Not being familiar with Pink Floyd I almost posted the wrong kind of bike for this, but
luckily someone posted the lyrics so I realised that a gleaming Honda motorbike wouldn't do.
Managed to grab this shot while I was out on the coffee run this morning and played around
with it in iPhoto.
I do have a very pretty bike of my own, a once-beautiful white Ralaigh with yellow roses
painted along the frame. I had imaged myself cycling along the country roads with
wildflowers in the basket, wearing floaty Laura Ashley dresses, which of course would be totally
impractical as they would no doubt get caught in the chain. But I soon discovered that I would
be sharing the same country roads with huge articulated trucks and speeding cars so my bike
was rarely used. Then, the flood of February 2002 brought disaster for my bike, along with many
of our belongings. Seawater is not good for the workings of bicycles and I'm afraid it is slowly
rusting away.
While there is a movement towards making Ireland more cycle-friendly, in a lot of cases
it means creating 'cycle lanes' by simply painting a line about two feet from the side of
the road and hoping that motorists will respect the rights of cyclists. Not enough to inspire
confidence in a nervous cyclist like me I'm afraid. So my poor bike continues to rust.