Two Views From My Handlebars a Few Days Apart (and one just for laughs)

OK, so before I comment on the bottom photo...I took the above image on my way to the health club tonight. It was about 5pm and 42F/6C...a lovely fall evening on a bike. Normally this time of year we would have at least a foot of snow on the ground and it'd be much colder that it is/was (but maybe this is the new norm). Anyhow, it felt really good to be out a bike on such a nice evening.

The photo below I took this past weekend on my way home from work after a particularly stressful evening. On my way home I pass a few bars, and as I pedaled past one I saw these guys outside. All of them in Santa suits and all of them are smoking cigarettes. The first thing that came to me was a new line for the song the Twelve Days of Christmas, "Five Santas Smoking." I have no idea who they are but they brought a smile to my face when I saw them. And uncharacteristically of  myself, I pulled my bike to the side of the road and asked if I could take their photo. Without questioning why, they quickly huddled together and smiled. I asked them what they were up to--if they were part of a Christmas party or something--and a couple of them replied, "Na, just drinking, smoking, and looking for girls." Naughty Santa...

Urban Simplicity.