Yesterday, someone nearly ran me over

I don't think they were trying to, just careless and not paying attention, which is perhaps more damning. Luckily for me, this was early on my ride home, so I had lots of time to compose a cutting letter to the newspaper in my head. Unluckily, it didn't make the cut, so here it is, reproduced for any self-serving sanctimonious drivers of gas-guzzling behemoths who want to know exactly what I think of them.

Dear Editor,

As I was cycling home along Customhouse Quay on Monday, a car overtook me and immediately turned left. Since I, at least, was paying attention, I was able to stop before colliding, yet I am uncomfortably aware that two seconds difference in timing would have made things very nasty indeed.

I cannot pin this on hooligan boy racers, nor the lapses of old age. No, to judge by the leviathan-like size of the vehicle and the faces of the passengers serenely watching as I narrowly avoided death or injury, the driver was in comfortable middle age - that class of people forever telling the rest of us how 'responsible' they are. Given my reflector vest and bike-lights, I'm unsure how I could make myself more visible short of a pipe band and a spotlight, and I have this comment for the drivers of Wellington: to those memorable individuals who cannot cope with people travelling in straight lines, God help us; for the rest of you, please have a care, I'm breakable.

Regards,

Stephanie Pegg
(Yup, still mad.)

No wonder I'm a happy drunk

See, the thing is, I have a cold. I think I'm over the worst stages, so I'm left with the slightly spaced feeling you get. I also had a doctor's appointment lined up today for unrelated reasons, so I had someone to wail at and get some professional grade sympathy from, some steroids in my foot and a suggestion that I take Nurofen.

Whooeee! I took a pill with lunch and spent most of the trip home giggling. I got a lot of strange looks at the bus stop, and on the bus, and at the garden centre I stopped on the walk home. That's good stuff, man...

(I've never felt the urge to take illegal narcotics, I can get pretty high by legal and non-alcoholic methods just by myself.)

Also, regarding happy happy joy joy moments, I've been watching the early episodes of Cardcaptor Sakura, an anime series that my sister really likes. It's very bouncy stuff. Interestingly, the truly fine and quite tragic fan fiction Cat's been writing based on Cardcaptor Sakura isn't much interested in the characters but is in fact informed by a deep and abiding love for the back story such that it's almost but not quite entirely original fiction. I highly recommend it for all, whether you know the anime or not: http://cat-i-th-adage.livejournal.com/tag/faces+of+the+moon