Some of you will remember all the problems I had with my bicycle shortly after arriving in Amsterdam. It broke down so many time that I even threatened to throw it into a canal!

I'm sorry to say that after almost three years of service, I have officially retired my bike today. I didn't always run very well, but on the positive side it was never stolen. I knew there was an upside to having an old, brown, heavy bike. So old in fact that repairmen told me they had never seen that model before.

Just as I had many bike problems after I first bought it, I've also had many bike problems in the past few months. Not all of them are the fault of the bike, or even mine. Here's a list in chronological order:

-I want to go to the gym, but the back tire is getting flat. I fill it up again, but because of its deformed shape it begins to rub against the frame and becomes unridable.

-I try to repair it myself but only manage to lose one head of my hammer out in front of my apartment.

-A repairman fixes the alignment so that it runs but tells me I definitely need a new back tire soon. He doesn't replace it, though.

-I borrow Anna's bike and it gets a flat tire.

-I get my bike back, but I get a flat front tire halfway across town on the way to a baseball game. I have to lock it up and manage to make it to the game by public transport.

-I go back twice in the next week but cannot get anyone to repair it: the first time one repairshop is closed due to holidays and the other because it is a Monday. The second time, the "Monday" shop is open but they won't take it, because I can't pick it up before I leave for Denmark the next week. Both times I have to lock it up again on the street and head home.

-I go back a third time when I'm back in town, and the "Monday" shop again refuses to take it because they're too busy! By then the "holiday" shop is open and they agree to patch up the front tire and put in a new back one. At first they say they have no space for it until later that day, but they relent when I explain I'm not from the neighbourhood.

That brings us to yesterday, August 21 2008. My bike had been making strange sounds going to baseball practice, and broke down as I was getting closer to home that night. Problems with the chain, but obviously also with other metal parts in that area. I lock it up as best I can, though it does stick out onto the sidewalk, and walk the rest of the way home.

This morning, I go to borrow Anna's bike again so I can go out and get my own bike repaired. But her bike won't ride, because part of the back frame is rusted through and is brushing against the wheel. I bring it to the nearby repairshop, and then take the tram to go to my bike which happens to be locked up right next to another repairshop.

Since last night, some good samaritan took offense at how I had locked up my bike and decided to tip it upside down. No harm done, because when I bring it into the repairshop the man tells me it's not worthwhile doing the needed repairs anyway. He also thinks nobody should have put a new tire on such a bike because there are just so many problems with different parts of it.

And that was that.