Another downtown sketch of another downtown corner. Mid-August, the quieter days before the students all come back. I sketched on the corner of 3rd and F, looking at the bike shop called the ‘Davis Cyclery’. That reminds me, I need to get my bike tyre fixed. I have left it for ages now. I need to just bring it to a shop, or to the Bike Barn, but I put it off because it costs so much now, and I always feel (at least with the Bike Barn, less so with the shops downtown) that they always go on about other things I need to do with my bike, when it’s like all I want is the not have a flat tyre, thanks, everything else works fine. I want to be able to fix it myself, is the thing. So I gave it a go, I flipped my bike over and tried to remove the back wheel, and failed miserably. I watched YouTube videos, all different types of bikes, they just seem to pop it off like it was a piece of Lego, yet when I try it I could not get the thing off. It clearly does come off, but I have not figured out how. I feel like it’s the sort of thing I should know how to do. Maybe I could just go and ask someone to show me how to do it, but I’m not going to do that am I. (I hear Marcellus Wallace in my head, “That’s pride, f***in’ wit’ ya. F*** pride! Pride only hurts. It never helps.”) No, I’ll get it done at some point. In the meantime I have been walking a lot more, which is good for me anyway. I stood on the corner of the street near a fire hydrant I thought I had sketched before (it was actually a very similar one on 3rd and G, case of mistaken identity) outside the University of Beer, which now has pandemic-era patios out in the street. I needed to add people in, so I drew a couple of people as they crossed the street. Now when I draw people I keep it very generic and mix and match elements of whoever is passing by, so you get an idea of the type of people who are around rather than the actual people; I’m pretty sure the guy crossing the street wasn’t wearing a green shirt and was probably a lot taller, but definitely had that a beard and sunglasses, while the woman with black hair ended up with someone else’s red t-shirt and, well, someone else’s boyfriend too, because I wasn’t quick enough to draw whoever beard-guy was with, and I wasn’t quick enough to draw whoever black-haired-girl was with with, so they have ended up together, like a romantic comedy set in a sketchbook. Hopefully their respective partners don’t see this, recognize them and get the wrong end of the stick. “Honey those aren’t even my legs, I have tattoos!” “Who gave you that t-shirt, you weren’t wearing that when we had lunch!” While contemplating these fictional domestic dramas, I popped into the bar afterwards to rest my own legs and have a pint, though it has been a while since I used to go in there and sketch, and then I walked home.