Bike muppet.

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Egg # 2

Hi-de-hi! (ho-de-ho)…….

Booze / Bikes / Harbours……… Mr McCabe is correct – they don’t go too well together – and here’s the story:

First night in San Sebastian and we were out for a nice leisurely stroll along the sea front promenade known as La Concha. T’was a beautiful evening, air was breezy, sea was kind-of-a choppy, sun was setting and there was a lovely golden light bouncing off all the buildings and waves. As we were heading toward the old quarter, we noticed that there was a free bike rental stall in operation, as part of ‘Mobility Europe’ week. Great stuff – lots of folk borrowing big mountain bikes and having a cycle along the coastal bike tracks – all free gratis, lots of fun, mad healthy etc…. About 200 metres along from the stand, we happened upon the harbour – y’know, the one Alan mentioned in the last blog that had all the really neatly tied up boats ( and they were extremely well tied up – even I can vouch for that). Anyroads – we were oohing and aahing at all the super-glam boats, dinghys, yachts and catamarans in the harbour, and kind of ambling along aimlessly, when all of a sudden, out the corner of my eye, I see this guy wobbling along on one of the big fat mountain bikes (as previously noted), right on the edge of the harbour drop line, big rucksac on his back, which was no doubt helping enormously with his balance. Now, there’s no fencing, or rope tie off, or any obstacles whatsoever to stop him from couping right over the edge if he’s not careful. Hmm – was he careful, was he not?

NOT

Next thing you know, he’s disappeared over the edge, and a couple of seconds later – round about the time we’re waiting for a splash – we get a dull, very loud, very ominous, thud. Then nothing. …Quick dash to the near edge, swift look over the edge, and he’s lying on the pontoon, all twisted. Not moving. Bike nowhere to be seen (bottom of the sea – natch). It’s not looking good. He’s fallen about 15 feet on top of a hard wooden surface. And he’s not moving – did I mention that bit?

Immediately – we’re in a panic and trying to remember the word for ambulance in Spanish (we couldn’t) and therefore lash our arms about inanely, trying to convey the international message of ‘help ma boab’. Meanwhile a crowd are gathering around the point where they guy has gone over, looking down and shouting things seemingly to him. After about 10 seconds we start to hear a crumpled sounding ‘BUENO, BUENO’ from below. We had a deek back over the side to see if it’s from the bike muppet – and yes it was. He was standing up, except he was clutching his side and head alternately, so he must have done some damage. We walked on about 10 feet (as the harbour was by now fairly busy with onlookers – mostly pissed jaykees, taking in the show) – my palms were sweating as I got such a fright – I really thought the guy was a gonner. Final part to this is that we had another look over about 5 second later and he was no where to be seen – we thought he’d gone in after the bike, it wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility. Thankfully he hadn’t – he had made his way back up to the harbour side and was joining in with his tanked up mates having a bit of a disoriented gab about the whole thing. He was miraculous drunk. ‘Say’s it all really.

So there you have it… if its not running in front of bulls, it’s flying off bikes. That’s the way, ‘uh-uh, uh-uh’ they like their danger, in Northern Spain.

San Sebastian is a great place, and there’s a lot of money, you can tell, smell it almost – its everywhere. Architecturally its stunning – so many amazingly grand buildings. Quality restaurants abound all over town. They have their own mini Jesus statue overlooking the city on a mountain above the old quarter, a-la Rio. They have their own international film festival. Top notch Hotels and Spas overlooking La Concha Bay. Wonderful sailing vessels bobbing in the bays and harbours.

We had a great time. We’re thinking of moving there……………..

Sxxxxx

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[Gaz]

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