So I was on my way home from work, riding through London, minding my own business, when bam! my front fork on my bike snaps off.
Yeah, that's right... the fork broke clean off at the crown, and my front wheel coasted off down the road while I popped a wheelie for the rest of the journey.
Except that my reactions weren't quick enough (and I don't know how to "pop a wheelie" anyway) so instead I fell to the ground in stationary traffic, much to my confusion, and to the amusement of onlooking motorists. A taxi driver even stopped to ask if I was alright, and to find out what the deal was, having seen my spontaneous stunt take place.
So I crammed in to the back of a Black Cab, with my bike, and got a lift from Tower Bridge across town to Paddington Station, where I took the train home as normal (except that I needed a lift home from the station). The cabbie didn't have any change and I only had an array of £20 bills, so I effectively gave him a tip of negative £1.40 — the only change I had was a one pound coin so he let me off with a twenty pound note and the one pound coin on a £22.40 tab. This is quite a shame as I was intending to give him a tip — he was a pleasant bloke and quite chatty too. I, on the other hand, was all but falling asleep in the back.
My track record for tipping taxi drivers is looking pretty poor... I don't take taxis very often at all, and the last time I did was probably when I was in New York. A few of us were sharing a cab and before we could gather the requisite change at the end of our journey, Zoltan, who was sitting in the front, settled the bill all by himself. Unfortunately the driver didn't understand the Hungarian convention where by "Thanks" means "Keep the change", so he gave change. Zoltan, confused by this, took it and left.
I think there was another similar incident with a shared cab while I was in NYC, again, with people from other cultures not understanding the "You Must Tip... Everyone" policy in the USA.
PS: Oh yeah, I wasn't hurt (much) in the accident, which was good, and unfortunately I didn't get any photos of the state of the bike before I dropped it off for repairs at AW Cycles.
