When I was in college, I bicycled everywhere. It was a hand-me-down bike for free, not especially suited for me, but I rode that thing all over the place. I didn't have a car until after I graduated and needed one to get to work way out in the country and my friend was selling hers for cheap (she'd gotten it used from her brother for cheap, and they both judged me when I later got stuck for over a week in Winslow, Arizona with a cracked engine block).
Recently when I was back there with friends, the high schooler asked if we would be walking down the street to a restaurant. "Ha! We're not the Auntie [Gringa]! We're driving." He asked what his mother meant and told him when we lived together that I always biked and walked and sometimes bussed everywhere, but she ALWAYS drove.
She wasn't wrong, I just hadn't thought about it. I didn't have a car and I didn't particularly want a car. I was quite content bicycling all over, even when it gave me heat stroke. It's just what I did.
Times changed and I lived all over the world. Lived in places where I used subways and walking, lived in places where I had a driver. And 20 years ago I bought a pickup that I've had ever since, which i rely on pretty heavily for hauling crap regularly.
But also I rely on it for average commuting, and I should really knock that off. I have a perfectly safe route to bicycle between home and work and I even have a bike rack at work now. But now I'm at excuse mode. Oh, I don't want to bike because it's going to rain today. Oh, I don't want to bike because I have to errands after work or am meeting someone at my house. Oh, I don't want to bike because I don't feel well, don't want to exhaust myself further.
I need to suck it up. I try hard to reduce my carbon footprint, including inconveniencing myself. But I can't just get on my bicycle and pedal daily?
It would also save me about $1.50 each round trip in gas money. I'm pretty fucking frugal so I'm not sure why this isn't speaking louder to me.
I know that I am not the same person I was over three decades ago. I'm nowhere near as energetic. But I quite need to recapture some of that energy and use it to power through life. I need to just do it. And I have my bike with helmet and basket propped in the locked carport, ready to roll. Does this rain forecast stop me? I'm still not sure.
I am grateful that I got a four day weekend and have another one coming up. I really did power through a lot of things that have been looming over me, even if my house is still a fucking mess and my yard is still weedy and I still haven't painted my wall.
One thing I've got my fingers crossed for - the roofers are coming tomorrow to inspect AGAIN. I asked the salesman to please ask the company owner if he would reconsider his policy to only do roofing now. The logistics of this are annoying me to no end - my garage joists are rotted (crumbling like dust) and need to be replaced. The people who discovered it are unavailable now for a few weeks, and this is just dragging on like crazy. And having two different groups of people doing work like this is stupid - I don't want to pay $500 twice for two dumpsters (and also don't want to give up another afternoon r three on a dump run), I don't want to pay for tarping to protect decking in case of rain, I don't want to coordinate to reduce lag time (especially because carpenters take way longer than expected because they just watch each other a lot, and their boss is a horrible communicator). I just want it done. So, the owner agreed to have a project manager provide an estimate. Fingers crossed I can afford it and we can move forward when rains stop again. Having a roof again would be amazing, and then I can hustle on all the other things (ceiling, painting, etc.). The road remains long, but i have hope again.
I am thrilled that this is a three-day week.
Oh, I was ready to bike because I thought the rain woudln't come until later today, but that dark cloud is telling me more than the forecast. Damn. Well, another time.
No comments:
Post a Comment