Tuesday's trip

On Tuesday I only had cause to leave the house once. I was involved in a book meeting at home for most of the day and, after that ended, I suddenly realised that I needed to post the birthday card for my mother-in-law's 70th birthday. There are post boxes at each end of our street and I knew the one by the library had been emptied at 1pm. I wasn't sure if the one at the other end of the street was emptied later or not. I cycled that way to find out and was pleasantly surprised to make it on time. That ones not cleared until 6pm so I had plenty of time. However, I also needed to pick some 'on hold' books up from the library which meant cycling past my daughter's high school in 'rush hour' which turned out to be quite dangerous due to all the people with cars parked on each side of the road outside the school. I cycled to the library without incident, although the outcome could have been different if I wasn't watching when a car decided to turn in front of me. Fortunately I was going slow enough to stop and give the driver the eye roll! I don't think he noticed or even cared. I made it home just before my son arrived home on the bus - early this time because the connection between the two buses worked well. I have just checked and seen that this also occurred last Tuesday, so perhaps that means it will be a good experience bus-wise for him after school each Tuesday. (However, I have probably jinxed that by putting the suggestion in writing.)

The biking and bussing question did come up during the day though, because my census supervisor wants all the materials (very heavy) back to him by Friday. There is no way I can do that by bike or bus and he wasn't willing or able to get them from my place due to the fact that I also needed a debrief at the office. I didn't feel assertive enough to argue the point, but I was honest about my car free challenge. That didn't create any empathy so I just had to decide that I would have to drive there on Thursday. Later that night my husband showed me a fancy little trailer that he is making so that I can carry heavyish shopping items behind the bike. I trialled it (unloaded) and it seems to work well. However, it's not quite ready ands a few tweaks. It might be possible to ride to the meeting with the census meeting after all - but the jury's still out!