Just pray the brakes don’t fail

I made a firm resolution to inaugurate the cycling season this year in exemplary fashion, which meant starting it off with a trip to the cycle service station. As soon as the sun came out and the daily temperatures started to rise from minus five to plus fifteen, I dusted off my silver steed and proudly rode it out of the garage. I was immediately blasted in the face by snow. It was early spring and I was only going for a very short ride, but nevertheless one that I would have to do in double-quick time. Defeated, I gave up and trudged back into the garage trailing my squeaky bike behind me.

At the second attempt, I first checked out the weather forecast and finally made it to the service station. But, as it turned out, I wasn’t the only one. The service people, who I know, advised me to come back sometime around Corpus Christi, since at the time the queue seemed to end somewhere in the neighbouring district. Given the situation, when I got back to the garage I dug out my pump, a few spanners and some oil, so I could take a look at the flabby inner tubes, the grinding bearings and the randomly closing brake callipers. That final problem was what had been troubling me the most, because on the way back home I had to cycle down ul. Tamka, which is quite a steep slope with several traffic lights and side streets and it also has the potential to catapult an uncontrolled vehicle into the Vistula at the bottom. My repair session didn’t actually go too badly. The brakes were restored to full working order, so I was able to take my first ride of the year to the editorial office, not yet mixing with the crowds on the cycle paths, but zigzagging on the road between the many potholes left over from the winter.

It turns out that there are other holes that are more fraught with danger. The gap in the Warsaw office supply that everyone currently has on their mind is the topic of the main article in this May issue. Is it to once again set to turn the market on its head? Many factors seem to suggest that it will, although there’s a lot we can also do to prepare for this. We also have an absorbing interview on the warehouse scene as well as an analysis of the residential market, which it seems is now lifting itself up off the floor. We also take a quick look at our neighbours in the Baltics to see how the Lithuanian, Latvian and Estonian markets have been coping with the latest turbulence. On the way back, we pop into the newly opened Montownia in Gdańsk, and on the way we also visit the first wooden office building in Poland in nearby Kashubia. Will others follow in its path? We also publish photos from our recent investment conference, which brought together the crème de la crème of the sector, so that we can relive it once again.

One more thing about bikes. Just after the May holiday we are planning our first cycle ride around the city (which should be informal and very relaxing). This is intended to prepare you (both physically and psychologically) for our summer cycling event, which in a new and much more lavish form will take place at the beginning of July. And you’re invited to take part in both!