Das Boots

Boating is a pleasant diversion. I have relatively seldom partaken of the pastime, but have managed at times to canoe, pilot a houseboat, and pilot a yacht as well. There are some interesting similarities and differences. A canoe requires perhaps the most labor, and I am not especially eager to expend that effort. They are the simplest and cheapest of the bunch though, and that is something not to be disregarded.

Houseboats are fun. You can't be too eager to get somewhere, or eager at all to get someplace far away. When I did it, we were in a lake with a lot of narrow canyons to it, and I learned a lesson about how slowly a boat answers its helmsman. Certainly you don't get your turns as fast as you might like on a houseboat, which runs slow and turns slow. We easily might have hit something with me at the wheel, but got lucky.

Talking About Talking On Bicycles

When walking down the street with someone, I often struggle to remain at the same pace. Frequently I will find myself well in front, and it is agonizing to slow down for them to catch up. This isn't because I'm so much more eager to get where I'm going, or even because I just move faster. I don't happen to be fast or have long legs. I just happen to be operating at a higher gear in such cases. It's sort of like something that happens to me on occasion, and I'm the slow one.

Plenty of my friends are avid bike riders, but there is one in particular. He lives in my building, and we go to a lot of the same places. When it's close enough, he rides his bicycle. I walk. If each of us independently arrives at the decision to go to the same place, an awkward thing happens. I can't go as fast as his bike the whole way. Even if I could, the conversation wouldn't be too terribly interesting for either of us.

Undignified Ride

I was walking to the grocery store, and had nearly gotten there. As has become my habit, I had eschewed my mp3 player in favor of allowing myself a few quiet minutes to take in all the sounds of the neighborhood. I do this for fun, because the noises out there cannot be had in my home, and my music can be had in either place. Also though, I  go without music on short walking trips for safety. One never knows what hazard may approach stealthily when music is blaring in the ear.

That very thing happened the other day. Had I not been free to hear it, I would have been caught entirely by surprise. As it was, there was little warning when a man on a bicycle suddenly sped past me on a relatively narrow sidewalk. He must have been awfully confident of slipping by me without incident, or else he didn't care if he did. I've seen this happen to other people, and was heartily sympathetic towards the people who were then in the place I was now. Now being in their shoes, I was most sincerely annoyed.