Journal entry
I have notebooks full of this type of entry. Sometimes one seems especially evocative when I rediscover it. Here’s one from last April, in 2019, when we could go out and do whatever we wanted.
April 18, 2019 —
I rode my bike to Belltown to meet L, instead of taking the bike on the train. It took the same amount of time. It was a nice spring day, high 50s, cloudy and bright with a little sun once in a while, and the air smelled good. Our meeting was fun and inspiring as always.
The ride from home to Jackson and 12th is getting to be a really fun ride. I take Graham to MLK, ride on the sidewalk up to Orcas, ride on the sidewalk to the Chief Sealth Trail, to Beacon Ave which “turns into” 15th and then into 12th somehow, over the Rizal Bridge, and in a few fast blocks going downhill I pop out on Jackson and I’m downtown. Or actually in the ID, but I consider it downtown because it’s completely contiguous and crowded.
There was a weird looking white guy with a coat on and a backpack, on a possibly electric-assisted heavy-duty bicycle with smallish, really fat wheels/tires. He had a basket, and in it was a boom box playing Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes.” I followed him down Jackson, allowing him to pass me. He hit a button or something and then the box started playing “Paradise City.” He gave an old-fashioned right-hand-turn signal and disappeared northbound on, I think, 5th.
I instantly got snarled in pedestrians and buses blocking lanes and sidewalks. It was unpleasant. I more or less walked from 5th & Jax to 2nd & Yesler. I will find a more bike-friendly route between those two points. I really love the 2nd Ave two-way bike lane and I am pretty sure there are some more of those downtown that I should try.
I had worked out before I left and it was warm out, with no wind at all, so I had pushed my warm-up-pants legs up above my calves, and I was wearing a tank top. I got to the Thai restaurant where L and I always meet and I put on my long-sleeve T-shirt and rolled my pants legs down. Dressed up!
After L and I were done talking, it was raining and I had no jacket, so I rode to the train instead of all the way home. But when I got off in Columbia City, it had stopped, and it felt really mild and warm again. The air smelled positively rural. On the hilly side streets, I could hear the rainwater rushing down the gutters to the drains.
