Mobility and Maintenance ~ an official but unusual Wednesday Walk

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Second attempt to bring some interesting content to this 'Wednesday Walk' community. As the first one was not a typical edition, this one will not be a typical one as well. That being said, I do hope you like the below. I try to be brief in text, not spitting out 1500 to 3000 words. However, if you don't like to read, scroll down (slowly only 😂) and view the images. Though photographs (even when it is a coherent series) require a 'story'! {That's solely my own opinion.} The story is not in principle (like a service such as Instagram), but when posting into blogging services, for sure they do. Though some series may speak for themselves, the series still images you'll find in this post will get super boring without one. At least a little bit of the context is needed.

With such context, you may be inspired to pick up tasks that you usually outsource. Propelling a 'Wednesday Walk' post from the entertaining category straight into the I-Try-and-Pick-Up-the-Challenge and/or the Lets-Try-and-Execute-this-Seemingly-Complex-Task categories. Owwww I'm such an idealist and dreamer! pfffff 😂

That being said: Let's dive into the content itself 😉

Story

This wasn't the first photograph in the series, but the moment I watched it on my laptop I saw this 'something' in it. Because of that 'something', it needed to be the thumbnail to all this blah blah shizzle of content you find here.

Question: What do you see in the photograph?

Hint: Take all the text away, let's focus on the original still image.
Reward: The most creative and/or funny reaction and/or closest to what I see, will get at least 1 HP (HIVE Power).
Disclaimer: The jury can be quite subjective and may change rules without letting you know upfront. The decision is final at all times. But also that is subject to potential change.

This is where it all started. My trip to the task I was about to outsource a few days earlier. Until a colleague at work told me how easy the task execution is. Though he advised me to find my car to pick up the object of attention to bring home for the maintenance task at hand, I decided I'll execute the task on location. Since too far to walk on d-day, public transport was the best socially sensible option. We have these cool electronic signs at each stop of our metros, trams and busses. And they usually are pretty accurate. Though the number of minutes may not be in full sync with our clocks at all times. The arrival time in minutes maybe correct at all times, the number of minutes displayed can change much quicker (or slower) than the actual time 😂

Anyways, my destination, last stop, at Station Sloterdijk. This is in this city you may know in one or the other way. The city with 'red lights'. The city of dr*gs. The city of Amsterdam. It's highly questionable if those claims about Amsterdam are true. But that's a different topic for a different type of post 😉

I travelled in this exact vehicle. Image shot at its destination, metro, tram and train station Sloterdijk, just on the outskirts of Amsterdam.

On the opposite side of the tram. Reminds me always of the same song. The one with the title 'nine million bicycles in Beijing'. By Kate Melua. Maybe the first ever song I heard from her discography. Must admit, I fell a little in love with her when I listened to her voice. And then I discovered half the world knows her music and loves her. I stopped my admiration completely. Or at least, I tried to (and still trying from time to time). Something to do with masses and allergies, or something like that 😉

Nine million bicycles in a single city! WOW! Can't believe we have so many in Amsterdam. Because we don't, Beijing has, but not Amsterdam 😂 As you may know, we Dutchies are known for cycling with more bicycles in our country than citizens and visitors combined. But Amsterdam is just big enough to house about 700k citizens and visitors. It for sure is too small to house nine million bicycles. In the country, we have about 23 million bicycles with 3,5 million being electric versions. FYI, the Netherlands houses about 17 million citizens. But still: Beijing wins! 🙇


source: youtube

I love this hotel a lot! Yes, you read it correctly. These old train wagons are transformed into tiny bedrooms. I've never been inside, but I suspect it's quite basic, but still, an interesting place to stay. It carries the name 'Trainlodge'. Must admit, it's super affordable with prices similar or even lower to hostel prices (check me). The rooms look pretty decent! Don't you think?

Question: Don't you think?
Hint: Say yes.
Reward: Not this time.
Disclaimer: Same as before.

The lefthand 'cart' houses the reception and breakfast room. The colourful wagon to the right and the deep blue ones at the back are guestrooms. I suspect, at least. Owww just noticed the deep blue ones are hardly visible. A tiny piece you can barely see to the right of the colourful wagon.

Coooowwwlll. Kinda Mondrian but then totally not 😂

My Bike!

I didn't give my bike a name, but maybe I should 🙃 While the Dutchies are known for their bike culture, I sold my last one kinda like 30+ years ago. I never owned one since then, until a little over a year ago when I purchased this one. I guess, I'm not a typical Dutchie 😉 Or better said, for 30+ years I was not. By now am belonging to the masses again, being in the possession of one of those horses on wheels again.

If you look carefully, you notice the flat rear tire. Oh, wait...

...I zoom in...

A form of sand was the cause. A piece of glass. Not too large, but certainly not tiny.

The task: repair the tyre. The innertube. While I was advised to do this at home but decided otherwise the night before. Last night I got these flashbacks of how I used to repair tubes back in the days when I owned a manual horse on wheels still. I bought myself a repair kit, totally surprised the same brand is still around. Nothing changed, except all became even easier with the stickers/plasters, the wind detector and lightweight thingies to use when disconnecting and connecting the outer tube with the wheel itself.

I was advised by YT to use some terpentine ('white spirit' in the English language?) to un-fatten the tire. So I added that to the set. Though I never used this chemical stuff when I was a child. But why not? A cloth and glass can for the cloth after usage, comes in handy as well. Unless you like the smell of terpentine/white spirit?

The kit. Added myself the toothpicks. They can come in handy as well, I thought. For today they only served the purpose of giving you an indication of what this whole fuss was about, the size of the enemy that invaded my bike.

The key items:

  • sandpaper: to sand off irregularities (middle-left item)
  • the hole/wind detector: didn't need it (the little box with white balls)
  • the sticker: to put onto the hole (bottom-right item)
  • the glue: to apply to sticker and tyre (top-right item)

First sanding and cleaning... Well, first pull the outer tyre from the wheel. No recording of this action, unfortunately. Needed both hands. And the little black metal thingies that came with the repair kit. Was the most difficult task, I must admit. At some point, I was afraid I couldn't get it done and needed to start thinking of outsourcing again.

I didn't even have to pump up the inner tube to know where the hole was. It wasn't tiny. With a little stretching of the rubber, it was quite visible. But when not, just add air into the inner tube and listen to where the sound comes from. When you don't hear the sound? Well, use the little box with what balls. That said, back in the day I used a little bucket of water with some soap in it.

...e voilá...

Glue on the rubber. Sticker on. And waiting, like 5 minutes. The instructions in the book were different though. It said: Glue on. Wait 5 minutes. Then put on stickers. Well, I tried. Glue dry and the sticker would not get its needed grip. So, I changed the manual to:

Apply Glue
Put a sticker on
Press and press and re-press
Let loose and wait 5 minutes. The result. Perfect!!!

Question: Shall I write to the bicycle repair kit supplier to tell them their manual is wrong? And shall I suggest the correct tactics and propose to them to changes?
Hint: You tell me 😂
Rewards: My thank you.
Disclaimer: No other than before.

It all may have sounded super easy. And as a matter of fact, this whole repair job was super easy. Though in the process I wasn't too convinced about it. The sticker for instance. I tried to get the plastic folio off during the glue action and felt like this wasn't possible without destroying the sticker itself or the glue being too weak. but after these 5+ minutes of waiting for the glue to dry up, it turned out to be a pretty easy job. I suppose the orange stuff has the task of supporting this folio-ripping action.

This I invented myself. I mean, it wasn't in the manual. But I did remember I used to do this task in the past as well. Pump the inner tube. Apply a little bit of water around the sticker. Listen and foremost Watch carefully. No bubbles mean air tide repair. Since I didn't bring natural water, I used the water produced somewhere inside my head.

Air out of the inner tube, but not all. Keep it a bit pumped so the outer tube isn't clamping the inner tube when putting that one back on the wheel. Some force is required to make this happen. As well as some not-so-straightforward things. Such as using the metal thingies mentioned earlier, but now in a way that isn't straightforward. Too difficult to explain, to be honest. Maybe some YT movie shows it, but the ones I looked at, didn't use them. I've seen professionals doing this all by hand, but I guess, my hands are not strong enough. They are office hands, white colour hands, so to speak. But again, a memory from the past. The moment, I thought I wasn't able to put the outer tube back in place, I remembered how I used to do this back then. Result: the outer tube/tyre is back in place in no time.

Then: pump it!

So far I just spend about 20 minutes. Mucho quicker than expected. Mucho easier than I thought it would be. A no-brainer to insource such a task. And somehow it is interesting and even rewarding to bring something that isn't possible to be used anymore, into a quality state again.

Cleaning up. The booklet, the manual: They need to change this glue, 5-minute wait, and apply the sticker thingy. Orrr?

Bloopers

The very first photograph I took in today's series, was this one. Though I liked the outcome, the digitals acting up a bit, I thought it could also be labelled as a blooper 😉 Though I considered misguiding you by stating that I have perfect timing skills 😂

Story End

Next time I try and show you a bit more of Amsterdam, or whatever place I like you to be introduced to. Or whatever event I like to share with you. Now it is almost like a DIY post. But in fact, it isn't. It is more a combo of trying to convince you to pick up tasks you generally outsource, and asking you for advice regarding the manual thingy, with some 😂 DIY aspects.

Encore: Filters

Also this time I used a filter in my GIMP software. Across all photographs, the same one. However, I played with the 20-odd parameters from photo to photo. Before, I was playing around with a bunch of different filters and found this LOMO one. Makes the quite boring images mucho better, if I may say so myself. And the funny thing is: This filter applies all LOMO characteristics in the same image. Though I knew a bit about LOMOgraphy since an old friend used to have a LOMO camera, it was great fun to read about the LOMO style. Interested? Click Me If you are too lazy to open the link have limited time, ask me and I'll give you the answers to my statement about the LOMO thingy and all characteristics applied to a single photograph 🙇

an HIVE original

all media by edje unless stated otherwise



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29 comments
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(Edited)

Having repaired many tires in my youth I recognized the sandpaper and patch in the first photo immediately

But if I was to be creative I would say and eye and sandpaper, and its a comment on there is so much BS going on in the world these days and on social media sometimes you just want to scratch away it all and not see it

Such an interesting post to read, love the concept of the train hotel

Thanks for joining the Wednesday, its always fun for me to visit the walks from all around the world, getting a feel for communities where people live and what they see on their daily walks

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Thanks so much for your comment. Greatly appreciated ;)
The question: Eye and sandpaper. Let's see if more answers drip in. Keep you posted ;)
BS and world: True, not that the world is BS, but so much BS between peeps indeed :)
Walks on Wednesday: Passively consume posts in this segment of HIVE more often as well. Indeed super to see other peeps environments, cultures and whatnot. Now I plan to be a bit more active river here. So far so good ;)

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2+ weeks in and need to conclude my promises: you earned yourselves an HP ... oopsy, I thought we could send HP, but that option doesn't seem to be available in our wallet. A HIVE instead 😉

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A fun read, love your humor.
I'll start with my guess of the 1st photo. Is it a wart removal patch with an instruction manual covered with an abrasive material used to get the wart small enough to cover it with the patch?

Amsterdam is a place I'd like to visit one day. We had a Viking River cruise planned right in the middle of the pandemic and canceled it. We were set up to see Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden. Being that my dad's father came from Sweden it was going to be the trip of a lifetime. Oh well, there's no sense crying over spilled milk. I would imagine you get some of the same kind of weather.

Yes, the rooms look Pretty decent.😁

I'm surprised that you read the directions at all. Men don't need directions until they do. Personally, I would not get in contact with the patch people, why make it easy for the next guy?
Good idea to see if the patch worked before putting it all back together. If it didn't hold, the job would have taken a lot more than 20 minutes and your blood pressure may have skyrocketed.

A little spit can come in handy for so many other things.

Enjoyed the song by Katie Melua - Nine Million Bicycles, but I have also never heard of her.

Have a splendid night/day, I'm not sure what time it is over there.

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Thanks soooo much! I think I found an equivalent of myself, post-like comments 😂😂😂

It's gonna be hard for me to select a winner with all these creative and different answers. But ok, the jury isn't done yet with defining the rules {lol}

Thanks for your views on my request for advice. Yesterday I learned that the instruction manual is correct after all. I just didn't execute the job as it should've been done. Apparently, the glue needs to feel completely dry, none sticky. Then patch shall be applied and shall be rubbed for a bit of time. I suppose the material on the patch will un-dry the glue again and form an airtide connection after such rubbing. Uhm, sounds like a need a masseuse for that task 😂

WOW! The European trip sounds super nice! And interestingly, Viking Cruises I kinda know as a company. Well, through family I know them. That member works for the competitor. But? The riverside of Viking, aren't they sailing with ships on rivers, Amsterdam - Basel and Amsterdam - Budapest and the likes? I suppose they also have cruise boats on sea 😉

Ahhhhh Kate: you seem to belong to the other half of the world that doesn't know her. I believe, she is originally from Georgia but lives in London. Or at least, when I fell in love with her for a small bit, a decade or whatnot ago, she supposedly lived in London. No idea if that was true, and/or is still the case. My stalker skills aren't that great 😂

Time at my end: CET as in Central European Time

NJOY the day and thanks for the very elaborative response. Owwww keep you posted on the questions 😉

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The glue for the repair sounds very much like the contact cement that I use all of the time, it's great stuff. It works on everything. It needs to be applied to both sides of what you are repairing, let it dry and then put the pieces back together. With this stuff you had better get everything lined up perfectly because once they touch there is no getting them apart!
I kicked Kate up on Jango a free music app and listened to some of her music, I'm a new fan.
It's always a great thing when lots of people answer a question that you pose, I'm sure you got some great replies.

Have a splendid day.

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Wow, cement next level. Ok when not having a straight eye sight or something, some curvy houses being build 😱 😂
So Kate has a new fan 🙇 NJOY the music and anything else 😉

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I wanted to send 9 million HP your way, but I miserably failed. The end result became 1 single HIVE. But still, appreciate and liked to convo 😉

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I try to be brief in text

Words: 2184

hehe this made me chuckle, but I love to read, and read I did all the way to the end!

I love the brightly coloured train hotel!
The puncture repair kit, hehe oh I wish I had a pound for every puncture that I have repaired!

Amsterdam, oh yes you Dutchies love your bikes!

Great post, and I do love when people write a story:)
!ALIVE

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weehoo! you made it through all the blah blah words! cooowwwwl 🙇

let's intoxicate the remainder of the community to write write write their stories. whatever it may be 😉

thanks for stopping by 🙃

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I suppose I need as much time as words in my post to get back on my promises regarding questions, answers and foremost HP. No HP I can send (I thought I could), hence HIVE instead. NJOY your weekend 😉

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Though I considered misguiding you by stating that I have perfect timing skills 😂

Hahah, for taking such a photo you indeed need to have perfect timing skills. And then, you absolutely don't need that board to show you the minutes, the tram will come at the time you need it to come 😂

Question: Don't you think?
Hint: Say yes.
Reward: Not this time.

Yes.

{...waiting time...with dramatic music...}

Wait, it wasn't the question I wanted to answer.

ok, now, it is the right one:

Question: What do you see in the photograph?

Seriously? But this is so obvious. This is the decorative sticker you would put on the hind leg of your horse, so it gives you more HP (horsepower).

{...dramatic music continues...}

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😂

hearing the dramatic music through your comment... without speakers connected to it... wow! ... is that possible? ... apparently ... orrrr? ... am I ready for the nuthouse? hearing things that are not possible in the normal human eye (and ears) 😂

creative answer for sure 😉

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creative answer for sure 😉

How do you mean "creative"? You want to say that it's not the real truth?

🤔

am I ready for the nuthouse?

Yes, for the good one where same wavelengths are shared 😁

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truth can be creative in itself 😉

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That's true!

{what a creative comment came now from me LOL}

😂😂😂

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SUPER creative 🙇

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the YES and the dramatic music let a single little HIVE flow in your direction. please spend it wisely 🤡

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(Edited)

Ow, here comes another YES then 🤣🤣🤣

Thanks, it was powered up right now, and it now makes part of my 21,017.200 HP 🌟🥳✨⭐🍀🎶

Edit: I am scared of clowns 🤡
😱😱😱🤣

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🤡🤡🤡
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Sry, had to 🤣

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This deserves a MUTE!!!

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NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
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ORRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR?
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RRRRRREAAAAAAAAALLY?

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