happy trails

Today I just rode Silver around town, doing some grocery shopping and enjoying yet another beautiful day. I rode on the trails to the library, where I dropped off some books, and then took the long way back to Superstore.

As a rule, I try to be charitable to my fellow human beings, but honestly, I felt like today was Idiots' Day Out. The first dimwit I came across was not even human; it was a big fat ginger cat, crouched in the shrubbery on the other side of the trail. As I approached, it decided to get up and move, and it walked right in front of me -- if I hadn't hit the brakes, I would have hit the cat. I had to wonder how it has survived this long!

A little farther on, there was a group of walkers: 2 women, 2 children, a wagon, and a dog. Coming towards me, they were strung out across the trail. Do you think anyone moved? No, sir. I had to slow to a crawl and move to the very edge of the trail to get past them.  Around the next bend came two women with their teeny tiny dogs. Cute dogs. But, instead of both moving right, they split up -- one woman and dog went to the right side of the trail, the other to the left, forcing me to ride between them. Then there were the men in their motorized wheelchairs. Three of them, blocking the path, had stopped to chat. Did they move over? No; once again, I was forced to go to the extreme left to ride around them. And last, but not least, was the fat guy with headphones. Kudos to him for getting out and walking. Although, at the speed he walked, he wasn't burning many more calories than if he sat and twiddled his thumbs. But he was moving, I'll give him that. My complaint? He had his head down, eyes on the ground, and with his headphones preventing him from hearing anything, he had no idea I was coming. Walking right in the middle of the path. I rang my bell, but of course he didn't hear, so again, I had to slow dramatically and carefully ride around his massive presence.
 
Even the inanimate living things were conspiring against me today -- as I smoked along on the winding uphill path, I had to hit the brakes again and lift my bike over a big tree that had fallen across the trail. Last night, the wind was a little bit extreme: 50 gusting to 80 km/hour. And it took out a couple of trees -- the one I that almost did me in, and farther along another one.

The temperature was around 21 C, but it was a bit windy, so I was wearing a light sweater on top of my T-shirt. By the time I got to Superstore and got the bike locked up, I was hot. No peaches at Superstore, and the produce in general didn't look too appetizing, so I hopped back on the bike and rode to Safeway. On my way there and back, I saw that the peace officers had a nice little speed trap going, with what seemed to be a steady stream of clients. 


We went for a walk in the evening, meeting up with Ginger Cat again. I think it spends all its waking hours hanging out in the woods. What a life!