the connected commuter
This morning’s commute was in the best weather we’ve seen in weeks. Cool and dry, partly cloudy and a little breeze, comfortably riding in regular old work clothes. As i waited on the light at the first main intersection, an obviously homeless guy came up and said hi, chatted about the weather and said ‘praise the lord’ about five times. He smelled strongly of listerine and pine sol, but he was pleasant enough and had kind eyes hiding amongst his matted hair and beard.
A few stoplights later, i chatted with another guy apparently waiting for a bus, bagged lunch in hand. He seemed a little mentally slow, but commented on the weather and said that it looked like fun to be riding a bike. We had a pleasant two minutes small talk while the light cycled through, and we wished each other a nice day.
With the bustle of commuting and managing traffic, even riding a bike can sometimes be an isolating experience. This morning though, a couple of nice (aside from the disinfectant smell) little moments of humanity that nobody in their car could have had even if they could get past the initial appearance of these characters. Life on the human scale is a much richer existence.