I bought a bike last week! Yes, you've read right. I got myself a bike in Britain.
It's a fairly old, red, 5-speed lady's town bike (quite like the one my mum still has but brighter in colour) which has been collecting dust for the last two decades or more.
It was advertised in the Southport Champion's classifieds for £25. Which is a bargain! So I took the bus from town to Banks, where the former owner of the bike lives and bought it after I had a go around the yard on it. The only thing I have to get used to is the speed-changer, as it's sligtly different from the "twist right and left" ones I'm used to.

The brakes needed a bit of tightening after not having been used for 20 odd years, but there's nothing that can't be fixed. Simmy's friend and housemate is a mechanic, and spent yesterday in the garage going over my bike and getting it roadworthy. I guess, one of these days, I just need to get a light for the front, one more cat-eye for the wheels (there's one on each at the moment) and I need to get a basket and a "bicycle luggage rack" or rear rack (whatever it's called) if I want to use it to go to uni and the shops with. Only because I noticed that I'd suffocate myself, if I carried a heavy bag hanging across my shoulder...

We'll be in Ainsdale this week, going back to Crossens and the bike next Monday, but I might just catch the bus to Crossens one day and ride the bike along the coastal road back to Ainsdale. Since the land is all flat here, that shouldn't be a problem.