Material posessions
The parking lot of our warehouse complex was paved last week. Ever since then, I've been meaning to get out and rollerblade around it; I love blading on freshly laid asphalt. I have a really nice set of genuine Rollerblades that I bought, gads, when I was 19. They still roll as smoothly as the day I got them. They look like hell today, because they've been participating in the warehouse's controlled fiberglass dust collection system for the last two years. But as I brought them out and dusted them off, I was still proud of my purchase, and had cause to ponder how wonderful it is to have really nice stuff that looks like crap. My dad was always big on maintaining the appearances of things, I think mostly for resale value. But I tend to keep things until they die, so I'd rather they take on a certain, er, patina. I don't want people coveting my stuff. I want them to think it's crap, so they leave it, and me, alone. Meanwhile I have a wonderful [whatever] to use without concern. It kinda bums me out that I can't make my beloved DSLR look like a piece of crap. I'd worry about it a lot less if I could.
But anyway. Unfortunately, not all parts of my rollerblades' composition have fared as well as the bearings and wheels. When I cinched the right ankle support up this morning, I only put it one click into the ratchet mechanism, and then moved on to my other boot. As I was lacing up the left, I felt the right one let loose, and thought that, since I'd only gone as far as the first click, I'd probably missed it, or got it cross-threaded, and it had sprung free. Imagine my surprise when I looked back over at it, and realized that the plastic of the ankle support had just snapped, back behind the ratchet mechanism. Major bummer, as, these 'blades without ankle support are, well, a challenge, to say the least. When I grabbed the two halves & tried to wrestle them back together, thinking maybe there would be some other way to connect them, the back split, right up the center attachment holes! Disgusted by the deteriorated state of the plastic, I ripped the matching piece off of the left skate without even trying to buckle it. It didn't put up much resistance, so I don't imagine I caused it a particularly premature demise. Then I rolled into the bathroom (no easy feat) and grabbed the vet wrap. Unfortunately, said vet wrap is veeeeery old, so it was much gooier than it should have been. In the end, though, it served the purpose, even if I did wind up with sticky purple fingers. It wasn't nearly as tight as it should have been, though, so my skating was cut a bit short by sore ankles. I can't feel them right now, but I'm sure tomorrow morning I'll wonder who went after them with a brickbat. I've found some satin binding tape that I believe will have less give, so I'll give that a shot next. Ideally I was thinking of using some of Jeff's retired toe straps, but they all seem to have buggered off.
In all, I'm still pleased with my 'blades; they're a blast to skate, and I really shouldn't have gone so long without using them. Bonus: if there would have been anyone inclined to be covetous of them when they were intact but scruffy, there will be no one at all interested in them once they're held together with brown satin. :)
But anyway. Unfortunately, not all parts of my rollerblades' composition have fared as well as the bearings and wheels. When I cinched the right ankle support up this morning, I only put it one click into the ratchet mechanism, and then moved on to my other boot. As I was lacing up the left, I felt the right one let loose, and thought that, since I'd only gone as far as the first click, I'd probably missed it, or got it cross-threaded, and it had sprung free. Imagine my surprise when I looked back over at it, and realized that the plastic of the ankle support had just snapped, back behind the ratchet mechanism. Major bummer, as, these 'blades without ankle support are, well, a challenge, to say the least. When I grabbed the two halves & tried to wrestle them back together, thinking maybe there would be some other way to connect them, the back split, right up the center attachment holes! Disgusted by the deteriorated state of the plastic, I ripped the matching piece off of the left skate without even trying to buckle it. It didn't put up much resistance, so I don't imagine I caused it a particularly premature demise. Then I rolled into the bathroom (no easy feat) and grabbed the vet wrap. Unfortunately, said vet wrap is veeeeery old, so it was much gooier than it should have been. In the end, though, it served the purpose, even if I did wind up with sticky purple fingers. It wasn't nearly as tight as it should have been, though, so my skating was cut a bit short by sore ankles. I can't feel them right now, but I'm sure tomorrow morning I'll wonder who went after them with a brickbat. I've found some satin binding tape that I believe will have less give, so I'll give that a shot next. Ideally I was thinking of using some of Jeff's retired toe straps, but they all seem to have buggered off.
In all, I'm still pleased with my 'blades; they're a blast to skate, and I really shouldn't have gone so long without using them. Bonus: if there would have been anyone inclined to be covetous of them when they were intact but scruffy, there will be no one at all interested in them once they're held together with brown satin. :)
posted by auridicyl at 10/08/2006 09:15:00 PM
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