My Tuesday morning yoga was the test of
just how injured I was by the putzdestrian on Monday. I found my right wrist
and upper arm to be limited but the only thing I absolutely couldn’t do was to
put weight on my right knee. I don’t feel the damage to be internal and so I
assume the kneecap is bruised. In addition to that though, I was extremely
exhausted after my yoga. I had gone to bed and gotten up an hour early but I
don’t know if that explains it. I had also drunk a pint and a half the night
before, which is something I’m not used to these days. Maybe the injury had
just made me tired so I would rest and heal, but I tried to practice my songs
anyway. I played and sang several songs but I noticed my chords weren’t
sounding very good because I was so tired that I wasn’t pressing down very hard
on the strings. I managed to get more than halfway through my normal set when a
very bizarre thing happened. I fell asleep while playing and singing and
actually had a dream. I dreamed that I was standing there as I was in the
middle of my living room and that my daughter, Astrid, now middle aged, was
standing in front of me with a cane and her fiancé, Lauren was just in front
and to my right, looking sideways at me. Astrid was approaching to embrace me
but I was so tired and out of it that I couldn’t respond to her, which made her
feel uncomfortable and so she backed away a bit. Then I woke up and found
myself still singing the song. I think I tried half of another song when that
was done, but having dreamt while singing convinced me to just go back to bed.
That
afternoon at 17:00 I took my velo down the street to Bike Pirates. Two
volunteers greeted me as I came in and one asked if I needed to use a stand. I
said I did and he said, “There’s a bit of a line-up.” I looked to the back and
saw no one there, and then he laughed and said he was kidding.
I
clamped my bike to a stand and told the volunteers about my accident. The less
experienced volunteer told me that I should wear a helmet. I argued that I
didn’t hit my head. The other volunteer said that a head could get crushed even
while wearing a helmet so it doesn’t matter.
It
turned out that the problem wasn’t as serious as I’d thought it was. The fall
had simply thrown my front brakes out of line, so the volunteer helped me with
it. He helped me a little more than he should have for a do it yourself shop,
but maybe he was bored and since I was the only one there he wanted something
to do. Once the brakes were fixed they told me that I’m due for a new chain and
that though my freewheel is fine it’s best to buy a new freewheel with a new
chain so they wear together. I said that would be fine, but I would have to get
them and then come back to pay them after I went to the bank. The volunteer
asked a guy who seemed to be acting manager at that time and he said that I
would need to leave my bike there while I went for the money. I asked with
surprise, “You want me to leave my bike here while I go downtown?” He said,
“Well, you would have to leave something here so we could be sure we get our
money. We need to pay rent. That’s something I hadn’t encountered at Bike
Pirates up until then. Usually I’ve been trusted and I’ve certainly never
betrayed that trust. I told them, “I come in here all the time and I just live
next door! My daughter used to volunteer here!” but they were unmoved. I
decided not to get the new parts and that if I needed them I’d come back on
another day when there were nicer volunteers working the shop, who recognize me
and know I won’t rip them off. If the guy was so concerned about making the
rent he should have trusted me, then they would have had some money later on
that evening. As it was, I gave a $4.90 donation for the use of the shop and
left. As I was leaving, the volunteer reminded me; it seemed to me defensively,
that Bike Pirates is still cheaper than any bike shop in Toronto. Wow, I
though, he’s really trying to sell it!
No comments:
Post a Comment