Relevance Uncertain

I tried to find some sort of connection between the two stories I am about to tell you, but besides the fact that they both involved cell phones, I don't believe a link exists. And I'm in grad school. I can find a link between ANYTHING. But I can't. So here goes two unrelated items from the NGS news desk.

1) I wouldn't call myself an inconspicuous bicycle rider. As a driver, I am all too aware of obnoxious behavior of other cyclists on the road and I strive to not be an obnoxious cyclist (this extends to my behavior as a pedestrian, too, but that's another entry altogether). Now, RC-30 may not be the most visible bike in the world. I love him and he treats me well and gets me from point A to point B, but he's blue and kind of, ummmm, don't tell him I said this, boring looking. But he does have streamers. Purple ones. With pink and silver. And if that doesn't distinguish him from the other bikes on the bike racks, I don't know what does. And, then, there's RC-30's rider. That's me. NGS. And I have on a purple helmet. And my normally highly visible clothing.

So about three weeks ago, I left the house wearing the most obnoxious coat ever. It's pink (it's actually coral, but now we're arguing over hues). And I was following all biking rules. I was visible (and how). I was riding in the correct lane. And some SUV didn't stop at the end of an alley and HIT ME. AND RC-30.

I'm fine. The bike's fine. But I'm slightly paranoid now and I worry that within every car lurks a bike runner over. The guy said, "you came out of nowhere." And I'm thinking to myself (as any Harry Potter fan would) you can't Apparate in the Muggle world without getting into serious trouble. And I haven't passed my test. But what I really said was , "Did you see the pink coat? And the streamers? Could I have been anymore VISIBLE?"

Oh, and the cell phone part of the story. I was mere blocks away from my house when this "accident" happened. I packed RC-30 into the back of my truck and drove to my original appointment. Then I drove over to school. Then I called Biker Boy because I thought he'd be PO'ed if I didn't. This proved to be true when he said, "this happened THREE HOURS ago and you're only now calling me!!" Good thing I didn't wait until after the doctor's appointment. (Oh, and for anyone who cares, I want props because I went to that hideous class after the doctor's appointment. I so could have gotten out of it.)

2) Tonight I went over to Biker Boy's to watch the Cruft's dog show on Animal Planet. I don't want to spoil it for anyone who might want to catch the suspense-filled competition in reruns, but the winner was (look away now if you're going to watch) the Australian Shepard. FROM USA!! Take that, you Brits. Okay, my moment of unreasonable and unexplainable nationalism is finished.

I have to get up really early tomorrow, so I left Biker Boy's after the dog show and The Oblongs. BB, a gentleman through and through, insisted on walking me to my car, merely a block away. There has been much ribbing from me on this front in the past and as we walked out in the rain, I again asked him if he thought someone would look at me, the grad student, and mug me. He just smiled that smile. And continued walking.

Then a woman passed by us. She was stumbling a bit, but this is Uptown, so you get that sometimes. But her nose was bleeding. BB and I walk by her, then do that thing where you look at each other (in shock and awe, to use a cliched phrase) and then we immediately started walking backwards, towards the woman. After several "ma'ams" of which I am a bit embarrassed, she turned around and told us she wanted to go home. She was very disoriented and I was nervous she was going to fall down.

BB dialed 911 and pretty soon we had a whole posse of emergency vehicles to serve our needs. And this is what I want to say. The first responders were wonderful. They picked up the contents of her purse, which we found spilled a little bit aways, were patient with her as she started to mumble about going home, and were very polite to us, even thanking us for calling it in. I'm glad I live in a place where I can count on someone showing up when I call a number that everyone knows. And that those people will do something.

Oh, and lesson learned. I won't tease anymore about the escort to my car. I don't know what I would have done if BB had not been around.