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Apparently Shunryu Suzuki who was an American Zen Buddhist monk uttered the words "When we do not expect anything we can be ourselves " This was another of those sayings that cropped up on my rip off once a day calendar and I decided to change the words around a little tiny bit . We do expect a lot from a day and from ourselves . Sometimes we fail miserably . I thought a version of this saying could be "When we do not expect anything we are not disappointed " or perhaps " When we do not expect anything we are very often surprised .
Today was a normal swimming day with the plan to try to start swimming 64 lengths of the pool . A mile which should be relatively easy but sometimes these days proved rather more difficult than expected . Some days I just cannot be bothered . I don't expect to swim that distance . Too many people chatting to me . Too many chatting to each other and getting in the way . Other days I feel more like it and manage it easily .
Today I did it . I had not
expected to swim that far but I managed it and could have carried on for a few more lengths . I came out of the swimming pool with a plan . To walk around part of the town and see if I could find the bicycles that were supposedly dotted around the streets. I had read a few times on Facebook comments that it was National Bike week and the town were celebrating with decorated bikes which would be displayed at Alyn Water for some competition or other . Once that was over they were being moved to the streets and chained to railings or lamposts . What a lovely idea I thought .
Where were the bicycles ? I only had fifteen minutes before I would be getting worried about overstaying my welcome on the car park. I had read that they were on Charles Street . Never found any. They were to be seen on Henblas Street . I walked that far in the empty streets and found none .
However I did come across one eventually. Chained up to a railing near the council offices . It was minus one of its wheels
which rendered it useless to anyone wishing to steal it . It was decorated all over and was really colourful . Along Chester STreet were more bicycles . Some draped with tinsel looking as pretty as a Christmas tree decorated for the season . Another was decorated with pom poms . They looked lovely as I walked along the street . Something new . Something different .
In between each bicycle were planters filled with colourful annuals . Pink petunias , blue lobelia . They were a sight for sore eyes and the town should be proud of them.
I thought about the bicycles and the ongoing saga of empty shops. I read often that we need to bring shops back into the town centres. These would bring shoppers back . I did not think that they would . Shopping habits have changed . No longer do people have time to walk from the greengrocer to the butcher . From the clothes shop to the shoe shop. Internet shopping has stopped all of that . Market towns have slowly disappeared as farmers no longer need to come in monthly to buy or sell cattle . The High Streets
will never be the same . Perhaps the answer is the decorated bicycle.
They brought me into town . Would I have come to the shops? Probably not . Did I expect anything from the bikes ? No not really . Did I enjoy them ? Of course I did . I was grateful the town thought out of the box and cheered the town centre up with the bikes . Did they get people talking ? I reckon they probably did .
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