Things That Can be Carried on a Bike (#495) and a brief comment...

On the bike...Slightly more than $120 in groceries.

I was shopping at a local grocery store yesterday. It's not my favorite store but it is the closest to my house; this is mainly the reason I go there (but they do have good prices on produce). And one of the things I like about this store is that plastic grocery bags are not given to you; the cashier asks if you want any. This, I'm sure is not for environmental purposes, it's for financial (they charge 10 cents a bag). Nonetheless, it keeps less people from using plastic bags and that's ok with me. But that's not what I'm getting at. As I paid my bill the cashier--seeing I didn't have any bags with me--asked how many I would like. She looked at my rather full cart, then back at me, then says, "Are you just going to put all this stuff in your car loose like this?" Well, I tell her, no, not exactly...I'm on a bike. She smiled and looked as if waiting for the punch line, as if I told her a joke. To cut to the end of the story, she didn't believe me. I told her that I've carried far more things than this on my bike(s), but she looked at me like I was a bit nuts (which I may be). I realize that me carrying this stuff is not all that special (likely many of you reading this do the same and carry much more than this by bike) but it is really something...the automatic response regarding cars and bikes in our culture (yes, I know I am generalizing). As I wheeled the cart away I actually heard her tell the cashier next to her that I am carrying all that stuff on a bike. I just smiled and pushed the squeaky cart towards the door...


Urban Simplicity.