And there it was, as they say, gone! We arrived home from a pleasant afternoon strolling around the Curragh and the army barracks (and that’s a story for another day) and Himself says to me “Where’s your bike? Did you leave it in work? Don’t think you’ll fool me with that look. [I must have been looking just slightly more dazed than my previous “I’ve-just-woken-up-from-a-hangover-induced-car-sleep] C’mon where is it?”
I rang the local gardaí who came around straight away pretty much and took a statement. I am now known to the gardaí because the really tall local guard and I recognised each other from my last visit to the Garda Station. This is because I made himself and his colleagues search the whole station for an Irish Language version of the passport form and then when they couldn’t find it and he filled out the English version for me he did it in the wrong colour pen. We really bonded that day.
That evening the doorbell rang and there was a man who we had never seen before. He lived nearby and told us that he’d seen us coming in and out of the house with the bikes and the kids on the bikes. In the wee small hours of the previous morning he had been on his way home from his holidays and what does he see up the road but somebody chucking my bike at a street feature (a big rock) and then into the middle of the road. According to him, my local friendly guards also happened to be passing at the same time and kept on passing! He stopped, picked up the bike and put it in the back of his car. Himself (who is totally nerding it up here beside me with his new Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet PC) went to pick up the bike and it was destroyed. Poor old bike.
However, I am now the owner of a lovely shiny new Trek with a fancy saddle and a clever stand. The issue with the baby seat versus the back carrier continues and the babyseat is currently attached to the post of the seat as opposed to the frame which is a little bit dodgy but the only way to do it. Here’s a link to my new bike although mine has a motorbike style stand which makes it much easier to load a child onto the back.
Speaking of bikes we rented two bikes while on holidays in Ile d’Oleron. The bikes weren’t great but we rented a trailer for the boys (at the elder’s insistence) which they LOVED! Not so easy to cycle with though as it feels like it is constantly pulling and pushing the bike. I would never cycle one here though: cyclists are treated with tremendous care and respect on Oleron and there are plenty of bicycle ways to explore.
I will add photos soon. I dropped our camera on Saturday evening and now it won’t switch back on. I am so popular.
My big pressie from Himself this year was a webcam (hello you don’t know me if you don’t know that I am a geek) so if you Skype me in future you can see me. Hurrah. Here’s a sample of what I look like on my webcam. Glamorous huh? Especially with the laundry in the background.