I hate being stuck without my own transport and I had to ditch my first plan to buy a bajaj due to 1) not having a bout $3,000 and 2) never likely to ever get any exercise ever again and get fat.
But a bicycle is a good compromise. I have been walking everywhere which is nice but sometimes I need to go faster and have to take a bajaj or boda boda which costs money.
A friend who has been here for many years, gave me the details of a father and son who have a business on Olympio Street in the city centre. They import second-hand bikes from abroad and they have quite an impressive stock all wedged together in a tangled mass in a cage in a small courtyard.
It took me and the bajaj driver quite some time and several local enquiries to locate the cage of bikes. They had some really nice models but they were all beyond my budget of 200,000/=. In fact there was only one adult bike I could afford.
As it turned out, the bike was a perfect fit. I paid my cash, released the front wheel and stuffed it back into Oscar’s bajaj. No I am free to ride around the peninsular, stop at a beach bar for a beer or bottle of water and then continue my journey. It has transformed my life here in Dar.
The second time I rode the bike I managed to fall off because I had forgotten that it was a men’s bike and, thinking I was on my Chinese bike, tried to dismount it by bringing my leg in front of the saddle. I crashed to the ground at Slipway. Apart from a grazed elbow and dented pride there was no lasting damage.