Small but Noisy

N3 turned three yesterday (tho' if you ask him, he will insist he is five) so we found this little blue horn to go with his little blue bike.
I have been told he grew so much over the summer that he is using the full size wheels now, so maybe he is really five.

Strange Weather

Winnipeg doesn't usually have several days of above freezing weather in January. Heavy wet snow, sleet, and rain, is equally unusual. The combination of the two is ugly.

This is what Portage Avenue, one of Winnipeg's major streets, looked like at about 830 yesterday morning. We had given friends a ride to the airport and were heading off to do some errands. The few cyclists I saw were on the sidewalks pushing their bikes through the mush.

The snowplows were out in full force, but the stuff kept oozing back off the edge of the streets and into the curb lane.

The wet stuff continued pretty much all day yesterday and we are expecting more today. Then the winds are supposed to shift and by tomorrow afternoon the temperature is supposed to drop to -17C. I'm hoping the 'plows can contend with the ice and clear the streets all the way across. The Geek is working from home tomorrow (preplanned but still fortuitous) and I am taking the bus.

Preventing Misplaced Aggression

Yesterday was cold and we had a few centimeters of dry snow, the kind that squeaks under your boots when you walk. The Geek rode her bike home in this stuff, but was very impressed how the drivers of motor vehicles gave her lots of space and didn't crowd her at the lights.
Today though, she elected to run, rather than ride her bike, given that the streets had not improved overnight. She reasoned that while she felt relatively safe from injury, she didn't want to feel responsible if someone who, frustrated at her presence on the road, acted aggressively toward another driver.
It was also a rather chilly today, and she was very frosty when she arrived at her destination.

A Bicycle Named Gladys

The last few days have given us temperatures of-35C with a -45 windchill (-31/-49F). Since there is no pressing reason for me to go outside, I have been bundled up inside with the books I received for Christmas.

I am currently enjoying The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie by Alan Bradley. I cheer for the protagonist, 11-year-old detective Flavia de Luce, as only a former 11-year-old detective (and not her mother) can.

Flavia rides her late mother’s three-speed BSA Keep Fit bicycle, L’Hirondelle, (the swallow) which she found “languishing for years in a toolshed”. She rescues her from “rusty oblivion” but her tires were flat and “her gears bone dry and crying out for oil”. She restores L’Hirondelle, and renames her Gladys.

Gladys carries Flavia on her investigations and allows her the freedom of movement and imagination we all relished at that age. “...I let Gladys have her head, swooping down the slopes past the rushing hedges, imaging all the while I was the pilot of one of the Spitfires which, just five years ago, had skimmed these very hedgerows like swallows as they came in to land at Leathcote.”

I wasn’t surprised to find an online ‘Flavia de Luce Fan Club’ as I’ve only read a few chapters, but I can’t wait to find out what she does next.

I am Quite the Oddity

I just called to make an appointment to have my hair cut. I was last there on a Saturday morning sometime in early November.
When I gave my name to the woman on the 'phone, she said to me, "Are you the girl on the bike?"
I guess there are worse ways to be remembered.

My First Winter Ride

Last night I rode a bicycle in the winter for the first time. We went up the street to visit friends and while in the summer the distance is a pleasant walk, that would not be the case at this time of year. It is also much too close to drive. The bicycle was the obvious choice.
We left the house around 730 pm so there was very little traffic, a bonus for a maiden voyage.
Winnipeg has had very little snow this year -so far. We have snow all around us, but the streets here are still fairly clear. It was cold when we did have snow so it stayed as powder and did not melt into ice.
I couldn't find my windpants so I put leggings under my jeans, wore a breathable winter jacket, my big winter boots and a pair of fleece mitts inside my shearling-lined leather mitts. The helmet cover kept my head mostly warm, tho' the pesky leak around temples would have been problematic on a longer ride. I was comfortably warm and well padded for a fall (which was my biggest concern). I had headlights and a flashing tail light but the batteries were getting weak in the headlight so they died in the cold. The tail light shorted out. I borrowed a flashing leg band from the Geek and rode behind her, as her lights were working well. Those pesky light problems were solved today.
I'm happy to say the the streets were not the least bit slippery and I didn't come close to falling. There is no chance that I will let my guard down though.
The winter bike is much lighter than Eselin, and therefore feels much different to ride. Eselin is so long and very sturdy that you don't feel any bumps. This bike responds very quickly and I could probably catch myself more easily should the wheels slip.
As I was pedalling along, I kept likening this bike to a rabbit, so I think it will have to have a name that implies bunny-like properties. Undoubtedly something will come to mind.
Now that I have tried this, I'll probably ride more. It will definitely make my life easier if I don't have to rely totally on public transit, which is how I generally get around in the winter.

I Need a Different Hobby

We went to Re-Store tonight to pick up some lumber to modify a futon frame (anther story all together) and found, of all things, this mixte in the assortment of items they had for sale.

It is a Tempest and says in very small print that is is made in Canada. The brown metallic paint is in fairly good shape and there is very little rust in the fenders. I'll have to do some research into its history.

While I definitely do not need another bike, it is now in the garage with the rest of the posse.

This is getting a little out of hand. A stamp collection would be far easier to store.