I first arrived in the United States in January 1979; I flew into New York’s Kennedy Airport, and was picked up by my new employers, Vic and Mike Fraysee, owners of Paris Sport.
From there it was probably and hour’s drive to Ridgefield Park, New Jersey, about seven miles from New York City on the other side of the Hudson River. The frameshop where I worked was at the back of a bike store that the Fraysee’s owned.
The terms of my initial visa that I had when I entered the US, was that I would return to England before the end of the first year. I could then renew my visa and come back again.
I planned to return to the UK for the Christmas Holidays 1979, that gave me almost a year to work and save for the trip. By the fall of that year, it was clear money was going to be tight and I needed to find some extra cash to meet expenses.
On the corner of the same block where the frameshop was, there happened to be a large warehouse type building. It was home to a company that packaged Christmas wrapping paper. They were hiring seasonal part time workers for an evening shift.
And so it was, I started moonlighting. When I finished my day job building frames, I would work 6 to 10 in the Christmas wrapping paper plant.
It was probably around this time of year, early November, as I took my one-mile morning walk to work, I rounded the corner off Main Street, Ridgefield Park, to a scene of utter devastation.
The Christmas paper business had burned to the ground in a fire during the night. Only the four walls were standing, the roof was gone; firefighters were cleaning up. All that was left of the place where I had worked the previous evening was a blackened, smoldering pile of rubble.
As I walked slowly past on the opposite side of the street, the cold realization was sinking in, that I no longer had a part time job, no extra income, and possibly no Christmas trip to England.
However, within two weeks, the owners of the business had savaged and repaired some of the machinery, and had started up again in another building close by.
With only a few short weeks left before Christmas, they were now desperate to replace their lost stock, plus make up for two weeks lost production. I not only got my job back, I was now working an 8 hour shift, from 6pm. to 2am.
There was a feeling amongst the workers, of wanting to help the owners succeed; they had not given up, we were not giving up.
I was also working two shifts on the weekends; the result was I probably made more money than if there had not been a fire. I made the trip to England with cash to spare.
I thought of this incident just yesterday when I wrote a quote in the form of a question,
“How boring would life be without uncertainty?”
We need certainty in our lives to feel secure; we need to be reasonably certain that we will wake up in the morning, and that our loved ones will still be there. That our job will be there and the building not burned to the ground as I found.
Then every so often, life throws us a curve, something unexpected. Without the unexpected, life would be boring. Curved roads are more interesting than straight roads; we don’t know what is round that next bend.
Within uncertainty, there is adventure, excitement. I have always found throughout my life whenever a relationship has turned sour, or I have lost a job; when I look back years later, it was for the good.
I’ve had many disappointments, but very few regrets.
More pictures of my past work can be viewed in the Photo Gallery and on my Website. Links are in the navigation bar at the top 
Mon, November 16, 2009 
The difference between rights and privileges
In a recent article I wrote about the Miami Critical Mass event I stated that the people taking part were abusing the "privilege" of riding a bicycle on the road.
A couple of people called me on this, stating that cycling is a right not a privilege. The argument being that a right cannot be taken away, whereas a privilege can.
My choice of words however, did not change the meaning of what I said, and the word "right" actually strengthened my argument.
If it is a right for us to ride our bikes on the road, all the more reason not to abuse that right by assembling in large numbers and blocking city streets to other road users.
It did however get me asking myself, what is a right? There are so called God given rights, but as people have the right to choose whether they believe in God or not, how does that work?
If you don't believe in God, do you have any God given rights? Are you obliged to respect other people's God given rights? As it is, the only one I can think of is our right to live.
Even that doesn’t count for much as laid out in my last piece, where a young couple riding a tandem bicycle had their lives taken by a person in a Ford truck, who was on the road driving as a privilege.
If you look at The Bill of Rights there are very few actual rights. The right to bear arms, the right to practice a religion of your choice, etc.
After that it appears the function of government (In theory anyway.) is to leave us alone, and we are free to do as we please as long as it doesn't include criminal activities. A problem arises when the rights of one group impede the rights of others.
For example when automobiles first appeared there were no laws or regulations, you could simply buy a car, jump in and drive it. Pretty much in the same way as we can buy a bicycle today and ride it anywhere.
Later because of wholesale carnage on the roads, laws were passed and licenses issued to drivers. Driving became a privilege that could be taken away. Today it seems, this is a privilege that people are rarely deprived of, at least in the US.
It appears to me that rights are rarely granted, they are simply taken for granted. Is riding a bicycle on the highway is a prime example this?
I know to even suggest such a thing will cause outrage among a great many cyclists, but before we all get our anti-bacterial padded shorts in a twist, let’s think about this.
In recent years cell phones have become available and some assume it is their right to own one and talk and send text messages whenever they please, including while driving.
It turns out this is not a good idea so in some places this practice is being outlawed. Have people lost a right, or was it just an assumed right in the first place?
A few years ago, people had the right to smoke just about anywhere they pleased. However, that right infringed on everyone else’s right not to breathe secondhand smoke. So, now that right has gradually been taken away, and smokers are now privileged to smoke in fewer and fewer places.
Because riding a bicycle on public roads is for the most part not a danger to other road users, it is doubtful than anyone will stop us doing it.
Cycling is a good idea. It cuts down on congestion in our cities, it is better for the environment, and it should be encouraged because it is good for the physical and mental well being of the participant.
My point is, are there any true rights or privileges, or just an ongoing daily debate among millions of people, on the streets, on the talk shows and in the courtrooms?
We all have certain rights, and we get to keep them as long as they don't infringe on the rights of others. If they do we may lose those rights, it is happening all the time.
In which case there is little difference between rights and privileges; either can be taken away.