The guys in the bike shop were their usual helpful selves, and whilst I showed them my soon to be installed shiny new headset I also thought to check the chain (I don’t have a good tester at home) as despite it not being old I had thrashed it in the grit previously. There wasn’t a tester handy so I told them replace the chain and cassette if it needed doing and toddled off to work.

Candy on thin ice

This trip was starting to get that faint patina of bad luck. Still, nothing else could go wrong – Candy had picked up some spare tubes and had gotten her wheel sorted out (despite a truck reversing into her in the office car park – oh yes! this trip was looking fated).

I left the office promptly and picked up my bike – normally I’d have fitted my own chain and cassette and used the savings to get higher quality components,  but as I’d not specified what chain to use I didn’t  really have any grounds for complaint. The guys had done a good job on the headset and had even saved the spacer and old cap. At the till I reached into my wallet and had a heart dropping moment. No debit card….

Paying for the work wasn’t a problem as I still had plastic, but the big issue was that my debit card was the one the train tickets were booked on. I needed that card to pick them up. The only place it could be was one the coffee table at home. I thanked the bike shop guys and tried to phone Candy. 

With her office being so much closer to home, I thought that she might be able to pick up the card and meet me at Kings X by the time I got there. No reply to my call – straight thru to voicemail. This could only mean she was in the underground car park or her battery was dead. I left a message and proceeded to Kings X. At the station there was no Candy and no voicemail. I left another message and did the run home. The card was exactly where I left it so I was able to turn around very quickly.

Candy was already on the station concourse, and after a quick pit stop we were underway.