Wednesday 5 August 2009

Where's the karma?

I should be having good luck this week. When I was in the supermarket on the weekend, I noticed a lady drop something. It turned out to be fifty bucks. I picked it up and gave it to her. A few seconds later, another bloke walked up and handed her a second fifty that she had dropped just before. Careless, unlucky or stupid - take your pick.

So where is my karma for that good deed? I was almost doored twice today - once by a short arsed, small dicked bloke in a sports car, the second time by a tradesman who opened his door and stepped out into the bike lane whilst yapping on his phone and not looking at his surroundings.

I will make another statement about chicks on bikes. I did a quick, unscientific survey this morning on the way to work and noted that whilst men outnumbered women about 20:1 when it comes to bikes, women outnumber men about 4:1 when it comes to walking and jogging.

Gee, could it be that men and women are different, and as a result, have different preferences in this matter? Maybe women just don't like riding bikes as much as men, preferring to walk instead. No, that can't be right. It must be some masculine conspiracy to keep the sisterhood out of the saddle. Us male cyclists are surely oppressing women and restricting their right to ride a bike.

One of my explanations for the dearth of women riding to work is the percieved risk. Women just don't like the idea of getting hit by a car. That's understandable. Men don't like it that much either, but then again, I work with a number of cyclists, and our conversations tend to go like this......

me: "I had to squeeze through a narrow gap between two buses today".

roger: "That's nothing. I had to cross a creek full of sharks with lasers on their heads by riding on top of the crocodiles".

pete: "I rode my bike off a 10 storey building into a pit of ravenous drop bears - it's a great short cut that avoids the traffic in Chatswood".

sam: "Pfft. See these burns on my arm? Got them from cycling through a sea of burning petrol after a fuel tanker overturned in front of me".

sally: "I once put a flower in the basket on my handlebars".

Which might also explain why most cyclists who are carted off to hospital are men.

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