everyone was working this morning. while my father was frying some more salt & pepper chicken, i was making a new batch of tea eggs, while my mother roasted some more charsiu pork. by late morning we were fully stocked, ready for whatever the day might bring. unfortunately today was a slow day. it gave me time to go down to the basement and fish out a cold drink from the expired beverage fridge. i also tried a kind bar for the very first time, after seeing drew buy a bunch of them. a box of 5 costs $3, though it looked like it might've at one time contained 6 before downsizing. the one that i got had dark chocolate and all sorts of fancy seeds like amaranth and quinoa. it wasn't bad, makes a good healthy grab-and-go snack.
i had lunch for a change, some leftover dark soy noodles that i ate cold after squirting some peanut sauce, homemade hot sauce, scallions, and furikake.
in the afternoon i went to the fresh pond trader joe's to get some supplies. riding down an empty street, i had the courage to try out the front shifter - and it worked! shifted soundly into 1-2-3 gears. the front gears i use the least often, because the gear shifting is so dramatic. but nice to know i have it in case i ever need it. my utility bike has been out of commission for about a month now. during that time i haven't been able to do my usual bike supply run. i had to improvise, figure out new ways of carrying back the groceries, like attaching the grocery bags to my backpack. now that my utility bike was working, i went to trade joe's knowing i could haul back anything i wanted.
riding back to the cafe, the right pedal fell off. fortunately i was on the sidewalk and stopped to pick up the fallen pedal. it seemed to have unscrewed itself off the crank arm. when i checked the other pedal, it too was coming loose as well. these pedals i got are not like normal pedals because they came with adapters for either 1/2" or 9/16" spindles. i think it's that extra adapter that's causing issues. it's not a big deal, i'll tighten them up when i get home, if they come off again, i'll just get a new pair that doesn't use adapters.
i noticed it when i was at trader joe's: the sky seemed awfully angry with clouds. i checked the doppler radar and sure enough, a batch of red storm clouds were moving into the boston area from the north. the sky became increasingly dark. i went outside and closed the cantilever umbrella before putting away all the deck furniture. i also covered up my bike seat with a plastic bag so it wouldn't get soaked. it got so dark it was almost night but still no rain. around 3:40pm it finally started raining. two hours later the sun came back out.
we had one final hurrah before the day was over, when a big online order came in. that put today's profit into a more respectable category.
i couldn't wait to ride back home, but was also afraid that the pedals might fall off again. i kept nervously looking between my legs, watching as the pedals slowly started unscrewing themselves again. a wild turkey was blocking traffic on linnaean street. cars were going around it. i passed right by the turkey, ringing my two bike bells, trying to scare it off the road. a lady walking the dog actually scolded me, "don't do that!"
i used my pedal wrench when i got back home to tightened the two pedals. let's see how they perform tomorrow.
i took a shower. for dinner i ate the leftover pizza from last night. i didn't even bother reheating it, cold pizza is fine.