The spotted dog

I've been without a working car for nearly a month. An unintentional, nearly full time, bike commute. I got a ride from another teacher on days of snow and once to go to Bridgewater (renting a car once). It was a lot of riding for a short month (we even had a week off for winter break). The details of the car are annoying and expensive, nearly $3000 to get it back and it wasn't in an accident.

So I've been biking it. Then interesting thing is that many people seem to have noticed. Its only been me and the guy who bikes up to the over pass to spend the day watching the traffic and rocking on his heels slowly. So I stand out a bit on the road.

I rode with lovely daughter to meeting (church) and it was a cold day in February as wife and son went to a different event. I've heard from a lot of people about that, pretty much everyone who saw us had an opinion. It appears split evenly - half commenting that was a cool trailer bike and neat to see people out riding and others who just kept saying - boy it was cold, how old was your daughter...was she too cold?, my how far did you go in the cold with your little child?

Whats the point? I'm one of the few non-anonymous citizens. I've been thinking that I was biking by myself when really its one of the most communal things I do. Alas there is no one else communing with me. Can there be a worthwhile one-way conversation? Is there such a thing as a one-way community?

When I think about it, in the winter there are few opportunities to meet others. The sense of being in a community takes a hit. Sure there is a brief stop at the library, post office, maybe a few people while sledding or skating. In the summer there is the beach with many more people and sailing races, and outdoor parties like the clam bake or cook outs. People are out cutting the lawn. This is different than in the winter when we are enclosed. I really can't tell who is waving at me from cars half the time. Perhaps seasonal affective disorder is triggered by light etc. but it can't be helped by the lack of social interactions with the world at large.