I Found a Bike!

The side of a river is a great place to look for things. Earlier tonight, I found a repairable unicycle in the reeds while I was out jogging. From time to time, I see discarded bikes, umbrellas, pieces of furniture. Most of that gets snatched up by one of the two hobos who live under a particular bridge- each lives in his own pile of junk; they face each-other across the river.

I had decided to acquire a bike at any cost (in effort, not dollars :), and started my search along the river. I ended up finding my bike- powder blue, beat up, rusting, flat back tire- in the garbage area of an apartment complex while I was on my way back along the river. It was unrideable, so I walked it home.

On closer inspection, I found a tack in the back tire. And the rear brake cable is almost rusted through. Damn. There's a little bike shop- I think it's called "Kojima Bicycles"- on the road to the station.

My local bike shop is an old lady's parlor. It has a thick oriental rug and some chairs, with some little nick-nacks set on shelves and pictures on the walls. The only difference is that there are two bicycles for sale in the window, and a bicycle stand with attached tool tray in the middle of the room. The owner of the shop is a hard-talking no-nonsense woman, about 65 years old although it's always hard to tell. I asked her about the brake cable, and she said, after giving the lever a squeeze, "well, it hasn't snapped yet. It's fine." When I asked her about the cracked back tire, she told me "ride it until it really starts falling off."

Within minutes, she had the back tire off and was checking the inner tube for leaks by submerging it in a bowl of water. We made small-talk as she readied the replacement inner-tube. It turns out that three of her sons studied abroad in America- one in California, one in the midwest, and one in Maryland. She worked with efficiency, despite not having any other customers, and after about ten minutes I had a bike in rideable condition!

Aside from the banshee screech of the moribund brakes, it's actually a pretty nice bike. There are large baskets on the front and back for groceries or whatever else. And now I can save 400 yen each time I go to the climbing gym by riding my bike instead of taking the bus. And I can get to the station in about six minutes by bike (although it's 100 yen for parking... cheap bastards), if I'm pressed for time in the morning. I feel that the scope of my "neighborhood" has just greatly increased.

On another note, I received a random call on Skype, around midnight a few days ago. Maya was over at my place, and we had been watching "Mishima, a Life in Four Chapters" after a sushi dinner. I found the movie and its subject to be fascinating. But yes, the call, most unexpected. It was from someone named Salman, born and raised in Dubai but studying medicine in Poland. Totally random. He had only been studying English for about five months (or so he said), but we were able to have a strange, meandering, slightly baffled conversation about women, life, and Polish medicine. Apparently, he called me because he wanted to speak to someone in Japan (and it seems I am publicly listed on Skype as residing in Japan). It's nice when something totally unexpected happens, especially if you wind up making a new friend on the other side of the Eurasian Continent as a result.

Oh, look below for some of my favorite pictures from Hong Kong. Many more (most worth seeing!) on my Facebook album.