Projects. You need them for your mental health, or at least I do. The only bad aspect of our life in France was the lack of a shed/workshop for me to do stuff. I managed to get around this after a while by volunteering with Velo Campus where I was able to learn more about fixing bikes and help other people learn about bike maintenance. Without that opportunity, I would have been climbing the walls and most likely become a criminal mastermind.
It’s the same here in Canberra. I don’t own the house we’re in at present and it’s a source of constant frustration due to there being so many projects screaming out to be started. So I’ve had to look elsewhere for my project fix. Recently, I was fortunate to be involved in CA’s school fete, where I inadvertently “volunteered” to run the second hand bike stall. A few weeks later, there was no room in my shed and the back yard looked like a junk heap we’d received so many donations. 98% of them needed fixing in one way or another and it was a lot of work, most of which I did myself, but it kept me busy.
So, once if was all over I still needed something to do.
I was lucky enough to score a couple of bikes from the pool of donations. We had some excellent donations but there were a couple that stood out, both for different reasons but both were vintage Apollos. Thus, I have managed to give myself something to keep me busy in my spare time.
You can read about the Leopard here, and the Eclipse here.
Random thoughts on amateur radio, sustainability, cycling, travel, and other stuff