This little story is dedicated to anyone who is attempting to make the excruciatingly painful transition from Delphi or Visual Basic to C#
Rupert had an old rattly bicycle that he really loved. It may not have been as clean or as fast his friends’ bikes, but it went quite fast enough for Rupert. He could even do some clever tricks on it and he rode it every day. Quite often he overtook Mickey, but then Mikey’s bicycle wasn’t that new either, even though it had lots and lots of gears and a really grown-up horn.
The main problem was that people used to laugh at Rupert’s bike. “Look at that slow, shabby old thing,” they would jeer. “It's so rusty and rattly! Why don’t you get one of those smart new bicycles that Mr. Gates sells in his shop?”
One day, Rupert had enough of the jeers and decided to have a look at the new shiny bicycle in the window of Mr. Gates’s shop. They were very smart, he thought, and he asked the friendly salesman if he could try one out. Seeing that Rupert was a highly respectable bear, the salesman agreed. “Just go straight down the road and see how fast it is.”
The shiny bicycle wasn't rattly and wasn't rusty and did go fast. It went really fast, although Rupert secretly wondered if it was all that much faster than his old bike. “Isn’t it lovely?” his friends shouted. “You can do lots of tricks on it, too.”
When Rupert got home, he opened his money box and thoughtfully counted out all his copper pennies. Mr. Gates’s bicycles were very expensive, but he had just enough money. He slowly walked back to the shop and bought the bicycle. He rode it straight home, feeling very proud of himself. Later his friends came round and showed him some of the tricks they could do. They showed him a wheelie which was very much like the wheelies that he used to do on his old bicycle, but ever so much more complicated.
The next day, Rupert decided to ride his brand new shiny bicycle to Mikey’s house. He drove straight down the hill and tried to turn right. The handle bars wouldn’t turn and he hit his head on the wall. He tried and tried again and each time the handle bars wouldn’t turn and he got a nasty bump on the head. He was a very unhappy little bear.
Feeling rather worried, Rupert went back to the shop and spoke to the friendly salesman. “Why would you want to turn the handle bars?” asked the puzzled salesman, scratching his head. “You can do lots of tricks on it and isn’t it shiny and modern?”
Rupert went to see his friends to see if they could tell him how to turn the handle bars. They looked puzzled but they didn’t scratch their heads. Rupert could see why. All of them had very nasty lumps on their heads. Finally one of his friends suggested that he went to see Crafty Bob.
Crafty Bob said “It is easy. When you get to a corner, you just jump off. Then you pick up the bicycle and turn it round.” Rupert wasn’t very happy with this idea. He never had to get off his old bike when he went round bends. “There is another way,” said Crafty Bob. “When you get to the corner, you do a somersault over the front of the bike, grab the handles as you fly over them, twist a bit to the right and somersault back on.” Rupert thought this sounded an even worse idea and looked at the really bad bruise on Crafty Bob’s head.
Rupert was really fed up so his Daddy suggested looking on the Internet. “What a good idea!” thought Rupert, and looked and looked and looked. He read all day, and the next day and the next day. He found out some very interesting things about his bicycle and how you could do extra special wheelies on it, but there was nothing about turning the handlebars. Most of the things he read just said how shiny and fast and modern it was.
Rupert was just about to give up when he noticed that there was something about a secret magic screw. The writer said the secret screw was hidden underneath the saddle and that if you twisted it three times to the left, four times to the right and gave it a careful tap, it might make the handle bars turn.
“Everything about this new shiny bicycle is so difficult,” Rupert thought sadly. He was far too tired to look for the secret magic screw but decided to have a go in the morning. He just hoped he wouldn’t crash into the wall again. He was in danger of becoming a bear with a very sore head.
When the sun rose the next morning, Rupert woke up feeling much more cheerful. He ran down the stairs two at a time and had a look at his bicycle. At first he didn’t see the secret magic screw so he borrowed his Granny’s magnifying glass and had another look. “There it is!” he said excitedly. Then he thought very hard about the thing he had read last night and carefully turned the screw three times to the left, four times to the right. Nothing seemed to happen but then he remembered that he had to give the screw a gentle tap. Holding his breath he tapped and suddenly there was a loud click and he could finally turn the handle bars.
Rupert was so excited that he decided to go and show Mickey. He jumped on his shiny bicycle and peddled down the hill as fast as his little legs could go. “Gosh,” he thought “Maybe it is a bit faster than my old bicycle.” Then he came to the corner and turned the handle bars. He went round almost as smoothly as he used to on his old bicycle.
“Hoorah!” Rupert yelled as he passed Mr. Gates's shop. “Hooray!” he shouted at his friends as he sailed by them. "Yippee!" he cried as he whistled past Crafty Bob. Then something very bad happened. When he looked back at the road he saw Mr. Badger’s big green removal van coming towards him. The driver hadn't seen Rupert and it was coming too fast to get out of the way. He tried to ring the shiny bell on his brand new bicycle but nothing happened. He tried and tried again but he couldn’t get it to make a sound. “Oh no!” he screamed as he crashed into the van.
Poor Rupert was bruised all over and sadly went back up the hill to see the friendly salesman in Mr. Gates’s shop. “Why would you want to ring the bell?” asked the puzzled salesman, scratching his head again. “You can do lots of tricks on it and it is so shiny and modern. Have you tried doing wheelies?” Rupert felt very cross indeed and looked thoughtfully at the great big bicycle pump on the wall. He was starting to get an idea.
