Eenee-Meenee-Mynee-Moh Visa + Final Bike Look

So on Friday last week, I made my way to the Indian Embassy. I think I've just about recovered from the experience and now ready to write about it! HAHAHAHA!

It was a really lovely 1-hour train ride out to The Hague, or Den Haag, as it's called in Dutch. If you follow me on Twitter, you would've gotten blow-by-blow accounts of my trip there.

Here's a quick recap...
On the empty train (after rush hour)


Passing through Dutch countryside (with real cows and sheep!)


The tree-lined streets in Den Haag:


My Holy Grail (Thank you, Google Maps!):


So... Remember how I was bitching about consular hours for visa application were only between 10am - 12pm? And blahblahblah... what do these people do the rest of the day, drink coffee all day?!

Well... I take it all back now. I was a complete judgmental twat when I said all of that. If I worked behind the consular desk of the Indian Embassy in The Hague, I would probably become The Incredible Hulk, roaring in anger at all the pushy, idiotic people who are there to apply for visas or renew their passports. There must have been about 100 people crowding the tiny room, with 2 small counters with ONE person sat behind each.

The lady behind the counter was a TRUE YOGI. You could see she was completely frazzled and frayed at the ends a little bit by all the SAME QUESTIONS everyone had for her ("Local Dutch? Apply for your tourist visa through Visumdienst." "...Yes, that's outsourced now." ..."Ma'am, if you read the brochure, you can also see there's another company in Amsterdam you can apply through." ..."No, we. don't. do. tourist. visas. for. dutch. people. here. anymore." ..."JUST. READ. THE. BROCHURE.") At no point did she snap under that kind of pressure from pushy people who were all about the ME! ME! ME!

It didn't seem like there was some kind of system at first - people sitting down/ standing around every which way. You had to elbow your way to get in and then figure out if there was some kind of queueing system. Turns out they've gone "high tech". You take a number from a ticket counter, and watch the digital counter overhead. Even within this "system", there was no system.

There were TWO counters - one with the number "57" on it, and the other with "79" on it. Every time the counter buzzed up to the next one, BOTH counters would click up to the next number.

My ticket said "80" so I thought "BINGO!" I'm next in line.

HA! Fat hope. Apparently there was a glitch in the matrix. Both counters click up at the same time, but really only the counter with "57" on it was the one that was working (You find out by becoming chatty with the people around you). Within the first hour, the counter clicked from 57 to 61. ARRRGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! You know patience is not my virtue... so thank goodness I could play games on my iPhone4. I had 4 scrabble games on the go with friends in Australia and Singapore. Heh.

Long story short: When I got to the counter and explained my story, even the Patient Lady at the counter said "Once you hand in your application, if we need more documents from you, we will call you to let you know, then you can come back with them only AFTER we've contacted you. Please do NOT call us until we've called you. It can take 1 to 2 weeks."

I said "Can't I post the outstanding documents once you've decided what you else you need from me?"

She said (tersely) "No Ma'am, as I said before: You have to come back in person."

That was my cue to just SHUT UP AND SIT DOWN. Move along now lady, while we're all still *nice* to each other.

So I have no idea if what I handed into them is good enough... And the saga continues while we play the waiting game now.

Just so you know, this is what I brought with me:
1. Passport (DUH. She took a copy so I got the passport back. Ain't no way was I gonna leave it there!!)
2. Letter from KPJAYI (confirming that you are a student there and also requesting the Embassy to issue you with either a student visa or a yoga visa).
3. Letter from my office (confirming that I have a fulltime job here - detailing what my company does and what my job function is. This is so India doesn't think you're going there to look for a job.)
4. I had a salary statement with me too, just in case... But... she didn't ask for it, so I didn't hand it over. (Maybe this will be their Part 2 document request from me)

And I paid €33 in cash (No debit-PIN machine there, sorry!) ...This is cheaper than a tourist visa (€50) and also cheaper than a student visa (€99).

So... now I'm really confused what kind of visa this is that I've applied for. On my form - I requested for "yoga visa/ student visa", so let's see what I come back with!

Now... One of my friends currently in Mysore says that people who came on student visas had hassles getting registered with the Police Commissioner .. and some people couldn't even get student visas .. so some people are there on tourist visas. Both seem to work... But for NOW only. Who knows when they'll change the system again and start cracking down if some higher power decides to get a bee in their bonnet about something else again.

It's all so very unsettling, innit? I still have no idea what I'm applying for and whether or not I'll run into even more problems later on arrival in Mysore!

WELCOME TO INDIA!!!

The visa saga continues...
(Hey LiAsh: What's your visa story?) :)

On the bicycle front, my white wicker basket arrived! YAY!!! But I didn't like the elastic ties it came with, and since I discovered a ribbon shop near me, I changed the ribbons on the front.


This place would be Liz's heaven! (top to toe ribbons and curtain-hanging-thingamajigs)


And this is the final look:


People in my office have said "Very Nice!" ...And are also taking bets that she will be stolen again within 3 weeks.

FUCKERS!!!!
------------

The Almost-Embassy Trip & WIP Basket Action

Happy Moon Day!!

9.19pm and in an edit session, helping another Producer out. Conference call at 10pm. Since my time to start working isn't till later, I'm blogging on the go. Thanks BlogPress!

Since it was a moon day today, I thought I'd make a trip to the Indian embassy to figure out this vedic studies visa thing for my trip to Mysore. It's all the way in The Hague (y'know... Where the international courts are, where they put people on trial for World War 2 crimes and stuff?) it's a 1hr train ride away from Amsterdam.

If I were going on a regular tourist visa - Which you used to be able to go on until they changed the rules recently - I could get it done by an agent here in Amsterdam. However, this new rule about a yoga visa or student visa or Vedic studies visa seems as mysterious as the Yoga Korunta to everyone. They kinda sorta know it exists, but no one has ever seen it. I don't think it was eaten by ants in the Calcutta library though (HAHA! I made a REALLY silly Yogadork joke!! Actually, that's an Ashtangadork joke coz that info's probably obscure to the other schools of yoga thought)

But I digress.

Because I'm not even on a local Dutch passport, this makes it even more obscure to the visa dudes who don't know what they ought to do with me. So I thought I'd go straight to the source, the Embassy itself. THEY should know, right?!

They're BLOODY USELESS!! Never picking up the phone to answer, and when they FINALLY pick up the phone (calls answered only between 4-5pm on weekdays)... This is the kind of conversation I have:

ME: "Hello, I'd like to inquire about this new vedic studies visa I need to get. What documentation do you require from me?"

PERSON FROM THE MOTHERLAND EMBASSY (PFTMLE): "Oh. You just come to the Embassy and we'll see."

?!?

ME: "Oh-Kaaaaaay. But... What should I bring with me? My passport? Letter from the yoga school? What else do you need?"

PFTMLE: "Oh. I don't know. The person who knows is not picking up. You just come. If we need anything else from you, we'll tell you and you can post it."

... ... ...

So why do I have to take the bloody train an hour out there in the first place?! (On top of this, visa hours are only between 10am - 12pm. I mean seriously, what are they doing all day that they can't answer calls nor give you a visa at any other time?!)

*** END OF RANT ***

To be fair, it seems like it's EVERY single consular section from every single embassy or high commission that seem to have the same kind of laissez-faire attitude. Maybe it's just me. Remember when I had to fly back to Singapore after 1 week in Amsterdam coz the Dutch immigration had screwed up my visa application AFTER I'd already arrived?!

Anyways... If we don't end too late tonight, I might just take the train up tomorrow morning. Apparently it's a beautiful ride through countryside.

Here's work-in-progress action of my bike. I've added a front carrier. It's a very Dutch thing - most bikes have this in the front. Some people leave it blank like this, others add milk crates, boxes or baskets on top of it.

I've ordered the white wicker basket, so it will be attached to this tomorrow!! :)

Everyday is Different

I surprised myself in this morning's practice. Firstly, the fact that I actually rolled out of bed and got on the mat was a feat! HAHAHA!

After writing last night's post, I was inspired to do a short practice at 11pm (?!?) - nothing fancy, just half an hour of Suryas, forward bends and lots of pigeon variations. Then a bit more Pranayama. I figured that would be good to unwind before bedtime.

It had the opposite effect.

I was so wired, I was bug-eyed, staring at the ceiling till 3.30am. I had set my alarm for 6.30am to start practice. On any other day, I would've just given up and thought "Sod it. I need more sleep" and gone back to bed.

But something kept prompting me to GET ON THAT MAAAAAAAAT!!!

I was completely dreading it coz the last few attempts as you well know by now, were just terribly unfocused and painful on the foot. Once again, inspired by Fran's comment on yesterday's post, I thought I'd just plod along through the entire Primary series, modifying as I went along whenever my foot hurt.

I had a brilliant practice! Had to modify whenever any standing pose required lifting of the arches - eg. In Trikonasana, I couldn't grab my big toe on the left side without the arch hurting, so just placed hand higher up on the shin. That worked.

Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana was impossible with a full extended right leg - standing fully on just the left foot was too much to handle (I have flat feet, so this pose is extra hard work on my arches!)... But this was OK with a bent leg/ holding the knee (like when you first start out learning the pose). That worked.

So it was kinda cool, taking it from a "let's see what I can do. If I can't, let's see how else I can do it" approach.

The absolute kicker was - Backbends were incredibly open - from the first one, it felt like I'd already done all the Intermediate series backbends before and opened up the back. I haven't ever felt such an openness in the back after practicing only the Primary series. And this led to 3 amazing dropbacks as well as standing up from backbends.

WHOOOOOOOOOOOPPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! I haven't lost them this time. (Still can't find the Supta K bind though...)


(In no way do I look like this as I'm dropping back, but it definitely FELT like it was this open. And holy-cow how beautiful is this shot!)

Funny how the body seems more physically able on less sleep (didn't Susan & Kevin talk about this before?) ...But I wonder if this could also be because I was practicing with no expectations today, going along with the flow.

I like how everyday is different with this practice. How can anyone say Ashtanga's "boring" coz it's the "same thing" every day?

It's ALL Practice!

I have been told by my Yoga-Practice-Angel, aka Fran, to stop obsessing about all the other million and one things in my life and get back to obsessing about Ashtanga (see her comment from previous post.)

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Thanks, Fran! Sometimes we all just need a good kick up the butts. Right? Consider this butt kicked. :)

It's been said many times before that any kind of injury teaches us humility on our mats. It's so true in this case. My busted foot is by no means a yoga injury, but trying to keep up some kind of asana practice has been INCREDIBLY DIFFICULT.

Even getting through any of the seated poses has been awkward. Any time my left foot is moved beyond a certain angle, the muscle where my arch is hurts to high heaven. Easy poses like Janu Sirsasana A become incredibly painful on the foot. Like... SERIOUSLY?! So I end up doing more poses on the right side than on the left... And then end up feeling lopsided and thinking "This can't be good for me." Right?

I feel like a fish out of water without being able to do my regular practice. It's a good reminder to just BLOODY JOYFULLY SURRENDER to where my body is at right now. I feel like such a cop-out, especially after recently getting back into the swing of practice again in London and thinking "I'm NEVER gonna stop practicing again!"

Moral of the story: NEVER say NEVER.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

I can still hear my Physio tut-tutting me about not resting my foot enough. I thought finally getting a bike and being mobile again would take some pressure off this foot. As it turns out, I realize now I stop and push off on the bike with my left foot. So any time I come to a stop, the foot goes BAM! on the road and I feel a shock up my arch. Oh shit. (I tried doing it in reverse, pushing off and stopping with the right foot. BUT. My body just doesn't get it. Have you ever tried putting on a shirt the other way around - putting in the arm you DON'T usually put in first? It's a total mindfuck and even after the shirt is on, something feels off-kilter.)

The Universe is obviously making me rethink my situation and circumstances... And the more I think about it, the more it feels like maybe it's making me think about the attachment to practice. I fully believe attachment to practice is GOOD. Sharath said so too during his conference in Sydney. (Sorry, I hate to use the "Sharath said so" phrase too, but look at me using it!!)

A few times in the past week, when the asana practice has become either too physically laboured on the foot or just too much of a mental distraction (I find myself thinking "when will this bloody foot get better?!" then lose focus on breath/ bandhas/ drishti)... I've just stopped completely and moved into a Pranayama practice. Just a simple 10 minute exercise of sitting with only the Ujjayi breath for 10 counts on the inhale and exhale, then moving into Kumbhakas (breath retention) after the inhales/exhales... has made such a BIG difference to my frame of mind.

Maybe it's the Ujjayi breath, but it seems to be able to recharge me much more than my asana practice has in the past couple of weeks. So... it's not quite Pattabhi Jois' Ashtanga Yoga, but I'm practicing a different limb of ashtanga yoga - not the asanas, but the pranayamas. Who cares?! It makes a difference to how I feel, so I'll take what I can get.

I still can't stop that niggling sobbing (no, WAILING) in the back of my mind... MY DROPBACKS!! MY STANDING UP FROM DROPBACKS!!! I just got those back and I'm back to "square one" AGAIN?!? Holyfuckingshitthissucks.

Sorry, bad lady. I'm only human.

The GOOD NEWS is... Today, I emailed KPJAYI coz I still hadn't heard back from them about my application. I sent them a scan of my application form and they replied the same day and said OK, I'm in. (Er... why do they make you snail-mail the application then?!)

WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!

I've booked my flight already. ON IT!

Now sorting out this vedic studies visa thingamajig. I'm still in the midst of figuring it out, since I'm not a Dutch local here and things get a little more complicated. I actually have to make a train ride out to The Hague where the Embassy is to personally make the application. Another adventure.

Once I've figured it out, I will definitely post step-by-step info on what YOU need to do to get your ass to Mysore. Everyone seems to be a bit confused by this new yoga student/ vedic studies visa regulation now. So when I know what to do, SO WILL YOU! :)

OK... So now starts the next mild panic of "getting my practice back to where it was" before I get to Mysore. It's been 8 months and I'm still stuck at Laghuvajrasana (moving countries and turning my life upside down might figure into that but I can't see past that now.) Holyfuckingshitthissucks. I am convinced I will be stopped at Supta Kurmasana coz I've completely lost that bind. Then the other voice in my head keeps saying "SO WHAT EVEN IF YOU GET STOPPED AT... AT... NAVASANA?!? SO WHAT?!?!??????"

Trying to joyfully surrender to this process and stop playing mind games with myself. Holyfuckingshitthissucks.

I apologize for all the swearing today.

*End of today's yoga obsession*

On to my next obsession: Finding the perfect wicker basket for the bicycle.
Here's your reminder of what it looks like:


This?

(I'm leaning towards this. But maintaining the all-white look will be a bee-atch!)

Or this?

Bicycle PTSD

It was like Christmas this morning when I walked downstairs to leave the house.

Yay for my new bike in the hallway!




And... I've decided not to name her coz I'd get too attached to Snow White... Oops I mean "her"... And as I've been warned - "In Amsterdam, you don't get attached to your bike AT ALL." For obvious reasons (aka "Roxanne").

I am writing this post from my new BlogPress app on my new iPhone4. Let's test drive this baby and see how we do.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

---------------------------------------------

Er... I gave up, posted that as a draft on Blogger, and now here I am on my laptop instead.

HAHAHA!

Not that the app is not good. On the contrary, it's brilliant if you're blogging on the go. At this point, it seems ridiculous to do that since I'm sat at home with my computer. That, plus I still don't have patience with touchscreen-typing.

Today, I was on an all-out mission to get locks for my brand-new bicycle. Most bike stores are closed on Mondays in Amsterdam (because they're open on Saturdays, their weekend breaks are Sunday and Monday. What a good life!)

I ended up getting a back lock for the back tyre (it's standard here to have that or you're asking for trouble), aka an O-lock, or ring-lock. And for the front tyre and frame: THE KING OF ALL CHAIN LOCKS!!

Yes, all in capital letters.

The Viro lock.

Yes you heard me. The makers of heavy-duty padlocks like this.


This.


And this.


Read this and this. Taken from the first link:

"…A true Amsterdam bike thief noticed the commotion and offered his services to remove the lock. He opened his jacket to reveal a portable tool shed and, for a small fee, did the job. He was also nice enough to give us a rundown of what locks we should and shouldn’t have if we’d like to ensure our bikes are safe from him.

His top pick to deter him: a Viro chain lock.”

Some people are even more maniacal and use THREE locks on their bikes: A ring-lock on the back tyre, like mine here:


The second lock being the chain lock like the Viro I've got.

The third lock: yet ANOTHER chain-lock on the back tyre again. I guess it's anything you'll do to slow down those damned thieves!

This 1.5metre chain lock is super-duper HEAVY though. I'm guessing about 5kg in total? I need to get proper support struts for my wicker/ rattan basket too, if I'm gonna dump that damn heavy chain-lock in there, along with a bagful of groceries.

Oh... this lock is also a mega-whopping gajillion dollars worth. To put things in perspective: This Viro is half the price of my bike.

That's pretty insane, right? (This bike better damn well not be stolen again coz this lock's worth too much money! Er... Yeah, even if I did get the bike for cheap!)

In the meantime, the best deterent of all (even with my back-lock and chain lock), is to keep her indoors, in my hallway. Talk about PARANOIA!!!


(While I'm cycling, the chainlock's on the handlebars coz it's too heavy to put anywhere else, so I've just left it there since she's indoors.)

I think I have PTSD. Y'know... "Post-Theft Stress Disorder". I'm afraid to leave this bike unattended. If it were a child, I would be its smothering parent. HAHAHA! This is not going to be healthy at all! I actually found myself awake last night, worrying about how to prevent this bike from being stolen.

C.H.R.O.N.I.C.

I thought I took the theft of Roxanne pretty well. I suppose it just takes a new bike to bring up all this latent anxiety. I guess my Dutch workmates are right when they say "In Amsterdam, you don't get attached to your bike AT ALL."

Sigh.

She's just too pretty! (I haven't even ridden around that much in the 24hrs I've had her, but on street corners, people have been doing double-takes to look at this shiny beauty!) While buying the bike-locks, another customer asked "You've had this bike for what, one hour? It's so shiny!"

OK. I need to seriously stop talking and thinking about this bike now.

Maybe I should get back to being obsessed with yoga. Hehe.

PS. All photos in this post taken with my iPhone4. Pretty good right? I might just seriously do away with the Sony digital camera and onlt have this one gadget in my pocket!

Gadgets + Bicycles aka "Good Design Weekend"

I have found myself in a little tech wormhole. For the following reasons:

1. Internet connection at home is finally here. YAY! (Although the wireless function on the modem is broken... But at least for now I've got an ethernet cable till the new modem shows up. It's coming in one month. Yes, you read right: ONE MONTH for a new modem.) ?!?!?!????

But... this also means I can finally keep up with this blog from the comfort of home. Apologies for the sporadic posts in the past month or so! But to make up for it, this is gonna be one helluva LOOOOOOOONG juicy post. So you have been warned (in case you start to zone out).

2. I got my iPhone4 last week. This is probably more likely the reason why I was quite happy being in my own little wormhole. DOUBLE YAY!


(Yes, that *REALLY* is a hot pink silicone cover. Again, I am being mocked at by the boys at work for this!)

I thought my Blackberry was a smart phone. Well, I guess it is. But if that's the case, then the iPhone4 is a super seriously GENIUS phone. With Mensa membership.

I have been downloading apps like there's no tomorrow (yes, "apps" = "applications"). I now have more apps than sense. I checked on my iTunes backup and it looks like in the 3 or 4 days since I've had the phone, I now have more than half a Gig of apps on it. That's 560mb of apps. Like...?!? That's more memory than the average dumb-phone (Nokia) usually has!

Er... I just counted. I have 72 downloaded apps on my iPhone4 (NOT counting the ones that came on the phone already.) HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

HOLY COWWWWWWWWW!!!

But seriously... I've only paid for 4 of those apps. A total of only 10 Euros.

Not bad eh? I'm Asian, you see. We're cheap. ;p

But in my defense, some of them are different apps for the same purpose... I'm just test-driving them to see which ones I like before trashing the rest. I might make like Kai and Susan and also download Blogpress so I can start blogging from the palm of my hand. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Holy shit. I *am* a tech nerd. I don't really know much about tech, I just enjoy gadgets. (Again, I blame it on my Asian heritage.)

On the yoga + iPhone app front, there are lots of SHIT apps... there are some good ones for mantras... But guess what I'm already planning to use this phone for? My trip to Mysore! Wait. I haven't heard back from KPJAYI about my application yet, but I'm already planning ahead... I have a flashlight app (because the roads aren't lit at night in some parts, right?) HAHAHAHA! Seriously... it actually uses the camera-flash as a flashlight. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! (I'm a sucker. At least that was a FREE app).

I've also found a map of Mysore that's available offline, since connecting to Google maps using autoroaming data will be too expensive. Since you've gotta pay for that app, I'm not buying it till KPJAYI confirms my registration. Hehe.

If anyone has any other bright ideas for what else I should download, I'M ALL EARS!!!

Now... because my foot is pretty much still busted (A physio visit last Thursday had her tut-tutting me for not resting the foot enough coz it's still slightly bruised/ swollen. She actually said "No Yoga till you're better!") Because I can actually walk around normally with minimal pain now, I've just been on the go. I still can't do the standing sequence poses though, but my daily Ashtanga practice is pretty bullshit at the moment because of this... (AGAIN!!!) Anyways... it was kinda great that I was pretty happy staying home not traipsing about, sucked into my iPhone zone.

When I finally looked up at 3pm on Saturday afternoon, I thought "DAMMIT. It's such a nice day out and I'm seriously geeking out on my own at home?!"

Then I decided to go on a bike-buying mission. Now - you remember when Roxanne got stolen, right? I'd promised more photos of the Bike Depot when I made that hike out to check on her. Here are the electric windmills from my bus ride there.



I really love the sign board to the place! (The 3 "XXX" are the official symbols for Amsterdam. No, not because it's Triple-X rated porn-land, it's coz it's on the official Royal crest insignia, silly!)


They actually bothered to decorate the driveway into the bike graveyard.


More pix of the graveyard (these are all from different parts of the place. It's huge!)


Remember how I told you I chained Roxanne to a "No Parking" signpost? Well, when I came back from London, the big, tall "No Parking" sign was gone, and in its place was this short, stumpy little post. And of course, no sign of Roxanne.


OK enough digression and reminiscing. Now back to my New-Bike story.

I basically gave my recycled-bike-dude another brief to cutomize another second-hand bike. That was like 3.5 weeks ago or something?

A check with him last Thursday confirmed he still had NOT started any work on my bike. Like... seriously dude? What a stoner! (OK, I shouldn't judge, and I don't even know if he's a stoner but I'm willing to put money on that bet! Hello, this is Amsterdam remember?) So I told him forget about it... I'd just buy a brand new bike ASAP!

So I went with a Dutch friend "in case they try to cheat you", he said. But... the average Dutch bike is so... So PRACTICAL. So BORING. Like this one.


My friend pretty much told me "Jaime, you have to give up thinking that a bike should be well-designed. In Amsterdam, it's for practical use. Just buy a good, sturdy, well-made one. It's nothing to do with how good a bike looks here."

How very... Dutch. HAHAHA!

Okaaaaaaaaay. Without good design in this world, we wouldn't have companies like Apple. And I wouldn't have my shiny new iPhone4. So... I'm sorry, but things-that-look-good is important. It's not just something shallow either. When I have something whose design I *LOVE*... I am that much happier. So it's definitely important for my well-being too. I repeat: I am not shallow. :)

After half a day of traipsing around looking for bikes yesterday, I didn't buy any. :(

Today, I got a text from the same friend who said he spotted some bikes at a local department store. Like... seriously, this is a department store like... Um... John Lewis in the UK or Um... Sears in the US? (ie: a pretty run-of-the-mill, dowdy department store). But a tip-off's a tip-off, and I'm glad I went. I found this:


What a beauty!

After a 10 second ride (yes, 10 seconds around the outside of said department store)... I bought it. :) :) :) The kicker is: She was on offer and half the price of a brand new bike and even cheaper than a 200-Euro second-hand customized bike... Yes, much cheaper than that! AND! With a 2-year guarantee - they'll come to your house to fix it. So... I'm winning all around!

Here she is outside my house. (I'm considering peeling off all those stickers. I already took one set off - the vertical one under the seat that said something idiotic like "Proud to be moving". Say what?!)


Because it's Sunday and no bike stores are open where I can get a proper chain lock, I'm leaving her in my hallway.


My original brief to recycled-bike-dude was: White frame, white tyres and a rattan basket. So... This is pretty much almost there. A quick check on the manufacturer's site and look how they've styled my bike there?


JACKPOT!! I AM SO BUYING THAT BASKET ACCESORY!!!!

The first accessory I bought today was a Dring-Dring bell. Thanks, EcoYogini for the suggestion yonks ago! I found a store here that sells them direct. The bike came with its own bell. BUT... Of course it didn't look good enough. I got this instead. :)





Who'd have thunk I'd ever buy a GOLD bicycle bell? ...But it works! And it'll go really nicely once I put in a rattan basket too.

Ahhhhhh... A weekend of nicely designed items. I'm happy.