Not a handyman

if you've read some of the past blogs, you'll be aware that i'm not that good at doing stuff and that i don't enjoy it. last week presented me with two more opportunities for failure, or if not failure, frustration. the first was the continuation of the bt saga; the router arrived. this was good news, we'd have broadband, and bad news, only if i could install it. the instructions were clear, concise and easy to follow and with only 20 minutes wasted, we had broadband. success.

the second was a planned trip up to castell coch on the taff trail. my younger daughter's bike had a problem with the rear innnertube and it was not a pucture. to replace the innertube, i would have to take the back wheel off and that meant i'd have to take off, or at least upset, the gears. i had done this many times as a young person but the gears back then seemed a more simple design but i gave it a go.

out came the depleted socket and spanner set (i lose one piece per job on average) and i was happy to find that i had the correct spanner.

undo nut 1

undo nut 2

back wheel won't budge; there's a screw holding the gears in place, slight panic.

undo screw, pull on wheel and out it comes and something hits the floor. it's silver and had something to do with the screw, but what?

take faulty innertube out and replace with repaired ex-faulty innertube that had come out of the front wheel many months before. slightly happy but a little concerned with silver part.

now put wheel back on.how? every which way that i try the gears is wrong.

realise problem, too few hands. try to grow more, useless.

ten minutes of muttering, swearing, cutting hand and still no success.

bring in other daughter's bike. ha ha, that is where the silver bit goes.

helps a bit but not a lot. another scrape and swearing become more voluble. just not enough hands.

what would bellman suggest. break it down into little jobs. epiphany. screw the gears on first, then put the wheel back on. hurray.

put on the chain and check that the wheels move. they do but only just.

*~**^*~~#### the brakes are sticking now. ten minutes of messing with these then give up. take them off altogether, just use the front brake.

all in all nice day.

hope you enjoyed the menu, i'll do the recipe for the vegan moussaka later in the day.

don't go fixing any bikes

cheers

wayne