Metropolistic

Behold how good and pleasant when brethren dwell together in the city...

Yet another post reflecting on the joy I get from living within a bikeable distance of everything (as well as the joys of November weather).

I know the value of a good car trip every now and then, when you've got a comfy seat and a good NPR show to listen to, and the miles count themselves out behind you. That can certainly be enjoyable. I love train travel and airplane travel (as long as it doesn't happen too often within a given amount of time, then it's a pain) and I also like taking short trips on public busses. I occasionally even enjoy the rare suburban safari, stalking good deals from the big box store, usually accompanying my Mom, which means bonding and a grilled dinner are sure to follow. But for errands or exploring, especially if you have the day off, nothing beats a bike. Well, nothing beats a bike in a city, however small it may be.

Williamsburg today is grey and really windy, but we can all still feel the scorching days that stretched September and October into one long July, and it feels great to finally cool off. So we turn our bare necks towards the chill and crunch through the leaves, like we never thought Fall would actually happen again. I celebrated the return of Fall weather this morning (as well as my day off) by straightening up the apartment, not in any OCD way but just until it achieved a nice, normal, it's-nice-to-live-here kind of cleanliness, and then Kenny and I rode the short distance over to the W&M library so that I could return my textbooks from my last course (Motor Development, basically) and choose ones for my next course (Crafts of the Appalachian mountains, basically). Forget needing a campus parking pass, forget circling around and around, hunting down a space. Bikes go straight from our back door to the door of wherever we're going. Around noon we biked into our quaint little bricked downtown area to have lunch at one of the frou-frou sandwich shops (my avocado wrap was good, but the chicken looked and tasted just like the turkey, which is hmm) and then we parted, he to a seminar and I to my errands (bank, drug store, Indian grocery, home). On the bike, off the bike, lock it up, back on, quick as a fox. Ha ha, cars.

Ok, I admit that I also stopped at our little kinda-ghetto nail salon for a leg wax and a pedicure. I like to practice my Vietnamese, and everyone is really friendly there. Plus, its just about as cheap as what you'd find on South Blvd. in Charlotte, so what's not to like? Windy day, warm water, people being amazed at me for saying "thank you" and "just a little bit" in their language... hmm. Anyway, our apartment is finally cozy warm instead of strangling-you-in-your-sleep warm, and I'm going to keep working on knitting Xmas items while I pick apart a pomegranate and listen to a podcast. Thank you, day off! The leaves sound just perfect skittering by on the concrete outside. Ahh.