The Book of Sifty

Idealized or romantic style 1:54AM

So I edited yesterdays entry so it makes a little more sense. Apologies. I
think I may have been a little hung over from the night before. (Infact I think
I may have still been drunk from the night before to be more realistic)

Realist
- Misreading the definition I quite like : ""A programmer who represents
the world realistically and not in an idealized or romantic style"". While
I'm there - Cynical
- okay accepted farmgirl that definiton is pretty bad, but you know what I mean.

I'm going to relate two things that have happened to me in the last while to
re-enforce my self improvement point 1: Be more positive (see yesterdays
entry )

This happened quite a while ago but I was reminded when I was bitching about
'bad' luck incidents yesterday. While in the process of tracking down a replacement
documents for my bicycle, that I had paid $300 (NZD) to have shipped over here.
They had kindly lost all their paperwork, and expected me to produce it out
of thin air before releasing it. I had to call the Auckland office, apparently
they were likely to have made a copy as my beloved bike passed through. (Infact
it later developed they hadn't but that is another story)

It was the middle of the day here, and hence the middle of the night there,
but the London office assured me that they were a 24 hour operation, yet couldn't
provide me the 24 hour non 0800 number. So I rang New Zealand directory assistance,
after some discourse they gave me a number. Unfortunately, all though this indeed
was an Auckland number, It wasn't the right one. A constable from the Papakura
police answered. It was about 2am NZST.

Sometime later I was convinced that he
was indeed not the person I was after. He asked me what number I was
after, looked it up in the phone book, and volunteered to transfer
me.

To be quietly minding his own business on night shift in Papakura, the worst
of his worries the possibility of some harmless drunk bogans. To then have some
freak ring from the UK, bleating about his bike, and lost customs documents, obviously in need of some help.

I was impressed. Random nice-ness like that is always refreshing. Not to mention
actually putting me through to the correct number! (They weren't any use but...
gnggh.. be positive ..)

Disorganisation 1:56AM

The second tale is more recent, but just as unexpected. In my usual, some
cynics might say 'bad luck' inducing, disorganisation I was cycling trough the
castle encrusted highlands of Scotland with no where booked to stay that night.
This isn't normally a problem but all the tour buses,and package tours following
basically the same route, so there are some towns where getting bed in a hostel
isn't easy. (In fact one night I slept in the last bed in the 'overflow' caravan
of a hostel. Which was fine. It had a Star Trek theme. I slept in the 'Uhuru'
bunk).

So stopping for a specially picturesque
lunch stop beside a hydro lake (I was getting a little jaded by all
the pretty lochs). I rang ahead to book the hostel I was hoping to
make it to that night. This is of course one of the cool bits about
cycle touring, that you don't exactly know how far you will feel like
cycling on any day.

So anyway the youth hostel was full.

Shit. So was the independent hostel, further on, that I had no hope of making
it to anyway. So lying about in the hot sun I decided to throw caution to the
wind and continue on anyway. Later that day I arrived at the turnoff that took
me to the hostel, or on to a more likely accommodation rich town I wasn't planning
to visit.

I rang the hostel again just incase they had decided to add a new wing, or
had discovered some new bunks they had forgotten about. Previously I'd had my
call answered by the central reservations office in Edinburgh, who looked at
the computer screen and told me the hostel was fully booked. But this time I
got the lady at reception of the hostel.

They were indeed full.

I asked if she could recommend a Bed and Breakfast in the area. She takes my
number and rings me back in about 30 seconds. ""Now I've found you a b&b;,
but they can't do a cooked breakfast since his wife is away, but they have dropped
their price to '10, is that okay?"".

This I might add was cheaper than the hostel. (Which doesn't even do breakfast!). Sure the unexpected breakfast the next morning wasn't cooked, but the owner did share most of a bottle of single malt whisky with me in front of a roaring fire that night, and dropped me and bike off at the 'local' castle that he thought I should see the next morning! Brilliant.