He drives a 20-year-old Nissan half-ton pick-up that he bought years ago from a plumber who had put a cap on it and fixed the interior to reflect the needs of his trade. It's a good workhorse, the only thing he's interested in, in owning a vehicle.

He rarely uses it in the city, depending instead on bicycles which he also buys second-hand. He had painted the latest one, which he's owned for several years, a really garish colour, feeling no one would want to steal it because it was old, a simple conveyance and unattractive. And he used a cheap lock.

So he wasn't really surprised, although it still comes as a bit of a shock, when he exited the building where the workshop was located, to find himself minus yet another bicycle. A pain in the rear end, to be sure. But he isn't attached to belongings, other than for their utilitarian value. He uses a bicycle to get around everywhere in the city. His house is located across from the University endowment lands, a large city parkland not far from the University of British Columbia. And he bikes daily back and forth to his office at UBC.

For the most part he uses the Nissan to drive to the mountains, and it's a fairly good conveyance. He drives as far as he can, and then hoofs it with his backpack. In the summer to climb and explore the wonderful geology of the area of the world in which he lives, sometimes by canoe and kayak, sometimes by foot. In the winter months using skis, rarely snowshoes.

He did try, once, in the Stein Valley, because he had planned to camp out for a week or so, to see if he could harness one of his old beat-up bicycles to good use, but it had limited value. So, now, a few days ago, he was once again without a bike. He said that whoever took it in all likelihood hadn't a cent to his name, and it doesn't disturb him all that much that someone in need is now in possession of his sturdy, but uncool bicycle.

It didn't take him long to acquire a replacement, at a shop that specializes in the sale and retrofit of old bicycles and which runs workshops to teach people how to repair them themselves.