Yesterday early evening when I emerged from BART at North Berkeley, I was in kind of a rush to get home and then off to see Land of the Dead. I walked over to the bike racks, and walked down the line looking for my bike. It's not unusual that I miss it on the first path -- I don't usually remember exactly where I parked it -- and sometimes I do have to walk the line twice or even three times before I spot it. Last night I was on my fourth or fifth pass, and my stomach was sinking, when my neighbor Noah walked up, and said I looked like someone who wasn't finding what he expected to find. Alas, the truth hit me: someone had lifted the damned thing during the day. It really hit home when I saw a junker bike sitting in the spot where I think mine had been, unlocked. I had a cable lock -- I thought it was thick enough, but I was wrong, and didn't figure it would get lifted during the day; there are a lot of bikes there.
So dammit, dammit, dammit, now I'm without a bike. I loved that bike. I just got it almost exactly a year ago (July 3), after my last bike, which I also loved, had been destroyed when I got hit by a car. With my new gig, which involves an hour-long process of biking to BART, a BART transfer, then a walk to the office, the bike was the best part. At the end of the day, swinging my leg over the seat to get on, and the short ride home, was a delight, and served to always boost my mood at the end of often difficult days. In the morning, it's getting on my bike that starts things out and starts me out and makes it possible to get going.
After Land of the Dead last night, (terrific movie, by the way -- lots of zombie blood and guts and lots of flesh-eating zombies), I pretty much got drunk and sat around listening to music, and doing my 'woe is me' routine, which I'm carrying over to this post.
I've gotta have a bike. Without it, my commute is 20 minutes longer each direction. I'm probably going to go find the cheapest used one I can today, figuring if it gets stolen, it won't be that big a deal. Though Noah said he did the same thing, figuring that he wouldn't be so pissed off when the cheap bike was lifted. Then when it was lifted, he was just as pissed. Oh, well.
9:46:28 AM 
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