AND NOW TOTALLY IGNORING MY APPALLING LACK OF BIKE RELATED POSTS....

I broke a spoke the other day.
 
Best case scenario 2 years ago, that would have meant dragging the bike into the nearest shop to get it fixed, almost certainly on the second attempt on account of the mechanic not being in till next week, 'can you bring it back then mate', $60 and at least a week off the bike.

More likely of course, I would have faffed about for several months while the bike rusted on the deck and I entirely forgot how to make the wheels go round and round without causing me severe respiratory distress. Before I knew it I'd be 140 kilos (*cough* again) and digging around in my drawers for those XXXXL t-shirts I used to wear but now use to polish my 9 year old's shoes with.

I identified the broken spoke on Tuesday. Purchased a spoke wrench (what the hell is a spoke wrench my 2012 self says cluelessly) on Wednesday, whipped off the casette, rear disc and broken spoke by lunch on Thursday and had it all back together and rotating with barely a wobble by Thursday afternoon.

See, this what you get when you build yourself a bike instead of buying one off the (bike) rack. Best bit is, I never even touched a spoke when I was putting it all together. I mean I touched them obviously, being part of the wheels and all that, but not in the sense of building an entire wheel out of them or anything along those ludicrous lines. Thing is though - because I had put just about everything else together, I now know where all the fiddly bits are, what they are called, what I need to pull apart to get at them and what the tool looks like that is required to do all that and then put it back together again without it resembling some kind Church sanctioned, heretic torturing, confession machine from Inquisitorial Spain.

2012 Matt wouldn't even have been able to get all the crap off the hub to get anywhere near the actual spoke.

It's all been very good for my morale.

Think I might pull our car apart.

CAN'T PAY? WON'T PAY! - MATCH REPORT

Just to make clear the political orientation of this play – on more than one occasion, it pointedly accuses the Communist Party, yes that Communist Party, of being not really left wing enough. So not likely to be on Andrew Bolt’s list of things to see and almost definitely absent from the National Curriculum being currently prepared by our duly elected Minister for Education.

Not that I was overly aware of this until I was half way home on account of the layer of unapologetically slapstick hilarity laid down over the rhetoric with enthusiastic abandon and consummate skill by Director Bob Phillippe and his very able cast of five (…..or eight, if you count all of Tim Williams’ near identical twin brothers, none of which I had the slightest idea existed until last night).

Karen Jones as Antonia, gets through an absolute mountain of dialogue as she first ropes her less than enthusiastic friend Margherita, played with excellent comic timing by first time actor Karen Toohey, into accepting the proceeds of an ever so casual major shoplifting incident, then spends the rest of the play more or less successfully convincing their two less than perceptive husbands (Ross Fletcher and Peter Firminger)and one similarly clueless Police Inspector (Tim Williams) that the large bag of stolen goods Margherita has stuck up her overcoat  is in fact something else entirely.

 See the play if you want to find out what.

Ross’s Giovanni is a perpetually active study of comically conflicted chaos and Peter’s Luigi plays off him nicely as his rather more politically pragmatic friend (though still sadly lacking in knowledge vis a vis the female reproductive system). Both were perfectly suited to the roles, even if I was initially confused by Peter’s complete lack of facial hair and the fact that Karen and Karen seemed to have stolen his signature long black coat look.

Tim Williams as, well, about 50 different characters, demonstrates a level of verbal and physical fitness that boggles the mind, as he effortlessly plays half the play’s cast entirely by himself. I for one am quite happy he never went into law enforcement.

Technically of course the whole thing went off with the practiced efficiency that is a hallmark of all Valley Artists productions. So, well done to the team of creative lunatics that yet again put together such an awesome set and to all those running about in the shadows wearing nothing but black skivvies and presumably really cool night vision goggles.

Bob Phillippe has once again presented the valley with a production well worth stumping up $25 for and I recommend doing just that  as soon as you absolutely can …….even if he does seem to be suggesting we should all pop into Cessnock and clean out Woolworths.