Tea and an oil change, and the proper kind of tea, too! Oi, oi, oi -- getting a wee bit apprehensive about the web of ritual that seems to surround the Rohloff, until now sitting quiet and innocent (or so I thought) in my basement, waiting to assume its Rightful Place in the Scheme of Things later this winter, tucked in between the chainstays of a New Raven frame...
But Andre's story brings to mind a similar account of the discipline and order which Daily Ritual ensures in our lives: Some years ago, a friend was living in a small country town in southern Zambia. His domestic worker, a kindly older gent named Samuel, was an ace at baking bread. My friend, mightily impressed by the calm regularity with which Samuel produced a couple of really good loaves each week, thought that he should bring the recipe back to Canada. So, he asked Samuel if he could write down his recipe for his superb bread. Samuel was surprised and delighted, and only too happy to oblige.
His recipe went like this: Put flour and yeast and a little salt into a bowl. Mix mix mix. Add water. Mix mix mix. Put bowl in window in sun and cover with towel. Take bike to town, have a cold drink, get newspaper, come home. Punch bread, punch punch punch. Make tea and turn on cooker to heat up oven. After one cup of tea, punch bread, punch, punch, punch. (Etc...)
It was a wonderful recipe, but turned out it didn't travel so well to Toronto -- my friend could never match Samuel's masterpieces. I reckon he never quite nailed the rituals.
