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'Oh, I didn't think it would be that easy,' said Ben.
'Have you ever actually repaired a puncture?' I asked.
'Well no, but I know they are annoying.'
Being brought up in the country, I was used to having punctures and so was fairly com-
petent at repairing them. Ben, on the other hand, was a puncture repair virgin. He watched,
in genuine admiration, as I set to work.
'How long is it going to take?' he asked.
'Five minutes.'
'Five minutes? I thought we were going to be here for bloody hours. I didn't realise it
would be so quick.'
'I wondered why you were so miserable.'
Peter stood over to one side, watching us and laughing the entire time.
'You two are like a married couple,' he said.
Just as we were packing up, the estate agent pulled into the driveway with some pro-
spective buyers. Their faces looked slightly bemused at the sight of two strangely dressed
men and their possessions strewn across the driveway.
'We'll get out of your way. Thanks so much for all of your help, Peter. Good luck
with the house move,' I said, as we frantically squashed everything into out rucksacks and
pushed our bikes down the road and out of sight.
'I'm very impressed by your bike mechanic skills,' said Ben.
'Thanks. I can't believe you've never had a puncture in your life.'
'Wedon'tgetmanythornsinLondon.Actually,Ididgetapunctureonce,butIcouldn't
be bothered to repair it.'
'So what did you do?'
'I just bought a new bike instead.'
After Peter had mentioned the hedge cutters, it became very obvious that the road was
covered in thorns. Just to be on the safe side, and to keep Ben happy, we pushed our bikes
for half a mile until the road was clear.
AfterjustfivemilesinWaleswecrossedbackintoEngland,andthecountyofCheshire.
It was very fitting that although it made up just a tiny fraction of our total route, Wales
still made its mark on our journey by giving us our only puncture of the entire trip. And
although we didn't meet any genuine Welsh people in Wales, the one Welsh resident that
we did meet was completely unique; a fine ambassador for the country.
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