I would like to tell a little story. It has been a long week and I'm only on my "Wednesday". The last two days have been really busy at school as I'm now at locations that are kinda out there, and they're all new classes (6 classes both days) so it's been a lot of prep work and prelim leg work to get things rolling for the new semester. The days have felt especially long because I still haven't gone to buy a bike so I'm walking about an hour a day just to and from my house to my first main school to check in. Today was long again with a staff meeting at noon (I have to leave the house just before 11 to make it there on time) and then teaching till 9 at yet another school. In all I spent just over 2 hours on trains, or waiting for trains at transfer points. I spent 1780 yen on train fare alone. So after a long day I then had a long walk ahead of me. I was wearing my "kick ass boots" today, think cat woman meets cool kindergarten teacher, and realized that I hadn't brought my sneaks to walk home in. I dumped my shoulder bag at Kita school and went off home. I stopped for some TP and nacho chips (hard to come by, the nacho chips I mean, but there is a random wholesale store near my house that carries random international food) and made it to within a block of my house, looking forward to checking hockey scores and watching some Queer Eye for the Straight Guy that was downloading while I was at work, when I thought "..." well, I won't tell you what I thought cause it embarrasses my mum when I cuss. My bag is back at the school. My house key is in my back. I only have my school keys on me. Oh dear me! Yeah, that's exactly what I said. Oh dear me, this is a pickle, how could I be so absent minded. Yup, just what I said. I dropped my shopping bags at my door and headed back down the street. Now I must say that it has become habitual for me to take a side road that runs parallel to the main road for some time and then crossing over to another more spacious main road with barriers between pedestrian and vehicle areas. It's a little bit longer, I think, than taking a park route that cuts diagonally, but it's a much calmer route and quite peaceful, especially at night. Tonight, I had taken the more travelled route home to swing by the stores and I figured I would take the same way back as it was probably shorter, and note, I was still wearing my "kick ass boots" so a shorter distance was about all my feet wanted. Keep in mind I had already walked to and from the school already today. As I was passing by the music school I noticed a red bike. This whole week I have been looking at all the Fat Cat (yes, my bike model is called Fat Cat, how fabulous is that!) bikes that I see. I have discovered that they are plentiful in the land. This bike was a Fat Cat and I just happened to glance down at the cross bar where Drlfan had some gashes in her paint from some other inconsiderate fellow bikes. There were gashes in the paint! "No," I thought, "she can't be this close to my house, she's gone and I need to stop looking at every Fat Cat I see". I was about to walk by when I thought to glance at the reg numbers. "055XXXBlah Blah" I only ever remember the 055. "No Freaking Way!" thought I. Yes, folks, yes. It was Drlfan. Now you need to remember that I had left my keys at the school so I had to go all the way back to be able to unlock her. And you need to remember that if I hadn't left my keys back at the school, I wouldn't have been walking down this street. She was locked and looked a little worse for the wear, but still she was there, in front of me. There were a bunch of folks still at the music school with studio time and I thought, "Hallelujah". That was my first thought, then I thought, "What if it was one of them and they're going to come back out and take her away again". So, being the woman of action that I am, I went into the school, threw a tantrum and kick some crazy Flock of Seagulls haired, ripped jeans and cowboy boots wearing, girly man in the nuts and stole my bike back. Okay, so no I didn't. But some days I would really like to. They look ridiculous, don't they know that? Being the woman of action that I am, I ran, yes, RAN back to the school to get my keys, saying "Thank you Lord, man my legs are going to get a rash from all this chaffing, thank you Lord", the whole way through the park. And then shuffled (I changed out of my boots at the school and into some slip ons that I have stashed away that are harder to walk in, but kinda easier than the heels were going to be for the FOURTH time today) back as quickly as my stupid shoes would let me, and opened her lock, freed her from her dirt shackles and walked her home. Well, we only walked a few blocks as I talked sweetly to her, asking her all about the nasty person who put their bum on her seat, then I realized, "Dude, I don't have to walk anymore, let's ride baby!" You may think I jest about talking to her...I do not jest. I'm fully serious. I totally talked to my bike for like 2 blocks. That's how completely crazy, and completely ecstatic, I was to get her back.
The moral of this story is (make that "morals" and "are"): pray, God hears you, I've been praying for a week and a half that the stupid cleptos would ditch her somewhere where either I'd find her, or the police would confiscate her; always have good bootin' shoes available cause you never know when you'll have to "boot"; and last but not least, always double lock your bicycle. This story has been brought to you by the letter D and the number 5.
That's D for Drlfan, and 5 for 055-somethingorothersomemorenumbers.
