I've seen bicycles used, beautifully and imaginatively, in window displays and art installations.
I've also seen some rather extreme attempts to fit bicycles and people to each other.
I don't, however, know what to make of this:
Stealing someone's bike is one of the lowest things one human being can do to another.
All right, I'll confess: I'm not the first person to say as much. Tom Cuthbertson said it in Anybody's Bike Book, warning that bike locks are only but so effective in deterring theft.
Now, one of the lowest things anybody has said, at least in recent history, was uttered by Donald Trump. (Are you surprised?) He claimed that there wasn't really a shortage of masks. Rather, he claimed, they were going "out the back door."
Although I am not a health-care worker, I took umbrage to that remark because some of my current and former students work in hospitals and nursing homes and a neighbor/friend of mine is a nurse in one of this city's major hospitals. It's hard not to wonder when--or whether--I'll see or hear from them again.
Trump accusing them of theft is a bit like Lance Armstrong accusing another rider of "juicing." Or a Kardashian castigating anybody for a lack of restraint.
How much lower can someone go?
It looks like somebody has plumbed such depths. I am talking about the lowlife who took Dan Harvey's bike.
At 2 am GMT, he had just finished his nine-hour shift at Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham, England. He'd spent the night as he's spent previous nights: treating COVID-19 patients in the hospital's intensive care unit.
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| Dan Harvey, medic |
He went to an area of the hospital where a staff ID is required for entry. He expected to unlock his bike and "clear his head" as he pedaled home.
Instead, he had to take a taxi: His bike was gone. And his wasn't the first stolen from that limited-access area.
The ray of light in this darkness came after Harvey shared his loss on social media. Soon, offers to replace his wheels came in.
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| Dan Harvey, cyclist |
He's riding to work again. But it doesn't make stealing a bike from someone who rides it to a job where he puts his life on the line for others any less base of an act.
Over the weekend, I took two rides. On Saturday, I pedaled up to Greenwich, Connecticut. Yesterday, I took a spin out to Point Lookout, on the South Shore of Long Island.
What did those rides have in common, besides pleasure? Well, both were seasonably cool (high temperatures around 14-15C or 58-60 F) and sunny. Oh, and there was plenty of wind. Fortunately for me, I pedaled into it much of the way to Connecticut and on my way down to Rockaway Beach, where the wind blew at my side on my way to Point Lookout. That meant, of course, I had the wind at my back most of the way from Connecticut, and for a long flat stretch from Rockaway Beach to Woodside.
It also meant that I saw very little motorized traffic. I think that in 252 kilometers (157 miles) of riding, I probably saw fewer cars and trucks than I see in my 8 kilometer (5 mile) commute on weekday mornings.
That might be why the expanse of water, as happy as I was to see it, wasn't as much of a contrast with the road behind me as it usually is.
It's kind of odd to say "Happy" during a worldwide epidemic that's killing thousands of people and leading to lockdowns all over the world.
But I'll say it anyway: Happy Easter. Happy Passover. Happy Ramadan. Happy--I don't know--third or fourth or fifth week (depending on where you are) of Spring--or Fall. Since I'm in the Northern Hemisphere, I'm going with Spring.
Happy...Whatever!
Fernandina Beach, on Amelia Island, is the northernmost city on Florida's Atlantic coast.
That's certainly a distinction of sorts. But until recently, it was unique in another way: Since 1562, it has been ruled by France, Spain, Great Britain, Spain (again), the Republic of Florida, the Green Cross of Florida, Mexico, the Confederate States of America and the United States. It is, therefore, the only municipality in this country to have had eight different national flags flown over it.
Now it may have another distinction.
A Nassau County sheriff's deputy spotted Aaron Seth Thomas and Megan Lynn Mondanaro narrowly escaped being hit by a car while riding their bicycles--without lights.
But what got them arrested was their breathalyzer tests. They'd been drinking at a nearby bar before they got on their saddles. Moreover, seven cans of beer were found in Thomas' backpack.
They were placed in back of the deputy's car for transport to jail. While waiting, they removed their clothes and engage in sex.
(Don't ask!)
The deputy pulled Thomas out of the car but he shoved the deputy to the ground and ran off naked. He was later apprehended by an ice cream store. In the meantime, Mondanaro was moved to a different car and allegedly kicked two officers along the way.
Thomas and Mondanaro are now in custody, facing various charges. Their actions have now added to Fernandina Beach's uniqueness: In addition to being the only municipality to have flown eight national flags, it is (probably) the only, or at least one of the few, places in this country where a couple is in custody for having too much fun.
(I don't judge!)
