The fine folks at the Board of Ed purchased for me this more than adequate, shiny blue bicycle, so that I might cavort around town. And truly, it is a nice little bike.
If I was only going to be gallavanting around the Tsuyazaki side of Fukutsu.
However, the dojo I train at, the electronics store, the pseudo-department store are all over on the Fukuma side. Which is down the road a few km. Now, even that might not be a problem, except, this fine looking example of bike machinery has no gears. None. It's a one-speed. And that is not good. Pedaling down to Fukuma the first time, over hill and dale, well... let's just say it wasn't pleasant. And it wasn't quick. I have named it the Batchan special. [Batchan being a colloquial Japanese term for grandmother.] "Gotta go to the store? Take the Batchan!"
Here's the thing... most of the bikes in Japan are like this... not gear wise... but appearance wise. It's the standard looking bike here - there's even a term for it that escapes me at the present time - but still, most of them are carrying at least 3 gears. Now, if I was to stay Tsuyazaki side all the time, it would have been fine, but heading down to Fukuma several times a week... well... something had to be done... so...
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