Day Seventeen Thursday 31st May 2007

Forecast for today: Thursday
Cloudy with showers. Strong to locally gale force north to northwesterly wind moderating during the afternoon then shifting west to southwesterly.

Precis: Showers.
City: Min 10 Max 15
Windy again this morning, blown to work by a great tail wind. Bit cautious. Throwing caution to the wind does not apply in these conditions. It would get blown right back at you!
Road is wet, hasn't rained for a day or two, so I take it carefully, choose a few back streets. I keep in mind that accidents can increase when it hasn't rained for few days.

Feels great riding in the tunnel of oak trees as I play the game "count how many cars you can pass".
Passed 71 cars and 1 truck in the traffic queue.
Had a brief conversation with a woman in the lift,who saw me in all my wet weather gear.
"Wow you rode in this weather?!"
"Yep, actually I hardly had to pedal at all it is coming from the north west and I live out that way".
"So you just got on the bike path and woo hoo all the way here".
"Yep!"
"Great!"
Actually, I think it was less "woo hoo" and more "zoom zoom".
3.30 pm Dark, dark clouds and pouring rain.
5.00 pm the rain has stopped. Had better hurry home.

Ride home

It's dark, it's cold the rain has stopped, but the road is still wet. Luck must be on my side the wind has dropped and there does not feel like there is any at all. I was expecting a head wind home despite what the forecast said.

There seems to be more traffic on the road because of the rainy day.It's a very traditional Christmas picture, with out a decoration in sight. The atmosphere is created by the red of the brake lights and the orange of the turning lights (indicators), the white of the on-coming headlights and the flashing white, red, green and blue of the bicycle lights.The lights appear to twinkle and have a warm halo around them. They also reflect off the wet road in soft, warm shades adding to the atmosphere.

The most nerve wracking part of the journey home and to work is the big round about. Tonight I go through in the darkness. The traffic is jammed, there are cars on the right of me and cars on the left, there are people changing lanes behind me. It is always a worry going through this round about because people do unpredictable things. The novelty of the Christmas atmosphere wears off quickly, I keep my wits about me.

I witness a near miss as a driver decides to risk going across an intersection with an on coming truck bearing down on to the crossing. I feel the cold air suck in between my gritted teeth, my chest expand and then my whole body tenses up for the expected crash. The driver is lucky, I exhale and feel my shoulders drop away from my ears, my body relaxes. People seem to take a lot of risks in cars.

I ride along the bike path, with the train line parallel. I come to a road crossing, which also has boom gates parallel to me. The traffic is queued up and once again someone has decided to take the risk of joining the queue and being in the middle of the train tracks, in between the boom gates! It seems that people are in so much of rush to get to where they are going that they are willing to take great risks.

I wonder if being in a car gives people a false sense of security. Have you ever noticed how many people will sit at traffic lights sealed in their car and do things that they wouldn't normally do in public. Like pick their nose!