A Guy With An Old School Melburn-Roobaix Musette.

I didn't really need to go to the IGA last night, but I had some time to kill while waiting for a pizza from Dominos, and it was just across the road, so I thought I'd see if I could find some blog fodder. There wasn't anyone I knew though. Just this one guy with an old school Melburn-Roobaix Musette.

It was one of the black canvas ones. There were both black and white ones. Only organizers got one of the colours, but I can't remember which one. I have both, because that year I rode it, and also donated a prize. The year prior Dan Shifter had donated a meat tray, harking back to the pub raffles of old. I figured I'd run with that a little, but give it an XBBX twist. Andy didn't quite know what to make of it when I presented him with a mock-meat tray, full of soy fish that were actually shaped like fish, fake bacon replete with a little line of fake fat, and fake chicken nuggets made of gluten and breadcrumbs. I also decorated the polystyrene box with lettuce leaves, for that fair dinkum butcher's feel. When he stood up on that tiny stage in the Lomond Hotel and announced it as the next prize there was a collective murmur of confusion. But the guy who won it was stoked. "I'm a vegetarian!" he yelled, and promptly started chewing into a piece of slightly-wilted lettuce, perhaps confirming the prejudices of all the carnivores in the crowd.

When I went back to Dominos there was a screen facing out into the shop, telling me how long there was until my pizza was ready. It read four minutes. Five minutes later I was checking my pizza to ensure they hadn't put any cheese on it. And I'm happy to report that the good folks at Dominos didn't fuck it up. It wasn't great pizza, but it was vegan friendly.