Today’s ride took me down the hill to meet A. for a trip to the gym and then to the coffee shop for snacks and conversation. It was another gray and foggy day, so the ride down the hill was chilly, wet, and kinda slippery, but I’d still much rather be on my bicycle. The streets were positively empty, not because of the weather but because the Ravens game was on, and nobody knew yet how terribly that was going to end up. I locked up to a nearly-empty bike rack–the first time that’s happened at Harbor East in awhile–and then it was a quick turn at the gym before heading back to the fancy coffee shop inside the even fancier hotel. For some people places like this are totally normal and, like, just where you get coffee, but it’s not normal. Neither is the fancy of the Four Seasons. I used their bathroom in between conversations and grading, and wow, so much privacy, but then being richie rich is kind of the only way to afford privacy these days. I snapped this picture of the high-class “Christmas trees” in the lobby. Rich people only need the suggestion of the holiday, I suppose. And then there’s the hotel they’re building in Mount Vernon. These people need to ride some bikes around the place before they make these choices. Oh, who am I kidding–I love visiting these places. By the time all the papers had feedback and grades the sun was down and the air was soaking with fog and rain. I stopped at the grocery, turned down a kind of a ride home in K.’s station wagon (“It’s the principle of the thing.”), and then headed up the hill, glasses covered in water droplets. But still, I’d rather be on a bike than in a car, and there’s something lovely about a quiet ride on a chilly, wet Sunday evening, especially after an almost-perfect weekend. Last day of school is tomorrow–makes a sweet Sunday just a little sweeter.