As you may have noticed, I've written fewer posts during the past week or so. You see, I've been under the weather. I thought I was coming down with the flu, and I expected the doctor to chastise me for not getting a flu shot. Turns out, I didn't have the flu: It was a low-grade upper respiratory infections. As its origins are viral, he couldn't give me an antibiotic.
I'm not coughing as much as I was a few days ago, but I've been feeling very tired. Good thing I have company:
It seems that when I made my bed this morning, I didn't notice that Max had crawled under the cover. As I was leaving, I found him lying where you see him now. He'd dozed off, and taking his picture woke him up.
When I go to bed, I think it will take a lot more than that to wake me up!
He doesn't have opposable thumbs. He can't balance on two feet. He doesn't know how to use foot retention. The top tubes on all of my bikes are too long. (So, for that matter, are the seat tubes and cranks!) He's doesn't like Brooks saddles. And it's raining.
Oh, the excuses he has....
And you know why he gets away with it? Marley is just unbelievably, ridiculously cute, even when he squints.
Of course, I could say the same thing about Max.
And he has one more excuse than Marley: He's older (in cat-years, anyway) than I am.
You know it's May, and you know you're a cyclist, when it feels strange not to have ridden to work.
That is how I felt today. When I went to out this morning, what fell wasn't just the mere pitter-patter of a morning shower or a tingly, misty drizzle. Rather, the rain fell so heavily I could barely see out my window.
The weather alone might not have dissuaded me from riding to work. However, I had two far-flung appointments more than ten miles from each other, and each was more than fifteen miles from work. Perhaps cycling to them would have been a character-building experience, had I been younger. But I wasn't thinking much about building character today.
As I rode the train and bus, I felt a little guilty--and, paradoxically, cheated--over not riding today. I guess I'm greedy: We had gorgeous weather this weekend and, of course, I did two longish rides. So I wanted to continue the "high" I got from those rides.
I got to work and found only two bikes parked in the racks. One looked as if it had been there long before today. Its owner could at least have given it the treatment it deserves:
It's a conspiracy, I tell ya. The other night, my flight from Atlanta was delayed by almost three hours. So I got home late Monday night and didn't feel like doing much of anything. (When I go to my parents', I usually fly to Atlanta, then to one of the NY Metro area airports.)
Then, last night, I didn't have any internet connection.
Ya no, I got to thinkin' that Sam Wall himself was behind everything. Mr. Wall, I'm sorry about all of those terrible things I said about your fine retail establishment. I will never, ever use the name "Wal-Mart" in the perjorative, ever again. Yes, I promise (as I use Catholic school birth control, a.k.a., I cross my fingers).
So now you think I'm a conspiracy theorist. Well, not really. I haven't said anything bad about Obama since he showed his birth certificate. (All right, I never was a "birther.") But sometimes I think certain people-- e.g., certain retail plutocrats--have it in for me. Or could it be that the gods of something are angry--or crazy?
And I haven't done any cycling since I got home. Something's afoot, and it ain't my old Detto Pietro shoes with TA Anquetil cleats (the kind that nailed onto the sole).
I know. I'll get to ride again. At my age, I should know that. Still, I worry that I'll lose this spring, the way I lost most of last spring. Well, not quite: Last spring, I had infections and other illnesses. At least this year, my excuses are Life and the weather. (For a few moments just after noon, the sky grew ominously dark and I thought we might see another tornado here in NYC.)
At least for the last couple of days I had memories of a couple of pleasant, if short, rides from my parents' house.
