The Quiet Revolution of Brompton Bicycle

The founder of Brompton bicycle, Andrew Ritchie, named his invention after a nearby church. There are many Bromptons around the world, but in the world of bicycles and foldable ones, in particular, you can't miss the iconic Brompton.

The big deal of a Brompton is that it has three folds which makes it really compact with a nifty design that you don't have to grapple with like a bulky sack of rice. It is thus convenient to store and bring it to your desired locations for your rides.  

The company's obsession with making their bikes better and dedication to innovation gives you an insight on the quality and sustained value of a Brompton that is built to last with safety and performance in mind.

This two-wheeler is making a difference to urban life beyond the conversation-starters and unwitting attention that it generates with its groundbreaking design since 1979. It makes biking so much fun and practical; you can ride it without having to don some Lyra tights so as to make you look the part.

 

Click here for Long-term Review of the Brompton folding bike | What makes it SO SPECIAL?

Click here for Will Butler-Adams, CEO of Brompton Bikes | Talks at Google

Click here for Patagonia Cycling Tour on a Brompton Bike

Adventure on Two Wheels

Life is like riding a bicycle; it is all about balance. If you are a student, it would mean finding a balance between studies and play. For working adults, you would wanna find work-life balance. And, for retirees, you exercise and watch your recommended balanced diet for your particular health condition like a hawk (and take your medication stringently).

Regardless of your age, one of the coolest thing that you can do is to ride a bicycle regularly for both commuting and recreation, if not already doing so. Learning to ride a bicycle is a one-off learning process. It was tough at the beginning. Remember the training wheel and your patient or not-so-patient instructor who said that it would be a piece of cake?

Bicycling could well be an overlook mode of transportation. When travelling short distances, the first thought would be to drive, grab a car through an App or take public transport like taxi and train. Why not cycle instead if your urban setting has the infrastructure to support it? 

Riding a bicycle is cool in that you are seated like on a chair and travelling while seated. So saddle up and head out to the parks for a joy ride. It would help you exercise your muscles (good preparation for a stronger body to cope with old age to come) and help you get back to Nature with its attendant benefits for a healthy life.

When you have like friends who enjoy biking, it would be a grand avenue for social interaction and help you stay engaged in relationships. You can listen to all kind of stuffs communicated to you and understand them all, but making a connection with another person takes the beef.

So why are you not cycling? There are subtle barriers, I guess. Maybe your immediate environment is not conducive for cycling, the park is just too far away or you don't have the luxury of space (for a mountain bike or racing bike).

No problem. There is a solution for this if you are looking at cycling on un-rugged terrain. Go for a foldable bicycle that rides like a real bike. 

The advantages or practicality of a foldable bike is that it is compact enough for you to transport to your parks and for your to be able to store easily at home without it being the centrepiece. You may have to pay good money value for a good one though, but in the long run it will go the distance to make your life that much better with the accumulation of the little betters from each day.

I do not own a bike. The bikes that I ride are typically rented. But, I am dreaming of a Brompton foldable bicycle. More on the Brompton in the next post.

How to Have a Lasting Marriage

Is your marriage built to last? That depends on the premise on which it was started.

Whether you got married on a reality TV show or on the quiet in Invercargill, your marriage is only as strong as the reasons by which you got married to your spouse.

If you got married out of desperation to get out of the house by taking the first available flight without due diligence, you might have to adapt a lot in order to survive the marriage.

If you marry for her wealth alone, then it would be challenging when the wealth diminishes.

If you marry him because you are blinded by his chiseled looks (think Superman), go figure whether you will still stand by him when he become an old man.

If marriage is a contract, then both parties will see to it that the terms are fulfilled in order to sustain the marriage.

By the way this is an essential digression in our interconnected world, that if you are attracted to an exotic foreigner please be sure to visit his or her home country before you fall in love. Otherwise, it might be a case of too little and too late when you discover that there are so many others who look just like your person of interest. Better be forewarned than sorry!

Photo by Gabby Orcutt on Unsplash

For a marriage to last, both parties must stay committed to the covenant of instituting a marriage as encapsulated in a typical vow such as the following:

I, ____, take you, ____, to be my (husband/wife). I promise to be true to you in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health. I will love you and honour you all the days of my life.

I, ____, take you, ____, to be my wife (or husband), to have and to hold from this day forward, for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy law, and this is my solemn vow.

 

A marriage is built to last when the two imperfect parties to a marriage stick to their covenant of love, come what may, faithfully. It is not just about him or her. Marriage is a synergy of outlined rules of love that works if worked on by him and her.

 

Gratitude Challenge - Day 10 (Love)

"Gratitude is a powerful process for shifting your energy and bringing more of what you want into your life. Be grateful for what you already have and you will attract more good things. If you just study this one word "gratitude" every day for a month, I guarantee that your life will shift." --Bob Proctor

Join me on this one-month journey to practise "gratitude" on a daily basis and see how it would impact your life. You could keep a journal or blog of your own, and post your comments below.

For Day 10 let's be thankful for Love.

Image credits: Photo by Jon Tyson on Unsplash

You are the product or offspring of love between a man and woman known as husband and wife, respectively. Pardon me for stating the obvious as this natural order is being pelted by rebels who defy a divine order and unwittingly mess up the gender of a husband and wife with untold ramification down the road which they themselves may not be aware of. But, that's another story.

Love, not money, is what makes the world go round. It is the love for a better life, their family or their passion that propels people to work hard or build their business and create wealth for all and sundry in the process.

What you enjoy today is a result of the love and sacrifices of the pioneers in your country, your parents who brought you up, your teachers who taught you, your mentors who guided you with their savvy insights, your truest friends who never gave up on you even when you messed up, your first employer who gave you the break you needed, and so forth.

As you channel the love which has benefitted you to your passion and show some love to others, may you blessed with even more love as what goes around comes around.

Thank you for reading and sharing Daily Refreshing.

Delivery Bikes of the Day

Once upon a time in Singapore, e-scooters were all the rage. They are now all gone faster than they had emerged, many times over, and after many a fire caused by overcharging their batteries.

What you see now as the choice commute for food deliveries are bicycles and e-bikes.

Here is a sample of of the machines being deployed which will expectedly be transformed over time as ingenuity kicks in to reinvent the wheels as we know them today in their current state of play.

What is the Price of Freedom?

You could tweet about the price of freedom as you watch, say, protesters taking to the streets of Hong Kong and crossed the line with violence.

Or you could ask our two feathered friends here who have much more limited freedom albeit well fed and protected, and understand the meaning of true freedom outside the cage.

As you are held hostage-like by Operation Covid-19, you might also amuse yourself as you draw a plausible parallel with Stockholm syndrome.

For recapitulation, this is Wikipedia's take on Stockholm syndrome: "This term was first used by the media in 1973 when four hostages were taken during a bank robbery in Stockholm, Sweden. The hostages defended their captors after being released and would not agree to testify in court against them. Though it was noted that in this case, the police were perceived to have acted with little care for the hostages safety, providing an alternative reason for their unwillingness to testify. Stockholm syndrome is paradoxical because the sympathetic sentiments that captives feel towards their captors are the opposite of the fear and disdain which an onlooker might feel towards the captors."

The size of freedom is relative and limited by degree. For example, we are earthbound until we start to colonise Mars, and within each country we are free to the extent of what is not prohibited by law, beliefs and social norms.

The price of freedom only makes sense when you know the size of freedom that you have in mind, and other people will then make a collective call on whether what you ask for is reasonable and plausible before they are moved to render support.

More to Coffee than a Beverage

The hidden persuader of marketing would have you know that there is more to coffee than what you drink. Same goes with your tea, Coca-cola or Redbull.

Some would go to great length to let you know that their beans are carefully curated and processed optimally to deliver the perfect cuppa to make your day great.

Others like Starbucks will offer you an experience that makes the ordinary extraordinary as they infuse principles such as Make It Your Own, Everything Matters, Surprise and Delight, Embrace Resistance, and Leave Your Mark, into their service culture to connect with the customers.

When the process of getting your brew and/or the aroma and taste of the product delight your senses and provides a launchpad for inspiration, you won't bother to negotiate the price.

Unique Value Proposition is what makes some roasts winners of your dogged patronage.