Disappointments, bad luck and just plain life

At the Turkish restaurant in Albion — Good food.

That last week was a big week of shitty stuff happening. *Deep Breath*

The bad stuff that happened included a lot of “first-world problems”, but at the same time a lot of shit that just got to me. It wore me out. And historically this blog has been a bit “clinical” in its look at the brighter or “interesting” side of my life, so I guess it is now time for you all to feel some of the pain.

We walked from Albion to Eagle Junction and got excited about this old-school Telstra symbol. “Simple minds — simple pleasures”

And I will deal with it numerically — and here’s a hint — part “6” hurts the most.

1) The washing machine, only 3 years old (and without any vomit-damage from Laura K) broke down and tripped the safety switch. I arrived home from my ride on Saturday afternoon all destroyed, weak and melting away with exhaustion to find the house in the Dark Ages. I spent 20 minutes still in my sweaty kit and barefoot running up and downstairs switching off powerpoints and seeing if that effected the saftey switch under the house — eventually working out what the problem was.

2) I realised I’d left my, quite expensive waterproof cycling jacket behind at Cartel last Thursday

3) Through sheer idiocy I went to polo on Sunday and I took off my helmet and forgot to stow my headphones. And then when I rode off they were suddenly missing. They were good headphones too. Sigh.

4) The night before at the FOTC show was epic. Sometime “good” EPIC, mostly “bad” EPIC. I now realise quite definitively I never, ever want to go to a show at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre again – it was positively archaic and very, very undignified. I am old enough, wise enough to know that that bullshit you have out there in the wastelands of Brisbane is THIRD-WORLD. Ugh.

5) There was a stuff up with the delivery of my new camera…but it arrived today, so maybe that makes more sense.

6) And this is where I tell you about the big chip that has been gracefully, but also very harshly, chiselled out of my heart. Possibly by a wayward chainring. A 56 tooth chainring.

So It seems the ride to Sydney has been washed away by the fact it was just a bit too ambitious and everyone else had other stuff much more important. And I am a bit like, “Phew” But mostly like, “I have prepared so much and I CAN DO THIS.”

I even considered doing it on my own. But maybe that is a bit silly.

A Puppy dutifully guarding some house.

Drinking in the carpark

The train ride

Some drunken randoms we befriended. WAY MORE DRUNK THAN US!

Polo on Sunday —>

This is “Red” — looking epic!

The “Tent Embassy” or “Sovereign Embassy” as it is now known is quite intimate with the polo court nowadays. There was some drama with a ball escaping into the camp, no one was hurt, and there are some issues with the wood from the court barrier being missing for firewood. But as far as I can tell the two neighbours get on pretty well.

To lighten the mood I might say some POSITIVES happened. I upgraded to B grade at track. I rode a 245km of bitumen on my own, I had a nice time hanging out with old friends at track on Sunday and lastly — Cadel is doing really well at the Tour, except I just haven’t been able to stay up late enough to watch it. Other positives may include I get to do the Bridges of Brisbane alleycat (which I invented!) on Saturday week. And the Omnium at Track On the Saturday after.

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