OK, I admit it I am learning patience right now. I have just lost the entire post which I painstaking typed about 15 minutes ago. There was this "time-out" problem at this blogsite. So in a way, nothing was lost.
As I was saying when I was rudely interrupted, yesterday after dropping off my son for work, I headed for the neigbourhood's newsstand when a familiar, ominous sound screeched from my motorcycle.
I have heard this sound before - about five or six years ago. It meant that my gearbox had gone into an inretrievable engine loss mode. Sure enough, an hour later at the mechanic shop, I was told one of the parts had broken and the bill would be hefty if I opted for an original part.
Since, my bike is close to 10 years old, I wasn't that keen on anything original. I decided to go for a re-conditioned spare part. In my part of the world, mechanics are quite resourceful.
Three hours later, my bike was back to its spiffy self. It purred like a kitchen and swung down the road with a bit of confidence, giving me the rider a bit of cheap thrill.
The story here is not about the bike but about what happened after I was forced to "abandon" the bike at the shop. I had to walk home and walked back to the shop to retrieve the bike.
It was during my walk that I discovered that the little details that had escaped my attention while I was on my bike. I must have taken the same route on hundreds of occasions. Since I had to keep an eye on the road, I normally don't cast my eyes around like a tourist.
If I were to do so, I might just end up in a ditch, which I actually did one evening not so long ago (but that's another story).
Anyway, while I was travelling along on my God-given two legs, I began to notice the houseowners' gardens and the way they have done it all up. Some of the homes were not exactly mansions but they did have pride in their own surroundings. I also stole a glance at people's backyards and front gardens.
Many of them were simple because the folks who live there were from the lower income group. They were generally not as well off as those chaps in the more swanky part of the neighbourhood.
I took pleasure at Nature's offerings in the form of tall, old trees and beautiful bushes that lined the roads where I walked. Suddenly, it dawned on me that for most of us, life was constantly on the "fast forward" button. We seldom push the "play" mode and watch everything slow down for our own sake.
We tend to be in a hurry. In fact, we are in a hurry all the time. By the time, we realise that we are moving too fast for our own good, we are at the tail end of our existence.
So in a way, my bike breaking down was good for me. I made friends with the mechanic. He was a young man who was obviously good at this profession. It may not have been the kind of work he really liked but he was good at it, and there's no denying that.
I also learnt from this young gentleman which bike was the most reliable bike on the road. My model wasn't in his "must-have" category. So the next time, I am in the market for a new motorcycle, I know what to look for. And this knowledge came from sharing a few moments in life with a stranger whom I only got to know when my bike broke down.
I am in a way glad my bike broke down yesterday because I discovered so many things but then I don't want it to break down again anytime soon. But if it does sometime in the future, I won't be tearing my hair out because it's Fate's way of telling me that it's time for another valuable lesson in life.
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