My morning, as a sitcom ("Greenenders", with thanks to Pete)

[jack]

Some people have lives told in Shakespearean style. Bleak house. Austen. Saki. Anything. I have sitcom. Oh well :)

This will be represented as a rapid sequence of scene cuts, as I move from one bike shop to the other. Some humour will be evinced in repetition, some in breaking the repetition.

** 'blinds' transition **
Me: I see you have a selection. What's the difference between this £100 bike, and this £130 bike?
Him: *gormless look* It costs more. It has a, uuuhh, *looks at bike* better frame. And different coloured gears.
** 'blinds' transition **
Me: So, do you have any bikes less tall than I am for under £230 pounds?
Him: No.
** 'blinds' transition **
Me: I'm looking for a town bike?
Him: *shocked look*
** 'blinds' transition **
Me: I'm looking for a bike?
Him: I'm sorry sir, this is a hardware store.
** 'blinds' transition **
Me: Two all-beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles onions on a sesame seed bun.
Him: I'm sorry sir, this is subway.
** series of shots of me muching through a sandwich looking tired **
** 'blinds' transition **
Me: I'm looking for a town bike?
** long pan down ten meter long row of off-road bikes costing £300 **
** 'blinds' transition **
Me: I'm looking for a town bike?
Him: Why are you late for work?
Me: Well, I was *going* to ride in...

*sigh* And all those 0.14s transitions took me half an hour of walking. At least I had a book and a plot to write. But I'm 5'10 or 5'11, I'm not *that* short.

I thought it might be as easy as last time. Where else should I go?

Comments

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

My bike is from Halfords. It cost me £60 and so far it has failed to fall apart although I did have an exciting failure of my front brakes on Drummer Street.

If you wait a week or so they'll probably have some cheap bikes to try and entice new students. The bike shop down Botolph Lane also had some slightly nicer and still cheap bikes when I looked last year, and they've been very good when I've been in for repairs.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Liz!

Does it matter which halfords? I stopped in Newmarket Road because it was on my way back and it looked like everything was a mountain bike.

Why does everyone warn against Halfords, then?

[despotliz.livejournal.com]

Because the bikes are a bit crap, made with the cheapest components possible, and tend to rust quickly and sometimes break. However, they are dirt cheap, and I knew my bike was going to have to live outdoors so it didn't seem worth buying an expensive one and faffing with insurnace.

Don't buy a lock from them, mine kept jamming at inconvenient times.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Ah, ok. I wasn't going to faff with insurance either way; It'll probably get stolen once in my life and insurance*60>bike else insurance companies would go bust. More.

Maybe I will. I already have a lock.