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Art of Travel: Paris to Madrid

blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, travel

Day Twenty

It is Tuesday morning at thirty eight minutes past nine and I standing outside a supermarket waiting for it to open. Unlike every other day, today it opens at ten. Yesterday on the way home the front wheel got a puncture while in the outer suberbs of Barcelona. Its condition sums up how I am feeling at the moment, deflated. May be it is due to tiredness taking its toll since I have not managed a good night sleep in the past week. The heat does not help matters as it soaks away a considerable amount of energy and will power. I am finding it difficult to relax, being increasingly preoccupied with long term thoughts (which is usually enough in its self to ruin my day), consequently I am not in the frame of mind to enjoy strolling around in wonder at the city’s beauty. Perhaps in times like theses I would be more inclined to do the things other tourists tend to do if I was with other people, and therefore able to share the experience? I say this in one breath and with the next I will be commenting on how people en masse irritate me, the French bikers being a prime example. Some people are just never happy. Any way, my reason for mentioning this agitated state of mind I find myself in is that one of its symptoms, an increased propensity to lose my temper, landed me in a sticky situation when I noticed the deflated wheel.

I reacted by throwing what came to hand across the road and against the opposite wall. The lock and water bottle came away with superficial dents and scratches but unfortunately the pump did not get away so lightly. The rubber disc at the end of the shaft which pushes the air through the valve came away, and the shaft itself bent out of shape to the extent that in its present shape it was rendered incapable of passing through the opening at the other end of the pump. Due to my fit of rage even if I could find and mend the hole on the deflated inner tube, I had apparently no way of inflating it. The location I had found myself in was solely high rise residential, and some distance from the nearest bicycle pump shop.

After calming down sufficiently to take stock of my predicament I got to work on trying to knock the pump back into shape. I was able to straighten the shaft using the screw driver as an improvised anvil and the adjustable spanner as a hammer, and slowly coaxed the rubber end of the shaft out by gently and patiently tapping. Using the spanner again was able to close the metal end of the shaft around the rubber disc by pinching it with the pliers and so holding it in place enough to slowly and carefully pump the tyre up after having patching the hole.

On the way home I stopped in Badalona for food shopping, but on returning to the bike the tyre was as flat as a pancake. Once inflated again I just about managed to get back to Masnou without having to put anymore air in. This gradual demise of the bike is certainly not helping matters much, not knowing what will be the next symptom of its terminal demise, and when it will occur. Hopefully it will hold out until I am on the train to Madrid and my cycling days are put on hold until after my three month stint as an English teacher in a Spanish Summer school in Burgos.

 

Day 1 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 2 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 3 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 4 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 5 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 6 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 7 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 8 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 9 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 10 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 11 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 12 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 13 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 14 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 15 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 16 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 17 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 18 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 19 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 20 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 21 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 22 blackbirdprints, art, prints, print, giclee, painting, picture, artwork, paintings, present 23