Bikes & Boats

I just finished a fun book: In the City of Bikes. Pete Jordan, an urban planning student, moves to Amsterdam to study how to make American cities more bike friendly and instead falls in love with Amsterdam's bike culture. He enthuses about biking in the city and surveys the city's bicycling history. His first chapter expressing his astonishment at the number and variety of cyclists matches my own experience in Groningen.

One surprise: the Dutch had two bicycling army regiments before WWII.
"Like other army regiments, the Cyclists Regiment had its own military band, though with a twist: its musicians performed while riding. The horn and reed players rode with special handlebar extensions that allowed them to steer their bikes with their elbows." with a quote from an observer at the time: "The surprising spectacle of the Cyclists Regiment's music corps--an almost acrobatic display---" "Bike riding and music playing appear to go well together...a sweet pleasure to see and hear! At no time did the drummers lose the dauntless tempo." (Chapter 9, pages 4-5)

Last Wednesday Rich met me after recorder rehearsal and we rode along the canal to the same restaurant on a barge where we'd eaten Easter lunch while the snow was falling. This time we ate dinner sitting on top watching the barges glide by. Very pleasant summer evening.

Barge Restaurant

Bow Wave of Barge 

We both love to cycle along the canal. We ran across some kayakers playing kayak water polo, which seemed to be a cross between soccer and keep-away.

Kayak Water Polo

 



In contrast to the wild west of Amsterdam cycling, Hannover cyclists are staid and law-abiding, patiently waiting for the very long red lights. I am still astounded and grateful as taxis wait for me to cross instead of turning right across my path. However, I came to grief on the way home from dinner on the barge. I was cycling on a bike path along the main road when a car approached to turn right. She slowed down and then didn't see me, so she put her foot on the gas. I went flying. Luckily, no broken bones, no trip to the hospital, no major damage to my bike. Just minor bruises and scrapes. Rich was right behind me and saw me go flying and heard the crack, so he was quite upset, but I didn't have time to think. Ironic that my first collision with a car would be in Hannover where drivers give cyclists the right-of-way 99% of the time. It's just that 1%. Glad I was wearing my helmet.

Here's a picture of some of what I'm reading. I just finished reading Great Gatsby again for the 3rd time. I wanted to read it again before seeing the movie, but, after reading the book, I watched a trailer for the movie and it didn't seem to fit with my images from the book. The movie seems to focus on the glitz of the 20s parties instead of the loneliness of Gatsby staring at the green light at the end of Daisy's pier. Maybe I'll skip the movie.

My eBookshelf

I'm on the waiting list for Kate Atkinson's Life After Life, and mistakenly checked out another book with the same title. Haven't started it yet. Returned Benediction by Kent Haruf and Flora by Gail Godwin. I liked Kent Haruf's other books, set in small towns on the plains east of Denver, and this one is good too. Slow, meditative, chewing over a life's mistakes while dying. Flora has the same claustrophobic imminent-doom mood of Turn of the Screw. Not fun, but well-written.

 

Book suggestions are always welcome!