Wheely bad day

In other news, last weekend we decided to go for a bike ride. Jim has been in heaven since he rediscovered his shed - having a good clear out of the old stable (dumping ground) and all the tools, lead to Jim being able to clear out and organise his shed (life-escape-pod). This includes sorting all of the screws and nails into little pots, I suppose a man's version of filing. So he had time, tools, space and inclination to sort out a bike for me. We have a few bikes dotted round the place from various friends who've left them here, family bikes, hand me downs and rescue bikes (like rescue dogs but you don't actually care for them, you just let them rot in the corner of an old shed).

We set off, the sun was shining, we stopped for a chat at the end of the lane with an american couple looking to cycle to Eastbourne, carried on about 20 yards on a slow incline and there was a loud bang and a puff of chalk dust from my front tyre. The whole thing had exploded, not just the inner tube.

Walking back home we caught sight of a neighbour in his driveway, stopped to say hello, talked about what happened...pause...'what size wheel is that?'. Turned out he was that second off to the dump with various bits including 2 tyres that would fit my bike!

Carrying the 2 tyres we walked on back home and Jim got straight to work, in the shed, fitting the tyres while I mowed the lawn.

Mowing is my latest passion. It has always been a man's job in this household. First Grandad, then Dad, then my brother, then Jim, then our boys one by one. But now the boys are busy doing other things so it's Jim's job again and he's busy doing hedge-cutting and strimming too so I have finally been taught how to use the ride on mower. What fun! It turns on a sixpence, has no gears, just a forward and backwards pedal and it is a very satisfying job.

I was bombing around on it last week in the scorching sun, wearing a big floppy sunhat and the only long-sleeved lightweight shirt I have which just happens to be covered in sequins, when a visitor arrives. A man who came to my open studio 2 years ago and decided to pop in on the offchance that he could show his wife some of my work. I looked every bit the eccentric artist, only lacking the G&T and cheroot.

The ride on mower doesn't fit into our little walled bit of garden so I use the push along one. As Jim was busy in the shed, I dragged the mower out of the stable, across the pea-beach drive and started mowing. Little did I realise that a stone was caught in the back drive wheel and 5 minutes in it shattered the wheel. Sigh.

Later that evening, as we were playing backgammon - a game we haven't played for years and which took about 2 hours to read up the instruction - we heard a bang outside that sounded like the shed door. Jim had forgotten to lock the door. Torch in hand, he rushed out making as much noise as possible so that any burglars would disappear before he got there. Nothing.

The 'stuff to be fixed' pile in the shed

Next morning we set off for another bike ride - only we didn't because it turns out that the bang was my tyre exploding. Sigh.
But, as luck would have it, the burst tyre was perfect for gluing (in a shed) around the broken pieces of the mower wheel and I have just used the mended mower to successfully mow the lawn. Cool.