The Oregonian, Portland’s big daily paper, laid an egg the other day when covering a proposed change to Oregon traffic law regarding cyclists. It’s so bad, in fact, you can’t even grasp the subtleties of the proposal. (BikePortland does a much better job.)
I was so disgusted at the newspaper’s coverage, I posted a response on the O’s public blog. If you have a minute, wander over there and add a supporting comment, eh? (Login required. It’s free.)
So there I was on the way to work, sawing away in the bike lane. I was passing some bushy trees (or tree-ey bushes), and dangling from one of them was a plastic Safeway bag. Ahh! The scourge of plastic bags!
The bag was all billowed out in the morning breeze, and at about shoulder level. But what the heck was it doing in a tree? Not good. So, while still cruising along at 15 mph, I reached out my right hand and snagged it. Then, without even slowing down, I stuffed it in the bottle holder pouch in my backpack.
Yes yes, I know I’m a treehugger and all that. But just try doing what I did while driving your car!
My mom lives in the tropics. But lately she’s been staying much farther north. Thus, her trusty old four-wheel-drive has been parked.
That prompted an e-mail from a friend of hers, who said, “When returning from bridge yesterday I noticed that your car needed weeding…hehehe. So I did.”
Weeds on the Isuzu
I’ve long thought that the quintessential Portland (Oregon) song should be titled “Moss on My Subaru” (inspired by a real-life encounter in traffic one day, when I saw moss on a Subaru’s back bumper).
Considering how much sunshine and rain cars see, it’s a wonder someone hasn’t figured out how to do it on purpose.
First Person Irregular 