Found the old Deus site up on Wellesley St, very near the city centre.
This was somewhere that had been on my radar ever since seeing the Deus ex Machina website, and their revamps and custom built bikes while in the UK.
A couple of things had changed, the pace is no longer Deus, It's now Shed 5, and it is it's own thing.
To me this mattered not one jot, as what I found was the coolest looking, best vibe bike builders and shop I've been to, and I've been to a hell of a lot.
I was greeted cheerily by everyone as I strolled around, staff and customers alike, and had a good chat with a customer who was as much in childlike awe as I was over some of the machinery in there.
I grabbed myself a coffee, and sat down outside to scribble some notes in my journal. After a few minutes a big fella with a shaved head and the friendliest grin came up and asked how i was, and what I thought of the place. He seemed genuinely chuffed at my adoration of the store, and the fact I'd made it a must see while I was here. It turned out I'd just met Doug, the owner of Shed 5, who was in the process of revamping the business, including a new bar/workshop/restaurant/showroom he'd opened earlier in the year.
We chatted for a while about all things bike, how I was finding it in NZ, what he was doing with the business, his classic bikes and what bought me over here. I told Doug about my Sister inspiring me to do something I'd wanted to do for years, about always finding reasons why not in the past, about jacking the job in and just doing it with no set plans, about how excited I was, and looking forward to throwing myself into new things.
Doug smiled, and said 'love your adventurous heart'.
That one sentence summed up what I'm only just learning, or allowing myself to do. Stop locking the desire for adventure away under layers of mundane daily 'stuff', and love it. He couldn't have timed or said it better.
I knew this was a good day, and what a great way to spend lunch.
When I was about to head back into the city, I caught up with Doug to thank him for his hospitality and he asked if I wanted to come up and visit the new place they'd recently opened, I said I hoped to get there if I could.
It was walking down the hill away from Shed 5, that I knew that if I didn't go that very evening, then nothing would have changed and his words wouldn't have meant anything.
Fuck it, seize the opportunity offered. I knew right then that I would be at 'York St. Mechanics' that evening, and I grinned.
Love your adventurous heart.
I obviously grabbed a few photos while I was there, so much mechanical porn couldn't go unrecorded........
I just want to roll up my sleeves and get dirty with them all!
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