[singing] “a middle-aged grom is something to be…” [/singing]
My friend Alex has been crafting his own, hopefully much happier, rendition of Lennon’s classic for at least half-a-week. Actually, I am just now getting suspicious that he did not get past singing the chorus to himself. Alex? Either way, it is a really nice feeling to have inspired him to take a break from whatever it is really tall people normally do (I have heard mainly Basketball and/or Volleyball‽) and create art. I mean, even if it required him brutally sundering an existing work. (We have all been there.)
For my part, I have been enjoying the role of muse. I am back working in a bike shop for the first time in many years and for the first time I am working predominantly behind the tools instead of on the floor. Specifically, I have been working at Craig Sabourin’s old bench which is a bit of a head trip unto itself.
It is a very fresh start for me. I have never worked as a bicycle mechanic, although I sometimes play one on NSMB, and I bring to the bench a very mixed bag of advanced and rudimentary wrenching knowledge acquired by working on my own bikes at home and interacting with other people. Basically, I am a grom.
And, from a quick straw-poll, I am the oldest grom in town.
What does a middle-aged grom do?
Well, I have been working on perfecting my peanut butter and (sharp) cheddar cheese sandwich skills. Squirrelly bread, chunky peanut butter, and aged white cheddar. It sounds simple, but striking the perfect flavour balance requires much more nuanced knife skills than I normally bring to packing sustenance. When it comes to work lunches, I’ve been a PB&J man for a long, long, time but what the heck right‽
All my clothing smells like Pedro’s Bike Lust (not a complaint) so I think it is fair to say I have cleaned a number of bikes. Took out the cardboard and the trash. Have bled some brakes, routed a Reverb, talked a bunch of sh*t about DT 370 hubs. Basically, all the good grom stuff.
It has been really nice seeing a lot of familiar faces already. Yes, that is my cargo bike locked up outside the shop. Yes, I did just e-mail you last night from info@suspensionwerx. Yes, I am still writing stuff from NSMB.com. Yes, if you ‘offer’ to write a song about me I am going to hold you to account on MEATengines. Ha.
So drop in and say “hi” if you are passing by and see the beast parked outside. And feel encouraged to hit me up with your favourite make-it-in-the-morning-eat-it-at-lunch sandwich! I feel like I am just about to have this PB&C thing down to an art.
