Today’s ride took me to Hampden for a late brunch, and then I followed the signs to Roland Park, because there’s nothing I like to do more than follow signs until the signs give out. Roland Park doesn’t look like the other parts of Baltimore I travel through regularly. I mean, this is where that 1% lives, for real. Row houses? I think not–give me a giant yard, and lots of space between me and my neighbor! Some of the houses look like mansions, and riding around this neighborhood today, it felt like I was in an entirely different city. The bike route ended at W. Lake, giving me two choices–Charles Street or the Mt. Washington rail station, and I was in the mood to head toward home. I took a right on Kenmore, and I saw this house up for auction–a foreclosure–just a couple houses in. This collapse is happening everywhere, and no neighborhood is safe, not even neighborhoods with a classed-up pharmacies. I headed home in the most circuitous route possible, just like I like it, and started a new book. In it, the author talks about riding his bike around Baltimore, and what it felt like to see these other neighborhoods and their schools and how it all felt like drinking a a half a glass of bleach. Neighborhoods matter, and kids can tell the difference.