First day of summer, last day of the week, thirteen weekdays to the end of the work year. Mayhem, madness.
Its starting to be a bit of a Friday thing; leave work at around five-thirty and ride in to Richmond to meet Jo for a beer somewhere, pretend that we still live in Richmond. An odd feeling to be riding back in to the city at the end of the day when most of the commuters are heading back out to the suburbs — a chance to see again the guys I never knew the names of, but who I saw almost every day on my way to and from work!
Indecision in my route choice tonight; Malvern road rather than the bike track, everything external vanishes and the world narrows down to a single sharp-focused tunnel of bumper-to-bumper traffic snarl, jaywalkers and swerving cars, spin the bike through the gaps and don’t glance away for a second. Almost a video game brought to life, by the time I’ve negotiated Malvern road and Chapel street the work week has faded considerably, nothing but the now remains.
Beers at the Great Britain, good company, good conversation, then walk up and over the Church street hill for dinner at Silvio’s. Good pizza — again, as always — wine, pizza, coffee. A brilliant end to the week.
The ride home so peaceful and quiet, moonlight from a half-moon along an unlit bike track. No street lights, no lane markings, no traffic, no noise, no people. So different to the ride in. I wish I’d made the detour home to pick up the tandem so Jo and I could be riding along quietly under the moon. In the distance the mayhem of Friday night traffic on the tollway, so close, but so far away….
