June, 2005:

Bike Shop

Jun 30th, 2005

I’ll be heading to the bike shop tomorrow.

On my way home I managed to have a nice big rusty nail find it’s way through my back tyre. Nasty.

I was in a real hurry and had already been delayed so I changed tubes and was about to head on my way when I realised that my back tyre was flat … again.

I pulled my spare out of the tyre and noticed that it needed a patch. I patched the tube, put everything back together (for the second time) and pumped up the tyre … again. At least I got half way through pumping up the tyre when my pump breathed its last. I made it home by leaning forward and putting most of my considerable weight on the front wheel.

Tomorrow I’ll be off to buy a new pump from the local bike shop. Thankfully my local bike shop is equipped a little better than the one in the picture which is about a kilometre away from the Taj Mahal in India.

Click on the photo for a larger view.

Posted by Rodney Olsen

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Dogs and bicycles

Jun 29th, 2005

by Rodney Olsen.

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I was looking through some of my photos from India earlier this evening and I had to smile when I spotted this photo.

As soon as I saw this sign I knew I had to grab a snap. After all, I was in India on a cycling adventure.

It seems that, according to this sign at least, you are in great danger of being bitten by a dog if you ride a bike in India. I managed to avoid being bitten by any of the local canine population. The closest I got, as far as animal attacks go, was my monkey attack which I described here.

The sign was in the window of a doctor’s surgery in a shopping area in the city of Chandigarh. Thankfully I didn’t need to visit the DOG BITE TREATMENT CENTRE. Unfortunately, that meant that I never got to meet Dr. G.P. Gupta and so I can’t tell you just how affordable immunity was at his clinic.

The strange thing about the dogs in India is that during my 2003 trip I don’t recall seeing many dogs at all. We did see a couple of very healthy dogs at places we stayed and a few strays but that was about it. When we were there in February / March this year there were mangy, stray dogs everywhere. They seem very timid so there wasn’t really much concern about being attacked.

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Petrol up again

Jun 28th, 2005

by Rodney Olsen.

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I suppose you’ve heard that petrol prices are on the way up again. Oil has hit a new high of almost US$61 a barrel.

Once oil goes up, everything goes up because most other goods need to be transported by oil powered vehicles.

While we’re still reeling from the price rises, some Australian economists have come out saying that they want petrol to be taxed at a higher rate to discourage the use of cars. They believe that we’re not paying enough tax when we fill up at the bowser. They reckon that we’ll just have to handle our household budgets a little better. Easy for them to say.

Thankfully I don’t have to buy a lot of petrol because my main vehicle is my bicycle. I’m all for encouraging people to use active transport methods like walking, public transport and cycling. I share their concerns about car usage. I think we rely on vehicles far too much and we’d be doing ourselves and the environment a huge favour if we got out of our cars more often. However, I think it’s a pretty sad state of affairs when we’re forced to do so because we can’t afford any other choice.

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Loving your job

Jun 27th, 2005

by Rodney Olsen.

6 comments

Margaret left me a comment on my recent post about my job. I thought her questions needed a wider audience. (Make sure you drop int and visit Margaret’s blog to say hello.)

Thanks for coming by my blog… strange new thing for me.. this blogging thing.. anyway, it’s so wonderfully refreshing to hear that you love your job! Why do you think more people don’t pursue a job they’d love? Money, courage, passion…. what stops people from doing what they’re called and created to do? Any thoughts?

I think that she’s on the right track with some of her suggestions. What do you think? Why do people settle for jobs that don’t really thrill them?

Years ago there was a lot of talk about job satisfaction. Then there were many years of high unemployment and less talk about job satisfaction. People were encouraged to get whatever job they could and that was enough. Thankfully, in Australia at least, employment opportunities are much better now.

Are you in a job that you enjoy? If you could do anything you wanted for work, what would you be doing? What’s stopping you from moving towards that goal? What do you think stops other people from pursuing a job they love? Let’s get some conversation going.

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How was your weekend?

Jun 27th, 2005

by Rodney Olsen.

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Is it already a distant memory?

We spent a bit of time with some friends on Saturday, sitting around enjoying good company over a barbecue and a couple of glasses of red. We had been to a Reconciliation Service at their local Catholic church where their daughters were taking part. Not being all that familiar with the Catholic church it was an interesting time observing the traditions and ceremony of the day. The priest conducting the service looked as if he’d been serving in the church for decades but he had a real spark and was obviously enjoying the interaction with the young people.

As for yesterday, I stayed home all day. Emily was feeling pretty dreadful so Pauline took James out and I stayed home with my little girl. Today Pauline’s looking after Emily. They’ve just been to the doctor and been told that she’ll recover within a few days. It’s great to have confirmation that she’ll be alright. I find it very difficult seeing our kids suffering. It’s hard to see someone who’s usually so full of life laying around in bed all day.

Posted by Rodney Olsen