Quote Originally Posted by cindysue
very cool! congrats to the new owner and her auntie.

Couple questions:

1) how does a bike get lost in transit, and more importantly who pays?

2) what brings your niece to England? and then back for ALC '07?

3) when does auntie (and auntie's friends - hint hint) get to vist said bike in England?
1) My theory? It got stolen. Of about 30 boxes that got shipped all together, 3 never arrived. Those 3 were the bike boxes (of which 1 contained a bike and 2 contained paintings). My theory is that someone in the shipping business is stealing bikes. As for who pays ... well, some was covered by insurance, but not anywhere near enough. Worst was the anguish about the paintings, which were mostly done by friends of said niece/daughter specifically as gifts for her. Irreplaceable! Very sad.

2) Move to England was motivated by handsome charming loveable BF, who is from Scotland by way of Liverpool area. He got a PhD grant there that was better than what he was working on in Illinois, and since said niece/daughter had finished all but her dissertation writing, she too could make the move. Also it's closer to home (Norway). They're in Essex now, but want to move further north (Wales, NW England, Scotland, or Norway) when their degrees are done.

As for the ALC -- that would be Trek420 who's the motivation. Niece/daughter wants to get in shape after a health setback and saw from auntie Trek how that can be done. Go see her weblog from last year's ALC, if you haven't already. Even I might be tempted, but not until I see how I manage on the Cinderella.

3) Well, her dad is there on a visit now. He and I are both going in April. They have a spare bed (couch?) in a drafty steep-staired flat in a 16th century house, sqeezed between a Chinese restaurant and a pub on a busy downtown street. They're hoping to find something quieter with a garden come summer so Susie Q the cat can go out. Wanna go visit, Trek? Just let'em know when and I'm sure you're welcome. And their nearest airport has cheap direct flights to Hell, so you could visit us too while you're at it.