Current mood:
accomplished
accomplishedToday I bicycled only four miles, but in that time: (a) Made a trip to the bank, (b) Cooled my heels in a coffee shop to work on a project (i.e., I needed solitude), (c) Did some impulse shopping at a record store, and (d) Bought over $20 of groceries, including ice cream, and most importantly, (e) Lugged it all home on the bike!
The record -- and I do mean a big, black, round vinyl record -- was entirely an impulse buy. A Florence! Foster!! Jenkins!!! Recital!!!! (RCA Victor LRT-7000) is a 10-inch release ... well, maybe not so much a release as they let it escape. It's not a joke; she actually recorded this in sober seriousness. Some of it is on YouTube; hear for yourself ... if you dare! Or see Wikipedia for just the facts, ma'am. Anyway, I saw that sitting there and just couldn't pass it up, as it's been out of print for decades. She died in 1944.
Adding the record to the pile of stuff I took to the coffee shop to work on, I then cycled over to the grocery store for a couple of things. On the way, while still on the bike, I picked up a stray shopping cart and pulled it half the length of the plaza.
I got about $30 of groceries. I picked up a paper grocery bag on my way in and put it in the cart (along with helmet and orange vest), so I knew when I'd be overfull. Even so, at checkout, I decided to pack the bananas and green peppers in with the record and the project (mainly a big envelope). I put my paper bag in a plastic bag so I could carry it on my arm.
The biggest problem was that the straps to the plastic grocery bags shriveled up into painful, wire-thin cords that tried to cut my arms in half. I really need to get a basket for at least one bike. The weight of the two bags, one mainly groceries, the other half groceries, half paper, by weight, at least balanced. However, it was uncomfortable to carry, difficult to steer, and impossible to shift. After a little fiddling and a couple false starts, I was on my way. It's only a half mile on Perry Highway, maybe five minutes, and once underway I was fairly stable.
Practice, practice. I'll hook up a basket and try it again. It can only get easier from here on out. But as I said before, it can be done.
1 comment:
Comment on the original 2008 blog post:
Mousie
When I was younger and in relative bad health(BT= before transplant) my sister and I would bike around our dinky little town/next town over and get some pop or ice cream with what little money we had combined. (usually only about $2.50 but hey...that's enough.) So one day we hit pay dirt at the park. We found loose bills at the restrooms at the ball field. Since there wasn't anyone around because the weekly games were done (this being a Sunday and the games being held on Saturday) we decided to take the bills and get some good food. (total of bills added to a signifigant amount around $15-$18 dollars.) Now good food means getting over to the local pizza shops and seeing what's on special. Well our favorite place was called Gino's Pizza place. They made the best food and the best pizza sauce. (added sugar to take out some bitterness.) Well my sister wanted a meatball hoagie and they only came in 12-inch. and I wanted some breadsticks. Also drinks were in demand. So to carry everything back to the park we asked for those same horrible plastic bags. And yes they do try to cut your arms off. I can honestly say that I'm glad to have a basket on my bike and I can carry stuff home that way when I use my bike.
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