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uhhuhlexThis is the second installment in the saga I began here.You may remember that Arthur, trusty steed for 3 years was cruelly stolen from his er... stables (some railings). Well, I had just about recovered from my grief and replaced him with the very charming Doolittle. Until, today, Arthur re-entered the picture.
I'm running a little late for a seminar; this doesn't actually happen that often because I have impeccable time keeping. On my way in, a little rushed shall we say, I see a man wheeling a blue bike. Everyone is a potential bike thief now - especially if riding a blue mountain bike. BUT WAIT - this blue bike looked rather like my blue bike.
Yes, this one.
Now, I may be a little mad at times, but this bike I saw was definitely Arthur. Notice the crank (pedal) arm nearest the camera is silver, but the one against the wall is black? I needed a replacement one and the shop only had silver. Also, the seat is a rather nice one not quite in keeping with the rest of the bike - that is because the standard seat fell off and the shop had a nice one on sale for the same price as a new standard. The front fork too is an ever so slightly different colour, and has a different brand sticker on it because I totally messed up the original forks in a collision with - I'm shamed to say - a flowerbed. A brick flowerbed.
Arthur's new 'owner' has added a second rear light and a front right, and removed the rear mudguard. Arthur's new owner is also about 6ft and had a black anorak with a hood up, so I declined not to approach him and instead headed to my seminar in a fury. I'm now stuck with the 'what if' problem - what if I approached the man and asked him where he bought it from? What if I beat him senseless with my postcolonial literary criticism? What if I get Arthur back after all??
After my seminar I checked the stands around where the guy was heading in case he had parked it up there (in which case I would have stomped right on down to university security and demanded they did something violent to loose Arthur from his shackles). No cigar. So, I've left a message with the campus police to tell them - there should at least have been CCTV on the way the man was walking, and I know what time it is at.
Could Arthur really come home? This is turning into more of a quest than I first predicted when I named my bike after a legendary king.
I'm running a little late for a seminar; this doesn't actually happen that often because I have impeccable time keeping. On my way in, a little rushed shall we say, I see a man wheeling a blue bike. Everyone is a potential bike thief now - especially if riding a blue mountain bike. BUT WAIT - this blue bike looked rather like my blue bike.
Yes, this one.Now, I may be a little mad at times, but this bike I saw was definitely Arthur. Notice the crank (pedal) arm nearest the camera is silver, but the one against the wall is black? I needed a replacement one and the shop only had silver. Also, the seat is a rather nice one not quite in keeping with the rest of the bike - that is because the standard seat fell off and the shop had a nice one on sale for the same price as a new standard. The front fork too is an ever so slightly different colour, and has a different brand sticker on it because I totally messed up the original forks in a collision with - I'm shamed to say - a flowerbed. A brick flowerbed.
Arthur's new 'owner' has added a second rear light and a front right, and removed the rear mudguard. Arthur's new owner is also about 6ft and had a black anorak with a hood up, so I declined not to approach him and instead headed to my seminar in a fury. I'm now stuck with the 'what if' problem - what if I approached the man and asked him where he bought it from? What if I beat him senseless with my postcolonial literary criticism? What if I get Arthur back after all??
After my seminar I checked the stands around where the guy was heading in case he had parked it up there (in which case I would have stomped right on down to university security and demanded they did something violent to loose Arthur from his shackles). No cigar. So, I've left a message with the campus police to tell them - there should at least have been CCTV on the way the man was walking, and I know what time it is at.
Could Arthur really come home? This is turning into more of a quest than I first predicted when I named my bike after a legendary king.
