I see a lot of the same people each day on my commute and there is definitely a favorite. I think I prefer this bicyclist because he has a generous and ready smile. We are always traveling in opposite directions. We have never stopped to talk. As we pass each other we wave or yell "good evening" or "nice weather" or "so windy!" He noticed when I no longer pulled a kid wagon "WHERE IS THE WAGON?" and I noticed when his kids also had gone off to kindergarten "GROWING UP SO FAST" and then it was just him on the way to (I presume) his office.
A few weeks back the Contraption Captain was pedaling with me into the office and we saw this bicyclist and as we passed each other I called out "THIS IS MY HUSBAND" and he smiled and waved.
I saw the bicyclist again as I went in to work yesterday and as we passed each other he said "I ENJOYED MEETING YOUR HUSBAND!"
I was delighted and amused the rest of the way home and then today I was reminded of that moment as I read this article. Cars do not do a good job of seeing bicycles and bicyclists are prevented from seeing much of what is in the car but almost everything else is seen, and considered, and on a lucky day, also understood.
Thanks for that link to the piece in the NYT :)
ReplyDeleteChafe,
ReplyDeleteIt's a nice post. And, almost exactly as you were writing yours, I was writing one about my recent experiences. I had to drive recently in Detroit - the first time I've driven in more than a year. I was shocked at how hard it was to communicate with other drivers (while also finding the whole thing generally depressing and communicating).
When I got back to New York, however, the first morning back on my bike someone let me through a gap in a traffic jam on the grounds I was faster than she. She saw me every morning on the Brooklyn Bridge.
I wrote about it here: http://invisiblevisibleman.blogspot.com/2013/10/a-detroit-trip-tribeca-greeting-and-why.html
All the best,
Invisible.