Smell the coffee

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Recently on Facebook there was a link doing the rounds that told the story of a busker playing a violin for 45 minutes in a Washington Metro station .Very few people paid any attention whatsoever to the busker apart from a few kids who had to be dragged away by their parents. In total only 6 people out of 1100 who passed stopped and listened for any amount of time and 20 gave him money which totaled $32. When he finished there was no applause or any form of acknowledgement whatsoever. It turns out that the busker was world famous violinist Joshua Bell who was playing one of the most intricate pieces of music ever written on a violin worth 3.5 million dollars .2 nights previously he sold out a theater in Boston where people paid $100 each to hear him play .

The question asked at the end of the article is ‘ if we do not have a moment to listen to one of the Worlds’ greatest musicians playing the best piece of music ever written what else are we missing ‘

This is a question that is very apt to the world of cycling too. To watch a bike race costs nothing. The Tour of Ireland had many of the Worlds top riders including Lance Armstrong within its ranks a few years back and the bunch passed a guy out cutting his lawn who didn’t even look up as they passed by his front gate.

Out on a training spin how many rivers and streams, mountains and miles of wide open countryside are passed without a second glance. My eyes were opened to this a few years back when cycling a tandem with my friend Stefan who is visually impaired. He was always asking me what was around us and what we were passing which tuned me in to taking more notice myself. Here is a link to a blog about my cycling days with Stefan http://worldwidecyclesblog.com/2007/11/26/cycling-for-charity/

It really is amazing what you will see if you focus on a certain object. Another friend of mine years ago had two things that he was always on the look out for on the bike, money and page 3’s . At the time it was pounds and he ‘regularly’ spotted fivers and even the odd tenner in the ditches and he had many a picture of Sam Fox on his bedroom wall. How I don’t know, but I do know that I almost crashed from dizziness a number of times by trying too hard to focus on every inch of the ditch on the wood road in my quest to find his treasure trove.

I never even found a single pound and the only discarded newspaper I found was the editorial section of the Farmers journal .

If you have ever found anything unusual whilst out on your bike why not leave a comment below and share it with us .

Barry

www.worldwidecycles.com

8 COMMENTS

  • marek

    I found a kitten on the road near Powers the pot.

  • worldwidecycles

    Did you bring it home with you Marek ?

  • Pat Kenealy

    I once found a large sum of money alright Barry in the Dublin Mountains,was afraid anyone saw me picking it up and was looking behind me the whole way home!

    • worldwidecycles

      We’ll keep that one just between ourselves so Pat 😉

    • Damia Travers

      Is that how you bought the second house Pat

      • Pat Kenealy

        It wasn’t that large a sum!!

  • Kealan

    never that lucky, half empty bottles of coke and 7up are fairly tempting when ya get the knock with 10 miles to go though.

  • andy

    A friend of mine pointed out ten years ago that the internet would end roadside porn. I did find a mobile phone that when I rang the number under ‘home’ and returned it, the owner give me a bottle of wine and fifty quid!

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