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.