June 04, 2007
A bridge too far
Saturday night we were invited to a party in Thornbury. Thornbury this side of St Georges Rd, the other side of Merri Creek. Far too close to find a taxi who would be bothered bringing us home. So we decided to cycle. The quickest route seemed to be straight down Holmes, right along Normanby and then right down along the park until we found Woolton Ave. Simple!
So simple we didn't take the street directory with us.
The problem with living in an area that is still relatively new to you is you don't know all the strange quirks and foibles of the area. Like the fact that at Holmes St, Normanby Rd is signposted Moreland Rd. At least in the dark it is. We cycled all the way to Bell St, turned, cycled back, made a small detour down Rennie St hoping for a way across Merri Creek that was discoverable in the dark, and then ended up taking the one route we were sure would work (but was a considerable detour) down to Arthurton Rd and back up along St Georges' Rd. The scenic circular route, just not a lot to see at 10.00pm.
It bought home to us how different cycling here is to, for example, Amsterdam. It is not far from Brunswick to this western edge of Thornbury but we would almost never have cycled that far at night in Amsterdam. The other thing that struck us is how dark it is at night. Because all the houses in the Netherlands (even the new ones) are so close to not only the pavement but the side of the road, and because the Dutch like to keep their curtains open at night, (I will not be snide, I will not be snide.....) 'informal' street lighting makes cycling much easier. One man's 'light pollution' is another man's beacon illuminating the wobbly wine-soaked way home.
And helmets! As a committed hat lover the helmet thing is driving me nuts. Oh yeah, and Amsterdam is flat, FLAT flat. Flatter than a pancake. No hills. The pros of cycling here? Well, it isn't raining as often and if it is you know it will stop soon. And the raindrops here are a tenth of the size. And it's a darn sight warmer, even at 1.00am. And NO black ice. So over that adrenalin rush as I hurtle on my ass across tram tracks and a lane full of oncoming traffic in the dark.
Posted by Faith