No Bike
So the bike is in Kendal being fixed, I rang Mapdec about 20 minutes ago and spoke to the guy who has been working on it. He told me that they’re waiting on a part to be sent from the UK importers – Raleigh, who are part of the same group of companies as Haibike. Who I understand are replacing the part under the bike’s warranty not under the Tredz warranty – which I don’t care about, part was supplied to me faulty someone needs to pay for it and if no one else would I’d have had to, to get a working bike.
The part required is the cable that runs up the down tube as an extension for the cable that comes out of the display unit that sits on the handlebars (with which you control everything – but which is not the control unit which is tucked away somewhere else). The guy at Mapdec says that the bit that joins the two bits of wire together is broken (clip broken) and some of the pins have moved. He’s plugged the display into the motor directly (without the extension) and the bike works again. I’m a little puzzled that Tredz who serviced the electrics didn’t notice this damage before they sold it to me… But short of wasting even more time sending it to them (2-3 weeks) I don’t think I’d have had any better luck.
But the weather has broken for now, it’s actually – I think – overall warmer because the cold easterly wind has gone away, yesterday it was warmer especially while the sun was out. We had some rain last night though Stanley’s stream hasn’t filled appreciably. Today is colder than yesterday I think but still the air is warmer overall. But lack of bike meant I missed the end of the good weather. I hope this year is dryer overall than last, if not that was the end of the good weather until October.
With a bit of luck, they’ll get the cable at Mapdec tomorrow and I can go and collect the bike on Thursday, and it won’t rain all day. It’s ~30 miles home from Kendal which is about my range limit (depending on hills and assist level used), I don’t think I want to have to do that in the rain, bad enough that some of it will be on the main A65 as is, cycling on that in rain would be very un-fun.
Loneliness
Loneliness is not something I am un-used to having suffered with it since at least school. Not all the time, but I have felt lonely even while at parties or out with friends. I think part of it is due to the autism, because I cannot follow conversations when there are a lot of people around me, it’s like sitting in a bubble of unintelligible noise. I’ve mostly learned to deal with the downsides of my autism – I don’t seem to have any of the upsides that others with the diagnosis report. But this is one of the downsides that doesn’t seem to have a solution or mitigating factor.
So, I am lonely a lot any way. And I don’t know why I’m feeling it more than I used to. Maybe not being able to work (lack of trade > lack of jobs to do) no issue really on my end. Has meant I’ve not had as much to do at the Cheese Shop, but it’s really brining me down at the moment.
Worse I don’t really know how to fix it. “Get out more, meet new people…” And yet I don’t really have anywhere I want to go or do when I get there. Hopefully when my bike is in working order, I can find someone who want to go cycling with me. I won’t hold my breath.
Sorry for the rather poor post.
Writing
I have done some more, some of my WhatIFs have received some updates (unpublished so far) as have some of my other stuff. I’m trying a new writing/planning process to see if that will help me follow what I want the story to do, and maybe write bits I have done in my head that are out of sequence, as I know what sections I need to write to get to where I want to go. We’ll have to see how that goes.