Christmas Spirit and the bottle of Cidona !

Christmas is always an unusual time of year in a bike shop . It’s not the bikes really , but the people that make it a little different . From the excited kids all looking forward to the visit of the man in the big red suit to the harried mothers who just have to get the lime green bike with orange and purple stabilizers and a bell that plays jingle bells because that’s what’s on the letter !!!

The Christmas mood becomes infectious and even the postman gets caught up in it all . Just the other morning Ray was serving a customer when our postman came flying through the door with our mail . He walked up to the counter , removed a few letters from his stack , raised the first and said ‘ mmmnn Lance Armstrong , care of Worldwidecycles , aaahh Sean Kelly , care of Worldwidecycles , aaaaannndd Stephen Roche , care of Worldwidecycles ‘ . Then he placed the  post on the counter and was gone as quick as he had arrived . The customer was left with a bewildered look on their face .

This is also the time of year when unusual product testing takes place . Just today , we had a guy in who insisted on lifting every bike that caught his eye up on his shoulder and walking up and down the shop to test how they would feel on the ‘showalder’ as he said . I hasten to add that he was looking at standard Hybrids and not any cyclocross bikes which may be carried in that manner from time to time .

Ray’s dad Sean sometimes helps us out with deliveries . Yesterday a customer asked for a bike to be delivered . Ray asked when he would like it to be delivered and he replied ‘ in about half an hour ‘ . He lives 10 miles from the shop but Ray said we would try to deliver it on time for him . The customer then suggested that seeing as the van was heading out that way sure he might as well jump in and take a lift out .

So off Sean set with the customer in the passenger seat and just as they were leaving town the customer proclaimed ‘ Oh Jay I nearly forgot , would you pull over there outside that shop I must run in for a bottle of Cidona . Sean duly obliged and then had to wait almost 20 minutes for the customer to return with two big bags of shopping in tow . He then hopped back into the van explaining that one of the feckin bags had broken inside in the shop and he had to go around trying to pick up all the stuff when it was rolling around on the  floor . There was no sight nor mention of the bottle of Cidona !

Happy Christmas everyone !

Barry and Ray

www.worldwidecycles.com