Unicycle Diaries pt 1.

Two days ago, after I had wandered the kitchen foraging for my last snack of the evening and made sure all the downstairs doors were locked, I discovered something wonderful. Lying in half-shadow and partly underneath a space that lies under the stairs was a single bike wheel. We don’t keep our bikes in the house and so I walked up and bent down to pull it out from its hiding spot — only to discover that it wasn’t a bike at all! It was a unicycle. One wheel. Complete and glorious with its graceful seat and charming pedals. It was almost as if I had cornered a wild creature; a creature I had heard about all my life, but had never seen in person. I didn’t even touch it. I didn’t dare.

I ran upstairs and asked my sister who had brought the handeless marvel to our house. It turns out that it belonged Justine, one of the Strengholdt girls. The Strengholdts are a Dutch family that we are quite friendly with. They have lived in Cairo for quite some time. Decades, I think. I affectionately call them the “Strangleds“. It’s uncanny; I have good Dutch friends from my highschool days in Oman. Likewise, my father remembers with fondness a Dutch kid that he was friends with in Iran. I suppose that it was only a matter of time before my sisters forged Dutch connections of their own. The Dutch are an idosyncratic bunch complete with unmistakeable accents. That, and the fact that their country is fairly bursting with canals, windmills and tulips makes me fond of their kind.

So, I told Rose-Marie, (Justine’s older sister whom I have dubbed “Number 2“) that I would really like to borrow her sister’s unicyle if at all possible. It was about two in the morning when I made this known to her. I’m pretty sure that she had been sleeping before I knocked on the door, cracked it open and excitedly made my request. I then went to sleep and slept well, with the promise of an exciting day to come. 

I woke up and immeditely thought about how I was going to master the unicyle no matter how long it would take. I Googled all sorts of  ”how to” stuff on unicyles and was getting pretty pumped. I didn’t bother to shower. I put an undershirt and jeans on and went downstairs. It looked a beautiful day from my window, and I was excited. Only to have my hopes dashed. When I got down to the kitchen, no-one was there. It was about noon and eveyone had gone home. I guess Rosy must have forgotten to tell Justine that I was dying to ride her unicycle. I was so dejected. I can’t even remember what I did for the rest of the day. That was last Friday.

I have since learned that Justine loves that unicyle dearly. I’m going to try my best to borrow it. I hope that I won’t have to resort to extreme measures to get it. For now, I’m going to learn how to juggle so that when I finally do learn how to ride, I’ll be able to juggle as well.

Wish me luck.

I’m not sure how this picture relates, but it is funny. And a unicycle. I got it from transportblog.com