h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Did various weekend chores yesterday morning (food shopping, cleaned the kitchen, that sort of thing) and after lunch thought I would head off and look at new beds. Went downstairs to find no bike in the bike racks next to the flats. Spent a minute or two racking my brains to think if I'd left it somewhere by accident and walked home, but no - it had been stolen. Asking round the neighbours confirmed this, as several other people had lost bikes too, some of them with even stronger locks than mine, so it must have been a professional job.

As a result, instead of looking for a new bed, ended up looking for a new bike. Tried the second-hand places first, but they had mostly closed by 4pm on a Saturday, and anyway I need a fairly good quality bike, because it's my only means of transport for going to work. A very helpful young man in a bike repair shop in Mill Road (the best road in Cambridge) said he can order one for me which would take 3 days to come, and will give me 10% off accessories, including a super-duper lock, which he assures me needs an angle grinder to remove it illicitly. My friend's spare bike has also been stolen (from outside her house) and a plea on Freecycle Cafe didn't result in any offers of loans, so this morning I went and hired a bike for a week from the station bike shop. It's very basic, but will get me to and from work until I get a new one sorted out. Since it's plastered with stickers, and has the bike number drilled into the frame, hopefully it will also not be that attractive to would-be bike thieves. Barstewards!

Anyway, then I needed cheering up a bit, and as the usual Sunday lunch wasn't happening for various reasons (music festivals, London-Cambridge bike ride, work to catch up on), I took myself off to Ely on the train - it's only £2.65 return with my Senior railcard! Went to see three of the Open Studios, and was glad I had - one of them in particular was lovely: an Indian woman who does the most beautiful textile work. I probably can't put a link to her website here, but if you goofle her name, Munni Srivastava, it's the first result that comes up.

Then I walked along the river back towards the station and had a drink in one of the riverside pubs. Very pleasant sunny afternoon.

Sorry to hear about the bike.

Syd has one, but he can't let you have it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4fpQV_dc4M&feature=related

I was thinking during today's route-march that a bike would be a good way to explore the nearby by-ways. Route-marching Susan has taken us places we haven't been before, notwithstanding having lived in Aiberdeen for well over 30 years.

I dare say my old bike is still rotting in front of the law school.


Drugless

I wouldn't have thought there would be much of a demand for job lots of second hand bikes, but I suppose that the climate and cycle paths make cycling an every day means of transport rather than an extreme sport in Aberdeen When Drugless decided he didn't want his bike he offered it to another - it is still chained to the rack where he left it to be picked up three months ago. He now vaguely hankers after an electric model.

The police used to stamp postcodes on bikes I can't imagine they do that these days. It would be a UV pen and a mobile number.

Sue

<Syd has one, but he can't let you have it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x4fpQV_dc4M&feature=related>

Thanks for that Douglas - poor old Syd! There are Syd-themed walking tours in Cambridge now ...

Re police marking bikes: I think they do use UV pen now, yes. Mine used to have a College number on it in marker pen, but it had worn off, and it was registered on Immobilise.com. I've reported it to them, and to the police, but I'm not holding my breath - people come round with vans and take a whole lot and take them off to London.

Err .. would that be That London? The place is awash with Boris bikes and rickshaws on a dry day. Maybe they are sold to White Slavers.

Seriously I'm sorry to hear this news, Annie. O/h wouldn't know what to do with himself if he couldn't cycle to work in the mornings

Or maybe it's a Cambridge urban myth! Some of my older colleagues claim that cycle shops used to go round nicking bikes which had been left around town, to sell them on to the foreign students.

Anyway, new bike (and super-duper new lock) is now ordered, and should be here by Friday, with luck. I've got the hire bike until Sunday, and my sis might come over at the weekend, so we would have two bikes to go for a little jaunt.

But thanks for the sympathy - like your OH, I'm lost without a bike: it takes 40 minutes to walk to work, or 40 minutes by bus (20 mins on the bus, 20 mins walking the rest of the distance - Cambridge public transport being what it is ...).

So how long to cycle? 15-20 mins?

Douglas

Yep - 15 minutes door to door.