Drive Faster

I saw something today that I do not believe I will ever see again. Riding up 1st Avenue between 77th and 79th Streets, there were, in a row, a USPS truck, a UPS truck, and a regular delivery box truck all double parked, as per usual… but not blocking the bike lane. As if this were not borderline impossible enough, the driver of the delivery truck did something that I had come to regard as beyond their capability: he saw me in his mirror and waited for me to pass so that he didn’t door me.

I almost crashed from shock.

Past that, I was once again only almost killed once by an idiot, although I’m not sure it was an actual idiocy or ignorance. It was, after all, a little kid who apparently hadn’t learned to look both ways before he tried to skateboard across the street. So really, I probably wasn’t almost killed as much as I probably almost killed someone. On the plus side, I caused him to get yelled at by his mom, and I’m enough of a bastard for that to be funny to me.

So, guess what: this really does have a point. The reason for my ride was to test how good the bag I made was for actual riding.

I made a bag. I made something. Unbelievable.

The bag itself is a bit more ambitious than I probably should have done since I hadn’t sewn anything since I made an apron out of purple fabric with a shark print on it in whatever it was they called Home Ec in sixth grade. (I can make a run-on sentence make sense!) Just so we’re clear, my construction now is right in line with my construction then. Which is not a good thing.

Nevertheless, the bag worked well. It’s not perfect; the strap is too long even at its shortest setting, which has the practical effect of making the bag sit at exactly the wrong spot on my back, both too high and too low. Consequently, my back was hurting when I got home. Even still, the fact that I made something is crazy.

The most important thing I learned? Sewing is awesome.