ain't literacy great? had a similar thing happen this morning, but not so suave. down at the bottom of the bike path where it meets the major road and has a controlled light for cyclists, i pushed the button, waited the usual five minutes and then just had this really weird total-dork moment when the light changed. i put my right foot back on the platform pedal and applied instant-takeoff pressure, without checking first that the pedal was flat. i had it on the edge. it spun round, my foot shot off it, i did this buster keaton bit i can only describe as falling through the bike . . . impressively embarrassing, but while i was painfully unpeeling myself from the crossbar some twit across the road was running the light, so oh well. guess i got the guardian angel with the sense of humour.

conversation with the qa manager when i got to work. she was skulking in the car park smoking and got curious about the bike-commute thing. i got the flash-of-inspiration answer to those who are only curious enough to ask how far you ride because they never ride anywhere, and then blithely ordain that it's a nice easy ride. 'yeah,' i said cheerfully, 'that's what i thought too before i did it.' was pleased with myself all the rest of the day