This is my story and is also posted elsewhere.
*****
"Is that a fixie?"
I didn't immediately get that someone was talking to me. It was an unusual hot day in London; I had been cycling along Regent's Canal when the back tyre died on me. I had just dismounted and I was looking at the flat tyre, thinking of what to do, when this man spoke to me.
"Your bike. Is it a fixie? Fixed gear?"
I turned to look at him. He was in his late thirties, slightly taller than me and was wearing glasses with a clear frame.
"Oh. No, it's not. It is single gear but it actually has a free wheel."
"I see."
He paused. I wondered how on earth was he not sweating as much as I was: he was wearing an oversized jumper and a beanie hat, yet his skin looked dry. I turned to have another disheartened look at my flat tyre.
"Do you know if there's a bike shop nearby, by any chance? I need to get this fixed."
"Oh yeah, there's just one on the main street after the bridge. It's my local bike shop, they're really good there. I can show you."
I thanked him and started pushing the bike along the canal towards Vicky Park, alongside him. We made small talk -- he used to ride his bike everywhere, his name was Mark, he had lived in East London for a while. His accent was very much that of a Londoner, but he had a slight Jaimaican ring to it. Without asking him it was impossible to figure out whether he grew up in London and he picked up that accent from the other kids, or if he was originally from Jamaica. I didn't dare ask.
I started casting some sideway glances at him. He had high cheekbones and broad shoulders; he was moving in a very composed yet fluid manner. I often don't realise immediately after meeting someone how attractive they are. And was he intermittently brushing his arm against mine as we were walking or was I imagining it?
We passed the canal lock and I pointed at the weird flat on the other side of the canal. It was the basement flat of a bigger building right next to the canal; it had a terrace just on the canal with some plants and a kayak. The windows were floor to ceiling but you couldn't see through them.
"I always walk past that flat and it looks so good," I told Mark. "I always wonder what it looks like inside."
Mark chuckled and looked at me. "Well, do you want to find out?"
Turns out that he lived in that flat. What were the chances? He offered to go there so he could show it to me and then help me change my inner tube.
"But if you're in a rush there's no problem, we're not far from the bike shop anyway."