The good, the bad, and the ugly — and me
September 9th
The good — there was an international bike race today with a finish point in the center of my city. Which is nice and gives some exposure to the city, and there will be some lovely photos and videos showing the colorful peloton against the background of historical sights as a result. And it might be something to give some kid watching it an impulse to start riding a bike and maybe even competing in bicycle riding. But all that was mostly:
The bad — it was done on Friday afternoon when everybody is just trying to get home after a long and hard week at work. Most of the city center was closed to traffic, and some main streets leading to it as well. That, of course, led to gridlock, and that in turn the residual delays all over the city. My drive home from work, which usually takes 15 minutes, took three-quarters of an hour today. After I got home and finally parked my car, I walked to the library (a 30 minutes walk each way) and was able to see the pandemonium on the streets from up close, which was:
The ugly — streets were completely at the standstill everywhere. Gridlock expanded onto small, side streets where plenty of drivers were looking for shortcuts and got stuck as well. There was plenty of anger from the drivers, some of whom even created dangerous situations with sudden changes of lines or blocking the pedestrian crossings. There were fender benders everywhere. And a lot of angry people walking home in the rain since the transit buses were stuck in traffic as well. Among them there was:
Me — and for a while I thought I was angry as well, with all the cars honking and palpable negative emotions expanding throughout the air. The weather didn't help — with cold and strong wind and driving rain. But I had a clear purpose — to return books and then check out new ones from the library. After that, I knew that a comfortable and warm home will await me. And there is a weekend coming up, and I have no plans beyond resting and doing what I please. Which is a good plan, and what I felt today was not anger. It was just some minor inconvenience that had little to no effect on me and what was I doing.
