brompton tales

I was looking through pictures I already had to see if I had one of Brompton on its various journeys then I realised I had Brompton right here so I took a picture of it today where it is sitting behind me in my office. Don't tell OH&S because you're not supposed to have bicycles in your office in case there's a fire and it... explodes? 

This morning I got on a tram because it was raining and I didn't want to ride my Brompton in the rain (or indeed do anything in the rain). There was a woman at the tram stop when I got on the tram and it was very crowded, and I was grappling with Brompton and two bags. So I kept moving down the tram and I could see this woman looking at me with what I thought was considerable contempt or disgust, for being such a pushy passenger bringing a folding bicycle onto a crowded tram. Then when I got to the door - about a stop away from work - she was sitting on a seat and she actually tried to get up and offer it to me. I was like no, please don't get up and she said, 'I love your bike, I wish I had one like that', blow me down with a feather, she was eastern european (going by her accent) and said she wished she could ride a bike in Melbourne but there were too many rules (one of which I had not heard before: that you were not allowed to take your hands off the handlebars! Is this true?). I started singing the praises of Brompton and said I had taken it round the world twice, a semi-true claim. Then the woman sitting next to her could not restrain herself from butting in and also expressing her delight over Brompton and its convenience and usefulness.

I thought you only got that kind of thing off strangers with dogs and babies, so there you go.

I like the product so much I am spontaneously linking to its website