barbarian cities vs brixton cycles

OMG

i'm beginning to suspect that the brixton cylists mechanics are not very proficient.

i am never hearing a bad word against brixton cycles again. i will tear you limb from limb and slice your throat, and, on ned's advice, sacrifice you to some gods if you try it. they FUCKING RULE. i had the SHITTIEST morning ever: 9.25am called brix cycles to ask if they could fix my weird thingy, they said "fffff... we are incredibly busy. can prob do tomorrow, maybe today. bring it in and we'll see what we can do." got the bus to where i left the bike, started wheeling it to moorgate (with the intention of getting the circle line to victoria then the overground to brixton HASSLE HASSLE HASSLE plus tube blech), wheel seized up, decided to carry bike (grumble of "it's meant to be the other way around! why am i carrying you? this isn't fair!" not overheard by any random passersby due to there being none but it made me larf anyway), get sick of carrying bike after 15 minutes, turn bike upside down, try to take wheel off - ah, that nut is in a weird position. hm, it's stopping me getting the wheel off... hmm... what have i got that's small and pointy... hmm... fiddle around a bit, replace nut, put skewer through, seems to be solid, put wheel back on, wheel bike in circles a few times, seems fine, jump on bike, cycle very gingerly (yes yes har har) off, seems to be fine. "hurrah i am on the way to becoming a technical bike geek!" i think to myself as i cruise though the city and over southwark bridge, only i THUNK TOO SOON. on union street the wheel seizes up, skewer snaps and flies away. bah. k, there's an evans round the corner. go in, explain situation. dude in evans takes a look, says it looks normal, takes it to mechanic upstairs, he says looks normal too and it was prob just bad luck that 2 skewers exploded in 24 hours. huh. ok. buy a new skewer (and they make me buy TWO FOR TEN QUID rather than ONE FOR FOUR QUID cos they are a chain innit) (but they do have some really nice shorts in there), fit it, ask them please to look at it and make sure i've done it right. "yeah that looks fine... let me just... oho, that's weird. what's going on there?" they say a few times, "you'd best not ride that". (the staff in this evans are actually v cool, i just instinctively don't like chain stores. except fopp.) so i WALK the fucking bike all the way from southwark to brixton. i just want to point out that this is the WORST TIMING EVAH: there is only me in the office for 2 weeks so i am incredibly busy and at work til at least 8 most nights, which is fine, so long as shit like this doesn't happen. incredibly stressed out, i break down in tears on kennington road from sheer frustration. (i decide not to try to stop as someone told me they analysed tears and found they were jammed full of chemicals that you get when yr all miserable/stressed etc. so it will make me feel better to get them out and also i REALLY don't want to cry like a gurl in the bike shop so if i do it now i will be fine.) put on my best JUST - FUCK - OFF - scowl all the way to brixton to make sure people don't stop to be nice to me. eventually get to brixton cycles at like 12.30 (THREE HOURS AFTER LEAVING THE HOUSE!) and explain my situation. they look at it and say it may need a whole new wheel, maybe just an axle. "but but i brought it in 2 weeks ago cos the wheel was mad and you just changed the cones and ball-bearings," i whine, and they ask for the receipt and i give them it. "ok", they say, "whatever needs doing now, we'll take the money you paid last time off it." and they promise to do their best to do it today, or tomorrow if not, and it'll most likely be tomorrow. i call them at 5.15 to see what's up, they tell me to come in at 5.45. HALLEFUCKINGLUJAH PRAISE THE BIKE SHOP. so i went in and they've done it and it needed a WHOLE NEW WHEEL, apparently something came loose which is a v rare thing to come loose but it did, and when it does it fucks the whole thing up. so i LOVE brixton cycles even more than i did before. that was amazing. they genuinely give a fuck. they didn't promise to do it today, they didn't have to, but they did. and they didn't make me pay the whole amount. i have nothing but LOVE for brixton cycles. AND i like being in that shop and there aren't many non-record or -book shops i like being in.