Strange things continue to happen on my commute. Just when I think I've seen it all . . . . Yesterday, my son and I missed the bus so I had to drag him on the tagalong all the way to school then continue to work. Almost to work, I'm on a busy 4-lane street. Red light. I hear this continuous beep, beep, beep, beep behind me. This 60-ish lady in a blue Corolla is making her way slowly through traffic. Sun is in her eyes. She is squinting. Is she in pain, is she having a heart attack? beep, beep, beep. Will I have to perform CPR? She is right next to me now. Cross-traffic is solid and slow. She inches out into the lane! What, she is going to run the red. beep, beep, beep. She is in some sort of hurry. She actually forces the cross-traffic to stop and merges into the lane, all the while beeping. I watch her weave slowing through traffic. Geesh. Weird.

Then yesterday pm. I change in a below level gym and then carry my bike up some stairs to street level, hop on my bike and move across a sidewalk to the street. Shrubs to my right. Halfway into the sidewalk . .. WHOA! Two guys on a bike zooming toward me, one on the handle bars, no helmets. My hands are on the top bars and I am halfway through my British style mount. I have no time to brake. I swerve. They swerve. The dude on the bars jumps off. We miss each other. PHew. They are laughing. I'm cursing them on the inside. But they are both bigger than me so I apologize and reach out my hand. Rider gives me a side handshake and a smile. We are from different cultures. Not sure whether this type of handshake is a sign of disrespect or not. We move on.