Get back! Get close! Get wheel!

January 10, 2020

Hey peeps!

I hope you are better than ever!  Would you like to hear a story of redemption and finding a new home?  I thought so!  Here’s what happened yesterday:

As I was bicycling along, once again I encountered a skittery obstruction.  I say “once again” because I have noticed a few of these lately, generally when I’m in an intersection and/or turning.  Here’s a photographic breakdown:

CC was ready for her close-up, Mr. Demille.

Source of Concrete Chunk (CC)

CC's new place

As you can see, some chunks of concrete have abandoned their former residence in the street and were now to be found on the street.  I snapped a few photos and then I was about to ride off.  Hmmm.  I thought. This is kind of like that time when Peter Parker could have stopped that guy from running off with the money he stole from the pro wrestling promoters who had just paid Peter his prize money for using his unfair radioactive spider-bestowed powers to beat up on big wrestlers who might not have enough skills to hold down any real job, even a job as lowly and humble as a freelance photographer for the Daily Bugle!  Oh Peter. Well, with great two-wheeling freedom come two big wheels of responsibility.  The first wheel stays on the ground and the second wheel in the sky keeps on turning!?  So I picked up that chunk of concrete and transported it to a place that I thought would be better for all.  And that really got the wheels turning.  For example, Paul McCartney and the Wings’ “Get Back”:  Georgin’ left Tucson and bought some California grass.  But (spoiler alert), per Sir Paul’s direction, he went back to where he once belonged.  Similarly, the concrete chunk was returned to an unpaved lot where it can be back to where it once belonged (i.e., closer to its ancestral home of the earth).   

Well, I guess that is where we are all headed eventually.  But, in the meantime, there’s a lot to enjoy, fight, ponder, ignore and/or run away from.  Our Public Works Department and mayor do not seem particularly interested in providing parking spaces for those not motorly-inclined.  Well, I guess I can lock my bike to a tree or a pole or something. No rolling out the welcome mat for the human-powered 2-wheelers. At least the article I read today mentioned that there is an Active Living Advisory Committee (that was not consulted about the bike rack removal) that presumably will advocate for bicyclers and/or pedestrians when they are consulted.  Well, I guess someone’s automobile can now get back to where it once belonged. Enjoy your new resting place.

Love,

BSO