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I want a Pashley Princess....now!

I need a new bike, and I want a Pashley Princess.  I'm fed up with the great weights of mountain bikes, and bikes where I have to lean so far forward I'm practically laying face down.  I don't want 25 gears or an aluminium frame so light I could carry it across the lake.  I want to ride on something sedate and be fitting of someone of my age. I want to get on a bike in a dress, with the wind in my hair and a basket to put my flowers in after I've plucked them from the hedgerow.  I want to pedal effortlessly through the maze of the woods, and I don't want mud up the back of my calves.

Pashley Princess-image kindly supplied by Pashley.

Then I came down to earth with a bump!!  Have you seen the prices of those beauties?  I could buy 10 pairs of good shoes for the kids, or  a holiday (for me solo!) at a health farm!  I could pay off my credit card bill in one foul swoop, or I could buy at least 3 pairs of vertiginous heels from coveted designers...ones I can only sit down in though as the last pair I bought saw me up end into a flower pot...dignity on the floor and heels replaced with flip flops!

I once had a bright idea.  I often have bright ideas, but this was probably one of the best. One day I decided that I would take the dog for a run.  I thought it might be a good idea to take the dog with me. I also thought it might be a good idea if I took him on the bike. Well....him running beside me. I now know that dogs don't run in straight lines, and that if they see a cat that they'll run after them.  It would have been a good idea if I hadn't had him on a lead, but as we were riding/running along a main road I thought the lead would be another bright idea. Dog saw cat....and pulled me off the bike.  It wasn't his fault.  He doesn't like cats. He like to chase them. And chase it, he did.  Once again, dignity and bottom were on the floor, so I now don't ride and run the dog.  Now if I had a Pashley Princess, I could ride my bike and buy one of those little things you pull along behind you...the ones crazy people put their children in and cycle on the main roads with all manner of traffic. Personally, I wouldn't put a child in it, but I would put in the dog...if I could make him "stay"!!

When Bart was a baby, I was very fit. I would cycle everywhere and would pop him in the seat on the back of the bike and off we would go. We'd cycle down country lanes, across fields and he would love it.  I'd ring my bell, and I could hear Bart laughing behind me. We'd greet fellow cyclists with a cheery hello and Bart would wave and gurgle.  When Bart was about 18 months, my sis bought a Pashley and I was so jealous.  She wanted to join us on one of our outings so I made her cycled behind us for a while. I couldn't bear to see the object of my desire under someone else!!   As I rang my bell, Bart would gurgle and laugh; as fellow cyclists waved Bart would greet them, but I could hear sis sniggering each time someone passed by. Eventually, I stopped fearing that my bottom was the object of her derision.

"Whats so funny?"

"Bart!" She was doubled over her posh Pashley's handle bars at this point. Her mascara creeping unbecomingly down the side of her face.

"Why?" He looked his normal happy self, still gurgling away.

"Every time someone passes by...he sticks two fingers in the air...on both hands!! What on earth have you been teaching him?"

My beautiful curly headed blond angel had been flicking the "V" at each passer by.

There is a lady around here who rides an old Pashley.  She looks slightly nutty amongst the  Lycra clad cyclists who use the lanes to race, but she looks like my kind of nutty, as she pedals with ease without breaking a sweat.  I want one even though I can't afford one, but that's how I roll!!

Comments

  1. Maybe you should buy it from the nutty lady? Or try eBay? Good luck...

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  2. I've looked on ebay...they hold their prices! If I save all my pennies I might be able to buy one by the time I'm 92!!

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  3. How could you??? Now I want a pashley princess too!!! That said I think the pashley suits your flair much more. You're way battier than I am!! In a good way of course.

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  4. A good bike is totally worth it (way better than designer heels and suchlike) - go for it!!!

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  5. I want a Pashley Princess! So much more feminine than my mountain bike....And I agree I want one even though I already have a perfectly good bike...thats how I roll too.

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