It Ain't Half Hot

Australia is in the grips of its hottest spell of weather ever.  Yesterday the average maximum temperature across the whole continent was well into the thirties.  In Tewantin we have had about a week of thirty plus maximums with no relief in sight.  Fortunately my house is well insulated and reverse cycled air-conditioned and I am sitting in my lounge with Louis beside me in a nice 25C environment.

I am writing this blog today as I have just had really uplifting experience.  On Sundays I do all my washing and clean through the house which then gets left to itself for another week.  If I am finished in time I sit down to watch and listen to the UK Songs Of Praise television program.  I was a choir boy from 1948 until 1953 and have always loved choir singing even though my voice never made the transition from boy soprano to anything worth while.

Today it was the 2011 School Choirs Semi Finals where six school choirs had to sing one hymn of their selection.  The best three would go into the final which I hope to see next week.  Each school was terrific.  The top three comprised one from England, one from Glasgow and one from Edinburgh.  The Edinburgh Choir gave a magnificent rendition of "Guide Me O Thou Great Redeemer", better known to the Welsh as "Cwm Rhondda"  or "Bread Of Heaven" which would have rivalled a South Wales Mail Voice Choir.

I was mesmerised for 30 minutes listening to six fantastic choirs made up of high school students and it was a shame that three were eliminated.

This week has probably seen the  demise of a good friend, my cheap shopping bike.  I was returning from my Wednesday shopping expedition when I felt the handlebars give a little.  I stopped and investigated and found that there was quite a lot of play in the folding mechanism of the handlebars but as it seemed stable I rode home no wishing to boil the five litre cask of wine in my basket.  At home, having safely put the wine in the fridge, I tried to adjust the folding mechanism which actually broke as I did it.  This bike cost about $150 four years ago and apart from last weeks puncture had been totally reliable.  Spare pares are not available for these cheap chain-store bikes and I cant see a way of fixing it safely so I shall recover any useful bits and put the rest in the wheely bin tomorrow.  I bought this bike when Margaret was ill and it made many trips to the hospital and nursing home.  After Margaret's death this little bike encouraged me to buy my $2000 plus Bike Friday which has contributed to me making it through the last two years and helping me to look forward to the future.

The offending mechanism.  To fold the handle bars down you slide the little clip on the left and pull down the black knob on the right which controls and "over centre" latch which had stretched and subsequently broken.

I am looking at buying another cheaper bike, about $500, for shopping as I couldn't bear to have the Bike Friday stolen.