On Vortexs and Control

Dear Adventurous Reader,

Sometimes it is difficult to explain how things have been for a week, especially when there is a roller coaster happening while life is moving forward. Even with as much as I know about the earth, which is not much, I know how I want things to work - or, I know how I want them to work and they never do.

I know the the earth revolves around the sun. I know that it takes one day for the earth to spin on its axis. I know that each day has the same amount of time in it as any other, but some days seem to be a continual spiral, the earth spinning tighter on itself, like water spiraling down a plug hole. Until it is gone into the abyss, joining knotted hair and other disgusting things that have been washed down with the water.

This has been how I have felt in the past week, the ever tightening spiral gaining momentum as we gear up to head off travelling for a month. Still, “things” seem to work themselves out, as much as they can.

Rack Recalled, No Replacement

The rack recall notice we found gave us some hope, after a phone call and a small fee to expedite the shipping. It is one week later, on a Friday, and we still do not have the replacement rack, I am not convinced that the fast shipping was put into motion. It didn’t matter, as the replacement rack would not work with our setup.

Jacqui and I had many discussions about what to do, about how we should change our setup to accommodate our little boys, and we couldn’t find one path to settle upon. It lead to frustrated discussions, and a lot of “Don’t you think…” and “I don’t think you…” in heated tones as we tried to sort out a mess (that had been already solved, and then broke) with a tight deadline.

I visited my Dad’s old friends, who have spent years working with metal, to seek a professional opinion on what to do. One said we could do some TIG welding, and the other suggested we run as far as we could and consider other options. We did the latter, deciding not to risk an updated and untested rack in the wilderness. So now, to much sadness (because we loved our previous setup), we will be taking with us a bike carriage for the younger two boys to swap between riding the tag-along and sitting in the carriage.

A friend has lent us a carriage that is larger than ours. Joash climbed in with a huge grin, because there is more space than in our tiny carriage. There is also more space in the back, which Jacqui has already found a use for - I am not sure what to think about having more space on my bike, I am carrying enough already.

Yes, this is a fallback from our previous requirement, that the younger boys must be able to ride. Although, it is funny how things work, early on we wouldn’t have continued with our plans to ride if we couldn’t get the two younger boys onto tag-along cycles. We have been forced out of our requirements to take another route, and it may work out to be better.

Trains Were Cancelled, Then Reinstated

V/Line decided to have track works this weekend. The weekend were were planning to depart we were going to ride into Geelong, take a train up to Melbourne with all our gear. The trains had been cancelled and we were suggested to take a bus, something I was not keen on doing.

I love the romance of rail travel, even if it is boring commuting, I would rather a train than a bus. My suggestion was to transport our gear up to my brother’s house and then ride into Melbourne city Sunday morning.

Turns out that Cadel Evans has some swaying power, and because of the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race the trains have been returned to regular running services. So our departure can proceed as planned, and we forgo a back-and-forward morning transporting bikes up to my brother’s house, because I didn’t want to put our bikes on a bus.

Feeding the Rancor

The past few days, with things falling into place again, “things” have managed to unwind themselves from a strong vortex and we are starting to feel excited about our trip, again.

For me, my excitement is tempered with stress, because work is still screaming for attention like a caged and hungry Rancor. So you will have to excuse me while I get my nose back onto the grindstone, because besides work we still have to pack our bags.