Me and my new bike!

Andrew spotted this bike outside a lovely bicycle shop and said I should ask about it!  I smiled and said "it is beautiful" and went inside and asked the really nice owner about it who said he had had it for a while and was surprised it hadn't sold.  He thought it would have been snapped up (which I too thought it would have been) but as it hadn't he was selling it at a heavily discounted rate as he needed the space for new stock as he was having his shop refurbished.  When he said how much it was Anders said "have a go on it, I think you would really suit it" so I did - yey!

As I rode up the street in it, all I could hear was Corinne Bailey Rae singing "girl put that record on" with the video in my mind!  I couldn't stop smiling.  So here is me on it and as you can see I am very happy.

The man said he wished everyone was so happy and enthusiastic when purchasing a bike (I fell in love with it and Anders said, "go on, buy it"!!), and we exchanged pleasantries including wishing him a Happy Birthday.  He shared his birthday with John Lennon.

As I cycled it to the park where Andrew was going to meet me with Marvin and Carly, everyone smiled as they saw me cycling it with a huge smile across my face with Corinne's song booming in my head.  It was such a beautiful Saturday, that crisp lovely autumn day that is just perfect for riding a lovely bike like this one.  This was made even nicer as it is always nice when people smile back at you.

In the park, I got Marvin to chase me so he got a good run, and again, people were just smiling as they saw handsome Marvin running beside me on my beautiful bike.  After this I agreed to meet Anders at the garage so I could lock my bike away as we were going to go for coffee and I didn't have a chain etc yet.

Now, don't think this is a post about me being so wonderful and smug as all of a sudden, about after 20 minutes after the above photo was taken, I went down too many gears at once by mistake and as a result I managed to jam the chain so it had to go back to the guy to get repaired!   I felt such a buffoon and so the tune in my head changed to Beck, I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me!

The man who sold me the bike kindly came to pick it up in his van and laughed saying he would have it ready on Tuesday and he said it he would repair it at cost (£15-£20 max)!  I have just called him and I am to collect it after work today - yey!

To make me feel better, Anders took me to the Botanics where we had afternoon tea for one and shared it with a coffee.   It was so sweet him trying to make me feel better, but I really felt so stupid for having this happen.  So this is me, a self portrait, happy, clumsy, sort of hiding myself in shame, trying to console myself with afternoon latte and scone, failing but able to laugh at myself!

That said, I get it back today, and I will not make that mistake again, ever!