Tuesday 11 August 2015

On the ideal number of bikes to own

Addendum to previous:

-At the café in Brighton, I had asked a small group if they minded if I parked Leonardo next to their outside table. They didn't, but when I came out to get something off the bike, one of them commented that it wasn't often they saw a bike with kangaroo stickers in these parts. From this comment, their accents and the Australian football T-shirt one of them was wearing, I concluded they were Aussies and had a short chin-wag with them.

-At the Clossum Chase wine barn, cousin Sarah poured me a glass of water, which I swirled, held up to the light, sipped and then pronounced: "Ah yes, light yet refreshing." ;-)

My room wasn't ready at the Barn, magnificent folly of agricultural architecture, burly beams, comfy couches, dramatic decor, eccentric eclecticism, etc. Rough hewn looking wood was the dominant motif, much of it authentic barn boards and the like though rebuilt on site to Mike's specifications and equipped with all the modern cons including a screened in "outside" dining area and a swimming pool complete with an uninvited frog. I discovered the latter while taking a dip, followed by a sprawl in an odd but comfortable contraption that allowed me to float mostly in the lovely cool water without effort.

The parents arrived about forty minutes later. Pappy quickly got into a long conversation with Han which "could not" be interrupted by such petty concerns as taking a shower so that everyone's laundry could be tossed in the washing machine. Aside from this, the evening went fairly smoothly aside from a momement of panic when it seemed the power cable for this iPhone had been left in Cobourg and another when a Google Maps estimate of the distance to Kingston was seen to be 115 kms rather than the previous 90 kms and thus too far for my parents who have their limits now that they are over 70. I offered a backup plan of them going to Belleville and taking the train to Kingston as a possibility before Pappy came up with a map deduced estimate which was an acceptable distance.

The Barn lacks an outbuilding or garage so bikes are stored just inside the front door, in the entrance area. I think I counted seven including ours. Somehow, the topic came up about the ideal number of bikes to own. Cathy came up with the following:

"The ideal number is X+1, where X is the number of bikes you already have. And it is Y-1, where Y is the number of bikes that will cause a divorce."

(I believe she had it from someone else but that isn't important.)

We had an excellent supper of Mike's cooking. I have the feeling that there was more I wanted to write about but I don't recall what it was.

1 comment:

Margo said...

My answer to the number of bike a person should have is "ONE, and it should be able to take you around the world."

Margo