my sometimes-skeptical social commentary

Archive for the ‘bike taxi rides’ Category

I hope I’m always capable of seeing the bright side.

Last night, when I was riding up Delaware Avenue, I overhead two men greeting each other from opposite sides of the street. The first one must have asked the other guy to join him, because the answer I heard from the second man was “No, I’m on my way home, I had a great night!”

The second man was pushing a shopping cart down his side of the street, and as it hit each crack in the sidewalk, the bottles and cans rattled. The cart was full, and he had a couple large plastic bags full of more bottles and cans that were hanging over the sides of the cart.

It made me think of how often people ask me how the bike taxi business is doing. My definition of a “great night” varies, because some nights are great for different reasons. Sometimes it’s a great night because I earn a decent amount, but some nights are great because the weather was perfect, or because I met good people, or saw old friends, or made a new contact with a future customer or potential business partner.

I know the cynical among us have already dismissed my comments above as sentimental and lacking any real social commentary. Bah to them.

The cynical among us need to take a moment to think about the fact that the two men I saw last night are real men, not something made up to tug at the heartstrings of the liberal and sentimental. If the cynics can’t step outside of their postmodern grumpiness long enough to think, just think broadly and considerately, then they are stuck in a rut of recycled, ready-made conclusions, and aren’t living a real life themselves.

I think most intelligent people agree that the unexamined life isn’t worth living. A cynical approach to everything may seem like they’re examining life, but if they’re always coming to the same grouchy conclusion, is it?

As I wrote on my bike taxi blog, I took the bike taxi out for Mardi Gras. Lots of fun riding, but only one passenger, so not what we call in the bike taxi business a commercially successful outing.

The past three seasons, I didn’t take the bike taxi out for Buffalo’s Mardi Gras celebrations, but this year the mild weather made it a no-brainer–why not, right?

I caught the parade (maybe next year I’ll create a “float” and sign up to be IN the parade, –only if I can get some bikey friends to ride along with me), so here are some snapshots from where I watched the parade (I missed a few of the floats because oncoming traffic blocked my view).

I didn’t have beads to throw to the people watching the parade, so I gave out my yellow bike taxi pens instead. My joke that they are “Not as much fun, but so much more practical” got a few laughs.

Rather than cross-post, I’ll just cross link: The Bike Taxi blog has been updated.

Rather than cross-post, I’ll just cross link: The Bike Taxi blog has been updated.

Our friends from Washington were here for a visit, so I gave them a ride around our neighborhood on the bike taxi. Once the parents had their turn, it was the kids’ turn. We put seatbelts on the two youngest, and the two oldest put bike helmets on and rode along with us.

It hardly feels like New Years. Snow would help. Temperatures lower than 44F would help. Look at all that green grass. Look at the fall-weight coat I’m wearing. (Granted, the people sitting still needed a blanket on their laps, but I sure didn’t suffer from the cold.)

ride distance: about 2 miles