It took the seasons a while to work things out, but summer has finally given way to fall. The rain started on Sunday and has held the upper hand since the week began. Like Leftbanker, I started wearing pants again.
Two notable things have happened since fall really took hold. First, the bad news: on Sunday our flat was broken into and the thieves absconded with my year-old MacBook Pro and my iPod Touch. They got in through a window, and though they hardly touched anything (nary a drawer was opened), they left two dirty handprints on the wall above the window. So the forensic police showed up with their fingerprint dust and everything. I suppose it was a matter of time before something like this happened.
Second, the good news: I wore out the rear brake pads on my bicycle. It’s been two months of minimum 20-kilometer weekday rides to and from work and around town on the new Fahrrad, and today I did those kilometers through some serious rain. My intention was not to ride to work on the days it’s raining when I get up, but this morning it wasn’t; it started raining as soon as I got to the corner where I begin my ride. I was already geared up so I went for it, which I regretted only for the feeling of water-logged denim against my thighs.
On the way back I noticed that my rear brakes didn’t really brake and that I could pull the lever right to the handlebar. Upon investigation it seemed the pads were sort of melting away against the rim. A combination of impatience and lack of time led me to Calmera, where they informed [bicycle-maintenance novice] me that the pads were worn away completely. The female clerk was so impressed by my daily kilometer count that she punched the numbers into a calculator to see how many it had been in two months: “1000 km! That’s like riding to Valencia and back at least once!”
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