The Even Greater Tokyo Region

Walk a Sham

As you may recall, for those of you playing at home, my bike was stolen from the station a few weeks ago. I thought some drunk person and/or homeless person had stolen it in a random incident, but now I think there may be a conspiracy against me. Someone -or something- is dearly against me riding a bicycle. I am not a superstitious man, but consider these cold hard facts of the last few weeks.

These last few weeks- and until the end of the year, I am working incredibly hard- working hard beyond recognition. (i.e. it is very unlike me to work this hard.) I go to school every day to write my thesis, and do my homework for my other class. I also still work 12 hours per week earning actual money, as university "credit" doesn't actually get you anything except disdain from people with actual full-time jobs.

Be aware that every single day that I don't have a bike, I have to walk a half hour to town, and from there another 10 or so to school. There is a bus, but it often comes only once an hour, and sometimes it comes early, so on top of the 7 minutes it takes to walk there, you have to be 10 minutes early, and then, it might come very late. It is often worthwhile to just walk. On the way home, I usually took the bus.


My bike was stolen on a Wednesday. I waited until after the weekend to get a new one.

The Tuesday after my bike was stolen, I went to the bike store and asked what 2nd hand bikes were available. I found one that I maybe wanted, but decided to think about it for a day, and maybe compare prices.

Thursday. I was going to go to the bike store to buy it. Only, the shop had a small sign on the window saying his daughter was sick at the hospital, so he was closed all day. It would be a dick-move to complain about this. So I won't.

Friday. I went back, and told him which bike I wanted. He needed to fix it up a little beforehand, and he couldn't make it ready for me today. Also, since he is closed on Mondays, I told him begrudgingly I would pick it up on Tuesday.


After a whole week without wheels, I was getting pretty sick of walking.

Week 2
Monday. The bike store is closed.

Tuesday. There was another sign on the door that said he was closed from 2pm. It was 3pm.

Wednesday. I finally could pick up my bike. Wow, this time I have an old racing bike, and damn it goes fast. I was so happy, that feeling felt like it would last forever.

Thursday. I finished all my study and errands in record time, and I had energy when I got home. I made plans to get up early and do it again the next day.

Friday. As I was about to leave for a jam-packed day of study, I noticed that my front tyre was flat. Shit! After some swearwords, I put out my left foot and took the familiar walk back to town.

Week 3

Tuesday. I wanted to let him fix the tyre properly while it was still under moral-warranty. I was expecting this to be the last time I had to walk to town. So I walked to town with my bike, and went back to the bike shop (because he is closed on Mondays). He was sick again. Fuck. So I locked up my bike outside his shop and left, knowing that I would have to walk to town again tomorrow.

Wednesday. There was a sign on the door saying he was out picking up new bikes until midday. I had work at 2pm. There was no way he would be able to fix up my bike within the first hour of his working week, so I told him I could pick it up the next day at 5pm- at his closing time, and the time my class finishes.

Thursday. I had to wake up very early, and it was raining very hard. Unfortunately, the bus was early and I saw it fly by before I got to the bus stop. So I walked. In the drenching rain. At the end of the day when class finished I walked as quickly as I could to the bike store, arriving at 5:05. I saw him, busy putting all the bikes on the street into the tiny store. He saw me and said, "I'm sorry, your bike is right at the back of the store, I am not going to get it out now."

As he said that, a part of me died inside. Truly. My feet were dead tired, and my mind destroyed. I mean, I had been working so hard these last few weeks, and this let down was almost my breaking point. I loped back to the bus stop...

Friday. Finally, my bike. He didn't charge me for it, which is nice. I mean, I like the guy, but circumstances have been so against me lately, it brought me to the edge of despair.

I will not take my bike for granted. Because there is one thing I have learned from these last three weeks: Even though it is man's primary form of locomotion, I fucking hate walking.