Relaxing Preparations

Today was a very nice and relaxing day in many ways. The weather was amazing. I'd say it was probably as good as it gets for biking. Sunny, warm and slight wind to circulate the air. So in order to seize the day, I set out to get some stuff done, without really having any specific goal on what I was going to do. I jumped on my bike and began by visiting a bike store, mostly for talking to the store owner about various bike-related topics. Sadly he didn't really give much shine of enthusiasm, and went on to tell me he wasn't interested in upgrading my bike, that I shouldn't use it for the trip anyway (As it is sub-par), and that a new bike to fit my needs would be about 8.500SEK. Then we went on explaining that proper bike-bags would cost around 450SEK per side. That is quite a lot of money. I will have to think about how best to solve this.

After that I visited the first optician of the day, as I'm interested in buying a nice pair of sun glasses. They are supposed to act as the obvious sun prevention as well as hinder the predicted massive amount of airborn insects coming at me at 35km/h. So, the friendly, pregnant, clerk began showcasing some different sun glasses they had. She was surprisingly interested in my biking trip, as I quickly told her why I was in need of sunglasses, and that was a nice change from my previous clerk encounter. Anyway, in that store they had two cheap (Apparently from last season, so I guess all the fashionable bikers will laugh at my outness) glasses I liked, but then she told me I should really have polarized glasses, as they're oh so much better (And they are, I've tried some in the past). They, however, cost at least four times as much...

^ Omnom

After deciding on checking some other stores before deciding, I decided it was time for food. And this having been half the reason of the whole biking trip in the first place, I went to the nearby sushi place. I mean, what could be more delicious than semi-raw seafood eaten with sticks? Not a lot, I tell you!

After this I had a pretty interesting experience, which wasn't a first-timer. I think that's partially why I find these things to be interesting... As I was feeling as un-stressed as anyone possibly could, I decided to just stroll around in stores and see if I happen to see something I feel I might need. So I go into a store which has pretty much "anything" and casually walk zig-zag through the entire store. This, I soon found out, is apparently how you draw the attention of the store's one and only security guard. For the rest of my 20-25min stroll, I just happened to see him around every single corner in the big store. I was walking very slowly and there he was, casually shadowing me. I was very tempted to take a picture, just for the sake of it being quite cute, but I decided he might disapprove. I casually strolled out of the store and I'm guessing he was proud of successfully having stopped yet another shoplifter, or whatever his purpose was. Who knows, maybe he was just interested in my stunning good looks ^^

This was followed by a quick visit to another store where I picked up some various small items I needed, like a toothbrush, toothpaste and a tiny notebook for whatever I might want to take notes of. And then happened one of very few things that properly upset me. I was standing in the queue for paying, and a guy catches my eye. He is doing the casual fake clueless-stroll and glides in behind me in line. I could really see how clever he felt, and yet he was trying to keep up this facade of having been standing there as long as everyone else. So I take out my earphones, turn around and ask him if he thinks this queue-business is tough to understand. Obviously caught by surprise, as I was standing in front of him, and was in no way affected by his line-cutting, he mumbled something about lines and disappeared. As said, these are the things that rile me up. I do not mind that people try to find the quickest queue line, but why do people think it's okay to cut lines at the expense of others? I shall never understand that mentality.

At the second optician I found polarized glasses for basically the same price as the cheap glasses in the previous store, but of course they were considerably more ugly. So I basically get to choose between ugly but technically great, or comfortable, out of fashion, non-polarized glasses. I think I need a third option. This is my mission for tomorrow!

^Sporkness

The rest of the day continued in the same fashion and I enjoyed some nice soft-ice, bought some freshly squeezed apple juice and picked up two sporks. I'm guessing most people know what a spork is nowadays, but if you do not, it's the apex and culmination of human ingenuity! It's a spoon, fork and, believe it or not, knife all-in-one! Although, I guess they decided against calling it a Spforfe. I wonder why...

I have to say that I'm feeling upsettingly unstressed by this whole trip, even though I'm still clueless about some of the biggest preparations and amenities for the venture. I guess I'll just keep working at it, day by day, and we'll see how it goes! We all know that no matter how much or well I'd prepare, this is going to happen, and I'm going to realize everything I should have done and brought with me. I'll just cross that bridge when I come to it, simple as that!

Peace Out!