a long time this time! Now I'm wondering if I should resurrect her or start again and just attach the Xtracycle to a whole new bike!

Oh yeh one more rear wheel casualty. A couple of weeks ago I spent a few days wandering around Darwin on the old Shogun road bike. I did a lot of miles and traveled across some fairly uneven ground with a panier bag full of my gear... (Don't ask why!) As I was riding I noticed a creaking sound coming from the rear wheel. I Stopped and had a look and discovered that the wheel was starting to buckle under the load and a couple of the spokes had become loose. Not a good sign if you want a wheel to hold together. Wouldn't it be funny if I ran out of bikes to ride! Actually I'm a bit sad about that. The Shogun has been with me for years and the rear wheel has stood up to several trips around the harbor.

Actually I'm kind of happy about all of this. Through trial and error I have learned first hand several things.

1. Fine tuning the low gear of a rear derailleur is worth it.
2. When joining chains they should be very very similar in width and match the sprocket set you are using. (I probably should have found out more about this before I replaced the old chain)
3. There's nothing wrong with using a chain joiner. (Don't be a hero and think you've got to get all the pins back in!)
4. Chain breakers break if you apply them on an angle... particularly when trying to replace a pin rather than extract one!
5. A good quality chain breaker is much better than a crappy one! (short handles mean poor leverage, long handles are good!)
6. There are actually times when not having oil on your chain is an advantage

So there you have it. Another inventory of stuff that's gone wrong. ;)  I suppose I'll have to post a happy story next.

Cheerio

End of my tether.... Or just plain tired!

Here's a quickie just to remind myself... of something... or other.

Here's a brief rundown from my past few weeks, just in case I forget what a drag it's been!

A couple of weekends ago I had a family weekend away, which was fun! I rode my bike out to Noonamah and managed to set the tent up and have fun with the kids. I also attempted to join a game of back yard soccer. During the game I stuck my right foot into a clump of pandanas (I'm still picking the spikes out) and kicked something hard with my left foot and, I'm pretty sure I ended up fracturing the big toe on my left foot! The ride home was OK wearing only thongs but when I tried to put shoes on at work the next day the intensity of the pain ensured that I'd have to wear my thongs to work for the next couple of weeks.

I'm not too sure how my Boss felt about this since we were preparing for the organizations AGM but I wasn't too bothered, the bruising on my toe made it quite obvious that shoes would be uncomfortable.

From the time I got home from camp my life has been a blur! My workload has been ridiculous and the demands put upon me, completely unreasonable! Nothing extreme of course but the accumulation of shit I've had to deal with has left me on the edge of cracking up! Organizing travel for about 50 people can be difficult... travel for the mob I work for is another thing all together! The number of cancellations and re-bookings would drive most people nuts before the work even started! (I think I had actually lost the plot before the meetings commenced!)

 Masahito Walks into Darwin

Somewhere along the way I met this Japanese guy who seemed a little bit messed up from too much time on the road... He'd walked from Melbourne to Darwin! The idea seemed good to me though. 

The whole time has been a huge mess of flight bookings, cancellations, re-bookings, airport pickups, arranging meals, escorting people to and from accommodation, trying to take minutes of meetings, chasing up people who should be here and chasing off people who shouldn't be! I've been nagged, prodded pushed and pounded... Literally! On one evening I had to assist my colleague who'd unwittingly allowed some intoxicated people to get onto the bus he was driving. The episode ended in a suburban street, the bus hastily parked when a side window was smash by a whiskey fueled psychopath who could not be pacified. My intervention resulted only in me being smashed in the ribs by this bloke, after several calls already having been made for the police to come and assist... Now a week later I'm still finding it hard to sleep and every time I cough a sharp pain jabs me in the chest and the back... I reckon it's only muscle damage but enough to keep me awake at night when I really need the sleep! before I started my usual duties at work the next day I was supposed to get the guy out of the lockup at 6:00am. I was 10 minutes late and they'd already let him out but couldn't even confirm that he'd been in custody! And they call it protective custody!

My routine has been get up at six am, pick up some locals and bring them to the meeting place for breakfast... take care of everybody's personal needs during the day, drive people around, take minutes of meetings etc.. etc... (OK it doesn't sound like much but you've really got to be there!) after the meetings help people to visit relatives in hospital etc... etc... I usually get home close to midnight! By the time the week long meetings had ended I had reached my limit of endurance! I couldn't take any more but this year is special, this year I have to bring another group through town on their way to Alice Springs! Organize travel, book, cancel, re-book, organize accommodation, food, then more travel... then do the whole lot again when they return in less than a week! 

I'm currently in the middle of this process and wondering if I'm going to survive! I've only ridden my bike once in the past two weeks! My ability to concentrate is minimal, my temper is fraying and I have narrowly avoided getting into a fight twice already. (That's not counting the elbow to the ribs last Sunday night) Somewhere in amongst all this fun I did manage to take the family to see the Moscow Circus! Hallelujah for the Circus!   

Balloon Guy at the Circus (That could be me!)

The Circus broke the monotony but I'm not out of the woods yet. The stress has caught up with me and the tickle in my throat is making me cough and it hurts and I break out laughing like an idiot coz I'm delirious from lack of sleep and it hurts and the kids want to jump all over me and play... and I yell at them to get off... and the dishes haven't been done and the house is a mess and I'm trying real hard not to loose it!

Busted toe, bruised ribs, head like a tin of cockroaches on a hotplate... Please tell me why I am doing this? My bike is right outside the back door... I could just jump on it at any time and... 

But I think I'll just listen to "Wild Billy's Circus Story" one more time and wonder what Jesus will bring to save all us clowns! And ponder the seriousness of it all. ;)

Broken

This is a week of broken things...

1,000s of Trees around Darwin

Broken

Our old car (crashed last night)

Broken

Front sliding door...(came off it's tracks tonight)

Broken

The tap I fixed last month... (leaking again)

 Broken

Washing machine (Blew up with a bang in a cloud of smoke today, causing power outage)

 Broken (Domestic staff currently on strike!)

Snap Deck on my Xtracycle

Broken! (and a little bit soggy after the recent rain)


Not sure what it all means but I'm waiting for a sign!