My Ride

My Ride
Glacier National Park

Saturday 14 July 2012

Long May You Run

It got stolen.

I went to the bike dealers to arrange for the bike to be taken in for the insurance claim. this was the result of deer hit bike, 1.5 months ago. Insurance company finally gave the go ahead on Monday, last week.

Last night I called my sister and we went out to O'Byrne's a bar on Whyte Avenue in Edmonton. When they showed up, I moved the bike to a place where I could see it. Not so much for theft, but for people practicing their parallel parking skills.

As the night went on one beer became many. I met three guys from England and a girl from Ireland. It was funny when they found out where I worked.
They all proudly showed me their status in Canada.

They were fun to speak with, they were from the North of England and worked in oil patch related jobs. they love Canada and would not be going back.

The Irish girl was from Dublin. We talked about the city and how pretty it was. I mentioned I had tried to read Ulysses (James Joyce) a couple of times, having made it to page 221 the most recent time. She said she got to page 12 and tossed it, she could walk Dedalus's route and it made no sense to her. She is on a working holiday and is looking to extend it. I think she will be immigrating too.

The good looking guy, Ryan, must have figured out what team I played for, as he appeared to be a motivator to go to another bar. The third Englishman was getting married in Vegas soon, he said to me, if you want me, you only have a couple of weeks.

They all took off and then two other people sat down. A religious minister immigrating from Florida and his friend who hates Obamacare, he was a Zen Buddhist.

This was an enlightening conversation. I was speaking on behalf of Baha'i belief versus Buddhism. Apparently Buddhism adopted reincarnation unwillingly from Hinduism. We had discussions about God. This is always fun for me as Almighty means different things to different religions...or in the case of Zen people different nothing.

The Zen guy id buy into the prophet thing though, Jesus, Mohammed, Einstein, Van Morrisson etc that was cool.

Eventually around midnight it came time for us to leave. I was staying at their place as I had way too much to drink. I had the urge to move the bike, as Whyte Ave has parking restrictions in some areas after midnight. I was not parked in one of them. I checked the signs.

It was not a great sleep and around 3 am I awoke and had a bitch of a time getting back to sleep. I knew something was up with the bike.

We went to get the bike at 8:30. with apprehension we drove down Whyte Ave, a pickup truck was blocking my view for most of the way. Finally we parked and I looked where the bike was. It wasn't there.

I had hope.

I went to the Old Scona Police Station and was thankful the guy from the previous visit wasn't there. Two very helpful Constables were. I got the phone numbers for the impound lot and they check their records. No bike was towed from Whyte, with my plate number, by them.

A couple of calls were made and then the next thing I knew I was making a report of theft. I thought they were still checking tow records. I completed the police report. It was short, I tend to write novels on witness statements, but I wasn't there so there was little to report.

I am happy I took tank bag with me when we left the night before. It had insurance and registration information.

I was in a daze after the police station. My brother in law asked where I wanted to go. I was lost. I figured I may as well stay by Whyte Avenue as I had a doctor's appointment at 1 PM near there.

When he took off, I got to a park bench and just sat there. My stomach was grumbling, as I was starving. I didn't know where to go, what to do. I finally walked to a Tim Hortons and had a breakfast sandwich. I don't think I could eat much more. On the iPad I found a claim number for the insurance company. They keep it well hidden, on the phone it did not show up at all. I reported bike stolen and asked what was next, he said he could not advise me. He said If I rent anything, keep receipts.

I am kicking around at a Starbucks waiting for the bus to go home, to get the car. I called the doctor and left a message that I would not be able to make it today, there is one bus and it is at 13:15.

In a daze I went to a discount store and got a shirt, toothpaste and stuff. I was not planning on staying in Edmonton last night. I felt pretty dirty as well as in a daze.

Sun's up, mmm looks ok, the world survives into another day and I am thinking about eternity, some kind of ecstasy got a hold of me.

p.s. if you haven't figured it out, music is a big part of my life.

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