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June 15, 2007
keeping busy 
Well, I'm succeeding in keeping myself busy, that's for sure.
Last night, I had an appointment downtown, so I rode my (new!!!!) bicycle over to that office, and parked it in the underground parking garage across the street.
It was a very small parking garage, and there was only one other bicycle parked there. So as I was locking it up with my 6 locks (the AXA lock, and AXA chain come with the bike; the other 4 I brought with me because I'm just that way), the attendant starts asking me all about the bike.
It turns out that he lived in Amsterdam for a couple of years and is pining for an excuse to go back, and he keeps speaking dutch to me as if, if he keeps doing it, I'll give in and speak it too.
I didn't mention to him that I did take dutch classes in Germany (hey, way to screw up my german, yeah!), and that I do know a couple words: yes, no, beautiful, and the very important, we are in the garden. Realistically, it's about as useful as knowing the Russian for what is that? It's a church.
But let's face facts: I wasn't much into studying when I was in Germany, and I had a hard time with dutch.
I went to my appointment and once I got back, there were more compliments, and questions, and one-sided conversations in dutch. It was really nice.
I rode home as fast as I could, and swapped bikes, so I could take a Townie to the Master Plan meeting. The idea there was that I would be significantly less heartbroken if the Townie was stolen than if the Oma was stolen. And then I hopped on the bike again, and made it to the meeting.
The meeting actually was very pleasant. We sat at smallish tables and marked on a map where we lived, where we worked, where we bought groceries and ran errands, and where our friends lived, and what types of transportation we used for each type of trip. We chatted about what we liked and didn't like about bike lanes and multi-use paths.
This morning, I managed to leave the house early enough that I could have a sit down to cool off before running up the office. This is a big improvement from recent mornings.
It was chilly and drizzly, and I rode the Townie again (I have a couple postwork appointments), and I have to say, it was a lovely ride. I love this sort of weather!
As I was coming down onto the Eastbank Esplanade, I remembered that today was Breakfast on the Bridges, and I was actually early enough to stop. So I took the Esplanade rather than crossing the pedestrian bridge. I prefer to cross the bridge because there are less hills to climb—sad, but true. I wish these things didn't hold me back, but they do.
So, I get to Breakfast on the Bridge, park my bike, and I'm happy to recognize a couple people. However, the people there were all in a clump, facing inward, surrounding the coffee and pastries, and no one even looked up and smiled, nonetheless, greeted me. I thought about trying to say hi to one of the people I recognized, but then I wasn't certain that they would remember me, and it just didn't seem worth it. So I grabbed my bike and left.
But I did get a paper once I got to work, and I sat outside and read part of it while I waited to stop sweating. By the time I got upstairs, I no longer felt like I was red in the face.
Posted at June 15, 2007
Comments
HEY LADY! SHOW US YOUR OMA!
No, really! Take some pictures and slap 'em up here!
Posted by: hollie Teal at June 15, 2007 2:41 PM
Hey VJ, I wanted to ask you some questions about bikes. If you don't mind answering them could you please pop me an email -- I don't have your address anymore.
Posted by: Chrissie at June 18, 2007 2:40 PM