Friday, June 13, 2008

Kind of gross, but I couldn't resist...



...if only for the Office reference. In what I thought was one of the funniest moments this season, Andy declines to shake hands with a client on the golf course. He holds up his hands helplessly. Before explaining that he had spent untold hours practicing his swing, he exclaims, "Blisties!" I was tempted to do the same thing.

I was biking a couple of days ago and hit a curb on an unfortunate angle that sent me skidding across a sidewalk. Aside from a few scrapes and scratches that make me look like a five-year-old who bit off a little more than she could chew at the playground, I was fine. But what was more shocking than losing my balance, and a lot less painful, was the general solicitousness of strangers afterward. As I stood gingerly putting the chain back on my overturned bicycle, an older man pulled up beside me. "Are you all right?" he asked. "You took quite a spill there." I assured him I was.

I kept going, intending to wash up at the gym. All along the way, people asked me if I were okay—a mother herding her kids along the Esplanade walkway, a guy waiting beside his motorcycle, a girl texting on her cell phone, and a fellow cyclist as I left the fitness center. I felt like if I had actually hurt myself, the whole world would have taken care of me. It's curious, considering how that man in Connecticut was completely ignored by passerby last week.

4 comments:

Daniel Nadal said...

Ouch.

There is a substantial population difference between Hartford and Hemet, so the "small town" feel might have played a substantial part. Many variables.

But, 'tis nice to know that people do care.

Ed W said...

That's a common cycling injury. One way to avoid it - besides not falling in the first place - is to wear cycling gloves. They protect your hand in a fall, plus they give you a decidedly strange looking tan!

Kaitlin said...

I actually do usually wear gloves, but figured I didn't need them this time for such a short ride. Shows how much I know...

Ed W said...

I have the dreaded 'cyclist' tan, one that includes oval tan spots on the back of my hand from wearing gloves. One writer (BikeSnobNYC?) recommended riding without them every couple of days, but I make my living with my hands. They're valuable so I protect them. The odd tan is a small price to pay.