The Pro-Cruiser has landed

FRIDAY afternoon, the 22nd of October. I got the call I'd been waiting for; the trike had successfully crossed the Pacific, cleared NZ customs and was now in a truck heading for my apartment.

FIONA understandably expressed doubts about being able to to carry the box up to the fifth floor by herself, and she asked me to nip home to be there for the delivery. So I prevailed upon Tim to give me a lift home, with the promise of a beer to make it worth his while, and we arrived at the wharf with 5 minutes to spare.

Tim watches my delicate box-surgery

THE box the Pro-Cruiser shipped in is surprisingly small and the delivery driver commented that he had trouble convincing customs that it contained a 'bicycle'. I thanked him for his amazingly accurate delivery estimate, and Tim and I grabbed the box. It wasn't too heavy, but it would have been very cumbersome for one person to move, so I was very glad that I had both bribed Tim to help, and that there was an elevator almost all the way up to the apartment.

NOW, I know it says in Jim's instructions that I should open the box by turning it upside down and then cutting the sides two inches from the bottom, but I just had to see the contents before I returned to work. I eagerly sliced the tape and popped the staples down the length and opened it up to get my first view of my Pro-Cruiser. It was wrapped in so much shipping cling-film it looked like it had been attacked by a giant spider, and had survived the air journey from California perfectly. Very carefully I slit open the cocoon with my Swiss multi tool and revealed the cherry red trike.

WOW, just as cool as I'd hoped. Grudgingly I closed up the box and headed back to work; I had the long and hopefully sunny Labour Day weekend ahead to assemble and try out the trike.