fun with phones

the time of landline phones will always hold an element of nostalgia for people who lived through it - and a facebook post about it reminded me of one such incident. and yes, this was before we even had caller ID.

I must have been about 16 or 17 at the time. I picked up the phone to make a call (probably to Satej?) but instead of the dial tone, there was silence.

I was surprised, as it wasn't raining or anything (that's usually when the lines went dead!). after pressing the hook a couple of times with no success, I call out across the house: "mom, the phone's dead!"

and a voice on the line said "kris?"

turns out aunt Avita had called us at the exact same moment as I lifted the phone off the hook, so I didn't hear it ring, and she didn't hear the ringing tone on the line either!

it took a few seconds for us both to understand what happened, and I still marvel at what set of coincidences led to this happening!

also points to the time when phone circuits were fully analog, and you didn't hear the ringing tone on the line until the phone rang at the other end!

The weird restaurant with alive crustaceans

I was riding Carly. I was at the d-mart signal, the one that was next to the police station, planning to take a right at the junction towards IC colony on link road. The signal turned green, but as I was about to turn right I saw link road was closed with metal barricades, with a sign saying parking only. it seemed like there was some sort of event happening further down link road, and the road was closed to provide motorbike parking for people attending the event. while the side of the road that was closed was for oncoming traffic, I decided to not bother trying to go that route, and went straight from the signal instead, taking the inside road to IC Colony. As soon as I got through the junction, I noticed a bunch of policemen stopping vehicles. Before they could stop me, I approached them and asked if the road going ahead was open as I had to go to IC Colony. They said yes it's open so I rode ahead. Instead of taking the main SV road, I took the turn into the shortcut through the slums. The start of the lane was as I remembered it, but then it got much narrower and there were loads of motorbikes parked, leaving barely enough room for me to get through. At one point, Carly even scraped a parked motorbike, but it was at low speed and I was riding cautiously so hopefully no damage done (the bit that scraped was the left passenger footrest). but ahead, the space got even tighter - so tight that it felt like I was riding though a house or something - the roofs of the structures on both sides met over me, and while there was still daylight filtering through from somewhere, it was barely broad enough for Carly!

The road then literally ended at a door. double doors, rather - wooden, and perfectly painted a glossy white. Thankfully, the doors weren't locked, and I could see one side was ajar. Not sure if I should continue riding ahead, I stopped, dismounted, and opened the door to look inside. It was a house, or a restaurant - definitely not the road through the slum! The room I was in had a kitchen to one side, and a lady was preparing something. THe lady asked me if I had a minute and if I could help her with something. I told her I was just passing through on my motorbike and somehow got lost. She told me she'll guide me through but I had to just do her one favour.

She was preparing some sort of dish - it was a pie-shaped thing with fish inside it, which she topped with a disc of rolled dough. On the side of the plate there were some sort of crustaceans - maybe large prawns, or maybe langoustines (I don't remember seeing claws though!). I assumed they were cooked, but it was hard to tell from their appearance. The pie and its lid were definitely raw though. I asked her was the pie thing was and she said "it's a chapati" which struck me as weird, as the dough was white like refined flour, not brown like wholewheat flour, I didn't ask any more questions though as she handed me the plate and asked me to check with the person in the next room that it was plated correctly.

I entered the next room while the lady went off back to where she was working, seemingly to plate another portion. The next room seemed unoccupied, although there was a large table, with a few places set with cutlery - and one place was set with a plate as well, quite similar to what I was holding.

As I couldn't see anyone, I set the plate down and walked to a doorway or passage in the corner to check if someone was in the next room. I saw someone there and asked them if they could come to the table to check if the dish was plated correctly. She asked me to bring the plate over instead. As i picked up the plate, I noticed the crustaceans were alive - and in fact they were twitching their legs and moving their tentacles/feelers. It really creeped me out and I set the plate down hurriedly, dropping the crustaceans onto the table as I did so.

That's when I realized I had picked the plate which was already set at the table, instead of the one I was supposed to get checked. However, the crustaceans on that plate were moving as well, and I found it too creepy to pick that plate up. Instead, I did my mest to get the crustaceans that I had dropped from the other table, back on to the plate. It was a little difficult, as I didn't want to touch them, and I also didn't want ot dirty the cutlery. I did my best to pick them up with two knives, handling them as delicately as I could to not injure or kill them.

That when I noticed the crustaceans on the other plate were trying to get onto the table as well. I was at my wits end, thinking there's no way I could undo the mess being created.

And that's when I woke up.

the problematic motorbike ride

I was out on my motorbike for a ride. It was a Saturday morning ride with "CoBAM" (ie City of Belfast Advanced Motorists). We were midway through the ride, at a break, when my "observer" (basically the person I was paired with for my ride) asked me a few questions about the bike. Like when were the tyres, brakes, etc serviced. He asked me to press the front brake lever all the way in, and to my surprise, I was actually able to! I told him that's weird and has never happened before. He asked me to press the brake hose with my hand. Strangely enough, the brake hose was soft and squishy, and when I pressed it, it was more like a rubber garden hose than a brake hose! He said that's the problem, there's air in the brake hose. He said the brake should be bled and topped up with fresh hydraulic oil. I explained the braking system of my bike, that it has a combined braking system, and that the brake bleeding procedure is a complex 5-step process that needs to be repeated multiple times to work. Also, I didn't have any of the tools for it.

I suggested simply topping up the front brake system, and squeezing out the air, instead of bleeding the whole system, as a quick fix to be able to ride the bike till I got home. I had a screwdriver on my keychain (fun fact: that keychain was purchased in August 2021, when my previous bike's rear brake had jammed locked, and purchased the screwdriver-keychain as it was the only suitable tool available at the petrol pump bang opposite where the bike had jammed!). Opened the reservoir and it was completely dry. 

I walked to the nearest petrol pump and purchased a bottle of hydraulic fluid, and filled the reservoir full. Then closed the reservoir and we both tilted the bike to the right to give it the best chance of draining down. The plan was when the bike was tilted, I'd pump the rear brake pedal, which would pump the front brake system, from the opposite end to the lever, forcing air out and pulling hydraulic fluid in. Unfortunately, we tilted the bike too far and it actually tipped over - right on to me!

Thankfully I was not completely pinned down and I was able to wriggle out without any injury - we then got the bike upright, and decided to try a different approach.

And that's when my alarm went off, and I woke up - an hour before I was supposed to head out on my Saturday morning CoBAM ride!

Thankfully, no technical issues on the ride, but I must admit I was a little nervous when I performed the "rolling brake test" as I headed down the driveway!

ps: I forgot to note this earlier, but in my dream there was also a drawing pin stuck right in the centre of my bike's brand new front tyre! I remembered it as I walked past my bike in the driveway today, and felt the urge to check the front tyre!