So Confusing.

Apartment living + Biking = My arm kinda hurts.


Let me start off by saying that last night was "pasta night" and yes,  my hidden agenda was that I wanted to try out my new tomato paste in a tube discovery.
Hey,  maybe all the seasoned cooks out there think this is pretty lame,  but it's new to me, so shut up.

And besides,  pasta is dead simple.   It's a chance to use up a few veggies that are looking a little long in the tooth,  and really more or less cooks itself.  Helps to stir once in a while,  but you know what I mean.


Trouble is,  it's not really the best choice for those watching their blood sugar.  Too many carbs.  I so wish I didn't have to know any of this stuff,  but such is life after the half century mark.
So that means,  tonight's meal really should be  fish.   Right?

Trouble is,  getting fish here isn't as easy peasy as it was in Delden,   but I did it!  I rode my bike down to the Naschmarkt.  We had quite successfully bought salmon there before,  but that was on a Saturday,  and we took the car.  That can also be a challenge,  since parking is then the consideration. 
Needless to say,  the Naschmarkt on a Friday morning is a mere shadow of the madness that one encounters on a Saturday.

I have photo evidence.


Look,  you can actually see the ground!

There are a couple major considerations with this sort of junket.   First of all,  the bikes are in the basement.   They do not fit in the elevator.  I tried it.   I can get the bike in,  standing on its hind wheel,  but that's pretty much it.   No room for me.
So that means lugging new and shiney up a flight of stairs.  Hence the complaining arm.  That sucker is heavy!  She ain't no road racer,  that's for sure.

This wasn't even the slightest consideration when we were in the Netherlands,  since everything was pretty much "on the flat"  so to speak,  and I never really noticed just how flippin' awkward it was to carry the thing.

I'll manage.


Speaking of which,  it so happens that we're situated on a bit of a hill here,  so leaving is easy.  Fabulous,  really.   The brakes on the bike got a strenuous workout.  Coming back is a bit of a different story.
I probably could have stopped to rest even more had I not had the nagging thought in the back of my mind that I didn't really want the fish to start to cook in the black bike bag....
I'll put it on the BBQ later thanks.

Now,  here's the confusing part.   Once in a while there is such a thing as a proper "bike path".   Sometimes it's a dedicated lane way that precludes any other forms of traffic.   Often a separate lane way is painted on a one way street going in opposition to the traffic.  At one point however,  I was tooling merrily along on a dedicated bike path,  when suddenly I was met with a big sign that said "Ende".   That was it.   No clue where to go.

See,  having lived in the Netherlands where all the traffic is very orderly,  I now have some trepidation when it comes to simply riding willy-nilly just any place I'd like.   They even had "one way" bike lanes for heaven's sake!   Plus,  my travelling companion and I actually witnessed  a police car chase down a bike rider on a bike path to nab him for some sort of infraction.

That's when you know they're serious.


After today's brief outing though I now fully understand why the bike riders here do tend to ride willy-nilly,  and that's because the traffic management is well,  pretty much a joke.
There was some hair brained scheme here back in 1995 that they wanted to increase bike rider ship from 3% to 6%.


Somehow I don't think they managed.








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