Well, Tom is traveling the world, working on various global health projects. On his way to Botswana he managed an overnight layover in Amsterdam, rented a bicycle for the afternoon, took some photos and, jetlagged, went back to his hotel to–sleep? No, to whip up the neat little video below, for posting to his blog, Bikejuju. Watching it, I had three thoughts:
Thought 1. I sure married a clever one.
Thought 2. Jealous! Not just of Tom being in Amsterdam on a bicycle on a beautiful autumn afternoon while I was here in record-breaking Seattle cold with a broken furnace and an injured chicken staying in a little chicken hospital I set up in a corner of the kitchen (yes, hygienic), but of a place where cycling is such an easy part of everyday life, and where the fact of bicycles on city streets is a given, not a struggle. And here in hilly West Seattle, I am of course jealous of Amsterdam’s lovely flatness.
Thought 3. I am, though heretofore an enthusiastic fair-weather cyclist, ready to become more intrepid about cycling. So we live on a big hill? I scoff at hills! Ha ha! I want to accept an awareness of my home terrain as one of the delights of cycling. But gosh, it sure is cold and wet out there. I’m thinking I might just keep my walking boots on, hoard up this new-found inspiration, and become intrepid in the spring.
In the meantime I’ll enjoy Tom’s video, and I hope you do, too:
Cycling Amsterdam from Tangled Nest on Vimeo.
Yes, Mark and I often talk about running away to Amsterdam. If ever their were a cyclist holy land that is it. I am all about that FLAT! Lucky Tom for getting a little ride in and awesome video !
Maure, have you been to Amsterdam? Too bad that little grocery closed on Alki–you might have never had to leave the flats!
Lyanda, we’ve been wanting to go! Things have changed a lot there in the */mumbles/* twenty-five years since I spent a few days there, but it was definitely a cyclist’s paradise then…and now even moreso!
Agree, it is too bad about the grocery store along Alki. 🙁
I love my bicycle! Just make sure you start your stretches now, and wear appropriate pants, lol.
It’s alot of fun, I like to go through the trails of my City’s parks. Bicycles also get stolen alot, make sure you have a really good lock and learn how to secure it properly.
I hope your chicken gets better quickly. How are you keeping their water from freezing? It’s an issue my parent’s have been facing this winter with their chickens.
Thanks, Angie. When it’s below freezing, I take the water container in at night to keep it from freezing solid, then fill it with fresh, warm-ish water in the morning, and always keep it in the coop, rather than outside. That’s usually enough for a Seattle winter, though in other climes more drastic measure are warranted.
That’s a really good suggestion, it’s way easier than me going out there every couple hours to replace the water bucket!
It looks positively dangerous to me! Wonder what their percentage of bicycle accidents is? No thanks.
Yeh it’s tough riding in wet hilly places and the downhills aren’t even much fun when it gets so slippery.
Definitely harder to promote than cycling in Amsterdam.