Liam's Visit

My American buddy Liam, who lives and works in Sevilla, came to check out Jerez this weekend. He arrived Thursday and spent until Saturday afternoon IN Jerez. This entry is about all that happened during those 48 hours or so....sure to be boring all this.

I met Liam at the train station Thursday night and we went to meet up with some friends at the bar Cuatro Gatos, which means Four Cats. A good time which was made funner when Liam suggested that we ask to ride the tricycle-size bike sitting next to the stage area. The bike belonged to the bar and turned out to be part of a bike-themed photo exhibit promoting bikes against motor vehicles as a means of transportation around Jerez. There were photos of folks on bikes all around the bar. So I asked if we could take the bike outside for a ride. The bar tender smiled and gave permission. The bike turned out to be too small and the chain too tending-to-fall-off to be able to ride the bike far. After we put the chain back on its track we returned it and continued with our friends inside. The bar tender walked up to me after a bit and asked if I wanted to take the bike home......PSHAW!!!! WELP! YEA! What do you think? So she gave it to us. She went on to explain all about the photos and the theme of the exhibit. I didn't think at the time of accepting the bike that we would have to walk it home. It's tiny and walking it home was a pain - the walk is like 45 minutes. But I did it and now it's sitting in the laundry room of our apartment. It's all busted - the tires are flat and a brake doesn't work - but I'm telling myself that I'm going fix it. Why? No reason. Anyway, it's sitting next to right now another larger bike which I borrowed from a friend to take a bike ride around Jerez yesterday to show how is the city to Liam. During this bike ride, the bike I was on, which was also borrowed, broke. The spokes of the rear wheel caught the gear changer and twisted it all out of shape. I have no idea how to say that - twisted it all out of shape - in Spanish so when I called my buddy who'd lent me the bike to tell him that I'd broke the bike, I told him that the spokes had EATEN the gear changer. I think he understood and told me it was no big deal. Phew. What a nice guy.

Thanks for reading. Happy Mother's Day, Mothers.