I hope you've all had a refreshing break and are tackling (or going to tackle) 2019 with a renewed sense of vigour and purpose.
After having Vanessa over for the day on New Year's Eve, I started the new year with a nice bike ride around my local area. In November - knowing that I needed to get back into fitness and that the last part of the Mullum Mullum Trail had been completed in September to connect the main bike trails - I decided to purchase a new bike (and drop off my old bike at the CERES bike shed). I went to 99 Bikes at Blackburn and with some help from the staff chose my new bike - A black Norco Indie 3 Hybrid 2019. It is quite a significant upgrade from my previous bike, which was a humble Huffy dad had purchased from K-mart back in 2002 and assembled for me.
From home I headed off along the Green Gully Trail before turning on to the Mullum Mullum Trail, attempting to ride all the way down to the start of the Eastlink Trail. I almost got there but had to turn back, and as I found out when I got home, I had taken a wrong turn near the end of the Mullum Mullum Trail. On the way back I decided to go the long way, riding the Main Yarra Trail through Westerfolds Park until I turned onto the Ruffey Creek Trail, before eventually arriving back home. In all, I must have ridden roughly 20-25 kilometres, which has easily been my longest ride in quite a while. Even more astonishing was that I did it with a loose front wheel, which I did not realize until about a week-and-a-bit later, when I was doing a pre-ride safety check and the front wheel came off! At least now I know how to securely install the front wheel. I hope to go for a few more rides when the weather cools down slightly and the council finishes the roadworks they've just commenced outside our court on Browning Drive.
You might be wondering if this is what my title is about. Well, yes, you could say that in the end with the bike I got home in one piece, but it actually relates to an incident that happened this week at work. Just before the end of the year, I took advantage of the Boxing Day sales at OPSM to grab a much-needed new pair of prescription glasses. I ended up settling for a rimless Armani Exchange model AX1026 which, after sales discount and health insurance cover, ended up costing only $150.
So after meeting them and collecting their documents for their mock interviews, I made my way back across the bridge to prepare. I must have been preoccupied, for it was on the bridge that my new Armani glasses slipped out of the sunglasses case and fell on the ground, and I did not notice at the time.
It was not until I got to the classroom where the interviews would be held that I realized my glasses were missing, however it was now too late to go searching for them, so I struggled my way through the interviews with my poor eyesight and then tried retracing my steps.
To cut the story short, I spent the next few days going down what I thought was every avenue to find those glasses and was just about to give up when God prompted me to inquire at the Student Central lost property department. So I went in, not expecting much, and asked at the lost property desk if a pair of rimless spectacles had been turned in that Monday. To my surprise, the man at the desk promptly got up and returned with what appeared to be my Armani glasses! After checking that they were indeed mine, I asked - in utter astonishment and gratitude - where they had been found. It was there I found out that I had dropped them and to my relief, one of the staff at Student Central had picked them up as he was passing by on his way back to the office. POSTSCRIPT TO NOW: Since then, thankfully, I have been more careful with my glasses and have learned that in future, if I lose anything at Deakin, give the Student Central office a try.
