weblog of rommel talavera pascual

Paranoia

products-truss.jpgPinabili ako ni Jeanne ng kamatis kanina. The shop is only 2kms away and with all the talk about green house emissions, I feel guilty about driving for a few tomatoes. If I walk, it will take almost an hour but if I cycle I’m paranoid about leaving my bike tied up on a post as I dash to the shops.

There are reasons for my angst. Once, I forgot to remove my tail-lights and it was stolen. On another occasion, I found the lock on my bike almost open already – the thieves are down to the fourth digit of my combination lock when I must have tipped them and left before they could swipe the bike. The third occasion, my seat was stolen. The sad thing is – they would probably fence that seat for just $5 – $10 while it would set me back $120 for a replacement.

Sometimes, Jeanne would cycle with me to the shops. One of us will stay with the bike while the other goes about. It’s a bit silly and discourages the use of bikes for short trips like this.

For several years now, bikes outsell cars in Australia. More and more people are cycling for fun, exercise or even as an alternative mode of transport. Let’s face it, with petrol forecasted to be $3 per litre before the end of the naughties, the bike becomes the vehicle to burn all the fat we’ve been accumulating sitting on our cars today. Wouldn’t it be nice if every shopping mall would have home deliveries and safe parking space for bikes?

Categorised in: Journal Entry, Special Feature

8 Responses »

  1. a similar instance took place when Papsie’s uncle (a national artist) went to a store using his bike, brought with him inside the store one of the wheels thinking his bike will not be stolen without the complete set of wheels. he was wrong. when he finished buying some stuff, he discovered that the bike with one set of wheel was taken.

    • Sad. It’s worst than carnaping because they’re not taken as seriously. Often it’s not worth claiming against insurance because of excess and likely increase in premium. Napamahal tuloy yung trip ni Angkol 🙂 Thanks for sharing this bingskee – I hope your uncle-in-law was not put off riding after that incident.

  2. And I thought “bikenapping” happens onli in da Pilipins.

    Salamat sa pagdaan…at hindi po ako nagalit 🙂

  3. yeah, they should make parking lots and roads more bike-friendly. but here in the philippines, with the motorcycles acting like complete jacka**es, there’s more need to educate them than make it conducive for them. kainis kasi walang discipline most bike riders.

    anyway i really love the look of your site. i’ve been browsing through wordpress themes and i’ve installed several already. most are minimal with a touch of orange, pink, or green 🙂 my problem is, how do i edit the widgets when the theme is widget-ready? like the Meta for example, i couldn’t change the RSS feed address. and also, the subscribe to recent comments plugin isn’t showing.. bakit kaya? i hope you don’t mind me asking for help! 🙂

  4. a looooong long time ago, i had a bike. it was a cheap read BMX, but it took me all over the island of Mactan and some parts of northern cebu. I miss it. Hmm … *dials the number of a bike shop in carriedo*

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