MIND MAP IT OUT
Prompt - Mind Map it Out : Create a mind map of words, phrases and ideas that pop into your head, or spend some time browsing the many mind maps onl;ine. Write a poem, story or journal entry inspired by the mind map.
A BIG MISTAKE?
What had he been thinking? It seemed like a smart idea during the first lockdown. The streets so quiet, nowhere to go, sun shining and peace in the streets. But reality has a way of biting back. Optimism gives way to pragmatism. What had once seemed sensible, or at least fun, now looks stupid, and more challenge than entertainment. But that's the problem with a product that takes eighteen months to arrive. The lockdowns long gone, the streets busy and the air polluted, a second summer waning, the rains coming in from the Atlantic. So what to make of his rashness? Could the inspired mouse click still deliver something worthwhile in a world that looks so different?
He set about trying to construct this new situation to his advantage, to find the positives. One short ride powered by aching muscles had given some idea of the scope, of the tasks ahead. So he mind mapped his thoughts, trying to work out what needed to be done, and what he could look forward to.
Four spines ran off the centre circle. In the circle one short word - ebike. The spines were labelled Improvement, Security, Riding, and Objectives. He stopped short of putting in one that said Fears, although it was lurking in his mind.
Security, he thought, was basically doing everything possible to stop his new toy from getting nicked. The local Facebook page had a constant stream of reported bike thefts, and he had no desire to add to it. Most important was to make it secure within the garage where it would spend most of it's time. He had heavy duty D rings to be drilled into the wall and floor, there to attach padlock and chain. One to secure the frame to the wall, a second attaching the back wheel to the floor, and a third to keep the front wheel with the frame. Three keys to remember, to forget, to lose... Maybe he could block in the entrance a bit too, although he didn't want to make it too difficult to take our or put back. He'd also try to use the back door from the garage, making it look to most people that he kept the bike in the flat, not in the garage which could so easily be broken in to.
And security also meant outside. Most of the time he'd simply go for a ride, never leave the bike anywhere, return home. But that negative approach nullified any potential usefulness of this means of transport. There had to be times when he'd go into a shop, leave the bike to it's own safety. So two of the locks needed to be fairly portable, so he could always secure the frame to a rack and the front wheel to the frame (again). He needed to start paying more attention to bike racks, look for the ones where there were constantly people passing by, in well lit areas. He even thought about getting the bike dirtied up, so it looked less valuable. But the striking colour was one of the joys he had no desire to compromise.
Improvement had three lines springing from it. Comfort, which meant getting a new, spongier, saddle, and raised, flatter handlebars, to get the seating position a bit better. Safety would include getting a better bell, fitting lights (which were surely on their way?), and working out how to use the indicator function on the fancy helmet he'd got. And Convenience simply ran into one word - Rack. Something to attach a bag to, should the previously suggested shopping take place.
Riding took in trying to go out on the bike at least once a week (although once November came in that plan might swiftly drop away...), trying to steadily increase the distance ridden, seeing how far the battery life allowed one to go, and finding new and different routes.
Which left Objectives. Ha, ha. On one arm he'd written Improve Stamina. A worthwhile aim. An unlikely one. But maybe this, plus a bit of walking and some gym time, might all combine to make him just a little fitter? That first ride had surprised in finding out how quickly the power assist could kick in, and, more shockingly, just how much effort progress required from him. It was only six a and a half kilometres, but some muscles were still feeling ti a could of days later.
There were two further objectives. He knew they'd been in his head long before the bike arrived, so he had to include them. He also knew that his first riding experience in about nine years had made them look ridiculous. One was to cycle east, to North Berwick, there to catch the train back to the city (or perhaps the other way round?). The other headed west, to his friend's place in Bo'Ness. Where he could cadge a recharge then make the return journey, fully juiced up. How realistic were either of these madcap ideas? He would only know once next spring arrived and he could really start to build up mileage as the weather improved. If... he still had the motivation to build up mileage as the weather improved!
There would be other ideas, notions, thoughts, schemes occurring to him. Other plans, maybe more realistic in learning process of experience.
But in all his planning there was one inescapable truth from which he could not escape. One simple set of facts that, cruelly, mocked several of his conclusions. He was sixty five years old, unfit, and dead lazy.
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