Category: Miscellaneous

My physical therapist is changing my life.  Not to diminish the magnitude of the work he is doing (which is excellent),  but the best moment of the sessions so far was discovering that he owns a Brompton.  This was especially thrilling as Brompton bicycles are not at all common in this part of the world.

Actually, he owns more than one: He owns a little herd, having outfitted his family with the best folding bicycle he could find.  Well done, good sir!

(The Brompton color wheel is from NYCeWheels, who are, yes, very NYCe, and also very good at what they do.)

A baby sling works just fine.

This boy is not concerned that Basil and I are grounded. He can catch a ride with Mr. Diarist any time he wants to.

(Why, yes, I am getting a bit desperate — writing a blog post every single day is a bit of a challenge if the whole premise of the blog is temporarily off-limits!  However, I promise no more cats for a while — one way or another I’ll be back on cycling –as a topic, at least — shortly. Like tomorrow.)

Basil and I are still living life in limbo.  My original small surgery resulted in complications, and the complications have developed complications.  It will still be several more weeks before Basil and  are cycling again.

We’re dealing with it, and trying not to gripe too much. As is often the case, things could be worse.

This little guy had had a much harder time.  He spent a week in hospital unexpectedly, and then had equally unexpected — and much more extensive — surgery. We both have had our stitches removed, but he got the worst of that, too, since he had to have general anaesthesia even for that procedure, which has left him groggy for days afterwards.

Also, he’s still wearing that awful cone.  At least I can groom myself — and Basil, too, for that matter.  Bah, humbug  just the same.

Urban parking: The sky’s the limit.

Now your vehicle can ride a primitive elevator and spend the day braving the elements high above street level.  I’ve seen these contraptions in Philadelphia and New York City (where this one is located).

It’s an interesting solution, though perhaps not without its downside:  I’ve read reports of cars being mangled when not loaded properly, and of at least one worker crushed when a car brake wasn’t set correctly.

But what really caught my eye was this sign:  Room for only thirteen bicycles, so I’m guessing they aren’t being stored celestially.

There are all kinds of small parks and curiosities along New York City’s West Side Greenway.  One section of Riverside Park South is the home of New York Central locomotive No. 25, a freight engine built in 1946.

There’s just one cyclops-like head lamp in the front, and no “cow-catcher”, possibly because a working freight engine needed to switch from pulling to pushing on a whim.

It’s possible to walk around one side, and peer into the very spare engineer’s compartment, but glare from the glass makes it difficult to get good pictures. Still, it’s great fun to be able to get up close and personal with this marvelous beast.

Nintey-five tons of hard-working steel, now installed in a park so that train-lovers can oogle to their hearts’ content.

Which we did.

This is not a happy sight: Basil in his closet. We’ve been grounded.

I’ve had an unexpected small, but deep, surgery on a lower leg, and have been informed, by the man who should know, that bicycling is the “worst thing possible” that I could do while the incision mends.

Neither Basil nor I are pleased.

Thanks to a frenetic summer, posts will continue, because I’ve got a backlog.  I’ll just be sobbing over the keyboard as I write them . . .

It isn’t really very Japanese, but this view reminded me of bridges I’ve seen in every Japanese tea garden I’ve visited in North America.

No respectable Japanese gardener would ever allow such rampant overgrowth where discipline should rule, but Basil and find it a very pleasing spot to ride.

Spotted in New York City, while out with Basil:

I see at least two wheels. (The plate says “unicycle”.)

While on my way to deliver Basil to NYCeWheels for his repair and tune-up, I saw Jack peddling to this spot near Lexington and 86th.  That canopy is stretched above a cart Jack tows, by bicycle, to his designated location.  It was both thrilling and amusing to see that NYCeWheels has a bicycle cart as part of their marketing strategy!

Once there, Jack unloads bicycles (Bromptons!), and chats up passers-by — and the occasional wacky existing customer, too.  I’m afraid I stopped and asked him about NYCeWheel’s “no appointments” approach to maintenance.  He reassured me that the program seemed to work, as, soon enough, I discovered for myself.  Jack’s a patient. low-key kind of guy; he tolerates eccentric Brompton riders with good-natured grace.

Jack has a special place in Basil’s history because he was the guide on the Brompton tour that I took last summer — that was the marvelous ride that convinced me that a Brompton was the bicycle for me.  (I ordered Basil as soon as the tour was over!)