The Bixi Chicks

I took the risk of living on St-Urbain so I shouldn't complain when my precious yellow road bike finally got stolen. Why is there such a high theft rate in the plateau?  Even though I've got two other bikes on my back balcony I've succumbed to the Bixi world and I have to say it's playing it's role quite nicely.  No headaches about locking it and it's got a basket in the front.  My two other bikes are broken and I'm lazy so they will probably continue to sit and rust.  I still can't believe I spent eighty bucks on a vintage one with the curved handle bars and metal bar gear changer.  One late night after spending a quiet evening with friends (ha ha), I biked home in the rain.  Out of nowhere an ambulance came from around the corner and I skidded to a halt.  My seat fell off and my hip vintage bike fell over.   I went down with it but no injuries though.  Just last Saturday night, I had dinner with girlfriends and Cat and I convinced them to take Bixis to our next location.  It was probably the highlight of the night seeing my scared friend run into a parked car.  I think the mayor of Montreal should close off more streets so it encourages bike riding.  Who needs a car downtown when you've got broken bikes and a bixi pass?  It's also a great pickup since I overheard some guys talking as I went to get my bike at 2am.  "Wow she's actually taking a bike right now.  That's impressive".  But is it really?

(the pic above is of the ladies who biked on saturday)

Homeless in Hawaii

I have a knack for talking to homeless people regardless of where I am in the world.  This time I was laying on the beach in Honolulu when a man in his early seventies came and sat next to me.  His name is Serge and he lives on the beach.  He moved from the mainland to the beach about nine months ago because he needed to get away from his past life.  Like I wrote in my other post, all most people need in life is someone to talk to and with today's advancing technologies it's becoming very hard to do so.  I could go off on a tangent and complain about the good old fashion phone call versus sending stupid texts but I'll save that rant for another time. So back to Serge.  Every morning, Serge jogs up and down the beach, swims laps and works out in the "poor man's gym" near the beach.  Wearing only tiny stained white beach shorts, I could clearly see he was in shape.  He claims that since he's been living in Hawaii he doesn't need to take his meds.  He's bipolar.  The exercise is supposedly the key to all his problems.  I think it is for most people... I know it keeps me regular :) Because of his disability, he receives a cheque from the government every two weeks.  After speaking for an hour, he said "I wish I had some money to take you out for some food".  Even with nothing he still tries to give.  We could all learn from that.