Blazing Bicycle Saddles by James
Clarke
Five Stars
This book is a collection of humorous
cross-country bicycle trips by a group of South Africans.
In actuality this is about pub-crawling
at a pleasurable and enjoyable pace. When their outlandish antics
became humiliating they always claimed they were from Australia.
Being a life-long bicycling person who loved to go through life
having as good a time as possible without suffering to impress I
loved the book.
It was a pleasure to read James
Clarke’s lighthearted narratives. This is a fun book to read even
if you are not an avid bicycler.
Excerpts from Blazing Bicycle
Saddles
Pray for forgiveness
A bicycle is probably the first serious
material thing a child earnestly pleads for in its prayers. Canadian
comedian, Emo Phillips, said he used to pray every night for a bike
until he realized that the Lord doesn’t always work that way, so he
stole one and then prayed for forgiveness.
First class
Here they place bright red PRIORITY
labels on my bags and with deep respect direct me to the business
lounge. There are armchairs in the business lounge and one gets free
snacks and drinks, and I sometimes have to be restrained. This
agreeable feeling wells up again when I am ushered into the front
section of the aircraft where they have reclining seats and offer
French champagne and a hot towel before take-off. Sometimes I wonder
how I’ll ever be able to descend again to the level of my family
and friends. One shouldn’t feel guilty of course. After all, it’s
not just me who is getting a free ride. Nobody in business class or
first class is paying. Businessmen charge the fare to the company and
politicians and officials have their fares paid by the taxpayers
sitting at the back. But sometimes, when in business class, I am
overcome with compassion and a strong desire to scatter my superior
business class cashew nuts among the peanut-eaters in economy class,
but I suppose this would simply cause an unseemly scramble –
possibly even a midair riot.
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