I woke up early and a wee bit fuzzy but at least I was up and I had things to do. Fuzziness has never stopped me from doing things normally and I had high hopes for finding a new wheel today so I hit the town early. I met a guy last night who recommended CS Cyclemart as the best shop in town for a new wheel. I knew what road it was on so didn't bother getting a taxi and set off with broken wheel in hand to take on the bike world of Zambia.
I saw a few bicycle places en route so stopped in there on my way just to try my luck and got immediate no's from all of them. Mmm, doesn't sound promising I thought but I still had hope. When I got to cyclemart it looked good from the outside, much bigger than the others and the bikes inside looked the same size as Nigel so I was happy. I stepped up to the counter, "sorry, we don't have that size" ah, my high spirits did take a bit of a hit as the guy at the counter then moved immediately on to the next customer. "Well is there something we can do, ring someone else etc" I've not taken "sorry, no" as an answer this far, I'm certainly not going to let it happen in Zambia!
"You can ask this guy who has a shop a few km from here" the guy at the counter said as he wrote his number down. "I don't have a phone, will you be able to ring him from that phone?" I pointed to the phone on the counter. "That is the business phone only for business matters" "this is a business matter" I said. "No this is personal" he said. As I've said previously, customer service is lost in Africa but thankfully generous individuals aren't and the guy behind the counter then rung the man from his mobile. "He has two types that can work, he's on his way" Bam! That's what I'm talking about, I gave the guy behind the counter money for his phone credit and sat and waited for my new wheel.
The wait was agonising. The guy behind the counter kept getting phone calls and looking over to me as if it was bad news about my wheel. It never was, but I still hated it. Two hours went past and I was still sat in the bicycle shop. My fuzziness had been eradicated thanks to a sausage roll and a fanta that I had time to go and buy and eat before any sign of this new wheel. "How far did you say his shop was? A few km yeah?" I didn't want to seem impatient as I still had my fingers crossed the rim would work. There are no guarantees in Africa and so I kept shtum and sat it out.
The wheel guy arrived eventually (he had a puncture!) and one of the two rims he had looked good enough. The quality wasn't as good and the spoke formation wasn't going to be the same but width and circumference were the same and George from behind the counter said he could sort it for tomorrow so I was a happy man and ready to celebrate!
I had previously planned to meet Team Norway #2 for free waffles at the Norwegian embassy at 12 (its a Friday tradition apparently) but due to my stay in the cycle shop I was too late and aborted all plans for a KFC and a walk back to the hostel. I have to say that the KFC was surprisingly exceptional. I'm a massive lover of KFC and I can normally determine if I'm in for a decent feast of succulent chicken just on arrival. The chicken i thought would be dry as it was the last few pieces left in the cabinet but it turned out amazing and I sat alone but beaming as i enjoyed every last crumb of batter despite the 6yr old opposite me constantly stroking his cheeks as he looked at me which made me laugh alot but also made me very self conscious as to whether or not I had any facial clingons!
I left KFC feeling on top of the world and the fun continued as I wandered through the market to a Mexican wave-esque chorus of high fives and fist pumps as they all smiled and called me Jesus. I'm far from Jesus and I look more like a serial killer but after eventually getting my wheel and enjoying the best chicken meal in Africa, I can say that i was feeling pretty good so i didn't mind the ridiculous amount of attention I received in a 100m stretch of road.
As I walked back to the hostel I go to experience yet another Zambian downpour. It was quite as electrical or scary as my first but it was just as wet and so I had find shelter with around 20 others under a vegetable stall. The plastic bag and ground sheet roofing wasn't exactly water resistant and so to stop the whole thing collapsing I stood centre stage holding up a stick to ensure the water ran off. All the locals found it very funny and whoever drove past at that time would've probably had to make a double take at the random white pillar keeping the shelter from collapsing!
The rain didn't last long and the sky soon cleared to reveal the beautiful sunshine. The rest of the day was spent by the pool with a few beverages and some great conversations with a lady on holiday before working in Malawi called Jill, an Oxford university student researching for his masters called Sammy and then Team Norway #2 when they arrived back from the amazing waffles.
The good day continued to a great night and it was finished superbly with a pizza that I got with Astrid (Norway) and Jamal (a local that joined us half way through the night and kindly gave us a lift to the pizza place)
To quote a well known Pizza restaurant chain...good times.
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