As the guy stopped next to me at the light on 25th & Guilford said, 15 degrees cooler makes it almost fun to ride our bikes again, and it did. I headed out to run an errand and then just kept riding, enjoying the feel of a regular summer day. I zipped down the hill and over through Little Italy and Fells Point, through Patterson Park and over through Canton to Brewer’s Hill for some iced tea with my writing. I took a zig zaggy way home and stopped at the tiny lake in Patterson Park because it just looked so pretty today. And then I got to the edge and saw all the plastic bottles and trash gathered in the muck at the side. C’mon, people, really? Are you just throwing plastic bottles in there? Really? I hate (or maybe love) to sound like a cranky old lady (or my 8 year old nephew), but littering is just the worst. I mean, we all share this public space, and when you throw your trash in the street, you muck it up for everybody. I’ve seen people in this town roll down car windows at stop signs and just push a whole family McMeal out into the street. But then, because I’m me, I wonder what makes some people not have a sense that public space is theirs and shared, or that regardless, it just doesn’t matter if they’re fouled up. That’s some sad stuff. I let out my sighs one last time and then rode home the long way. I took the Fallsway bike lane, the one that goes past the prison complex on one side, the other side lined with fanciful markers that look like oversized chess pieces. Shared public space, here we are. I made my way up the hill and home, happy to be pleasurably riding again.