European Russia
I was relieved to
get to the city of Ufa. I was thinking what an incident-free
day it had been, and was almost wishing something would
happen when, crossing some tramlines, I heard a sinister
cracking sound. A shiver ran down my spine. I wondered
what the noise was. Had I run over something and broken it?
I couldn’t see anything. Something must have happened to
the bike . . .
Carrying on I saw that the rear luggage rack was
wobbling. Examining it more closely I found that the carrier
was bent. I knew that it had a small crack, but I was hoping
it would hold out. If it was going to break, then I had decided
I would deal with it as and when it happened. What a pain!
Fortunately, there was what looked like a garage nearby. I
barged in, only to be told, in no uncertain terms, “Tomorrow
tomorrow.” Seeing my plight, a kind young man took pity on
me, and explained how I could get to another garage nearby. It
was the same story there, “Tomorrow.” The young guy in the
garage told me about another workshop round the back. I
asked them if they could weld the carrier, to be told by a man
stripped to the waist, repairing a bus, “Tomorrow. The
welding equipment is switched off at the moment.”
What was I to do?
(from "Against the Wind" - Poolbeg Press)
