Thursday’s ride took me down the hill early to meet my swim teacher for another lesson. These lessons have had me riding from Charles Village to the edge of Canton, not a trip I was used to taking, so I keep trying new routes. Today, though, I just took the straight shot down the hill, a left on Aliceanna, slight right onto Boston, and I got there in just 35 minutes, which is fast for a red-light-obeying cyclist like me. It was sunny when I headed out, and it just felt good to be on a bike and on vacation; it only took three days of it for it to take. 45 minutes in the pool and I was  on the bike headed back the same way I came. My legs were heavy from all the kick drills. Turns out having strong bicycling legs doesn’t translate directly to the pool. I took my time getting back downtown and around the harbor, up the hill to Federal Hill for lunch and a vacation massage at my favorite strip mall out in Locust Point. Afterward I went shopping in the shiny new Harris Teeter grocery store, on the hunt for Christmas lights. I took the stairs to the third floor where I snapped this picture of the view of shelf after shelf after shelf offering so many “choices,” technically slightly different versions of the same things. I get overwhelmed by these faux choices, especially when buying basic stuff that I think there should just be one of, like deodorant or toothpaste.  Wall after wall of fake choices in a gleaming warehouse of lights but not a strand of lights to be found, but somehow the order of it was almost beautiful. Almost. On the bike to home, feeling thoroughly worn out, my favorite feeling of all.